Barcelona- The time has come

I almost got pickpocketed today.
Usually, I am VERY careful with my purse, always holding it against my side, making it impossible for this to happen. But I wasn’t on my guard in H&M today…. Two girls suddenly come up really closely to me, “looking” at clothing where I was. I immediately felt uncomfortable and turned to leave, and as I did, my purse lifted up off of me like someone was holding it, so I WHIPPED around and stared them down as the wenches quickly walked away. My purse was unlatched, and as I looked, I saw that I couldn’t find my camera… But when I looked at the ground, there it was. I caught them just in time, because if I hadn’t turned around when I had, which obviously freaked them out, I would have been camera-less. The same two girls then went up to my friend and “crowded” around what she was looking at, and she glared at them. Needless to say, I won’t ever let my guard down again.

Oh. And I found out that pickpocketing isn’t illegal in Barcelona unless it’s over 600 Euro. Unbelievable. And half of the students in every program get pickpocketed. HALF.

Ok, now for Barcelona…..

Oh. My. Goodness.
This is the most magnificent city I’ve ever visited. There is so much culture. You haven’t seen a “vibrant city” until you’ve seen Barcelona. There is so much modern architecture, especially by Gaudi, including La Sagrada Familia, Parque Guell, y muchos buildings more.
Today I got up really late, so I had about 20 minutes to get to the University downtown (which is a 20 minute walk). I only had time to throw on a Texas A&M tshirt and jeans, so consequently I screamed U.S. of A. I spent the morning taking a bus tour of Barcelona, then a few hours walking around the square downtown, and finally went to a 3 hour academic meeting before heading home. I think my “madre” knew how nasty I was because she immediately asked if I needed to take a shower before dinner. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll look a bit more decent.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take many photos since I knew I was going to be here for 3.5 more months… so here is the view of Barcelona from on top of a mountain (where the Olympics were held in 1992):