Barcelona is gigantic.

Hello friends and family!

It has been a bit since we last wrote and we have done so much in the meantime. We are still settling in to our villa but have enjoyed spending more 1-on-1 time with our villamates. One of the people, Greg, is the chef for the villa and has taken us under his wing. We have learned the fine techniques of crushing garlic, chopping onions, and peeling potatoes. Hopefully we graduate from the veggie preparations and can move on to the meats soon. But be thankful that we are learning this great skill so we can someday make food not prepared in the dorm.

One great thing about the villa is it´s proximity to the mountains surrounding Barcelona. After a steep 5-minute walk through the neighborhood, we are immediately connected to trails through the hillside. We have been on two hikes so far. One to a lookout tower overseeing Barcelona and its surrounding villages. The other through the hills and down to a nearby village. Its pretty phenomenal to see the city from this perspective.

We are still getting acclimated to the city of Barcelona. We spent one day wandering through the Gothic Quarter and roaming the narrow cobblestone streets. Another day we made it up into Montjuic, an old district of Barcelona containing many gardens, a castle and the 1992 Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately, we still haven´t found a way to upload pictures but we wish we could show you all the beautiful scenes.

We have discovered one great thing about Barcelona, and Spain in general, is the sunny weather and 75 cent bottles of wine. Hopefully everyone is doing well and managing to stay warm in snowy times.

Miss you and love you all!
- Alex plus kirsty equals spanish language experts.