9.5 hours later...

I was invited by Maruxa to a party hosted by her closest friend last Saturday. It was a cookout. I was very excited to have my first experience of socializing with regular locals in a regular environment. I was a little aprehensive because Maru mentioned that there would be a lot of Spanish speakers there but I was totally game for the opportunity to meet more people. As it turned out there were several English speakers there and I also met two teachers. I met Maru at Diagonal where we caught the train to Horta...last stop. Id never been to Horta so I wasnt sure what to expect. When we arrived i found the neighborhood really something special. I could really feel the difference between the crazy hustle and bustle of the city center to this area...if felt more like a neighborhood should feel. There were shops yes, but more working class shops and apartment buildings but they had a feeling of being lived in by real families not just people making a temporary stop in Barcelona for a holiday. Overall I was really pleased by what I saw. I wasn't so pleased to discover that we had to walk up a very steep hill to get to the address we were looking for!