Day 4 -- May 25

Today, we woke up at 7:00 am to be ready for our 8:30 drive to Barcelona. The ride was really long and everyone was exhausted, so most people slept the whole way. I read a good bit, watched a movie, and slept for around 4 hours total. We stopped twice for gas and for people to eat; there were restaurants behind the gas stations. I ate spaghetti because I don’t trust things that I don’t know what’s inside J We finally got to La Plaza Universidad where we were meeting our families, and I could immediately pick out Rafaela (she’s 73). She’s short, skinny, and very cute, and she also had a sign with our names haha. We took a taxi to her apartment (which she made us pay for???), and then came inside to unpack. WHY DID I BRING SO MANY CLOTHES/SHOES?!! She asked us when we wanted dinner, and we ended up eating around 8 pm although they usually eat around 9 or 10. Rafaela made us baked chicken, rice with peas in it (yes, I ate the peas), salad (mine was just lettuce), and bread. It was actually good, which is a good sign seeing as I haven’t had much luck with my meals. Afterwards, we gave Rafaela her gifts. Sara gave her honey and chocolates from Wisconsin, and I gave her a small tervis tumbler with the SC emblem, coasters, a hand-made painting, and a necklace with a monogrammed R on it (which she immediately put on). After the gifts, we ate peaches and nectarines for dessert, and then Sara and I went and walked around for like 5 minutes. She’s watching a movie now and said she would be going to bed around 11, but I’m tired and the movie is in Spanish so we’re going to study a little for our placement exam tomorrow. Unfortunately, we don’t have internet here L but she said that we could rent a WIFI router from our program, which is good because I’m already starting to feel a little homesick. We also don’t have air conditioning, so we’re leaving the window open for some breeze. The only thing I haven’t liked about Spain yet (besides having to adjust to their food) is that everything is SO EXPENSIVE. Aside from the fact that a euro varies between $1.50 and $1.80 American dollars, almost everything costs so much more money than America. A bag of chips in the gas station, that would normally be 1 dollar back home, was 2.70 euros. This could pose to be a problem.