vale. vale vale vale vale vale.

"vale" is one of those all-encompassing phrases that people use a lot here. I'm not sure if anyone knows exactly what it means- kind of like "okay? okay." or like "understand? okay. alright. yeah."

this is basically the first bit of free time that I have had since arriving. They have kept us incredibly busy and exhausted (someone suggested this was to keep us from going out the first few nights- if this is true, it definitely worked). Orientation activities ended today, and classes do not start til Monday. First, we will be taking an intensive spanish class (3.5 hours a day/5 days a week) for the first three weeks. Then, we will be starting regular classes on September 29th. We received our class schedules during orientation. Tentatively, I'm going to be taking the continuation of my intensive spanish class (Advanced grammar, composition, and conversation II), Contemporary Spanish literature, Society and Politics in Contemporary Spain, and 20th century Spanish Cinema. This might be changing, but it's what I've got for now. The language class will be with other students from the CIEE program, but the other three are part of Universitat Pompeu Fabra's HESP (Hispanic and English Studies Program). This means that, although the classes are going to be in Spanish, they are geared towards international students. I will be in those classes with other students from CIEE in addition to any other study abroad programs that are run through the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Most other students from my program will be taking a direct enrollment class in UPF- however, I just don't think my level of Spanish is good enough. I found out that I am basically the only CIEE student doing the liberal arts program here who just started Spanish in college. As in, I have taken up through Spanish IV. Most other kids have taken through the equivalent of 22 (two more semesters), or even more! This is a little bit scary, but I know I'll learn a lot...it also strengthened my resolve not to take a direct enrollment class.

I'll write more about classes when they start. To talk briefly about orientation, it began on Tuesday. My flights went smoothly and I was able to make my connection from Frankfurt to Barcelona without a problem. From the airport, we came to the hotel where orientation was held, and immediately got a few talks about basic things from the Resident Staff here- safety, security, rules, etc. We then met our "Guardian Angels" (students in Barcelona who are here to help us out). Belen, my GA, took us to buy cell phones and walk a little bit around the area, known as L'Eixample. All of the streets are a grid in L'Eixample, which distinguishes it from other areas. It is a pretty nice area, with a lot of upscale shopping. Not my favorite thing in the world, but it was nice to walk around. We slept well that night- we were all pretty jet-lagged.

The next day we got split up from the CIEE: Language and Culture (read: kids who basically don't speak Spanish at all) for our orientation. This meant that from then on, everything was done in Spanish. A few hours worth of wisdom were imparted to us re: academics, housing, cultural differences, cultural activities. Listening to all of that in Spanish was exhausting, but I got the gist. We took a bus tour around the city, which made me more excited to see everything (from a bus you kind of just see everything very peripherally). The city is beautiful though- one thing I learned from the tour. We saw lots of Gaudi. That night, those of us in Residencias (a cross between apartments and dorms, basically) moved in, and the rest of the kids met their host families. The residencia is nice- small kitchen, bathroom, desk, chair, lots of storage space. It's really bare because I wasn't exactly going to bring my posters, so I'll have to work on that. Again, sleep was essential.

Yesterday we had yet more rounds of talks about academics, and a language placement exam. The exam was okay- I know I should be in the lowest level of Spanish in the program, so it was nothing to lose sleep about. We also had a walking tour of the Barri Gotic, which is the ancient part of Barcelona. It was beautiful again, and we saw La Catedral and some other ancient religious and other sites, including remains of Roman buildings that still exist under modern-day Barcelona. Lauren, one of the other girls from the group, and I went to Plaza Catalunya after the tour to sit and people-watch. All of the plazas and other public spaces here are nice, but it was particularly gorgeous, and there were some entertaining street musicians. We had ridiculously good tapas for dinner. That night, I came to the conclusion that Spanish food is amazing.

AND- today. We finally saw the campus where we will be spending time. It was good getting to see it, but our guides did really unnecessary things, such as parade all twenty-five of us through the library, in a circle, and through the library again. It basically screamed "hey! look! American students!" After that, orientation was over, and we celebrated by having beach time. Now, I'm just enjoying the time to myself. Tonight we're actually going to try to experience the nightlife, because we've been slacking so far. Tomorrow we are going wine-tasting in southern catalonia! I am so excited.

I'll try to write again soon, feel free to e-mail me as well!

love, andrea