My Study Abroad!: Catching Up

I have a lot of catching up to do!

I realized I never blogged about Casa Mila. Camille, Hutton, Sarah and I went last Monday.

Last Wednesday Camille and I had our first experience with pickpocketing (luckily unsuccessful). Camille was getting money out of an ATM on Las Ramblas, and I was next to her, facing the street. There were two kids ten feet away with clipboards looking at each other, and then Camille and me. They started to head our way, so I tightened my grip on my bag knowing something wasn't right. The boy shoved his clipboard in front of my face, then asked in broken English if I was an American tourist and told me to read and sign some sheet. The girl then shoved her clipboard in front of Camille's face, while Camille was in the middle of depositing money. We tried to tell them to leave, but they refused to do so until two doormen at the hotel next door saw what is going on. The doormen yelled at the kids, forcing them to leave. The doormen told Camille and me that the kids are Romanians who pickpocket. Right after the incident, we saw the two kids talk to their mom, who is one of the street beggars with the hair wraps (the same lady I saw the next day get questioned by the police). I am still a little shocked by the kids - I have never had anyone try to steal from me before!

The same day Aly, Camille, Emily, CJ and I went to the Castle Montjuic. The castle has been around since 1640 and was primarily used to repress the Catalunya people during two centuries. Political prisoners stayed at the castle under Franco, and in 1940 Lluis Companys, the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, was executed at the castle.