It’s day 104 in Barcelona. My program ends Saturday. I’ve already said goodbye to some friends and more goodbyes are creeping up quickly. This has been the most exciting, exhausting, unforgettable four months of my life and I can’t believe it is already coming to an end.
It’s bittersweet. I love it here. I love Barcelona. I love the Spanish life. I love my new best friends. But all good things must come to an end and I think I am okay with it. I don’t have a single regret and wouldn’t go home a day earlier than planned, but also not a day later. This lifestyle is exhausting.
Best friends: Lindsay, Mari, Shannon, Stephanie, Lindsey and me
I’m okay with going home soon because I feel as if I have not slept since my flight to Barcelona on January 12th. I have taken every opportunity given to me and seen, what feels like, the world. I’ve learned about myself. I’ve learned about others. I’ve learned about the world. I came. I saw. I conquered.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
It all still seems so unreal. However, while I say it is coming to an end, I don’t exactly mean end…
My program is ending, my friends are leaving, and I’m moving out of my beloved room 323, but I have a month of adventures ahead of me. At 9 am on May 1, Shannon, Lindsay R., Lindsey O. and I will all go to the airport together. I’m sure the tears will be flowing as Lindsay R. returns to Pennsylvania and Lindsey O. returns to Washington, but Shannon and I will fly to Prague. Thus beginning my month of “backpacking” through Europe. Here is what my schedule looks like for the month…
My crazy month
It’s likely that my blogs won’t be as up to date while I’m gone, but I will share my adventures as soon as I get a break from Czeching out Prague, discovering the Berlin Wall, spending time with family across Spain, seeing the end of the world (before America) in Lisbon and soaking up the sun along Costa Blanca, Spain.
On May 31 I’ll be on the 8am flight to Colorado 🙂
I’ll spend this week studying for finals–yes, I was actually taking a few classes while I was here. After studying, I’ll try to squeeze the rest of my souvenirs into my suitcases and prepare for my adventures…
Friday is the last day with friends, we have plans to go sailing, drink sangria on the beach and go to Font Magica. Followed by tears, I’m sure.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller
Best friends: Lindsay, Mari, Shannon, Stephanie, Lindsey and me
On Friday we went on our final CEA excursion to the Salvador Dali Museum and the town of Girona, Spain. The Museum is in Figueres, about 1 and a half hours from Barcelona, where Dali was born. I love the museum, Dali has such a wide variety of work so it was really interesting. I was excited to see “The Persistence of Memory” one of his most famous works, unfortunately, once at the museum I learn that this painting is actually housed at The Met in New York City.
I think my favorite piece in the museum was one that was an optical illusion. Up close, and to the naked eye, the painting looked like the back of a naked woman, with squares all around. When I put my camera up to take a picture, it transformed into the face of Abraham Lincoln! It was sooo cool and unexpected. The further you move away from the paining the easier it is to see Lincoln’s face. Another of my favorites was a room with furniture constructed to look like the face of Mae West (see the photo).
For those of you that are not familiar with Dali, here is a little of his background that I learned:
*He lived from 1904-1989.
*His brother, who passed away before Dali’s birth, was also named Salvador.
The Face of Mae West
*He presented his first exhibition at age 15.
*He studied at La Escuela de Bellas Artes in Madrid where he met his lover Federico Garcia Lorca.
*However, Dali was asexual and was taught that sexual actions were horrible at a young age and never took part.
*Later he met Russian wife (whom he also never had sex with). She was Helena Diakova, but was famously known as Gala and at the time was married to poet Paul Eluard.
*Dali signed many of his pieces “Gala Salvador Dali” because he consider them one.
*Dali is buried in the Dali Museum, downstairs, right next to the toilets.
Finally, a weekend in Barcelona. It was well needed and appreciated. It was relaxing, but still busy. It’s so hard to relax here because it seems like time is being wasted! There is always something to do or see. The title of this blog “T’estimo Barcelona” means “I love you Barcelona” in Catalan and this weekend reminded me that I love it here. I love every where I have traveled, but Barcelona is home 🙂
On Friday, it was chilly and cloudy, but we decided to wander through some cute streets we found when we went to the Chocolate Museum. It eventually turned into El Born neighborhood and a little of Barrio Gotic, two of my favorite areas in Barcelona. We didn’t really have a destination in mind, just wandered, it was nice. That afternoon Shannon left for Scotland to visit a friend; it was kind of nice having the room to myself, I had some well-needed “me” time between other excursions. Later that afternoon, Lindsay, Stephanie and I went to the Aquarium! My guide book said it would cost 10 euros for students, but it must be outdated. It ended up costing 15 euros, but since we went all the way there we still did it. Unfortunately, I had a camera issue and all of my photos from the aquarium were deleted before they made it to my computer 😦 (The one on this blog is stolen from Lindsay). It was fun, but just like any other aquarium, so I thought it was a bit expensive.
El Born
That night we went back to the bar L’Ovella Negra for 5 euro Sangria pitchers mmmm. Then eventually to Shocko, a club on the beach. I have missed Barcelona nightlife 🙂 When we’re traveling our nights are pretty low-key because we do so much during the days.
El Born
Saturday was my favorite. Sometimes I go running along the waterfront and I always see people on roller blades, so the thought has been in my mind for a while. The three of us girls found a place to rent them for 7 euros for 2 hours. IT WAS SO FUN! It was such a beautiful sunny, warm day. I was in leggings and a T-shirt for the most part. We went all along the waterfront to Poble Nou, then back by the beach and to Port Vell. We pretty much went anywhere there was smooth ground. We were all exhausted after and today I’m a bit sore! It was such a fun workout, I plan to do it a lot more often.
El Born
After our workout we decided we really wanted a nice hearty American dinner….aka Hard Rock Cafe 🙂 Unfortunately, when we got there around 9p.m., there was an hour and a half wait! I couldn’t believe it, I was way to hungry to wait that long. We decided to wonder down LaRamblas to find somewhere else. I will never eat on the La Ramblas again. It is really touristy and known to be more expensive, so our original plan was to take a side street to find a restaurant. But before finding a street to turn on we found what we thought was a great deal. It was a delicious-sounding menu de la dia for 11 euros. Well drinks were not included, luckily I just ordered a water. Lindsay had a beer for 6.50 and Stephanie had juice for 5.60. The food wasn’t great and assured me that not matter how many times I try it, I don’t really like Paella.
Today, it was another beautiful day so I just took a long walk by myself with my iPod. It was nice. Sundays are great in Spain, everyone is out with their family taking walks or plaing Bocci ball. Later, my other friend Lindsey returned from her trip (she went to Copenhagen to visit a cousin for the weekend). We were trading stories from our weekend then both mentioned that we were hungry…and she mentioned the Hard Rock. Next thing I knew we were enjoying the loud American music devouring burgers. It was so hearty and satisfying. I’m so full and have half left for dinner!
El Born
All of my midterms are over now, so this week at school should be a little more relaxing. I’m trying to get ahead though because CEA takes us to San Sebastian this weekend and Spring Break is the following weekend!
Last night, CEA provided us with more cultural immersion! We attended a Flamenco Show. My pictures are a little blurry because we couldn’t use a flash, but I think they turned out pretty cool. In case you don’t know, here is a description of the Spanish dance….
Flamenco is a folk art from Spain; in fact, a whole culture. Furthermore, it is native not to all Spain, but just to one part of it: the region of Andalucà a. Historically, it has always been the musical outlet of the poor and oppressed. It was passed on by oral tradition, which the individual artist uses as the basis for his own variations.
More at the show
Flamenco is a tripartite art, involving singing, dance and guitar simultaneously, as well as rhythmic punctuation (by hand claps and other methods, such as the “cajón”) that is considered an art in its own right. There are different styles or “palos” within flamenco, which have generic names such as seguiriyas, soleares, alegrà as, malagueñas, fandangos, rondeñas, bulerà as… They are defined by characteristic melodic, rhythmic and harmonic structures; each has a characteristic mood and many are regional variants of essentially similar forms.
I really enjoyed the show! The dancing looked so fun, it inspired my friends and I to learn. We’re currently on the search for Flamenco classes in Barcelona. I’m just not sure if my feet and hips can keep up with it!
A friend mentioned it so I had to go! Shannon, Lindsay, Lindsey and I went last week and learned about the history of chocolate. Our 3 euro entrance ticket was a delicious dark chocolate bar. I was already happy I went. It was interesting; walking through, we learned that Barcelona was the entry port of chocolate into Europe and that Switzerland is the highest consumer of chocolate in the world followed by Great Britain, Germany and the US. We also learned some of the typical Catalan chocolate recipes. But rather than bore you with the historical information this will be a photo blog. There were amazing chocolate sculptures throughout the museum….
When I got home I stumbled across some other chocolate history. I learned that the Swiss invited milk chocolate. Coincidentally, I was just in Switzerland and enjoyed my share of milk chocoalte…I have to say it was quite delicious! 🙂
This week CEA has helped me to become a true Spaniard. I ate tapas, drank wine and watched futbol.
On Wednesday, we had our CEA “Tapas Experience”. Forty of us piled into cute a restaurant in the back streets of Barcelona (I wish I remembered the name, but they are supposed to e-mail us with all of the information soon). A woman who worked at the restaurant prepared a powerpoint presentation to explain each of our five tapa and wine pairings. Yes, wine…so much for the CEA “no alcohol” policy. We learned a lot about wine and why it was paired with each food. First was gazpacho, a cold tomato soup, paired with an acidic sparkling white wine. ¡Era muy delicioso! Next, we had sparkling red wine paired with mussels in a tomato onion sauce. I never knew I liked mussels until now! Third was white wine paired with a potato-cabbage sort of cake. Next was red wine (my least favorite of the 5), paired with a “spicy” pork sausage on a piece of toast. Spicy is relative term, spicy to a Spaniard is bland to an American, at least to me. The final dish was my favorite. It was a piece of cheese on a toast with quince jelly paired with a delicious and sweet dessert wine. I love the combination of sweet and salty. It was nice to be taken to a tapas place and get the right dishes. There are tapas restaurants on every corner, but we have never been sure if what we are getting is authentic and/or considered good food. This restaurant was definitely better than most I have been to.
Next up was the futbol game, so of course, we had to buy Barcelona attire before we attended! We went to Las Ramblas and found some souvenir shops where I was able to bargain a 30 euro T-shirt to 12 euros (proud Dad?). Unfortunately, I didn’t try it on and apparently in Spain, small means small. My shirt was made for a ten year old, but I put a long sleeve shirt under it and made it work, after all I got it for half price. I’m in a class called Sport and Culture of Contemporary Spain and coincidentally had the opportunity to tour the stadium on Thursday. Unfortunately, it was raining so the tour was wet and my pictures aren’t great, but it was still interesting. It was cool to see the stadium empty then return two days later with all of the fans. FC Barca (Football Club Barcelona) played Getafe, a team from Madrid. We (Barca) won 2-1. It was 2-0 most of the game, but Getafe scored on a penalty kick in the final seconds.
It was a lot of fun, but not quite what I expected. We thought CEA would have all of our tickets together, so we would all be jumping around cheering together. Well, our seats were spread throughout the nosebleed sections. My seat wasn’t even next to the girls I checked in with! Luckily, it wasn’t sold out so we found some seats together. But it was cold not being surrounded by screaming fans. At the game I enjoyed a Frankfurt…aka a huge hot dog on a baguette sort of bread. I don’t care what country you’re in, you can’t do a sporting event without a hot dog!
Tonight is back to American culture with the SuperBowl! We’re going to an Irish pub called George Payne around 11 p.m. The game won’t start until midnight here, which will make for a late night. I have a presentation tomorrow morning in my first class, I think I’ll be yawning through it. Now I’m off for a run through gorgeous Spanish streets on a beautiful 57 degree day!
¡Hasta Luego!
Besos.
p.s. there are more photos to come, I had a little camera problem at the game!
As most of you know, I am currently living in Barcelona, Spain. I have created this blog to keep you all informed of my Spanish and European adventures. I will also be using this to discuss topics from my class, Journalism 2.0.
It has already been an amazing and exhausting three weeks that have given me so many stories to tell. Hopefully some of you have been staying up to date with my other blog, but I will no longer be using it. This will be my blog now, so please follow me and feel free to comment!
I arrived in Barcelona January 13, 2010 and will not be back in the U.S. until May 31, 2010. I am excited and eager for the journeys and experiences that await. Í have already learned so much about the Spanish culture and love every minute of it. I also plan to experience other parts of Europe with trips currently booked to Dublin, French Riviera, Madrid, Switzerland, San Sebastian, Paris and a spring break trip throughout Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome.
Welcome to my new blog and stay posted, more stories of my adventures are coming soon!
Mackenzie en España 