FELIZ NAVIDAD!

First of all, a hearty BONES FESTES and BON NADAL to all, the Christmas lights are on in Barcelona! I am so incredibly happy. I thought I was really wanting to be home, but considering the lighter-than-air ecstasy I am currently experiencing, I think I just wanted it to be Christmas. OH MY GOD. Barcelona looks so good! The "Christmas tree" (it's a palm. I know.) and the nativity set are still in the process of being put up, and the Christmas fair doesn't open until this weekend, but THE LIGHTS ARE ON! I was bummed this morning because I tried to listen to Christmas music on my walk to school, but since it was 55 and extremely sunny, I just couldn't get into the mood. But after my 5:30 class today, I walked out into Placa Catalunya and it was cold, windy, cloudy, and COVERED IN CHRISTMAS LIGHTS, so I knew the time had come. I spent an hour just wandering around the city, listening to Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, and of course Elvis (haha), and admiring all the wonderfully tacky and over-the-top decorations. The city is at least twice as bright now. Also! It started to rain on this walk! Barcelona was basically giving me everything I wanted - now if it could transplant my friends, family, and Rimsky's over here, I would never leave.

I had coffee with a girl from my lit class and my Spanish class today to "work" on our presentation, but we ended up just talking about Barcelona for an hour. She lives in a dorm with other Spanish students, and even she said that she can't make friends with them. She says the other students avoid them and clearly don't want to be friends, with the exception of a couple 16 year old boys from southern Spain who want to be more than just their friends. So that made me feel much better about the fact that 13 weeks have passed and I have no Catalan friends, unless you want to count Paula, Gonzalo, Pablo, and their cousins who stop by relatively often, Erik and Kirian. And of course, Carlota and Tomas, but I do prefer having toilet-trained friends.

School is stressing me out hardcore right now. Not so hardcore enough that I am studying much, but just enough to make me want to eat Nutella from the jar while hiding in my bed. Ha, this semester. Oh dear. Next semester will be ROUGH. Anyway. My grades are all riding on the events of the following two weeks, and that is very stressful. There is literally nothing else to balance them out, except in my Spanish class, where I have gotten As on everything so far (woo hoo for Spanish class). This brings up several points I have been wanting to make about school here. Actually, the points are completely unrelated to grades and finals, except that they're about school. One. Students drink beer all the time. You wouldn't think this would be so weird, but it is. Because when I leave my first class at 11 am, there are beer cans literally strewn about the quad-like thing. AT ELEVEN AM. Two. I think I've said this, but everyone speaks Catalan around me. And in my art history class, people give presentations in Catalan all the time. Bilingualism is weird. Three. Everyone smokes. I have seen groups of four or five people literally leaning against the giant (7 feet high), red no-smoking sign. Ummm there were many more, I'm sure. I can't remember right now. Oh! How about that about half the class has their motorcycle helmet on the desk next to them!

Anyway I feel bipolar because I just went from a morning of "sad, I can't even listen to Christmas music because it's so nice out... if only I was at home..." to an evening of "OH MY GOD CHRISTMAS IN BARCELONA I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE HOW GREAT THIS IS." But since it's ending on a high note, I feel no need to question it.