Calm.

The Gabrees leave for Barcelona today!!! The whole bunch, Emily, Sandy, Dave... not Tory and Ginger, although I did try for them. I am so excited to show them around my city, take them to see the sights, everything. I'm a little apprehensive though, because for as long as I've lived here, I don't know all that much about the city. I can show them the beach, and La Rambla, Sagrada Familia, the Catedral... But I don't know much of the history behind these things. I also don't know where any good places to eat are. Gabrees are big food people. And wine. We know how to indulge, I suppose haha. Unfortunately, I'm on a budget here, so I don't know where the nice restaurants are, or where to get classy wine. I can find a 3 euro falafel and a 1 euro bottle of wine with my eyes closed... but this is going to be a bit of a vacation for me as well. I'll actually be able to experience fine dining. That's rare for me here, ha.

What I am not too excited about is the amount of work I have here. It was a horrible, horrible idea to take four of my five classes at Spanish Universities. Unlike IES, the study abroad program that knows we're all deadbeats and just want to play in Barcelona, these schools assume I came to Spain to have no life and work my ass off. I have more work here than I would in Vermont. Three ten page papers are due in a month. Plus midterms the next two weeks, presentations in every class, and 400 page "readers" that must be completed by the final. WOOOOOF. Looks like I'll have no life in Spain anymore. Hopefully I learn something from all of this. That is the point, yes? I just hate the stress... I buckle under stress. Hard. And I complain. Obviously. Look at what I'm doing right now. I need to remind myself to be calm, and remove all other unnecessary evils from my life so I can focus on the here and now. I have to do whats right for me right now.

Last night Jane invited Katherine, Jess, Erin, and I to meet her parents, who are here for the week. They are the most adorable people ever, and it explains so much why Jane is well, Jane. They were so welcoming and open, not to mention hilarious. We ended up going to dinner with them at a nice seafood restaurant by the beach, where we dined with family friends of the Siegels. It was delicious. Spanish food is so perfect. No additives or preservatives. Everything tastes so real. Its fantastic. I can't thank the Siegels enough for being so kind as to take us to dinner. It was so nice to meet them, and also have a night away from awkward dinners with Feli speaking Spanish to us, ha.

Oh, we also ran into these guys the other night. Apparently Barca was playing Scotland, so a bunch of Scots were out on the town getting their drink on. Clearly this was the outfit to wear to show respect for the Spanish team. Some were in kilts, some in flamenco. This guy though... damn.