A trip to Barcelona City

So yesterday we (Tonia and I) decided to go (yet again) to Barcelona...


But first we went by the university as I had to check on some cells [3 out of many were contaminated - Boohooo!:( ]

anyway, we took the FGC (a type of train) from the UAB (uni) to Plaza Catalunya to meet up with my great friend Amelia (funny picture with crappy definition of her taken yesterday with my phone + prettier picture of us last summer)

When Tonia and I went to the FGC, there was a train comming, the one for our destination! So we rant to buy the tickets, but the machine wasnt colaborating... (Oh Crap!)... So we lost the train...

then we passed the tickets by the stupid machines and went in... only to realize the train we wanted to catch was not the one that had just passed...

In the words of Tonia "it was a message of God, for the machines not to work, so that we didn't catch the wrong train!" Very wise, I must say...

So as we had already gone in the wrong side of the tracks and paid the bloody ticket, we were then trying to determine what to do (as we needed to be on the other side - in theory we had to go back out, pay for a new ticket and go back in on the other side)
Off course that was NOT what we did... we simply went across the railway to the other side - no harm done :) - with a lot of care off course... But seriously, it was too damn funny! And below, is the picture showing the steps we had to climb to actually get into the platform on the other side (and me "attached") hehehe



When we finally arrived to Barcelona, we met up with Amelia and went around the "ciutat Vella" and "barri Gotic" where all the shops are (Yey! more shopping!)
Anyway, sometime in the middle, we stopped 'Cuz Amelia found a friend... and just picture exactly where I stopped.. (clue: Look on the picture) Yup, that right, right under one of those huge tubes the construction workers use to send rocks and trash and whatever else down... Nice!



Anyway, we continued going around, searching for some things Tonia wanted to buy (not specified, but very interesting ones)

And we came across some very interesting shop displays (typical of the wierd Catalan "culture")
here are some shots...











Then we just went to Amelias' and had a nice Pizza and Movies evening, with some fun attached!=)
A nice saturday afternoon - more to come soon!=)

Tonias Affair with the washing machine

Ok, so we all know that its hard when you move in on your own or with friends and u actually have to start doing the house chores 'cuz there is no one else to do it for you...

so, here is the classical example: "why is the washing machine taking ages to wash my clothes? Its not working, it has stopped! I am going to open the door and get my clothes out!"

and the result is..... (no need for words.. the pictures speak for themselves!!!)

Sunday @barcelona (sorry for delay)

Its been a while since i last posted! ive been so busy that I really hadn't had time to write anything, so where was I???

Ahh! I remember, going to Barcelona on a Sunday...

Well, since it was Tonias Bday (well the actual day of her Bday, we sang "happy bday" at midnight) we decided to go shopping on sunday.. sales and all that!

What was our surprise when we got there, it was about 11am, and all the bloody stores were closed... annnnd..... the streets were a complete desert!

we were so crushed by the idea of a day doing nothing.. in any case, we decided not to let it get to us.. so we went on a walk to the "passeo de Gracia", which basically has 2 (if not more) of the well known houses designed by Gaudi: "Casa Batló" and "La Pedrera".

I must say, I completely love Gaudis' work!its so different from any other thing, and strangely enough, it fits "just right" to anyones needs and comfort!










anyway, we wend around that walk, looked at those pretty houses, and came back down..had a coffee (really expensive and horrible coffee).
when we got back down, we decided to go down the "Ramblas", which were now filling up with tourists (the shops may be closed, but not the tourist sites... figure that out! these shops must be loosing money by the dozen... dumb people!)

anyway... it was the weekend before carvaval! (here, they celebrate it on the friday, whilst in portugal is on the tuesday) it was crazy! people everywhere, dressed up, giving away food... very nice!
Tonia and I were now in a better mood!
Also, if you don't know, at the ramblas there is these "statue people" that normally act or something when u give them a coin... there is a vampire, ronaldo, cowbow, flower woman,... nearly everything u can think off! well... tonia and I decided to take a pick with a "very special lady!" (i will not comment on this! LOOL)

and one more thing (well, actually 2) made our day!
1- there was 1 single shopping center open , and we were walking towards it (weee.. sales, here we go!)
2- we had a great lunch at the "hard rock cafe!"










needless to say, we had a ball, in the end! and a full tummy with great hard rock food!
we got back home completely dead from walking around, but happy and carrying bags with some bargains! =)

Ahh, barcelona! the town that hasn't put me down yet!=)

(anyway,enough break from essay reading/writting.. back to work!:( ) ill update when there is more fun stories, or whenever something else happens that is worth "taking note of!" =)

Until then...xxxx

Tonia's 21st!

Ok, so on the 27th of January Tonia turned 21! Yey!




Under her mothers "orders" I put up a banner and got her a cake (that was supposed to be ice cream) and we all (the italians and I) sang "Happy Bday!" on saturday night!










The interesting and funny thing was that the Ice cream cake was not really ice cream (so little me, thinking about ice cream put the bloody cake in the freezer... little did I know that the ice cream cake was just like any other... You'll see what happened on the photos.. Oh well! it was some good laughs!














Btw, we also had unchilled champagne due to my lack of memory! (the italians made the honors to open the bottle!=)) - On the left Filipos and on the right Giaime

we ended up eating not very good Ice Cake and drinking hot champagne... but it was fun, we got to hang out a bit with the guys, speaking a mix of english and spanish (as tonia doesnt speak much spanish and Giaime although understands english, doesnt speak it)... anyway, it was nice!=)

Next post - our trip to Barcelona... on a Sunday! (Bad idea!:P)

Arriving to Barcelona

Ok, so basically I arrived to Barcelona on the 6th January... and you're thinking... "well thats a long time to take from actually getting there and starting to write the blog!"

Unfortunately, when I arrived, I had some exams to write until the 21st January and it was all studying until then... and the day after, i started my wonderful honors project entitled
"Recognition by NKT cells of aGalCer analogues presented by CD1d "


I am now 1 week and half into the project (or at least getting the hang of where the things are in the lab and so on) and am on my way to writing my fantastic introductory essay (bohooo! lots of reading involved) :(

In any case, too much detail for an introductory post to my new blog! Im gonna start from the beginning now!

I came to barcelona in ERASMUS for my last semester in my undergrad degree. And the project is being done at the UAB (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona) which is somehow not very near to Barcelona centre!

I am living in a nice big house in a small town near the university called Cerdanyola del Vallés, very nice! my room is very nice and big, with a lot of space (for my own "happiness") and lot of light!

So this was my room on the 1st day I arrived and after cleaning it a bit! =) now its a bit different, with some pictures on the walls and stuff!

I came here with TonTon! My best friend from Uni, and she is also living in the same house, which makes it all a lot more fun!=) We are also sharing the flat with a couple of italians, very nice guys! (I shall post some pictures of them when I actually take pics of them) and for a week a German guy was also here, but left as his time in Barcelona was coming to an end.

My supervisor is a cool guy (I can consider myself lucky!) he has been very comprehensive and helpful ever since the start of my time here, and he is a lot of fun tooo! Ill also post a picture of him here when I have the time. And the technician (Pepi) is a huge laugh as well! she only speaks spanish, which makes it interesting for me to actually understand anything she says, but i kinda manage to do it (God know how!).

A peculiarity of this spanish town : people actually take out the "siesta" from 1pm until 5 pm all stores (in Cerdanyola) are closed!!! well, at least they are open after 5pm, so when i leave the lab ill be able to actually go somewhere and shop!:P yeye! (unlike the UK!)

I think I should stop for now! I will write soon enough about TonTon's Bday and Our trip to Barcelona on a Sunday! (Bad idea to go shopping in BCN onn a sunday! All is closed:S but we had fun!!!=))

Bye... for now!