Brown on the outside, white on the inside.

Instructions on the label: Try Filipinos after one hour in the fridge.

Lovely.

Attended Bodycombat for the first time here. It was all in Spanish, but they used the key phrases (jab, uppercut, and cross) in English - thank god! I persevered, and I actually thought I was better than some of the Spaniards.

Then had a tapas dinner at Ciutat Comtal. It's one of the most packed restaurants along Rambla Catalunya, and upon the recommendation of a classmate, I decided to try it out. All the waiters were Filipino, and the waiter by the bar almost dropped the glass he was holding when I started talking to him in Tagalog. He's been living in Barcelona for almost 8 years and almost all of them are from Batangas. They all speak perfect Spanish. Amazing.

I ordered the bacon brochette with dates and figs, the mini hamburguesa with sauteed onions and confit, and the alcachofas laminada (fried artichokes). All AMAZING! I paid only 12 euros, which included un copa cerveza!

Address: Rambla Catalunya, 18

My first meal in Barcelona was in this beautiful restaurant. Jordi and Kate picked me up from my hostel and brought me straight to lamb heaven. The restaurant logo is a baby lamb. So, there's no mistaking that the specialty is the lamb asado.

According to their website, they cook Churra sheep from the Aranda region in a traditional clay oven, which you can see in the restaurant. It comes out so succulently tender that it actually tastes like roasted chicken, and everything falls off the bone. Yummy!

The blood sausage was also terrific. They cook it with rice and the consistency is absolutely amazing.

The restaurant is housed in a beautiful modernist building.

It was so good that I came back the next day with Kris and Theresa. I went to another branch though, this time within spitting distance to my hotel and to Plaza Catalunia.

Website

Branches:
Avda del Tibidabo, 31 (934 170 115)
Pau Claris, 70 (933 425 577)

The lowcost airlines are on sale this week and I booked a couple of flights to Madrid, London, Granada and Paris. This will all happen between mid-Feb to March so I'm really excited. Hopefully, I won't get kicked out of school.

I love www.skyscanner.net - the european kayak.com!!!

I've not been getting enough lately. And it's not my insomnia coming back, thankfully. It's because the place I got is too close to the main tourist area in Barcelona. I thought it would be a great way to experience the city, but now I'm kinda regretting it.

It's actually great during the day, but after midnight, the drunks especially like to roam my street. And that means a lot of alcohol-inebriated talking, which means it's several octaves above normal. This goes on to about 5am when they leave the clubs.

Then at 8am, the church across from my apartment starts ringing it's bells every 30 minutes for the entire day. This is followed by the shops opening their metal grills at around 11am.

Viva Barcelona!

The other day was the Feast of Three Kings here. It's a bigger deal here than it is in Manila, and they had a huge parade along Via Laeitana on the eve of with kids dressed as the three kings in floats throwing candy. In true Three Kings' fashion, the Spaniards give each other gifts on this day as well. It was a public holiday as well so most shops were closed.

The day after though is probably the biggest shopping day in Spain. Everything was pretty much on sale, and the crowds were CRAZY. Since I didn't bring much stuff with me and since the past few days have been REALLY COLD, I went to Celio and bought some (ie. a lot) of clothes. I also got myself a pair of sneakers from the Adidas Originals store across the street. Then I went to Zara Home to get some more stuff for my flat. I also signed up for a gym. BFF was right when he doubted that I would survive when he saw how little I was bringing with me to Barcelona. So much for being a starving student!

Anyway, since I did so much walking in really cold weather, I'm paying for it now because I'm feeling sick.

Oh well.

This is supposedly the biggest food market in Europe (surprisingly), and it's just about a 5 min walk from my place. They sell all sorts of stuff - from candy to artichokes to ostrich eggs.

There are also several food stalls where you can cozy up and order stuff. Kris and I went to Bar Boqueria, towards the back of the market. Great tapas place, and no menus so it's turo-turo style. Half of the waiters are Filipino, and when I tried to take home our leftovers, they embarassingly explained that the owner doesn't allow take outs kasi tinotopak daw paminsan-minsan.

Kris had the seafood plate, which I can't have because I'm allergic. A plate for one person is good enough for two. The chorizo was yummy!



Location: Boqueria Market, La Rambla

Pictures grabbed from Kris!

This legendary cafe was the hangout of Picasso. The place gets pretty crowded, and the service can be spotty. But the place is really interesting. High ceilings, really dark interiors.

I had churros con chocolate here with Kate and Jordi on my first day in Barca.

Location: Montsio, 3B, Barcelona


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Apparently, Obama was in Manila...



Having a meal...



( With who? Find out after the jump... )

It's the last day of school, which means it's Follies Night. As is customary, we always get a couple of drinks before/during/after Follies to help us get through the not-so-funny jokes and the not-so-visually-appealing dance numbers (ie. pudgy MBA's dancing in tights - WTF!)

Anyway, after 1 tequila shot, 1 glass of wine, and 4(?) glasses of beer, I was walking along College Walk with BFF at around 1230am and a couple of undergrad girls pass us.

Girl #1: Hey, do you guys know where the party is?

Me: It's everywhere.

Girls: Bwahahahahaha!