ZaragoZZZZZa

I'm really needing to head to bed right about now as my TEFL program starts tomorrow but had to brag about the wonderful weekend I spent in Zaragoza with my friend Nate. Last minute, Nate asked me to come and visit since he's been living and teaching English in Zaragoza til Jan and we were both stoked to be living in the same country and doing pretty much the same thing! It's about a 3.5 hour bus ride which was surprisingly easy to figure out. The bus station in Barcelona is like 30 mins from my apartment and there were assigned seats, which was great to not have to beat someone up for a good seat. It was hilarious- we watched the movie Sahara with Penelope Cruz but it was in Catalan and with Castellano subtitles, haha! Someone behind me had Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" ringtone so I felt quite at home.

Zaragoza is a lot smaller than Barcelona but it's really compact so you can walk or take the bus everywhere. Nate gave me a tour and we saw the gorgeous and HUGE cathedral, I think it was, which almost looked like it had minarets and should be in Istanbul. After having some tapas, watching a bit of TV and hanging out with his 2 spanish roommates for a bit, we hit up a dinner place that specialized in Aragon cuisine, which is the region where Zaragoza is in. We then went out to some gringo bar where some girls randomly came up to us and were like, "are you guys americans?! we LOVE america!!" so it was slightly awkward and hilarious at the same time. It's always a bit odd meeting other Americans, I seem to feel painful aware of the cultural american stereotypes when I meet people, since I'm always paranoid I'm a walking one myself! We then ended up going to a ton of bars and clubs with his friends and roommates until about 4 AM, so it was a really awesome time. I love that he is living in Spain because he really understands what I'm doing through, and I'm excited for when he can visit Barcelona.

I headed home this afternoon and met up with this one girl that a good friend of mine, Erin, randomly told me is in the same program as me! Her name is Stacy and she just got to Barcelona yesterday so we went near La Rambla, which is almost too touristy for me, but just grabbed some tapas and chatted. It's nice to know one person in my program for tomorrow, and I think she's only here for the month. 

Interesting observation: I discovered that even though we were only hanging out for about an hour or so and speaking English since she doesn't speak Spanish, a huge part of me really missed speaking in Spanish, even just for that hour. It's like a constant challenge for me, and one that I really really enjoy. I already love this city so much, it's impossible not to be intoxicated by the architecture, the quick and clean metro, the different parts of the city I have yet to explore.

Onwards to my class tomorrow, wish me luck!