Day 1 of 105

My mom and I arrived in Barcelona with little trouble and headed over to our hotel, Arc de las Ramblas on Las Ramblas. We got in way earlier than check-in but they let us have our room early. We have a nice room with a balcony over Las Ramblas. There are so many street performers here! I thought Madrid had a lot, and wow was I wrong. There are at least 4 every block. And they also have pet vendors in the street too! I found cute baby turtles, chipmunks, and even turkeys you could buy. Very interesting. There is so much to do here it is unbelievable. And the Mediterranean is so warm, much better beach weather than Santander. Although, to be honest, the beaches and city there is much cleaner and overall nicer, plus it is less touristy.

On day one we just explored the city a bit, very confusing since nothing is in a grid, everything is in complicated diagonals. And we also looked at the school, UPF as well as the apartment I will stay in. It is nothing extravagant at all but it will do for the few months. Right now I will be living alone, although there is one more room to rent out so we shall see! Hopefully someone nice and preferably female who speaks Spanish! haha.

Oh, we also learned while sitting at a little café that it is illegal here to photograph the police! We thought that strange, but at least they didn’t see us and just our server did otherwise they confiscate the camera. My mom also got yelled at in Spanish for taking a picture of a street performer because we later found out they are illegal, plus they are a trick and rip people off. She decided no more photos for a while :)