Let's Get Down to Business

first off, the picture on the right is the Catedral de Barcelona all lit up at night, its my favorite part of the city at night


So I'm realizing that it has already been about a month since my last post..

I keep thinking that I should blog to try and keep everyone up to date on my life, I just never seem to get around to it. When I actually get access to the internet I usually end up checking my email and thats about it.

So, just as an update this is what I've been up to for the month of March:

Keanan and Lonni were here for a week and we did a Ton. Sorry to them for making them exhausted on their vacation.
When I say a ton I mean it:
National Museum of Catalunyan Art,
All of Port Vell and the Beach
Sta. Maria del Mar
Catedral de Barcelona
La Rambla
Fuente Magica
Plaza Reial
Tibidabo
Montserrat (they went, I was in class)
Figueres and the Dali Museum
Girona
Sitges (again, they went while I was on a different trip)
That's a lot for a week..

Aside from Keanan and Lonni,
I also, went to
Monastery of Santes Creus
Montblanc
A Cava Factory
And!
Baden-Baden, Germany
Kehl, Germany
and Strasbourg with Sarah and her friends

After all of that I had midterms which went just well enough. HaHa and then this week was a week of classes and now we have a week of Spring Break for Semana Santa. Most everyone is travelling around the continent and even a few to Africa, which just sounds awesome. So for me, this is going to be a really relaxed week.

When I get another chance to post I will go more in depth about things that have been going on and try to give a little insight into the Spanish language that I've been noticing in my time here.

That's it for now I'll be sure to get back to everyone over the weekend. Hope that you guys haven't given up on me!

As you can see, I strayed a little from the original title..

Europe

I’ve been told that I’m lucky.

Spain itself is about the size of Texas, and Europe is, for argument’s sake, about the size of the US.

I’ve been told that traveling around is cheap and easy.

As of yet, I haven’t really had the chance to travel too much. I went to Andalucia by bus, but that was all included in my program, so I didn’t have to worry about travel arrangements.

I’ve been told how many amazing things there are to see and events there are to go to..

I am lucky enough to be able to go to some incredible cycling events while I’m here, but at what cost? I’ve spent the last month and a half here without a bike of any sort. I envy crap that will hardly roll. I will continue for the next 2.5 months without a bike as well.

While it may be true that I wouldn’t be able to ride my bike now at school due to the cold and the snow, that only offers me a little consolation. I spend my time below ground on public transportation, at the mercy of whichever computer is controlling the temperature and whichever fluorescent lights decide to flicker or go out. Above ground, it’s probably bright and sunny and in the 70’s.

You don’t really appreciate things until they are taken away from you. At Etown, I would walk by my bikes on a day like this and think, “Damn, I should really get out for a ride.. or I could go take a nap..”

If I could just walk out of this room and hop on a bike, I don’t think that there would be anything that could get me to turn around. I truly understand what people mean when they say it takes heart to compete in the higher levels of any professional sport. Anyone can train day in an day out… that’s for sure. But right now, I feel like I could get on a bike and take any one of them on. There wouldn’t be anything to keep me from the next pedal stroke.

I suppose that first pedal stroke that I take in May is going to be the best one of my life.

Picture it:
4 months without a bike of my own.
5 days of following one of the most prestigious bike races ever
3 days of the largest bike show in Spain
2 days of World Cup Trials Riding
1 day of ProTour XC Racing
~100 days of staring at bikes in shops

All in pursuit of a ride of my own.

I have a couple of leads on some used bikes here, but for 100 euros to buy the bike I want, then 140 more to ship it home, then 30 more for enough chains and locks to keep it, it just doesn’t seem worth it.



On one particularly inspired night last summer, after a long days ride or maybe a broken rib or two I wrote the following. It’s what keeps me going:

There is nothing on this earth that can mimic the feeling of going fast under your own power, cranking, leaning, charging, hurting, coasting, burning, or flying.

Nothing.


Now, that’s not exactly what I’d planned on saying for this entry, but it just sort of happened. It made me miss riding so bad, that I am going to go for a run I think.. It’s the best thing that I’ve got. I’ll at least get the hurting and the burning in.. who cares if Spaniards will look at me funny, don’t they do that already??

The City

Okay, so when I first planned on writing this entry.. I was going to talk about how I almost got mugged walking through Barri Gotic with Molly one Saturday night. What happened was I broke my own rule. Normally when walking at night, you only talk look or face people that you know. That’s my rule. It keeps me safe. I then broke it.

We walked past two guys who I thought were drunk, in an effort to leave us alone I turned to say something to them and one guy grabbed my hand and started to dance with me while another one got between Molly and I and got on the other side. When someone is holding your thumb… there’s really not too much that you can do. Luckily I can still function with my left hand, and I must say, the carnies at the Ulster County Fair had better watch out because I got some good Whack-a-Mole practice. They went for one pocket I whacked their hand away, they went for another, the same thing until finally they realized that I was onto their game and they gave up.

The next time that something of the sort happened it wasn’t nearly as funny.

A few nights later Becky had her purse stolen while we were in a club, it was awful. She lost her T-Jove (104 euro metro card), digital camera, house keys, ISIC card and a couple other things.. Luckily she didn’t have credit cards or anything, but still, to realize the shock of the matter that someone just stole something from you is ridiculous. The skill here is crazy but definitely applied all wrong.

Two nights later we all went out for her 21st birthday. On the way there our friend Louise told us a story from a few days earlier that went something like this..

I was walking to class in the pouring rain when a man with a map said “perdon.” I tried to be the Good Samaritan by going over, thinking that he needed directions, but when I got there I realized that he had a gun behind the map. I told him that I didn’t have any money on me, which was true. So he said to me (in Spanish) “Just the umbrella.” So I went back home to get a new umbrella and told my host mom what happened, and her only response was, “You’ll get used to it, ‘No pasa nada’ (Don’t worry about it)”

THAT is why I could never live here. Not because it isn’t a beautiful city, or because I don’t like the language. I just couldn’t live somewhere so dangerous

Giro d'Italia Trip

5/15/2007
14:00 Arrive in Rome
15:30 Train to Salerno
18:30 Arrive in Salerno
20:00 Check into Koine Hostel

5/16/2007
6:00 Wake up to watch the Start
8:00 Bus to Pompeii
8:15 Arrive in Pompeii
10:30 Watch Peloton roll through Town
12:00- 16:00 Visit Pompeii
18:00 Train to Rome
21:00 Check into Hostel in Rome

5/17/2007
9:00 Bus to Frascati
10:00 Arrive in Frascati
11:00 Get Spot at Finish Line
11:00- 13:00 Get Free Schwag
13:00 Watch Finish
16:00 Bus back to Rome
18:30 Train to Spoleto
20:15 Arrive in Spoleto
21:00 Check into…

5/18/2007
9:00 Tour Spoleto
11:30 Arrive at Finish
11:30- 13:00 Get free Schwag
14:00 Watch Finish
22:00 Second night…

5/19/2007
7:00 Watch Start
8:30 Train to Rome
10:15 Arrive in Rome
10:30- 12:30 Walk around Rome
13:00 Go to Airport
14:50 Fly back to Barcelona

What were we thinking...

I really am enjoying myself here. Seriously.

Just wanted to take care of that before I went any further.

As a quick catch up, nothing all that exciting happened the end of last week except for two things, and they were both Friday. I got word that my European Union course would be accepted for Social Sciences core at Etown, which makes the whole graduation thing a little easier. On the same note, I think that I am also going to be able to walk away from Etown with a Poli Sci minor which definitely can’t hurt. I just need to take two more courses while I’m at Etown. Good Deal. Aside from that, the only thing that really happened otherwise was my language test. Everyone was freaking out about it, but I honestly think that I was ready to take it four years ago while I was in high school, it was a lot of indicative/ subjunctive work.. so the two years of that in Sr’s class definitely helped. I think that I did pretty well on the test as a whole, I forgot a few colloquial phrases that they wanted us to use on the test so I don’t think that I aced it, but I did just fine.

Today. Today was probably the most eventful day since I’ve been back from Andalucia, which I suppose has only been a week..

I woke up bright and early and went for a jog with Becky. You know, nothing major.. just Mitja Marató. For those of you that don’t speak Catalá, that is a half marathon. Apparently the government of the Province of Barcelona has it every year. Probably one of the worst ideas of my life. Especially when you consider that before this morning, the last time that I ran was literally last May for the Zoom for Zip. 5k 9 months ago isn’t really all that much training. The first 10k went by pretty easily. Then it hit me. I suddenly had to go to the bathroom so bad. I had to stop, and when I got back going again, I was being chased by the busses and ambulances that flanked the race group. And on top of that, my legs cramped up and my stomach decided to be upset.. can’t say that I blame it. Becky ran/ walked with me for the last 10k but it wasn’t nearly as fun/ easy as the first 10. We were on pace for the 2 hour mark when we hit the midway point. We finished in 2:43.

May I remind you though that I said, “We finished.” That’s all that ever counted to me anyway. What more did I expect from these flabby legs of mine.

I’m proud of the marathon, and I’ll try to draw out the race course on a map so that you can see what it looks like on a map. Next time I’m running 21k. OR next time, I’m just going to say, nah I’ve already tried that, I’m going to stay with the bike.

Word of the Day: dolor- pain

I don’t think that there is any question about that one.

Feb 7

I realized today on my way back to the apartment that my entries of late have not nearly been what I had originally planned when I thought about making a blog about my time here. I’m not going to say that it is going to change dramatically, because I’m sure it is of great help to some of you to be able to hear what I am doing on a daily basis. What I am saying is that I really am going to make more of a conscious effort to talk more about what its like to be here, not what I’m doing here.

After realizing that.. I tried to think what it is like to be here.

And I still really don’t know.

I really enjoy the city, and I like the people that I’m here with.
My Spanish is improving each day, though I still consider myself best right out of high school.
But still I don’t see myself fitting in with the city.

I’m doing well enough blending in, but as far as being part of it goes.. well I haven’t even dipped my toe in to test the water.

Sunday Becky and I are running a half marathon through the city. I’ve never in my life run more than 6 or 7 miles and if I have it was during Soccer or XC seasons in high school and those times are a long ways off.

I entered the race not for aspirations of finishing in record time or of even running well. It really has nothing to do with the physical aspects of the event itself. Basically, this Sunday I’m going on a tour of the city with 12000 other people- and it is going to hurt.

I’ve conceded that I may need to walk or maybe even stop a few times. But for 16 Euro I can’t see a better way to spend a Sunday morning.

We’ll see how I feel about the city and my being a part of it come Sunday night.
And we’ll see how my muscles feel about being attached to the brain that thought up this idea come Monday morning.

I really don’t belong here.

Studying in Barcelona is something that you do. I’ve enjoyed my time here and could see myself returning in the future for a family vacation or something of the sort, but never again will I stay here so long. I don’t know the reason that I say that really. I can’t decide if that’s the truth for Barcelona or if it just how I feel about living in a city in general.

On our trip to Andalucía people would say how beautiful a city or a cathedral was.
I could only say “Eh”

Partly, that is my style of humor I suppose. But otherwise, I think I truly did believe it. The sights that we saw were incredible especially when you consider that most of which were built without the help of machines or electricity.

But there was always something missing.

To the shock of people hearing me say that the city was “Eh” my only response could ever be, “it could use a few more trees.”

The happiest that I have been since arriving in Barcelona was on two separate occasions:

A) Our excursion to Tibidabo. At that point I’d been in Spain for about a week and a half and hadn’t really had too much exposure to people other than those that I had known prior to the trip. Nor did I have any real air in my lungs, nor had I yet lacked air in my lungs. I missed that burn in the throat- not the one from the smoke that prevails over the oxygen everywhere in the city- but of a beating heart and screaming muscles. Of exercise and nature.
B) The second was the Super Bowl, the most American of all activities that could occur this far from the States. Sitting in the Hard Rock Café, with wings friends and a couple hundred other Americans.

The problem is that that high only lasts a few hours after the actual event.

I need something more.
I would do anything for a bike, for a car, for a cabin, for a …you name it.

I want to look out my front window and see mountains full of Evergreens not streets dotted with Palms.

Freshman year of college, I already considered Etown my home by this point. I probably know more people here, so I am not going to blame it on a language or social barrier. I just don’t think this is where I am.

I’m not here. I won’t be back soon.

I plan on leaving the city sometime Friday or Saturday. I saw on a map that there’s a velodrome just on the city’s edge and that sounds damn good to me.

The truth is that I have been so indifferent to everything my entire life that I didn’t think that anything could ever throw me. But here I am mid-air.

The advice my Uncle Kevin gave me the night before I came to Spain was:
“You just need to remember one thing; you’re and American and we’re the best. So long as you remember that you’ll be okay”

Not that this has anything to do with being American or not, but I really just like it there.

Word of the Day: contento- happy

Just so you guys know, as pessimistic as that entry sounds, I am having fun here. And sorry for all of you, but I’m not coming home early.. Like Sr. said about Granada it just wasn’t “his” Well, Barcelona isn’t mio. But I can deal with that.

Feb 6

Today was pretty uneventful really. I stayed in bed until 12 hoping that when I really did got up I would feel all right. All in all I didn’t feel too poorly though, and I could talk, it was still pretty raspy, but I could talk.

I had my second Don Quijote class and we learned about the life of Cervantes and I think that its interesting enough for a quick summary, mind you I learned all of this in Spanish:

He traveled around his whole life as a kid because his dad always gambled away more than all of their money
He studied philosophy with Lopéz de Hoyos who was later exiled for being associated with Erasmus
He was a secretary to a 29 yr. old Cardinal whose dad bought him the position
Joined the Navy
Got Sick
Begged to Fight anyway
Was shot in the arm and lost use of it
Given a letter from the highest general of the Army as recommendation to the King and Queen to give him a good job in Madrid
Captured by Pirates on the way to Spain from Italy
Pirates find letter
Pirates think that he’s important because of letter
Pirates take him hostage for five years along with his brother
Parents pay ransom for brother, can’t afford both
Finally some monks pay it

All before he was 35

There’s more that makes his life worse and worse, but its not quite as exciting as that.

Becky and I wandered around the city tonight trying to find the restaurant that her friend’s parents own but it took us a looong time because her other friend who gave us directions definitely told us the wrong streets to go to.

It was ridiculous, but cool to finally meet some people who really live here. Unfortunately all of her friends would rather speak English with us than stoop to speak Castellano.

You don’t realize until you’re here how much Cataluña really could be its own country and how much the people here want it to be so.

Word of the Day: resfriado- cold, as in my nose is stuffed and I can hardly talk, not brr

Feb 5

I don’t know that staying out all night was a great idea because I was definitely working on a pretty good cold before hand, but now I can hardly talk.

Today was the first day of classes and they seem like they are going to be pretty good. The professors here kind of make me wish that I had gone to a big university at home, because then they could afford these kinds of profs. Not to say that profs at Etown are bad, but when the guy teaching my Globalization course is a former European Committee minister, its just a little hard to be better than that.

The professor for my EU class has three goals for us, and I think that we can all agree to them.
Number 1: Travel
Number 2: Improve our Spanish
Lastly Number 3: Learn something

That’s not to say he isn’t going to teach us, because he definitely is an amazing professor, he just knows that there’s no better way to learn the EU than to travel in it.

What really made my day though was a little change in itinerary. A few weeks ago I scheduled a flight to Amsterdam with Molly and her boyfriend Michael and the next day found out that I had my Language final. Well that weekend was supposed to be this Friday, Molly is still going and making up the final in April, but I changed my flight for a 30 euro fee. That sounds a little extreme, but they absolutely will not change test dates for us, the date that Molly is taking hers is a make-up day for anyone who does not do well on the Art or Language finals. So instead, I’m going to Rome and it only cost me 60 Euro more, 30 in fees and 30 in the difference of the flight.

That’s not nearly the good part.

When I get to Italy I have some time to explore Rome but then I’m hopping a train to Salerno- a small city I’ve heard of a few times before in my life with no one I know and in a country where I don’t speak the language. Alone.

But not really alone, because there are also going to be 175 cyclists there preparing for the 4th stage of the Giro d’Italia the next morning. And for the next three days after that I will be doing the same, traveling town to town watching cyclists like Basso, Ulrich and Perez tear up hills that I would consider mountains and grind up mountains I would consider impassable. Then a few days later I’ll be off to the USA. That should be good enough inspiration to get on the bike for the rest of the summer.

I promise to have more pictures of Barcelona than of men in spandex. Te prometo.

Word of the Day: Ciclismo- no OLN not the Cyclism- simply cycling

If there was one thing that could have lifted my spirits on a day when I was so sick and tired it was realizing that I was going to get to see one of the greatest bike races in the world.

Feb 4

I guess that this is home…

Even still it is weird to be back. I stayed in bed late, I think part of me just refused to eat bread for breakfast after the 4 star treatment for the past week. In the afternoon after comida I met Molly to walk down to the internet café but half way there Sarah called and said that it was closed. We met up with her Dave Liesel Aubrey and Louise and searched for internet that we could get for free but with no luck. So Dave Liesel and Sarah went back to his house to use his internet and Molly and I walked around the city for a while. The other two just sort of disappeared, I think that they were going to go pay for it. Molly and I ended up sitting on a park bench for an hour or so on Gran Via just talking, until I relized that we were sitting right in front of a hotel. I got out my computer turned it on and sure enough, free internet, a place to sit, and only a few blocks from the university.

I got to check my mail and talk to Kait online but other than that wasn’t able to do too much before it cut out unexpectedly. Some day when I have a ton of time to be online with nothing to do, I really need to clean out my inbox so it doesn’t fill up over these periods when I can’t check it. I honestly think that regular mail might get to me quicker than email sometimes.

Because Americans are everywhere, we got to go out and watch the Super Bowl at the Hard Rock. The biggest problem being the 13 euro cover, but that did include a drink and a Budweiser cloth napkin which seemed kind of random. It was an awesome game until the Colts started to win then I just got annoyed. The Hard Rock kicked us out as soon as the game ended so I don’t know who got MVP, my guess is Adai, but please let me know. OH, and ANOTHER PROBLEM since we were watching internationally on satellite the feed would could out for a few seconds every once in a while but worse yet, no commercials. That’s a huge part of the experience. Oh well..

The game didn’t end until 4 and by the time that I made sure that people taking the NitBus got on all right and I started to walk home it was almost 5. So, Becky and I decided to stay out all night since we had class in just a few hours. It was kind of cool and we got to see the sun rise over the Mediterranean. But the best part was that because I was walking with someone else, the Hookers didn’t hit on me in Las Ramblas! Maybe it was her hooker boots, they thought that I was already taken…

Word of the Day: madrugada- dawn

Feb 3

We got to Córdoba in under two hours, definitely a welcomed surprise to those of us who had not looked at the schedule to see that it would be so short. As we were wandering through the new part of the city on the bus, Maika told us that we would have to walk a little ways to the Hotel because it would not be able to pass through the streets of the old city. She also told us that from the hotel we would practically be able to touch La Mezquita, which was about what she had told us about the Alhambra but the bus still got lost between the two of those so who really knew…

When we got to the hotel we realized that she was definitely telling the truth. The Mezquita was its own block in the city and we were just across the street. From our hotel room Brent and I were staring right at the wall of it. Not much of a view, until you consider the fact that it has been there for over a thousand years.

A lot of us all went out to dinner that night and it was really nice, we sat at a restaurant outside in the center of a really nice Plaza and had a really good meal with the best waiter ever. It was a little cold but otherwise everything about it was perfect. We wandered back to the hotel and through the city a little after dinner which ended up being kind of expensive. Before we made it to the Hotel we stopped at a little bar we found which was really cool. Dave, Becky and Sarah all each got a Heineken but I just sat there and stared at the mounted bull heads on the walls along with a ton of pictures of bullfights and Matadors, one of whom I think may have owned the bar.

The Mezquita is a huge Arabic mosque at one end and a patio at the other surrounded by a huge wall. The sad thing is, that like the one in Sevilla, this had been converted to a Cathedral. The bishop of Córdoba actually tried to stop the conversion because it was so amazing in its original state, but the king just signed the order without giving it a second thought, which he later regretted upon seeing the part that wasn’t destroyed. The inside was incredible, even with the random church in the middle. There were over 1200 columns supporting the red and white arches throughout the Mezquita, which is Spanish for Mosque. Also, in some places they intertwined different styles of arches to make some incredible architecture.. unfortunately my pictures of that were really blurry.. that’s what you get in a really dark building..

After a short stop at a tiny Mudejar Jewish Synagogue, mudejar meaning that it was built by Arabs, the rest of the afternoon was ours. The four of us went with Maika and a couple of others to an old Arab bath that the area was famous for which was basically the biggest waste of a euro ever. It was just a hole in a wall and what basically looked like a small subway tunnel underground. It was nice to see the traditional patio though. We wandered around the city a while after that until we were all starving. Luckily enough we all found an decided on a Chinese restaurant which had a three course meal dessert and a drink for 5,50 which was absolutely awesome. After that we went back to the hotel and relaxed so that we could all go out to an Egyptian club that we found online. When we came back after dinner we decided that it was really just too rainy to go out, especially with as far away as the club was.


So that was all we would see of Córdoba.

I did however forget to mention that the first thing that we did in Córdoba Friday morning was go to where the Hotel had planned an addition. Unfortunately for them, the Arabic baths buried there were incredible and they just couldn’t build over them. Well maybe they could because we just had to walk down the stairs from our rooms to see them, but they had to remove them all first number them and put them back in the right spot. So when Maika said that we could touch the Mezquita from our hotel, she really meant that we could be in both. Crazy.

Saturday was another day which consisted entirely of driving, and nothing more. 9am to 10 pm door to door. It was kind of sad to think that we weren’t going to get to hang out with everyone all day anymore and that were going back to bad showers and bread for breakfast..

Word of the Day(s): Pollo Agridulce- Sweet and Sour Chicken

Feb 1

When we got to Sevilla we… WAIT, it wasn’t that easy.

We got to Sevilla but never really got to our hotel. Tom Tom led us wrong. We turned right up a pretty wide street with cars parked down each side and even through the middle then stopped half way up the block. Apparently the GPS didn’t know that the road was closed due to construction of the new Metro system through Sevilla. Don Juan, our driver, tried a fifteen point turn, but after backing into a brand new Mercedes decided to unload the bus so he could work under a little less pressure. So loaded up with our bags we walked through the city to our hotel which was “only a 100 meters away” but which seemed more like 1 km. After we got our rooms we went right back out for dinner. We ended up at a place called Aladdin which was all Middle Eastern food which made a lot of people happy. Except for Molly.. her food ended up making her extremely sick… it’s hard for her to always be able to find food that she can eat.

The next day we went out of town to visit the old Roman city of Itálica, amphitheatre and all. It was incredible to see such a huge structure built without any aid of power or power tools. Unfortunately in the 1300 years since it was built the third level of seating had fallen/ been removed.. The city itself was incredible too though; it was mostly for upper class Romans because the floors of the houses were all covered with really intricate mosaics. Apparently, all of the roads used to be covered with wood overhead so that you wouldn’t have to walk in the hot sun, rain, or snow. Along with that they built huge thermal baths… for living so long ago they sure had a good life. They even had drainage pipes underground so that the city wouldn’t flood.. just incredible.

After the Itálica we drove back into the Sevilla and went to Real Alcazar. Basically it was a huge palace built by Arabs for the Catholic kings using Arabic art and architecture. What they didn’t know was that they were just writing scripture from the Koran on all of the walls. It was really nice too with some really amazing gardens including a hedge maze and a duck pond. I didn’t actually see the duck pond but Sarah and Molly went to see it and Sarah slipped and fell in duck poop and Molly laughed so hard that she peed herself. I only know because they were both still dying laughing by the time they met back up with us.

The rest of the day we had to ourselves so Sarah, Becky, Molly and I walked around and saw the Torre de Oro and the Plaza de Toros. We hung out a while to watch the sun set over the Guadalquivir, but it wasn’t quite as spectacular as we’d hoped. Who would have guessed that construction equipment would have been in the way… Construction is everywhere!

That night Molly stayed in because she still wasn’t feeling well so just Sarah Bec and I went out. For dinner we went to a little place we saw on the way back from the river.. I had a frozen pizza, that’s as much as we’re going to say about that restaurant. (Apparently the deer that I asked for from the menu wasn’t in season…) After that we went to a bar and watched FC Barcelona get beat by Zaragoza on pay per view. Just a hint, beer for a Euro is gross. From there we went out to a club where we were supposed to meet Aubrey and one of her friends who is studying in Sevilla. We caught a cab and got to the club a little bit before Aubrey. We were standing there waiting for their cab when a limo pulled up and Louise, Taylor, Aubrey and her friend all piled out.. it was really weird but apparently the club has free limo shuttles from various bars in the city.

The girls drank free until 1 but it was 12:45 by the time we got there so they ended up having to pay for the most part. Sarah must have spent all of her money because Becky and I ended up having to force her to stop dancing with all of the old men there and drink some water before we headed home.

The next day we ate breakfast then hung out at the hotel for a little while because the Catedral didn’t open until 11 (Breakfast was still at 8:30 though). The cathedral was really nice though and full of mystery. That’s an art history joke.. sorry. Be happy that you don’t get it. Then we got to go up to the Giralda, which was the Bell tower that over-looked the entire city. We didn’t have to walk up steps though, it was nine floors of ramps instead. Apparently the Arab king who originally built the tower wanted to be able to address the citizens of the city from the tower without being out of breath when he got there, so he made it possible for his horse to take him to the top instead.

After the Cathedral the normal group plus Alice, our Czech friend went to the huge park where I climbed a tree (the kind Sarah wants to live in) and where we saw a huge albino peacock. Just a warning.. don’t eat the oranges on the trees in the park, they our intensely sour and make your tongue go numb. I realized it faster than Molly (she didn’t really understand why I was spitting so much until her tongue really went numb. The five of us ate at a little café for lunch then went to the bus for the short trip to Córdoba.

Just as an example of why I’m glad you don’t have to give tips at restaurants in Spain-
While at the last café I mentioned our waitress was talking to us taking our order, when her phone rang, she answered it and walked away. Incredible. I’ve heard that some people have worse stories though.

Word of the Day(s)- vomitorio- exit (this is what the exits from the amphitheatre were called because people “spewed” out of them [ever wonder where we got the expression?])

Jan 30

This is going to be a pretty huge entry… since we were always on the move and rarely had internet, I didn’t write any posts for the actual trip.

Please bear with me. I’m going to write and entry for each city of the trip.

The last post was a week ago, when we first arrived in Granada. The next morning we got up and were greeted by the best breakfast that we had seen since arriving in Spain: this one actually had more than bread!!

After breakfast we split off into our individual groups and roamed the city. We were supposed to have gone on a guided tour with Maika, Gustavo and Kristyna but they decided that since so many people were sick and that it was cold and icy, that they wouldn’t make everyone walk around in the cold.

We walked around in short sleeves all day and saw some amazing things. Most incredibly of all was the Mirador de San Nicolas. I’ve got to say a big thank you to Señor because they only reason that we found the Mirador was because I made sure that the first thing that we did in Granada was find la Oficina de Turismo. From the Mirador we were able to see the profile of the Alhambra and it was incredible. It was just too bad it was so overcast.

In the afternoon we actually got to go the Alhambra, by that point though it had turned from overcast to rainy… The Alhambra was beautiful but we all realized right then that this wasn’t a sightseeing tour.. we took more notes than we thought possible and had very little time for pictures or just wandering around. We still got to see the sights but not with the time that we would have liked.

Tuesday we got up for an early start so that we could see just a few more things before we were off for Sevilla. We started off at La Cartuja which was a monastery just outside of town. It was absolutely beautiful even if we did have to sit in freezing cold pews for over an hour taking notes about the building’s architecture. The worst part about it was that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Though some people did, I though it was just a little too disrespectful to break the rules in a church..

The Catedral de Granada was a different story.. we were allowed to take pictures, but the timing or our visit was just poorly planned. We again say in pews for probably only 30 minutes taking notes and then got up to walk around as a group while Gustavo showed us some things around the Cathedral all the time telling us that he would give us a chance for pictures after his lecture. About ¼ of the way around the Catedral the lights went out and a security guard came over and told us that they were closing for lunch. SO we left, I snapped a quick picture on my way out, but it was so blurry that I just deleted it. We grabbed lunch at a little Pub where a lot of the group actually ended up and then went back to the hotel to catch the bus to Sevilla.

I forgot to mention… Monday night we went our to a little café for a Flamenco show. We’ll have to find one in Barca though because even though the guitarist was incredible, the dancer’s smell in the little café over-powered her flashy moves and stinging claps.

Word of the Day(s): vista- view
The view of the Alhambra from the mirador was, for me, the most impressive part of it. From inside its walls you didn’t really get the same feeling of its sheer size.

Here in Granada- Jan 28

Okay, sooo.. I’ve really been to lazy the past few days to type/ post but I’m going to try to catch you all up as shortly as possible.


Friday was morning classes followed by lunch in the U of B cafe. Immediately following that, a group of about 10 of us boarded the train with the symbol that looks like hands and headed out of the city to where we were going to hike to Tibidabo.

Tibidabo is a huge church on top of the highest mountain surrounding Bcn, so you can see it from almost anywhere in the city. And from it you can see everything. It truly is incredible. I’ll try and get some pictures up on facebook, and maybe a few here for everyone too see.

Yesterday I didn’t really do anything at all. I got up around 11 as seems to be the Spanish way for los sábados. Then, Molly and I went and found a free internet café, where we tried to figure out some travel plans and I was able to post a few blogs before my battery died. Aside from that, we went to the mall and Corte Ingles to try and get a few things for the trip, plus I want to get a more Euro-trash jacket instead of wearing a rain/ ski jacket around all of the time. Its just easier to try and fit in.

Today was hell. And for this I say:

A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of you who have made the Supreme Sacrifice.

Tedd, Chris and Sarah: the three of you have traveled extended periods of time in buses to come visit Etown, and I really appreciate it today more than ever.

We spent 14 hours on the bus today and it was hell. It was hell and I knew most everyone on the bus, I cant imagine going it alone. Thanks.

We’re here in Granada though, and I am pretty excited though. It’s the Alhambra all day tomorrow.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

OH

I completely forgot. Friday night, Becky Sarah, Molly and I went to the Fuentes Mágicas. Which were incredible. They are definitely something that I will return to see a few times and that you should all see too.

Word of the Day: Aigua- Agua- Water. The fountains were that good (Catalá by the way)

Jan. 25

Just a quick post for tonight.

Instead of writing, I watched an episode of Band of Brothers. Tonight was kind of awesome, although our plans were broken it was the most I’ve felt like we all interacted in the house. Lluis was late to get home, so his mother and I sat and watched Spanish Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Then Jack and I began dinner. When Lluis did show up the three of us managed to hold real conversation, which is rare because none of us is all that talkative. We talked about a few books and their relation to life today, namely 1984 and Brave New World. Brave New World by the way is just called “Mundo Feliz” in Spanish. It was nice though, then the three of us got up, and got jackets to go play some futbolin. We decided that the Fooseball gods are not on our side though since last time we tried to play, they were closed and tonight they had a live band so they turned the lights down way too low to play.

Awesome place though, and it’s a really awesome old fooseball table with metal players painted like FC Barcelona players. (Just for the record, Lluis and I were winning when the lights went down)

Aside from that, today wasn’t all that eventful. The only other thing that I did that is worthy of noting is that I chose a tentative list of classes for once the real semester begins and those will be:
Globalización
Union Europeo II
Morfosintaxis
And Don Quijote

Shouldn’t be all that bad. I’m just hoping that the globalization class might be able to transfer towards my concentration somehow, or if not.. maybe towards a poli sci minor.. that might be cool to have for my Presidential career down the road.

LAST NIGHT.. that’s what I really need to tell you about.

More than half of BCA Barca went out last night to Brazilian Party night at a club called Mojito. Once we all finally met up near the club it was about 11:30 but the club was still dead so they recommended we wait at a bar down the street. A very Asian/ Sketch bar. We all had fun though and a lot of laughs crammed in the tiny bar with one old borracho and about 25 American college kids.

Then we moved on to the club where there was a live band and some dance instruction. It was pretty difficult to get into the dancing at first but once you got up the nerve to just jump in and make yourself look foolish for a few songs, you got the hang of it pretty quick. It was good to finally get a chance to hang out with all of the kids from the group and just have fun and forget about the language thing.

But you know what.. this morning in class we were all so relaxed however tired we were and had fun there too. Getting all of us together to go out is seeming like more and more of a good idea by the minute.

Here’s the weird part.. I got about a third of the way home after dropping Molly off when I got a text from her saying that her keys weren’t working. I walked back and tried for myself but it just wouldn’t work. Our only option was to ring the doorbell and wake up her “mom” at 3 am.. The first words out of her mouth though were, “No te preocupes” or “Don’t worry.” So it wasn’t all that big of a deal. But then I had to walk home at 3 am instead of 2-2:30. I decided going through La Rambla was my best bet since its open and pretty well lit. But it didn’t seem to matter

The text that I sent to Molly as I was walking through went something like this…
“I thought that I was supposed to solicit prostitution, not the other way around.”

It was Weird. Never felt so awkward in all my life. And the whole time, the police just stand around. In America we have this strange perception of prostitutes standing on corners, well here in Barcelona, they walk around, walk right up to you and grab your arm or whatever they have to do… WEIRD…

It made me miss grass just a little bit more hahaha

As for the New Word of the Day, well, its officially the “Word of the Day,” I’m a lot less limited that way.

Word of the Day: llaves- keys (easy enough)

Jan 24

I was walking through the metro today on my way home when all of a sudden; “Bombs Over Baghdad” came on my mp3 player. It was right then that I realized as much as I feel like I’m starting to fit in just a little bit more here, I’m still American as can be.

There I was:
Sneakers
Baseball Hat
Sweatshirt
“Bombs Over Baghdad” in my ears
Smiling

None of which would any real Spaniard wear/ listen to or do on the Metro.

But I’m okay with that.

You know, I love Spanish and Spain. But I’ll smile if I want to.

Why be so depressed all the time, and this goes to everyone not just Spaniards. It only makes other people wish that they weren’t there too. On that note, I convinced Molly that we really need to talk to people other than each other. So we’re going out tonight. It’s Brazilian Party night tonight at a Club called Mojito up on Passeig de Gracia. Way up.

I’ll deal. Practically all the BCA kids are meeting up at the Diagonal Metro stop to head on over, and there’s no cover. So what’s the harm??
(Just an aside word wants “there’s in the line before this to be “there be” and I think that that’s hilarious)

That’s about it, I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

New Word of the Day: Sius-plau- Por Favor- Please

That’s Catalá- Lluis is teaching us a few words here and there, and I just saw a sign in the metro for free classes offered by the Gov. So I’ll be looking into that.

Why not, you know?

Jan 23

Be Prepared! Once again, Ryan missed the point.

I miss grass.

Sorry to all of you who Ryan should really be missing, but instead, you were beat out by something that’s more of a hassle than anything else.

Sure I’ve made some decent money in my life mowing grass, but to have to do so week in and week out should have made it the last thing I would think of on my walk home, but I did.

I miss grass.

It’s the truth. This city is nice and I’m really starting to like being able to walk places and get anything I need easily or whatever. But I just can’t stand concrete anymore. Don’t get me wrong. Of all the concrete in the world some of the nicest is found here, but it’s just not the same. Yeah, there are a lot of parks, but they’re really not the same. They’re places to bring your dog for a walk. They’re isolated, fenced off places in the corners of the city. It would just be nice if there was some natural color in this city.

I miss… grass?

If you’re reading this, and are maybe slightly offended, rest assured I miss you too. But if you were here, I would still miss grass. It’s just hard to live in a city. Yes, that’s exactly what it is. It’s hard. Hard on the feet, hard on the eyes, just hard.

“Concrete has no sympathy.”

New word of the Day: albondigas- meatballs
(Okay, so not really new, just what we had for dinner and a fun word to say)

Jan 22

Hard to imagine that today is really only my, what?, 8th day here.

I walk everywhere. I only take the metro when my feet just can’t handle it anymore. Which is usually on my way home from dropping Molly off at home, but that’s just from Universitat-Urquinaona-Barceloneta really just saves me ten minutes and having to walk through the pick-pocket friendly Ramblas at night. Not to say that I don’t enjoy it…

That is the weird thing. I’ve been here slightly more than a week, but I already feel above the common tourist. I guess that it’s the fact that I have an address here. At night I walk down La Rambla just like the rest of them, but I walk with my eyes forward and my mp3 player in my ears. That is the way you know. I know that I still look American, but when I’ve got a destination and a key in my pocket I feel like just a little bit less of an outsider.

At home we speak English.
Here they speak.

It’s strange to think of my language as the foreign one. I’m the one that they look at on the Metro and in the street. And I’m the one singled out.

Molly and I were heading back from Corte Ingles tonight waiting to get the go-ahead to cross Diputació when an American businessman standing behind us started to talk to some people that he was traveling with trying to make plans to meet later on in the night.

He, an American, was just like me; but I refused to accept it. I decided right then and there that if I really am going to stick with this whole International Business thing… that that is not going to be me. I’ll stick out, that’s for sure.

But I refuse to be the one on the corner that makes heads turn,
That’s what Prostitutes are for..

I’m studying. I don’t study. I don’t have a test, a quiz, or even homework.
I’m studying Spanish.
I’m putting forth an extra effort.
If this is what I get out of all this: I’ll stay a year.

I NEED to be better than what I was.
I eek.

I don’t do well in class, I did better this semester, but I had help. It helps when I know others in the class that keep me on my toes. But I’ve got to do my work for me, not with them so they get it done too. If I don’t enjoy doing it on my own now, why in 5, 10 or 15 years??

I like where I am.

I can keep this up. I can be an International Business major. I enjoy it and I will enjoy it if I let myself. I have resigned myself to working my way up.

Let’s start working then.

New Word of the Day: uña encarnada- ingrown nail

Jan. 20

Today was one of the longest days of my life.

I ended up going to bed last night around 10 because I was absolutely exhausted from that long day and all the excitement and walking – little did I know that that was nothing.

Today I got up at 9:30 had breakfast (which here is also bread) and left to go meet Sarah and Molly in Plaça de la Universitat. I gave myself an hour to get there by 11 because I knew that I wouldn’t go the fastest way because as well as I know the city, I just don’t know it that well. I ended up stopping to watch some kids play some organized soccer on a dirt field and then walked up to La Ronda no sé cual. Las rondas are the streets where the old walls to the city were, but today it was a hobby show of sorts. A radio station was there and the street was shut down, all so that a bunch of people could set up tables and trade wine bottle tops. Just the same as people in the US might have baseball card or coin collections saved in pages in binders, these people had bottle tops. It was really weird.

I wound up at the Plaça at 10:35 and sat and watched people walk around for 15 minutes until Sarah got there. We talked awhile about our first nights as we waited for Molly. Molly finally came at about 11:15 which was a little weird because she is never late. When we finally were able to cross the street to get to the Universitat where she was she told us that it wasn’t her fault. Sure Molly…But it really wasn’t her host mother heard where we were headed and sat down with her and had to highlight her map so that we’d be able to find our way all right (Although now that I think about it there was just a circle around Parc Güell). I wasn’t all that impressed by Parc Güell really.. I mean, there were a lot of really nice things and some really cool architecture, but as far as guide books saying that it is one of the most relaxing places on earth, I completely disagree. Have they ever been to Mohonk, have they been to Minnewaska, HOW ABOUT FISH CREEK?? I just don’t think they understand that relaxing in a park is about getting away, sitting down or laying in the grass, maybe paddling a canoe alone or with some friends. When the Parc is one of the main tourist attractions of the city, a stop on all the tour routes and a stop on the metro it is no longer relaxing. And what about all of the dirt where there should be grass?!?! I just don’t get it.

So we kept walking.

We went to La Sagrada Familia which is a church mostly designed by Gaudi the same who designed the park. It was nice, but also expensive. We paid 9 euro ($12) to go in but that also includes entry to the Gaudi museum in Güell sometime in the next month. It was really cool though because Molly was able to interpret a lot of the statues and the stations of the cross which were on the outside. I guess that’s what she gets for so many years of catholic school.

That was mostly it for the day, we walked back down to the city park which goes down to the water, sat for a bit and figured out tomorrow’s plans. Then dropped Sarah off at the Metro and continued on to Molly’s apartment. Dropped her off and took the Metro back home. By the time I got to the Metro, I had been walking for 9 hours with just a few short breaks in between in the parks and Sagrada Familia. Then worst of all, I got back to my street and could not for the life of me find my apartment, I walked from one end to the other back and forth from Restaurante de 7 Puertas, an apparently famous restaurant to Kevin Spacey’s 6 story face on a sign on the end of my building a bunch of times until I ran into Lluis my host father outside. Apparently, the entrance to my apartment is also the entrance to a small store by day, I kept looking at the stairs inside but knew they couldn’t be right..

I guess I was Wrong, it was very funny though when I told Lluis what happened.

New Word of the Day: Ampulla- blister

Jan, 19 2007

WOW

I’m here.

That’s really all that I can say. It’s about 10 o’clock at night and we just finished dinner. I have all of my things set up how I think I want them and I am here. My “Padre” is very very nice. He lives here with his mother who cooked us chicken noodle soup, salad, chicken, patatas fritas (French fries) and for dessert fruit o flan. I chose the fruit.

The coolest thing is happening right now as I write this. I normally write my blog in English but I am sitting here and it is really just flowing in my head in Spanish. It really is taking a lot of effort to write in English, but I know that I promised a lot of you that you would be able to read it.

One more really important, but very unexpected thing.
I have an “hermano” also. His name is Jack and he’s also from the United States. On the drive here though, Lluis (seriously, it’s all just Spanish in my head!!) told me that he only wants us to speak Spanish in the house. I think that it is going to be very difficult and Jack has already spoken to me a few times, but it will be good to have someone who has been here a few weeks to show me around. He said that he’s normally out until about 7 am though. Sounds just like me huh?

Molly, Sarah and I spent the day “rambleando” through the streets of Barcelona. It was incredible, we got to see so much of the city. On a map it seems soo big bit in just under 5 hours we were really able to cover probably 10% of it. Haha

I’m going to include a to a map of Barca so that you can all have an idea of where I am, and where I’ve been.

I’m really just too overwhelmed right now and can’t think of all that much more to say but I expect to have much more from now on.

Unfortunately I don’t have any wireless networks accessible from the apartment so I’m going to have to just write daily and post when I can. I’ll be sure to try and include dates and pictures of the days events as best I can.

As you can probably tell by the length of this post, I’m just really happy/ excited for the next four months. Lluis already told me that he thought that my castellano was really good. He’s had to repeat things a few times, but he has already been really helpful.

New Word of the Day: despertador- alarm clock