For the 1st week of my stay in Spain, I lived in Hotel Bonavona Park. The hotel is located, more or less, on the outskirts of Barcelona. It is in a nice area, no great architecture, no one too interesting to look at - but an overall safe and calm feeling. Looking back on it, the location of the hotel was probably a good choice. For the first 2 or 3 days, the group of 25 and I were brought to believe that Barcelona was a lot more calm and collected than it really is. Atleast for me, this allowed for an easier transition into the true pace of Barcelona life. Our second day there, we were introduced to the metro. Even after only having been here for 1 week - the metro is completely different from my initial take on it. (will go into this later)
Along with the metro, we were introduced to the various campuses of the Universitat de Barcelona. { universitat = catalán. universidad = castilliano. }
The above is the Palau Reial (Royal Palace), which was built in 1924 as a residence for the King Alfonso XIII. He would stay here whenever visiting Barcelona. This picture does no justice to the Palau Reial, which is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens - think hedges a los jardines de 350 e rustic, beautiful fountains, tall palm trees, green parrots playing games with one another and gravel. On the left of the Palace is the Universitat’s Law School and on the right is the engineering school. Barcelona was recently named the capital of the Mediterranean Union, which is bigger than the EU, and which also means that as of April 2010 the public will no longer be able to access the Palau Reial as it will be used as the headquarters.
Across the street from the Palace are some other facultades of the University - including art and science. Back in the center of town, located on the Plaza Universitat is the Facultad de Filología. 
As you can see, it is a BEAUTIFUL building which is juxtaposed with the urban scenery of the city. Just 4 blocks away are Las Ramblas and the famous Plaza de Catalunya. Inside the building : 
(orange trees which are fruitful right now)
(beautiful passageways and hallways )
(this is the administration building)
(los gatos que viven en los jardines de la escuela - they’ve lived there supposedly since the school was built in 1450)
For the past 2 weeks, my classes have been in this building as well as in the Facultad de Historia which is 2 blocks off of the Plaza Universitat and down a cute alley-ish street with tapas bars, teenagers and graffiti. This building(no pictures yet) was built 2 years ago, but is so well done. It is modern and beautiful and fits the overall theme of Barcelona perfectly - the old + the new.
It takes me 20-25 minutes to get from my apartment to school on the metro.
BACK @ THE HOTEL
FOOD, as i’ve learned quickly, is not my favorite. Anything con jamón is the norm. Anything con queso is the norm. Anything con pan is the norm. Vegatables that are green are hard to come by, but tomatoes are a plenty. Chocolate is everywhere.
The food at the hotel was something I hope to forget but for the sake of this blog, I will describe (some of) it. Fried pork, foot long sausages, and tuna on lentils. that’s enough. Theres more to life than FOOOD RIGHTTTTTT.. and I’m getting by fine without my favorites.
My room mate was a girl named Alaina, from Indiana. The 25 of us had every meal together and we were split into two groups based on the # of semesters of college level Spanish we have taken .. I am in group B, which I am happy about. There are a number of people in the group who are fluent, those of us in B are a little less confident and therefore have been matched with the appropriate teachers for our level.
Throughout the first week, we had various group meetings with the director of the program.. She gave us a bunch of useful tips about the city, living abroad, living with host families, etc. Most useful fact so far - el chorizo = a pick pocketer, not just el chorizo - that sausage mommy likes.
On the Friday of that week, we were all told to meet at the hotel around 5 pm. We had to bring all our bags downstairs and prepare to leave the hotel. We sat liek sardines on top of each other in the tiny hotel lobby as 1 by 1 , our host moms and/or families entered the lobby doors. As we guessed who’s mom was who’s, we were like orphans hoping to get chosen by the nicest family.
