Week One Update

First blog post from the field!

The plane ride over was not very good.  There was a pair of children 3 seats ahead of me who would randomly start crying, I’m guessing because their ears were popping.  Also, I had this old guy next to me who was insistent on putting his knee/leg on my side…even though I was taller than him.  Of course the kicker in all of this is that I didn’t really get any sleep, maybe 2-3 hours max because it’s really hard for me to sleep on planes.  So after an 8-hour flight, we arrive in Barcelona and I realize that I haven’t spoken Spanish since my last Spanish class, which ended in June.  Joder.

After waiting in the exchange line for an hour, I take the bus to Barcelona, transfer to the metro and go to my hostel.  The hostel is in a very residential area of Barcelona, on the opposite side of town from my old host family.  As I’m walking through the neighborhood I start to feel this really weird sensation, like I’m in this surreal dream (and not in a good way).  I didn’t really feel excited to be back.  I think it’s because I was sleep deprived and dehydrated because after that Sunday and Saturday of rest and getting everything set up (phone, internet, scheduling interviews for that week) I felt much better.

So far I have interviewed 8 people, which is more what I thought I was going to get in the first week.  Only 3 of those interviews were in Barcelona so for the other ones I had to travel outside BCN to other towns to interview the people: one in Reus (Monday), two in Figueres (Tuesday) and two in Tarragona (Wednesday).  The interviews have been going very well so far, the people are very happy to sit down and share their beliefs and opinions on Catalan culture, politics and language.  I’m also finding what I came over here looking for so that has been a big relief for me.

Needless to say, I’ve had some bumps along the road so far.  A major sticking point has been my Spanish.  As I said, as soon as I got off the plane I knew that it would take awhile for it to come back to me.  I went to Vodafone to set up my Internet and phone on Saturday and literally my mind could not form a coherent sentence in Spanish.  Furthermore, my mind couldn’t process anything the guy at the store was saying so I left frustrated and defeated.  However, my Spanish is finally coming back to me, not to the level I was at when I left but it’s getting there. 

One good thing is that I’m starting to feel like a Spaniard/Catalan again.  When I first got here on Saturday I felt like a fish out of water again.  This feeling started going away yesterday, when I had a very successful day of interviewing three different people and thinking “hey, I was able to navigate myself through three new cities I’ve never been to, without any problems; that’s pretty cool.”  So, por fin, I feel comfortable again walking around the city and confidant that I can blend in with everyone else to the best of my ability.

Now, on to the sightseeing!  I didn’t do any in Reus because I was more concerned about getting my first interview and making sure everything went ok than about checking out the city.  The first sightseeing that I did was in Figueres, which is home to the Salvador Dalí museum (which the artist actually designed himself).  Although the museum didn’t have some of Dalí’s more famous works, the place still had a very interesting collection: a combination of drawings, paintings, sculptures and jewelry.  I did also see a little bit of Girona that day because I had a scheduled interview there but unfortunately I got lost in the old part of the city and didn’t make it to the interview; also, as I was very tired and frustrated, I left the city without taking many pics.  Yesterday I was in Tarragona, which was the old Roman capital of the Hispania providence.  My last participant for that day gave me an informal tour of the old part of the city as well as the city’s history museum, which was in the Roman city’s walls.

Tomorrow, I’m going to do some sightseeing around Barcelona; even though I’ve seen all these places it’s still really cool to go back and visit them.  Then on Sunday I travel to Lleida and on Monday I will be in Girona to do some more interviews.  Hopefully that means I’ll have more pictures up by next Tuesday/Wednesday and maybe even another blog post by then, ¿quién sabe?

Speaking of pictures, the ones I’ve taken so far are up on the side bar under the title “Catalunya ’11.”  ¡Qué los disfrutes!

General Update

Just a general update for all you dedicated readers out there.

Classes are still going ok.  My Spanish language class has really been helping me with the finer points of Spanish that prevent me from advancing to a high level (mostly picky little grammar stuff and some vocab).  I did really well on my Spanish politics take home exam, especially considering I wrote the whole thing the night before I left for London.  I’ve learned a lot in that class and I probably know as much about the Spanish political system as I do about our system (I’ll hold off my judgment as to which one I think is better).  As for my Barcelona history class I’m learning a lot about the history of Catalunya.  In my Spanish 3 class in high school we did talk a lot about the history of Spain, but it mainly focused on the history of Castilian Spain and not the history of the crown of Argon-Catalunya.  So basically I’m getting a different perspective of Spain as a whole, from the eyes of Catalunya, which I find really interesting.  Again, it definitely reiterates that Catalunya is not Spain…

Speaking of which, Catalan has actually turned out to be my least favorite class.  I love the language and I hope to be fluent in it some day but this class has been somewhat of a disappointment.  The teacher isn’t the greatest and she really doesn’t conduct the best learning environment.  However, I think between learning it on my own and getting help from my host mom I’ll have a solid foundation to continue on with my studies when I get back to the States (there’s a good website for teach yourself Catalan, sponsored by the Generalitat, the Catalonian gov’t).

Now, although I absolutely love Barcelona I’ve been battling a spell of homesickness this past week.  This is of course normal and to be expected but I think there are two reasons for this sudden spell:

1. 3 months: Thursday (the 18^th) was my three-month anniversary of being in Spain.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Barcelona and I would love to live here for the rest of my life but you eventually come to miss the people that made up your life back in the States; this is the longest I’ve ever been away from them.  Although I talk to my family over skype and my friends over facebook it still isn’t the same as talking to them face to face.  I miss my dog, I miss my pow-wows with Kristen, I miss lunches with Aunt Jean, I miss all my friends from Maumee 18/Fallen Timbers 14/Band, I miss joking around with Erica in A-band and above all I miss bantering with my sister.  I knew I would eventually come to miss all these things but I didn’t know that it would hit me that hard.
2. Holidays: This week starts the holiday season.  While you all have Thanksgiving this week it's just an ordinary week for me.  Although I despise turkey (cold turkey being the worst offender) I wouldn’t mind having a big Thanksgiving feast with my family right now.

Whew, I’m glad that I got that out of the way.  So what do I have planned for my last month in Barcelona so that I can go out with a bang? Well…

•  El Clásico: The football game between FC Barcelona and their bitter rivals, Real Madrid.  The game is next Monday and let's just say that it's WAY more intense than the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry (and this is coming from an OSU student).
•  Barça game: I tickets for the FCB v. Real Sociedad game on December 12^th.  It’ll be my third and last Barça game so it should be a lot of fun.
• Ireland: I’m taking my last weekend trip to the Emerald Isle during the first weekend of December.  I’m really excited because I’ve heard nothing but great things about Ireland although I am going when it’s probably going to be very cold.  I’m going to spend 2 days in Dublin and one day in Cork, which is near the Blarney Castle.
• Cataloging the city: This week, I’m going to be going around the city and take a million pictures, like I was a tourist.  This is so that when I feel nostalgic I can open iPhoto and go through all my pictures and so that I can show you guys how beautiful Barcelona is.  This is why I’m holding off on posting my “Neighborhoods of Barcelona” post b/c I think it would be much better with pictures, right?

As far as blog posts here's what you have to look forward to for the next month

• Another Spanish slang post
• El Clásico
• Ireland trip
• Advice for students coming over to Spain (pay attention Brooke!)
• Thoughts about what I'm going to miss about Catalunya/Spain/Europe
• My favorite memories, stories from my trip
• Probably one about Reverse Culture shock when I get back to the States (I already know I'm going to have it, there's no doubt in my mind)

Pretty ambitious eh?  

2

Host Families

As most of you know, I live with a host family here in Barcelona.  This was probably the best decision I’ve made so far regarding my study abroad experience, right behind choosing to go to Bilbao with Michelle and choosing to study in Barcelona.

I live with a 65-year old widow, Rafaela in her medium sized apartment (apartments are called “pisos” here in Spain).  She owns a clothes store in a near by market.  We have two pets here at home, a parrot (Dinu) and a Silky Terrier by the name of “Teri.”  The parrot can get quite obnoxious at times, expecially when it lets out 3 (or more) long screeches in succession. 

Now what can I say about Teri.  Well, Teri is a 12-year old dog, who would be every dog whisperer’s dream come true.  He has a problem with people leaving the house, because students come here for 3 months and then leave him forever. For this reason, he barks whenever someone leaves the house, but never when people come home.  One day I was leaving for school when he snuck out, plopping himself in front of the elevetor.  I tried my best to coax him to come back in the piso (“Teri, ¡tengo un palito!  Ven aquí”), but he wouldn’t have any of it.  I go over to try to pick him up and he growls at me bearing his teeth in the process.  As I was running late for school, I wanted to get this ordeal over with so I pick him up really quickly and (gently) toss him back in the piso.  He's a complete nervous wreck and when you add in some back problems you get one fragile dog.

The piso is a pretty good place to live.  It’s 3 bedrooms, one bathroom with a nice balcony.  However, the neighborhood we live in (Sants) isn’t the best for college age kids because it’s mostly a residential area with families and old people, plus it’s kind of far away from all the happening places.

That being said, I’m glad I live where I am because Rafaela is the best host mom anyone could ask for.  She’s a great cook and she’s very involved with our lives.  Everyday when she comes home from school she always asks how are day went and she loves it when we show her pictures when we come home from a weekend trip around Europe.  She also likes to talk a lot, which is really helpful for us because it helps us practice our Spanish.  She also helps me with my Catalan, by teaching me some words/phrases and helping me with my pronunciation (the double l’s are una puta!).

Rafaela also typically hosts exchange students all year round.  I didn't know this until I asked her about all the Paris decorations in her house (I was curious as to why she had them because she said that she's never been to Paris).  She's been hosting them for about 6 years now and she's told me plenty of stories about other students (two girls use to go out clubbing every night, another one got caught having her boyfriend spending the night).  Not to toot my horn or anything, but she did tell me that John and I are the best exchange students she's ever hosted because we're friendly, open/interested in learning about the culture and more family-like than the other students.

She lives alone, but her mom stayed with her for the first month I was there because she broke her leg falling down the stairs.  Since then, she's been spending a month at a time between her two daughter's piso; in fact, she just came back yesterday to spend November here.  Rafaela also has a friend, José, who comes over every evening.  Everyday, Rafaela, José and Teri go out for a walk near the little green space we have near our piso, then she always cooks our dinner so that John and I can eat around 9 (they hardly ever eat dinner) and we usually first watch a game show (Pasapalabra) followed by the news.  

Here’s some pictures from my home stay:

Oh Teri.  He spends most of his day in my room, either because he loves me or because he's worried about the next time I leave the apartment

My Room

The Living Room

The Kitchen

I’ve been very fortunate with my host families.  First, Arantza and Maren (the host family in the Basque Country) really made my transition to the Spanish way of life very easy (I don’t think I went through any culture shock what so ever) and now, I’m living with Rafaela; I couldn’t have asked for a better living situation over here in Spain.

I love living with host families for three main reasons:

1. Food: Spanish food is soooo good.  Everything is cooked with olive oil, it's fresh and very healthy.  I have a salad for dinner everyday (with olive oil and vinegar for dressing, which is typical in Spain), some bread and either pasta, fish or meat.  She makes a mean tortilla española and in typical Spanish fashion, she always asks us if we want anymore of anything to eat (¿Algo más?  ¿Helado? ¿Fruta?).
2. Culture: You get to experience the culture first hand when you live with a host family; you really submerge yourself in what it's actually like to live in Spain (as opposed to living in dorms with your fellow American students).  It's interesting because Arantza and Maren (the host family I stayed with in Bilbao) are Basque, Rafaela is Catalan, her mom is from Andalucía (Southern Spain) and José is from Galicia (Northwest corner of Spain), so I've kind gotten to know some of the major cultures that make up Spain as a whole.
3. Spanish: You have to speak Spanish in your home stay.  My Spanish has improved so much in the last 2 and a half months partly because of my Spanish language class, but my host families have definitely made a bigger impact on my Spanish than any class ever could.  I'd say that I can speak Spanish on a conversational level, which is to say that even though I make mistakes from time to time with words choice/verb tenses I still can get my point across and continue the conversation.  Spanish kind of just flows out now and I don’t really think too much about it.

My advice to students who want to study abroad: choose to live with a host family.  Trust me, I know it’s going to be very tempting to live with your fellow study abroad compadres, but you will learn so much more if you step outside of your comfort zone and submerge yourself into the local culture.  You will learn more than you can ever hope to learn in your classes.

Cava, Gaudí and Sitges: Just Another Week in Catalunya

Well life is really starting to pick up here in BCN.  My classes are taking up a lot of my time, I’ve been busy planning weekend trips (Rome is this Friday through Sunday!), and my homework is starting to pile up.  But of course, I have time for a quick blog update!

Update 1 - School: Classes are going decently.  My Spanish language class if by far my favorite because it’s a really small class (only 16 of us), the teacher is very helpful and chill at the same time, and the classroom dynamics are perfect.  For example, on Tuesday we had to imagine that a nuclear bomb destroyed the world and that there was only enough room for 13 of us in the shelter.  Therefore, we had to explain (in Spanish of course) what characteristics and experience we can bring to the table to rebuild civilization.  I started off saying that I’m a psych major and that I will be able to help everyone with emotional problems to which some other girl responded with “well I’m a psych major too, my parents are psychiatrists and I’ve studied mediation techniques and yoga.”  My teacher asked me if I had a response to that.  I knew that I could not compete with that, so I tried to respond with humor: “um……¿adiós?” 

Although my Catalan class is fairly difficult, I’m still enjoying it because I’m learning the language of the land and it’s a great conversation starter with my host mom (she always asks me what I did in my Catalan class when I come home).  However, it’s requiring me to forget years of what I learned in Spanish in order to pronounce the vowels correctly.  Catalan vowels are reduced when they are not in they are not in the stressed syllable, unlike Spanish where all the vowels have their full value.  For example, casa is both Spanish and Catalan for “house,” but they are pronounced differently: [ka.sa] versus [ka.zə].  To make things more confusing, Catalan also has 3 more vowels than Spanish.  Catalan also has a difficult sound for the double l and of course it’s in a lot of their words (llum, Lluís, lliure ect..)  I just have to keep on reminding myself that once again I’m learning a new language and it took me awhile to get a good grip on Spanish.  With time and practice I’ll become better at Catalan.

In addition to learning Catalan, the class is also meant to teach us about the Culture of Catalunya.  So far we talked about La Mercè (which of course I got to experience first hand) and a popular folk song about a midget "Patufet."  The jist of the story is that he's this tiny tiny kid who has to sing this song so that no one will step on him.  It rains one day so he has to under a leaf to keep dry.  However, a cow devours him and the leaf in one gulp.  Since it's a story meant for kids it has a happy/funny end: the cow farts and Patufet flies out to freedom.  Here's the video we watched in class it's actually pretty funny and it has a catchy chorus ("Patim patam patum, homes i dones del cap dret, patim patam patum, no trepitgeu en Patufet")

My other two classes are going well too.  We’ve talked about the 2^nd Republic and Franco’s dictatorship in my Spanish politics class and about the Roman Barcelona (Barcino) in my History of Barcelona class.  Apparently, Plaça de Sant Jaume was the center of the Roman city (the forum) and now I can walk through the plaza next time appreciating it a little bit more.

Update 2 - Exploring Barcelona: Since I don’t have Friday classes (score!) it gives me an opportunity to either travel or explore BCN.  Since I didn’t have a trip planned this weekend, we decided to explore some of Gaudí’s creations.  We went inside of Sagrada Familia to find out that the inside is pretty bare.  The ceiling and columns were exquisite, but there was no interior décor, like pews or altars.  We did decide to take the elevator up to one of the towers of the church and it was worth every euro to go up.  Not only did you get a great view of church but also great views of BCN.

Next up was Casa Batlló, which I have to say was kind of disappointing for 14€.  I mean the inside was really well designed, but the rooms were completely bare with no furniture.  I went in expecting to see an actual house with stuff it, but nope.  The roof was kind of cool though; it was like La Pedrera but only more colorful.

Update 3 - Exploring Catalunya: On Satuday, ISA took us on an excursion to Cordníu winery and Sitges.  The winery is famous for producing cava, Catalunya’s champagne (they can’t call it champagne for copyright reasons).  The tour of the place was really cool.  It included going down to the cellar to see miles and miles of wine/cava just chilling there.  We got to ride on a cart that reminded me of something Disney World would have, but it was so much better.  We got to go through the cellar and see how much wine and cava was actually there.  Afterwards, we got to try two types of cava: a white and rose kind.  Yeah, everyone was much more talkative and alive after that cava tasting, haha.

We then continued on our way to Sitges, a little town in Catalunya on the Mediterrean coast.  The town was very pretty, it reminded me of los pueblos blancos (white towns) of Andalucía.  However, if you weren’t there to party or to soak up some sun on the beach there’s not to do.  It’s probably much more fun at night, but during the day it’s kind of a snooze.  Literally, I think we walked from one end of the town to the other end in less than an hour. 

As always, my photo albumns are updated.  This one includes random pictures of Barcelona (including La Boquería!)  in addition to Cordníu/Sitges and the other one is an updated version of Gaudí’s Barcelona.  Check back midweek for a post about some cool Spanish phrases (including the Spanish spoken on the street…) and next Monday/Tuesday for my post about Rome.  Until then, I’ll see you when I see ya!

La Mercè

I’ve said it a million times but I’ll say it again: people over here know how to throw parties.

Last weekend (Sept. 23-26) was the local festival here in Barcelona, La Mercè.  It honors the patroness of Barcelona, Mare de Deu de la Mercè (the Virgin of Mercy), but more importantly it’s a showcase of the most important aspects of the Catalan Culture.  Here’s a day-by-day account of what I was lucky enough to see (as there was so much to see, this post is very very very long…).

*If you would rather see what La Mercè was all about rather than read about it, scroll down to the end of this post for my two-part youtube video*

Thursday night, I went to see an alternative rock group from Valencia called Obrint Pas.  I happened to stumble across them when I was still back in the States, so of course I was thrilled that they were going to be in Barcelona as a part of BAM (Barcelona Acció Musical), Barcelona’s musical scene during La Mercè.  They sing in Catalan, and it’s usually about very nationalistic/independence themes about the Països Catalanas (Catalan-speaking territories).  For some reason, I thought it was going to be very low key, which of course I was dead wrong about.  The concert was held at Parc Fòrum, which is apparently the park where the youth of Barcelona go to party.  Literally, as far as my eye could see there were circles of young people drinking and smoking, not to mention the amount of trash, bottles and plastic bags everywhere. 

Since the home is reserved for family, people party in the street or in bars/clubs.  So, I guess it’s very common to buy a two-liter bottle of pop, mix some alcohol into the bottle and pass it around your circle of friends, right?  Oh, and people were rolling and smoking joints like it was nobody’s business.  This whole scene was kind of culture shock to me, because back in the States the cops would be all over the place, riot gear and all.  However, the only cops I saw were the ones directing traffic, pedestrians and security to get into the concert area.  The concert itself was pretty good, I only recognized three songs but it was still a good time.  It was insane though and when I say insane, I really mean insane.  There were people yelling in Catalan, the band was firing up the crowd, people jumping up and down and random mosh pits everywhere. 

Friday was the actual holiday of La Mercè, so everything except restaurants was shut down.  At around one, in the Plaça de Sant Jaume (the main plaza in the Gothic quarter), there was a castells competition.  Castells are literally human towers and it was quite a sight to see.  There were three different teams of castellers (the human tower builders) from neighborhoods in Barcelona, Sants (where I live), Sagrada Família and Gràcia.  They tried to outperform each other by building the tallest and most elaborate towers.  There were some that were 5-6 levels high (a horizontal collection of castellers is considered a level), and there was another cool one that was 5 levels high with a vertical stack of casterllers in the middle.  I was in awe of the skill it too to build these towers; I still don’t know how they managed to do it without falling over like Jenga pieces.  Oh and my favorite part: who was the bravest person that would climb to the top of the castell?  It was always a little kid with a helmet and they would only stay on top long enough to raise their hand up to get applauses from the crowd.

Later on Friday was La Mercè Cavalcade, the main procession of the Gegants, the 9-10 feet tall protagonists of La Mercè.  There’s a person inside each gegant that makes it walk, run and dance.  However, there’s no electronics involved; the person inside the gegant has to be strong enough to have the thing on his/her shoulders and be able to run and dance in it without falling over.  Just like the casterllers, it takes a lot of skill and it’s incredibly difficult.  The gegants were all very unique; there were traditional ones like the Barcelona giants, the Eagle, the Lion and the Dragon Monster but then there were ones that made me laugh (like the one that looked like Ronald Reagan and a pigeon with boobs).  Also, there were many marching bands that played traditional Catalan tunes with a special type of pipe and drums.  The whole procession marched down Las Ramblas (the most famous street in Barcelona), down to el Barrio Gótico (the Gothic Quarter), past the Plaça de Sant Jaume and finished up at the La Seu (The Gothic Quarter’s cathedral).  We were lucky enough to get a great spot in Las Ramblas where we could see everything and it was definitely a cool parade to watch.

On Saturday we checked out the traditional Catalan dance, Sardana, in Plaça de Sant Jaume.  A lot of Spaniards consider this to be a very lazy and boring dance but I found it to be quite moving, especially considering the history behind it.  When Franco came into power not only did he outlaw the public use of Catalan, but he also banned sardanes.  He was in power for more than 30 years, so for a dance to survive that long under repression is quite an achievement.  Maybe for this reason, a lot of the older participants looked very serious when they were dancing and the music was at times very somber.  To dance you first have to put your belongings in the center pile and then join the circle.  Each dance usually lasts around ten or fifteen minutes and then the participants take a little break before starting again.  At first there were maybe only three circles in the plaza, but later when we came back the whole plaza was filled with dance circles, sometimes even a circle within a circle. 

Later on Saturday night all Hell broke loose; no, literally all Hell broke loose.  Near el Barrio Gótico the gates of Hell opened up and out poured the Devils and Dragons into the streets of Barcelona in what is known as Correfoc (Catalan for “fire run”).  This was by far the highlight of the festival.  Although it’s a recent tradition (it was created in the first few years after Franco’s death), it is one of the most popular traditions in Barcelona.  The procession combines huge dragons, ferocious beasts, devils and drum lines.  There were several types of dragons as well as beasts (examples: a three-headed dog, Gaudí’s dragon from Parc Güell, a demented looking pig, and a T-rex).  The people running the festival would attach some sort of tube looking thing (think roll of coins, but much bigger) to either the mouth and/or tail of the dragon/beast, light it, and then it would run down the street chasing people brave enough to get in front of it.  I don’t really know how to describe the flames other than they were huge sparklers on steroids.  When the gunpowder ran out, there would be a flash followed by a very loud BANG and then the people in charge would have to attach another tube to it.  There were also several different styles of shooting off the flames.  Most of the dragons/beasts would sway back in forth while moving down the street, others would aim the flames directly at the participant’s feet while others would shoot flames onto the sidewalks (where I was standing), showering the spectators with flames. 

The Devils were the experienced participants of the festival who dressed up in cloaks and used a pitchfork/spear to fill the streets with flames.  Back behind each block of Devils, there were one to three people who would attach the tube to the Devil’s stick and then light it.  Once the stick was lit, the Devil would gleefully run back up to the other Devils, often with a little hop in his/her step.  The tubes themselves would rotate on the stick so that it moved around in a circle, dispersing the maximum amount of flames everywhere.  As the Devils ran down the street bold spectators would follow the Devil, huddling around him/her as the flames danced around them.  Most of these people were covered head to toe in clothing so as they wouldn’t get burned, but I did see a couple of guys wearing nothing but shorts running in front of dragons and then huddling around a Devil.

After each block of dragons/beasts/Devils a drum line would follow and provide some really good beats.  They sounded like tribal music and they really got into the spirit of things too.  They would enthusiastically bang on their snare or base drum while jumping up and down and screaming at the top of their lungs.  They really added to the whole atmosphere of the Correfoc and, being a band geek, they were really fun to listen to.

Sunday was unfortunately the last day of the festival but it went out with a bang (pun intended).  At ten o’clock all of Barcelona gathered at the base of Montijuïc (the main hill of Barcelona) to watch Piromusical.  It’s also probably the most popular event of the festival because the entire plaza was filled, from the fountain all the way pass the round a bout.   The show was an awesome musical fireworks display that took place against the gorgeous backdrop of Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.  There fireworks were set music with near perfect timing as the Magic Fountain of Montijuïc put on a show that would rival any fountain in Las Vegas.  Before the last block of fireworks, everyone lit a sparkler and held it up in the air; it’s a cool little tradition that the locals do.  Overall, it was a great way to end what was a truly remarkable weekend.

All and all, there’s one word I can use to describe the festival: incredible.  I’m so happy that I chose to study here in Barcelona.  I’m so happy I decided to study in the fall, because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have been able to experience La Mercè.  I may sound obnoxious at this point, but I’m just so happy that I get the opportunity to spend three months here in this city to learn not only the language but also to learn about their traditions and culture.  Though I love the rest of Spain, my heart now officially belongs here in Barcelona and it will forever be in Catalunya.

Of course, you can see all my pictures from La Mercè, here, or you can check out the sidebar.  However, to get the real feel of what it was like to be at La Mercè, you should check out my two-part youtube video of it at the bottom of this post (just click on part 1 and/or part 2).  It gives you a taste of the castellers, the Cavalcade, saradanes, Correfoc and Piromusical.  As with the rest of this post, the videos are pretty long (2 parts, about 6 minutes each), but here are the times you can go to if you want to see a specific part:

Part 1 - Sardana: 0:11           Castells: 1:38            Cavalcade: 3:45

Part 2 - Correfoc: 0:06          Piromusical: 3:19

¡Espero que disfrutes!

Sun up to Sun Down: A Week in Catalunya

Yesterday I didn’t even realize that I’ve been in Barcelona for a whole week until my host mom said something.  Wow, time really does fly by when you’re having fun and when you’re really busy.

I started my Advanced Spanish Language class on Friday and for this week and next week it’s 2 and a half hours long, Monday through Friday.  However, class actually goes by pretty quick thanks to the variety of activities that are meant to improve our conversation skills.  For example, our first chapter has to deal with love and all things romantic, so as an activity we all went on a speed date.  Our instructor gave us each a photo and based on the photo we had to come up with persona to be during the speed date.  I was given a photo of a tennis player, so I got to work and came up with the character of Rafael Tenorio: a 35-year old tennis player born to an Italian mother and a Spanish father who enjoys taking long walks on the beach near his Italian villa with his dog, Ferrari.  In my mind, he’s part Rafael Nadal and part Don Juan Tenorio.  It was a great way to practice Spanish and it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a Spanish language class since Señora Szymanski’s Spanish 4 “aventuras.” 

In addition to the language class, I’m taking three more classes: one about the history of Barcelona, one about society and politics in Spain and an introductory Catalan course.  However, these don’t start until Monday, September 27^th so until then I just have the language class.

ISA also organized some tours for us, one of the whole city and a couple focusing on a certain aspect of the city.  The first one was a bus tour of the city, hitting all the major sites in Barcelona.  The best part of that was that we got to stop at Parc Güell, which was designed by the architectural genius Antoni Gaudí.  I got off the bus and walked around the park in absolute awe of what I was seeing; the last time I felt like that was back when I visited la Plaza Mayor for the first time back in 2008.  The park is so unique that I cannot possibly compare it to anything else, there’s just nothing else like it in the whole world.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, so I guess I’ll just have to go back.  Oh what a shame :p

Another tour was of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter.  This is the original part of the city and it’s been very well preserved.  In fact, you can go see four Roman pillars that formed part of the temple, back when the city was called “Barcino.”  There was also a little church in a hidden part of the barrio that bears the scars of the Spanish Civil War.  Hitler (he helped out the Franco’s Nationalists during the war) bombed Republican-held territory during the Spanish Civil War as a way to perfect the “art” of dropping bombs.  Well, German planes dropped one in a plaza where some children were playing and the church was hit by some of the shrapnel.  However, instead of fixing it, the church left the scars there as a memorial the children who lost their lives.  This is why I love tours.  Yes, they are very touristy, but you get the background to the buildings and places, which adds to your appreciation of what you’re looking at. 

The other tour I went on was a tour of Gaudí’s “La Pedrera.”  It’s a very famous apartment building in the ritzy part of Barcelona (Passeig de Gràcia).  Again, it’s very hard to compare it to anything.  On the second floor is a Gaudí museum that explains his inspiration for his work and it also houses some miniature replicas of his buildings.  On the roof are giant ventilation towers, but they look more like the statues from Easter Island.

All the pictures will come in due time, I just need to go out and take more before I upload the albums.  So far I have albums of the Gothic Quarter, of Antoni Gaudí’s work, of Catalonian Nationalism, and of other parts of Barcelona.  Hopefully, they will be up by Sunday night, so check back then if you want to see a lot of pictures!

Tomorrow I have a Picasso tour, so I’ll let you guys know how that goes.  Further down the road, there are some very exciting things coming up.  On September 24^th and 25^th, Barcelona is holding its annual local festival “La Mercè."  It’s full of free live music, correfocs and castellers; if you’re curious as to what they are look them up, but if you want to be surprised just wait till the 26^th!  Oh, and then the following weekend I might be spending it in Paris…

Madrid, Toledo and BARCELONA

Well, I made it to Barcelona all in one piece!  On Saturday, I left Arantza’s apartment at 7:45 (it was sad to say bye to them) and rolled my luggage though the noisy Getxo sidewalks to go to the metro station.  Even though it was a Saturday morning, I thought that all the drunks wouldn’t be on my train, because I was heading towards the city (all the drunks should be heading away from the city towards the suburbs).  But alas, as the metro pulled up I saw that it was packed full of drunk people; I forgot that there was a festival in Plentzia and now everyone is heading back home.  Luckily I managed to spot out the car that was the least packed and found a spot to put all my luggage.  The bus ride wasn’t too bad and I also found out that the movie “Twlight” sucks as much in Spanish as in English.  I arrived at the bus station in Madrid and took a taxi to the hotel.

The tours of Madrid and Toledo were great.  I got placed into the Spanish-speaking group, so all our tours of la Reina Sofía, El Prado, and Toledo were all conducted in Spanish.  On the first night there I did something that I regretted not doing the last time I was in Madrid: tapas.  My roommate, John, and I went to a little bar in La Plaza Mayor, sat on the terrace and ate delicious tapas (hot fried chorizo and croquetas) with some sangría. 

The second day was the day of museum trips.  We went to the modern art museum, Reina Sofía, at 9:30 and then to the classic art museum, El Prado, at 12:30.  Both tours were really good and I liked seeing all the art works that I got to see last time I was in Madrid.  After that, we relaxed a little bit before heading out to do a lot of sight seeing.  We went to la Plaza de España, el Templo de Debod, el Palacio Real, la Plaza Mayor, la Puerta del Sol, the two main fountains, and el Parque Retiro.  Whew…

The next morning we went off to Toledo, the religious capital of Spain.  It’s a great old city and it’s what I think of when I think of Spain: cobblestone streets, gothic cathedrals and narrow alleyways.  We went to a monestary that Queen Isabel built to thank God for being on her side (Monasterio De San Juan De Los Reyes), a Muslim-style church, and the place where they keep El Greco’s masterpiece “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.”  We then ate at the same café I ate at last time I was in Toledo, and that damned McDonald’s was still there…

And now the moment you all have been waiting for…my first thoughts from BARCELONA (it is the title of the blog after all :p )

Quick thoughts:

1. Spanish is actually spoken on the streets.  This surprised me because I came to Barcelona thinking that people would only be speaking Catalan.  However, all signs, advertisements and metro stops are in Catalan and I do hear a lot of people speaking Catalan on the streets and metro.  We also got a basic English-Catalan or Spanish-Catalan book at orientation today, complete with a quick grammar lesson and pronunciation guide.
2. The fusion of the old and the new is absolutely amazing.  I love gothic architeture but I also love modernism.  Barcelona is a perfect balance of both; it has its own Gothic quarter with the narrow streets, impressive cathedrals and cobblestone roads but you can definitely spot Dalí’s and modernist influences.  It’s truly the best of both worlds
3. The people here are definitely proud of their Catalonian heritage.  In my time here I have only seen one Spanish flag being flown that wasn’t on a government building.  There are many Catalonian flags on the balconies of apartments.

This Saturday is a holiday, the National Day of Catalonia (also called Diada in Catalan), so I plan on checking out the festivities; if it’s anything like Aste Nasugia in Bilbao then I’m in for a real treat. 

Sorry about the youtube videos too.  The internet here in the apartment fades in and out sometimes (I’m pirating internet again, arrrrrrrgh) so I’m going to have to go to the ISA office to upload them and I will let you know when they are there.

One last thing before I go to bed (I got class tomorrow!): My pictures from Madrid/Toledo can be view here

Bona nit!

Domingo a Sábado: My First Full Week in Spain

So you may be wondering “Sean, what did you do in your first full week in Spain?”

Well I’ll tell you!

On Sunday, the four of us (Arantza, Maren, Michelle and I) went to the festival in Bilbao (Aste Nagusia). We stopped to watch an interesting group that combines traditional Basque music with flamenco. The group used a Txalaparta (a wooden xylophone-like percussion instrument for two players) and a Txistu, which kind of looks like a recorder. They would play Basque music for a while, and then they would switch over to the flamenco dancers. After stopping at a bar to enjoy a glass of wine, we went to la Plaza Nueva to watch traditional Basque dancing. There was this big circle of people in the Plaza and they would dance a different jig depending on the tune of the pipe and the beat of the drums. Then, we stopped at bar in the corner of the plaza to eat a sandwich and drink some more wine before the fireworks show and let me tell you, the fireworks were absolutely spectacular. That whole night was so much fun and it’s definitely something that I will remember forever.

On Tuesday, Michelle and I got up early to go to the Guggenheim Museum, a museum for modern art. The architecture of the museum is absolutely stunning. It was designed to look like a ship and the titanium sides are meant to represent the scales of a fish, both paying homage to this important port city. Personally, I liked the outside better than the artwork on the inside (see my post below this one). My favorite part of the Guggenheim is the giant dog statue made of flowers, which is near the entrance of the museum; the people of Bilbao affectionately call it “el puppy”. After lunch, Aranzta and Maren took us to the little fishing village of Plentzia, which is about 5-6 miles away from Getxo. It was just this sleepy little town on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and it was absolutely gorgeous. My pictures from the town are linked on the side of this page, and I’m going to go back this week to take more (or you can just click here to see them).

On Wednesday, Michelle and I went back to Aste Nagusia at night to see an Irish band that she likes. The group’s name is “Altan” and I would strongly suggest checking them out if you like traditional Irish music (here). On Thursday we were back in Bilbao, but this time to see the musical “Chicago” at the Teatro Arriaga. Before the musical, we checked out some more traditional Basque dancing in front of the theatre. This time, it was professional dancers dressed in all white with a black hat and a green cloth wrapped around their waist. They had these sticks that they hit in sync with each other as they twist and turned. Oh yeah, and “Chicago” was of course a lot of fun.

Michelle left on Saturday, so now I guess it’s really time to sink or swim (I affectionately called her my lifejacket). Now I have to speak Spanish to her host family without her help or assistance. So far I’m doing pretty well, I can string a sentence together without a problem, but I struggle with trying to tell a story or when I have to switch verb tenses. I’m not beating myself up over this, cause I’ve only been in the country for 11 days now; I just need to practice more. As my parents would say “what’s the key to learning anything?” Práctica, práctica y más práctica.

On Saturday, we also went to the Vizcaya Bridge, which is the oldest transport bridge in the world and a site protected by UNESCO. We went on the elevator that took us up to the top on the bridge so we could walk it; it was very cool. We had such a great view of the bay, of Getxo and Portugalete (another town near Bilbao). After spending some time in Portugalete, we got on the suspension part and crossed the river back to Getxo.

Tonight, I’m going to Bilbao for the end of Aste Nagusia; it supposedly ends with Marijaia in flames (!) and a spectacular fireworks show.

Up next for this week: Going back to Plentzia on Monday (I need to take more pictures!), a blog post about cultural differences on Wednesday, my first Youtube video with panoramic views of Gexto on Thursday and my last day in the Basque Country on Friday.

¡Marijaia!

Yesterday, Michelle and I ventured to downtown Bilbao for the annual weeklong festival of Aste Nagusia. It’s pretty much a festival celebrating the Basque culture, the city of Bilbao and the end of summer. They close down parts of the city and pretty much party all night long.

Michelle and I left the apartment at around 6:30pm to take el metro (subway) downtown. It was very crowded getting out of the subway and we walked through the massive crowd of people, just enjoying the festive atmosphere.

We first stopped at a bridge, which was next to Bilbao’s town hall. There was a guy there who was telling what appeared to be a riveting story as two other people tied him up. We thought he was going to try to escape but he kept on talking and talking and, since we couldn’t understand what he was saying (it was very loud and we were away from the speakers), we left to go see other things.

We walked a little bit further down the bridge when we came across a tent set up on the other side that displayed flags of some “oppressed nations”: the Basque Country, Catalonia (the region where I’m going to be studying), Scotland, Ireland and Palestine. It was interesting to see this because it seems like some of the Basque people feel a special connection to other “politically oppressed” regions (more about this is a separate post).

We then walked down el Casco Viejo, which is the older part of the city. This is what I think of when I think of Spain: the narrow streets, the stone sidewalks and the grand plazas. We stopped at la Plaza Nueva, and watched a pretty cool band play. After that, we went back out where most of the people were gathered and we stopped to watch a group of guys break dance.

Then, we saw the mascot of Aste Nagusia, Marijaia. She is one of the two symbols of the city, the other one being el puppy (the giant dog made out of flowers in front of the Guggenheim). Marijaia leads a little parade around the festival, complete with a marching band (!). At different points she stops and her song comes on while people begin to sing and dance with their hands in the air. It was pretty neat to see it, as this is one of the many traditions of Bilbao. A picture of what she looks like is above this post (courtesy of google images)

After Marijaia left, we strolled down by the river, eating ice cream on the way. We stopped by the Guggenheim museum for a bit before we continued our stroll. At about 11:30 the fireworks started and they were absolutely magnificence. It’s funny, the only time I got to see fireworks this summer was in Spain at a local festival. After the grand finale we boarded el metro and went home for the night.

Up next for this week: A stroll down the coast of the Bay of Biscay, The Guggenheim Museum, A Basque History Museum, and going back to Aste Nagusia to see an Irish band that Michelle likes.