Figueras - where the wind is so strong it makes you NUTS.

I knew Salvador Dalí was my favorite artist for a reason. He was a genius. He was out of his freakin mind, but a genius nonetheless!

They say that in Figueras the wind is so strong that it literally makes people crazy. During our tour of the Dalí museum, our guide led us to this huge room with a large crystal cupola as the ceiling. It was decorated to look like a theater, and in the floor was a door? He then informed us that this was Dalí's tomb, since he wanted to be buried in his "theater", surrounded by his art, and looking up at the universe (hence the crystal dome). We then all proceeded to awkwardly step around the tomb/door.

I think for a non-artsy fartsy person, it's hard to appreciate certain artists. But anyone can look at Dalí's work and know that this guy had ridiculous talent.

He didn't believe in sticking to one type of material, so he worked with almost anything. One of my favorites was this "painting" made from the pulp of live squids splashed onto canvas. He did this in 20 minutes. Twenty. And if you look closely you'll realize that it's actually a "painting" of Beethoven. Genius.

If you look closely at the painting, you'll see the image of a man, a famous bullfighter actually. Hint: He's wearing a green tie.

When Dalí got kicked out of an exclusive group of surrealist painters, he said it was okay, because he was surrealism, and everyone else was just copying him. 

BLOOP

The garden at the Universitat de Barcelona.

I'm looking over the courses offered at the Universitat de Barcelona and it's all the stuff I LOVE! Literature in general is my favorite, but Spanish Lit from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Golden Age - ahh! Garcilaso, Lope de Vega, Juan Manuel, Cervantes!


The Intensive Course that I'm taking right now is the best. For once, I'm actually starting to appreciate modern prose. I've learnt more in this one week than I did all of last semester with that horrible, horrible professor. What a sad man. All these years studying Spanish and taking courses in it I never had trouble with my grammar. And then some arrogant, non-hispanic, non-spaniard professor basically takes a dump on these papers that I wrote. They weren't even egregious errors, just minor mistakes (I'm sorry if I feel like I don't have to proofread for your dumb class). I lost a lot of faith in my writing abilities - until I came here. And lo and behold, my professor loves my writing. WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT. Go die Professor Mandrell, you don't deserve to teach at an institution like Brandeis University. Ugh!

Anyways, we actually went over the Spanish Civil War and Franco's regime in that useless class. But I never actually understood what an impact it had on the country and the people until now. The talent and pure genius lost, like Lorca and Unamuno, who should have lived to write and add color to the world of lit. So much talent exiled, assassinated, left to die alone and with nothing. 

All in all, so far Barcelona is an amazing city. I'm happy I chose this city, I don't think I'd have it any other way. =)

P.S. All my UB classes are in the Hogwarts building (see above pics). NBD.

¡Qué guay!

Gah! No time to blog but I did want to write a quick something before my first class.

1) The internet in my homestay doesn´t work.

2) Why is it that when someones speaks English here they have a British accent?

3) I told them that I have asthma and they gave me a gigantic chou chou for a pet aka the woman I´m staying with has two huge dogs. Gracias, CIEE, gracias.

4) Barcelona está muy guay. For lack of a better word in castilian, I´ve been saying guay to compensate for my overuse of awesome/freakin awesome/sweet/amazing in english.

5) Where is this so-called "honeymoon stage" I´m supposed to be experiencing?

P.S. (1:35am)

I had my first tapas experience today. I'll never be the same. I never knew I was so deprived!

Also, the internet is now working. Life goes on!

Packing Pains

I'm in the throws of packing and unpacking my suitcase for Barca. It's so hard not to over pack but I can't help it! Ahh. There's still so much to do and so little time.

Since 2009 started, I haven't had a moment to sit down and take a deep breath. This year has been challenging in probably every way possible. I'm hoping that Spain, and Europe in general, will be a breath of fresh air.

So, here's to 2010 and BARCELONAA!

P.S. - The waist money purse thing my mom gave me is so awkward. =l