The Gold Coast...Barcelona Style

so, apparently where i live in barcelona is similar to chicago's gold coast...i find that fitting. i know this because today piyal and i met with our RA, a girl named Maria who lives in our neighborhood, and a guy, Jordan (who also lives in our neighborhood. there is another guy in the program living in this barrio but he was sick and didnt make it tonight). so anyways, we walked around our barrio and gracia. she was explaining to us that where we are is where a lot of people with money live and they buy expensive stuff in this area. however, in gracia (which i fell in love with and piyal and i are going to go back there to check it out some more) it is cheaper. there were a lot more stores and a market that actually contains a flea market. im excited to go back there so i can check it out to see if there are any good things there (ie gifts for you guys). however, gracia was especially beautiful to me because it used to be a separate town, but now is part of barcelona. therefore, the people that live there are very proud and asked where they are from, they say gracia. my senora told us that she loves gracia because it is a good mix of the old and the new. there are many older people that live there and also many students. she also said that it is great for shopping because there are so many cute stores but they are much cheaper than where we are and sant gervasi which is the barrio right on the other side of us. however, this all happened much later today, from 7-8 or 9. before that i went to IES for my first day of intensive spanish class. my teacher is hilarious and lived in the US for 12 years. he actually lived in chicago, cincinnati, fort wayne and milwaukee. we basically went over the basics today and monday will start with the hardcore lessons. after that, piyal and i went to lunch with some girls we met yesterday. there is naomi who goes to a school in virginia i think (i cant remember its so hard to keep everybody straight), another girl named naomi who is from kansas city, missouri and is philipino, and margaret who is from Bloomington and goes to IU (which makes it nice to have someone to comiserate with). we went to this restaurant called cent focs and had the menu del dia. for those of you that dont know (which i didnt until a couple days ago...) this means that there are options for an appetizer, main course, and dessert, andyou pick one from each category. i had a salad with chicken, salchichas (sausage) with a salsa/sauce that i cant really describe but it was delicioso, and lemon sorbet for dessert. our meal also included water or wine, i went with water but tried some of the wine, and it was also quite good. after lunch the one naomi (non-philipino), piyal and i went back to the center for speed networking which was fun. i met some more people to hang out with, which is always a good thing. i then bought a cell phone, so for those of you that love me so much you dont mind the charges for a 5 minute phone call here, my number is: +34. 627116494 i then watched some street performers sing "i shot the sheriff" and then we went home. after our barrio tour we had dinner (macaroni minus the cheese with veggies, a tuna sandwich with tomatoe and lettuce and watermelon) and now here i am. im not really doing anything tonight because i have to be up and at the hard rock cafe by 8:45 tomorrow morning to meet my group to go to valencia. so, that is all for now, but i wont be able to write for a few days, but dont worry! i shall be back on sunday night/monday to give you every little detail of valencia.

p.s.
the club last night was pretty sweet, although most likely not a place i would go to again because it is in a very touristy area and it was all americans. im working on trying to find a good local place that real spanish people go to so i can meet them and utiliso mi espagnol (or lack thereof)