Miss Independent

It has been a while since I have written an entry. I just don't find it completely necessary to write in it until something interesting happens. Otherwise my blog would be very boring. Anyway, I would just like to announce that I finally have gone out and made friends. Most of you already know this because I have posted pictures about it. To continue, the first friends that I made were in the complex in which my flat is located: Catherine and Caitlin. Catherine is from Montreal, Quebec and will leave in about two and a half weeks unfortunately. Caitlin is from the UK and has already left Barcelona to go with her host family to Costa Brava which is North of Barcelona and is a very popular "holiday" destination (I'd like to visit it some time in the future!). Last Thursday, Catherine, Caitlin and I went out for drinks (yes, DRINKS) and dinner at a restaurant along the beach and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect and the food (although slightly overpriced) was yummy. And plus, I made my first purchase of an alcoholic beverage, but I wasn't asked to see my ID which was slightly disappointing. But, I've realized no one has asked thus far which kinda makes it seem like that as long as you look the age, you got the booze.

It was seriously such a fun time and great to finally have some girl time again. Lately, I have noticed that I have been keeping my guard up-- Not because I'm uncomfortable, but because I'm trying to maintain a level of professionalism (well, as professional as I can be as an au pair) and be a role model for the kids at all times. It was just really relieving being able to be myself 100%.

On Friday night, Catherine and I went to Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas to eventually meet up with another au pair named Julia who is from Germany. We left earlier in order to get where we needed to be in time and to get dinner. Except here, they call "dinner" "supper." Bringin' it back to my Oklahoma roots! So Catherine and I ate at a restaurant along the Ramblas where I had to pay around 11 Euros for my meal, not too bad for the other restaurant prices in that area of Barcelona. But we ended up not getting water because in Barcelona, NO ONE SELLS TAP WATER!!! Instead, you have to buy bottled water which is bad for two reasons: it costs me 3 Euros for it, which is around $4.20 and it is totally not great for the environment for the unnecessary amounts of packaging and plastic. Regardless, the food was delicious and I had my first Spanish tapas! 

After we ate, we went out for drinks and to meet Julia, whereupon we were introduced to some lovely Norwegian boys who were traveling around Europe and ended up buying our drinks. It was great. That night I stayed the night at the flat in which Julia's host parents allow her to stay in over the weekend since she is located in a village 30 miles outside of Barcelona city. The next day we got to know the city a little better and met up with some more au pairs: Sydney and Louise. Sydney is from Eugene, Oregon and Lousie is from Denmark. We ended up going out with them that night which was also lots of fun. However, no boys offered to pay for our drinks this time ): 

All in all, this weekend was great and I am so happy I got the opportunity to go out and adventure with some really fun girls. Unfortunately, I must cut my blog short (although I could write so much more) because Hector is bugging me to go to the park with him. Let it be known that I am incredibly tired and have zero energy for this right now. But yet, I feel obligated. So here I go.