Bon dia a tots! And another one bites the dust (another week, that is!)
Well that was week 4 of my classes, and it was pretty intense. Before leaving Edinburgh, I had to choose the classes which I intended to take here in Barcelona. UPC (the Uni here) recommended that I took 20-25 ECTS credits, but nah, Edinburgh said I needed at least 30. So! I put myself down for 30 credits of Informaticsy things. Then when I arrived, of course I started Catalan Intensive Basic 1... which is finished this coming Friday, and I'm also down for Catalan Basic 2. To cut a long story short, this semester I would be ending up with 38 credits.
Of course, my timetable sucks big-time. I have two 11-hour days, two of the days start at 8am, a clash between two subjects , and solid blocks of 6,7 and 8 hours of classes with no breaks. I found last week, uni-wise, to be extremely tough going. I had an assignment which I was really difficult because in the lab session I fell behind everyone else trying to make sense of the technical mumbo jumbo in Catalan lying in front of me.
My Peripherals and Interfaces lab on Wednesday was also really difficult because of the Catalan (for some reason I'm fine with lectures in Catalan... I just get completely lost in the labs). On Wednesday night while still in classes at about 8.45pm I suddenly realised... WHY THE HELL AM I STILL HERE?!?
So I made the decision to get rid of one course... and I'll still be left with slightly more credits than I need anyway. Especially since my grades here won't count towards my degree classification, this wasn't a hard decision!
So, I emailed Edinburgh to see what they said... yes, no problem, go for it.
Emailed UPC to get taken off the list for PI; no, sorry, you cannot change your Matrícula after week one. WHAT?!?!?! Anyway after a bit of persuasion they have made an exception or something and have taken me out of the course.
If anyone reading this is coming to the UPC ? it's a great university but beware! Don't take on too much work because you might not be able to get rid of it!
There is light at the end of the tunnel though, this coming Friday I'll be finished the intensive Catalan and PI will be gone, so things should hopefully be more manageable.
Aside from all this university nonsense, what else have I been up to? Hmm...
On Tuesday night I went to a club called Sidecar with a bunch of Spaniards from my residence for an Anti-Karaoke night. It was not what I expected at all (for example, there were no drunken renditions of Angels, Brown Eyed Girl,or Bohemian Rhapsody. Here's a wee video to give you an idea
..
So yeah, that was fun. Less fun, on Wednesday I went to get my infamous NIE/DNI number (Número de Identidad de Extranjero). As advised, I got up early and went and queued outside the police station for an hour before it opened... what they say is true, it is a complete performance from start to finish. Basically it took me from 8am to 12 noon to get a print-out with a number on it... waiting in this queue, going to another police station, trying to find a bank which will let me pay the fee, going back, queueing again. But, it's done now, and I met some nice people waiting in line too! My advice ? make this priority number one, get it out of the way as soon as you arrive in Barcelona... you won't regret it.
On Friday I went out for dinner to an all you can eat buffet place, but I didn't "salir de marcha" for a change, because on Saturday morning I was catching the Renfe to Port Aventuras!
Port Aventuras, a.k.a Universal Mediterranean (where the Halloween festivities have already started!) Having been to Universal in Florida, Port Aventuras wasn't quite as good. It was more like Alton Towers (not that there's anything wrong with Alton Towers!). Anyway, really fun day! They have some awesome rides, including Furius Baco which goes from 0 to 135km h-1 in 3 seconds.
On Sunday I went to the cinema to see a pelí... "Reflejos." I think the English version is called Mirrors, but, being in Spain, I wouldn't know! As usual with this type of movie, I jamp* out of my seat like a million times, but it was a good laugh! Here's the trailer: (*Yes, I know jamp isn't a word.)
Looking back at when I went to see Ché, El Argentino back in Orientation Week, I understood about 600% more of the Spanish in Reflejos... which is a good feeling! I pretty much understood the lot, yay. 
I must be making progress. Well, I am. Still not fluent though, but patience laddy!
Afterwards we went to a Pizza Fiore for tea, and I must say... YUM. I don't think I ever want to go to Pizza Hut ever again!
Anyway that's it for today!
