I have arrived!!

Hello all,

I won't keep you in suspense any longer, I made it just fine. The flights and cab ride to the dorm were all very easy, although I feel like we have very little direction or supervision from IES. They basically told us what to tell the cab driver to get to the dorm and said we were on our own today. . . So my roommate (Ryan) and I took the bus down to La Plaza Catalunya and walked around before dinner for about an hour. We finally stopped at a tapas bar and had some dinner. I got a small bowl of chick peas and chorizo, some French bread with Spanish ham on it, and some more French bread with a fried ball of mashed potatoes filled with a meat ball. Suffice it to say they were all delicious. I washed it all down with my first legal beer of my life (and didn't even get carded). The dorm is very nice and seems pretty new (see the pictures below), but it is a little far from where my classes will be. The bus ride takes about 20 minutes each way for 1.40 Euros. Other than that, I haven't really gotten much opportunity to look around for art and architecture yet, because today we really just wanted to get out of the dorm after being on airplanes all day. I will be sure to update with more details about the city as I explore more of it.

That's all for now. I have orientation starting tomorrow for the next three days, so I will let you all know what that consists of. Other than that, hope all is well state-side.

Adios,

Evan