Grab the two middle ones and pull!

Last Saturday was our hike into Mount Collserola to see the views and try calçots, a typical catalán dish. Other than my fear of heights, the hike was beautiful and, looking back, not as scary as I thought. We stopped a couple of times to take in the sights and take some pictures, all the while I'm thinking about how happy I am to be studying in a city like this. Barcelona is very much like New York in a few ways, but it doesn't take more than a train ride to be in a mountain or on the beach. 

We hiked for about two hours and finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel - Can Martí, a quaint catalán restaurant with a killer view of Barcelona. Upon reaching the site, I immediately noticed how much it reminded me of the Philippines: the smell of the open fire/grill roasting meat & vegetables, the plastic chairs and tables outside, and the indoor seating area covered in huge windows to enjoy the view. It was marvelous, and once again I found myself in a state of nirvana.

The entire group and I hastily sat down, put on our nifty bibs, and watched as our tour guide instructed us on how to eat the calçots. Since they grill them whole, the outside is burnt to a crisp. But once you  strip away the black outside leaves, inside is the soft, warm flesh of the calçot. Dipped into a sweet almond sauce (reminded me a lot of satee), the calçot was truly a treat. But that was just the appetizer. There was pan con tomate, tortilla española, beans, olives, and MEATS - butifarra (thick sausage) & steaks galore! The meal was huge, and neither of any of us could finish it all, but it was well worth the two hour hike. After the cafe con leche, I was sleepy but content. 

I.LOVE.MEAT.

Chicago & Sitges

So I figured I should blog about my weekend in Madrid before the wonderful thoughts I had leave me...oh wait...

Pros: Meeting up with friends for dinner & drinks, paella, Las Meninas by Velasquez, La Guernica by Picasso, Oskar's cafe con leche, the fact that we stayed at a cheap hostel for only one night, the huge "Chicago" sign that reminded me of Broadway, NYC.
Cons: The people, the weather, the hostel...

Before I start bashing Madrid, I figure we didn't have the best time because we were probably tired, cranky, cold, etc. But it was a decent first trip outside of Barcelona. The next one (ROME!) should turn out much better.

About the second week of February the festival of Carnaval begins. Traditions vary from country to country, but in Sitges (and I believe most of Spain), it's their equivalent of Halloween. Sitges is apparently the number one place to go to for Carnaval, and I believe it. A few friends & I watched the parade, which was probably about three hours long, or more, from a balcony in a hotel. It was amazing, but even better was what happened after. It was like a club on the beach: huge speakers, a DJ blasting house, electro, trance, and a mob of people going insane. WEEEE! I was in heaven, even though a few people kept touching my bunny ears. Hmph!

Cucurrucucú, paloma.

So intensive courses are over and I'm a little sad because our professor was the cutest/dorkiest Spanish guy ever. We all had to do a presentation on Spanish cinema and I chose "Hable con ella" by Pedro Almodóvar. Unlike many of his films, "Hable con ella" was very muted, sweet, and soft. It was a nice change of pace from his other raunchy movies. I got a 9.5 out of 10 on my presentation. =)


Not until recently was I nervous about my classes at the Univeristat de Barcelona. "La poesía en el siglo XX" (Poetry in the 20th century) was my first course. When I got there, it was pretty exciting and intimidating being in a class full of Barcelona natives and listening to a professor lecture in Spanish at 97 mph. She hands us a syllabus and, not even kidding, there are about 40 books in the bibliography and a ridiculously long final paper (14-15 pages). I've written a paper that long before, but never in Spanish. Ay caramba. What's worse is she starts throwing terms around like metaphysical, and I'm thinking, like, whoa slow down there, it's the first day of class. Aren't you just supposed to hand us a syllabus and tell us to read something? And I'm looking at the jackoff next to me who has this gigantic book open and is writing down all these notes as if he understands what the hell she's really saying (which he obv does). So I took out my notebook and starting jotting down random words that I caught. My other two courses Literatura y Cine en España (Literature and Cinema in Spain) and Obras Maestras del Arte Catalán (Masterworks in Catalonian Art) have great potential. 


I was sitting in all these lit and art classes, but I couldn't help but wish I was in Biochem or Physio or, g-d help me, Orgo. What has the world come to?! All I'm saying is, I cannot wait to take another bio class when I get back to Brandeis. I kind of feel like a fish out of water in this world of art. It's fun, but I'm starting to feel like I need something more concrete to think about. 

On a brighter note, the last few days, excluding today, have been gorgeous! A few friends and I walked around the Sagrada Familia area, which is always a nice time. The beach was beautiful at Barceloneta. I can't wait for it to get warmer so that I can be a beach bum. I love the ocean and the water.

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