Way to go, Steve!

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I had fully intended to have this blog written and posted Monday, but a friend just recently let me borrow “Twilight,” and I’m beyond hooked right now, so my apologies. I know, some of you are shaking your heads right now, saying, “Laura, ‘Twilight,’ really?” but seriously, it’s ridiculously addicting, like “finish-it-in-a-day-and-now-I’m-re-reading-it” addicting. Not the “next Harry Potter” as some people have claimed by any means, but it’s good. I could go on for days comparing the two and falling into my Potter-obsessive world, or gushing about my new fictional character crush, but this is a travel blog, so I’ll spare you and get to the point. But you should definitely spend the day or two and read it. Before the movie comes out too. Seriously, read it.

*Ahem*

Alright, to the travel stuff! So this past weekend was our trip to Barcelona, and even though I know I say this every time, it was awesome. I swear I need a thesaurus or something, because I can already tell that I’ve run out of adjectives to describe Spain, and it’s only been 4 weeks.

I’m going to back-track a little to the day before the trip, because I want to describe the weekend in order, stories and all, and the tale kind of starts on Thursday. So after classes, Daman and I were walking to the bus stop when a black kitten popped out of a bush near us. We kept walking until it decided to dart across our path and off into another bush. My Irish superstitions kicked in immediately, and I froze, completely unable to move. Daman gave me a weird look when he realized that I wasn’t next to him anymore, and even though I tried to explain the bad luck that was surely to follow, he rolled his eyes and walked on. I caught up, but I still couldn’t push my ancestral beliefs out of my mind.

Fast forward to Thursday night. So I finished packing, as we were leaving at 8 the next morning, and as I set my alarm on my cell phone for 7, the image of the black cat again popped into my head. Note that Ana doesn’t set alarms and that I was supposed to wake her up before I left so she could pack my lunch, and that I’ve been having problems with my cell phone for a few days. I’m sure you can see where this is going…

I woke up the next morning to Ana, shaking me awake in a panic. My sleepy mind switched into Spanish mode just in time for me to realize that she was saying that it was 8:08. Freaking out, I tried to turn on my phone unsuccessfully for a few minutes before it finally relented and I was able to call someone in the group to tell them to wait for me. I ran around the house, throwing the rest of my stuff together, I got dressed, brushed my teeth, grabbed my hastily packed lunch, and sprinted out the door. Thankfully I live only 5 minutes from where we were meeting (a 3 minute run I discovered), so I made it by 20 after and wasn’t the last one there. What a start! Poor Ana, I realized on the bus that I had been freaking out in English, not Spanish, so I’m sure I scared her completely both in the panic of the morning and in her inability to understand a word I was saying.

And then we were off on our 6 hour bus ride. I know I’m weird, but I love long car trips… I don’t know why, but there’s something insanely soothing about being able to stare out the window, lost in space for hours on end. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who didn’t complain about the drive.

We made a stop just outside of Barcelona at a winery, famous for its champagne. We were originally supposed to take a tour, but because they’re in peak harvest season, that was cancelled and we had to make do with wandering around a bit on our own. A bit of a bummer, but the place was beautiful, set among the mountains (which mountains, I don’t know, there are lots in Spain). We left after shopping in the main store, and finally arrived in Barcelona at around 2.

Another food story! I’m sorry if you’re sick of them, but I have lots. So, like I mentioned earlier, Ana packed me a lunch for the trip, which I ate on the bus. Well, a picnic to Ana is roughly enough food for two meals instead of one. She packed me: 3 chocolate-filled croissants (for the breakfast I missed), a HUGE tuna sandwich, a peach, cookies, 2 chocolate milks, water, and a couple of other pastries. Seriously, I’m going to need some new clothes when I get home.

Our first stop in Barcelona was the Parc Güell, a park designed by the renowned Spanish artist Gaudí. It was full of columns of rock, tunnels, artsy benches, statues… all slightly reminiscent of Candy Land. Gaudí also had a home there, which looked like the castle straight out of the game. It was a tad surreal, but really cool.

We then went to see La Sagrada Familia, which is one of the most famous sites in Barcelona. The church was designed by Gaudí, but he died during construction in 1926 after being hit by a trolley, and it’s still not finished. Apparently, Gaudí never really finished anything he started, but I’m sure he’s forgiven in this case. Anyway, the construction was delayed for a long time, as he insisted that only money from the people and the church would be used to build it, not government funds. Only recently did construction pick up, and they expect it to be finished in 2025. The place is breathtakingly cool while also hecka bizarre. It’s full of figures of various bible passages on the outside, and looks a lot like a giant sand castle. I could’ve spent all day circling it and still not caught all of the details. Seriously amazing stuff.

We were staying at an old monastery for the weekend instead of a hotel, which I thought was really cool, but I was one of the only ones. Seriously, this is a big group of whiners. We were a fair ways out from the center of the city, and that’s all we heard about all weekend. Adam and I, however, found the place wickedly cool, as it was full of fountains and gardens and little paths off to nowhere… a sweet place to explore with a lot of history. We stayed in dorm-ish buildings (again, another chance to complain), which weren’t half bad for a place that’s hundreds of years old. Creepy (some of the guys got really freaked out when their windows and doors kept opening and slamming shut) but not all that bad.

Saturday morning we went to the National Art Museum of Catalonia (the region Barcelona is in), which was once, I believe, an old palace of some sort. The museum was HUGE, and houses one of the largest collections of Romanesque and Gothic paintings, and I thought it was fascinating. There were rooms that held entire walls of 13th century churches, removed and restored here. The museum ranged from 800-year-old works to modern ones, so it was a really interesting collection. Get ready… art trivia for the day! So back before the 13th century, artists and sculptors depicted their works of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in ways that suggested Mary was nothing more than an instrument used to provide the world with God’s son. She was usually portrayed as a chair, stiff and somber, holding the baby Jesus in the center of her lap. Seriously. Then, at the turn of the 13th century (my history is muddled, so I don’t know why this occurred), artists finally started seeing Mary as a person and the mother of Jesus, rather than a lifeless instrument, and the paintings and sculptures became much more animated. Jesus and Mary finally had a connection, and she’s usually smiling or playing with him. Interesting, huh? I’m including pictures to demonstrate what I mean.

After the museum we went to check out the 1992 Olympic stadium… EXCITING!!! The group finally got to see me for the dork I am as I practically skipped around on the way there. I was beyond ecstatic, and we got to go inside the stadium, which is now used for soccer (or football, I should say) games. I took lots of pictures, and it’s kinda funny to see how small the stadium seems in comparison to the one in China. The Barcelona one seats 80,000, which is a lot, but nowhere near the capacity they are now. Unfortunately, we just drove by the pool without stopping, but I got to see the torch, so it was a pretty successful endeavor.

After the stadium we headed back to the monastery for lunch and a siesta. We actually had the entire afternoon free, and while part of me regrets not taking a bus back into the city for some exploring on my own, it was nice to take some time to wander around the grounds of the monastery some more. It was raining too, so I was in my glory (yes, long car rides and rain… I’m a bit of a weirdo), and the gardens were extremely peaceful and relaxing.

After dinner we drove back into the city and caught a bit of a light show at the giant fountain in front of the art museum, which was set to music and pretty cool. It reminded me of a much bigger version of the musical fountains in Grand Haven, for all the Michigan readers who know what I’m talking about. My pictures didn’t come out as cool as I hoped, but oh well, it was still a fun experience.

We didn’t stay at the show for long, though. A group of us decided to go and catch a football… nope, sounds weird to say… soccer game at the stadium. It was an official Barcelona team too, which was pretty sweet. The tickets were a bit more than we hoped (30 Euro), but it was completely, 100% worth it! The stands weren’t that full, but the crowd was nuts, and I loved every second of it. It was a perfect cultural experience, and when it really dawned on me that I was sitting in the freaking Olympic stadium, I felt like it was completely fulfilling. And THEN Barcelona scored a goal, and the crowd went absolutely insane! I don’t think I’ve quite heard anything like it, and the adrenaline was incredible. Seriously, seriously, seriously, even if you don’t know a thing about soccer, if you ever get a chance to go to a game in a country where it matters, DO IT. There’s nothing quite like it.

Note on the title of the entry… at the game, we sat in front of a group of British guys, who, for some reason, kept screaming “Go Steve!” or “Alright, Steve!”… we had no idea what was going on, but it was hilarious. Anywho, moving on…

Sunday we were dropped off in the heart of the city to wander around for a while. The streets were far more perfectly European than any city I’ve been to so far… tiny, full of cafés and bakeries, and every building along them was gorgeous. Most of the cities I’ve seen so far are stunning, but for being such a modern and busy metropolis, I was pleasantly surprised at how many old buildings Barcelona had, and how well they’re kept up.

We got to see a few churches, including the Cathedral, which was by far the prettiest I’ve seen so far. My gasp was literally caught in my throat as we stepped inside… it wasn’t necessarily bigger than the one in Granada, but it was so old and had a truly ancient, humbling feel. I don’t care what people say, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of old churches. Of course, as I do just about every time, I immediately thought “Hogwarts” when we walked inside, but this one is probably the closest to how I would imagine it. DORK! Haha. One of the girls in our group, however, wasn’t allowed inside since she was wearing shorts, so a word of warning: dress appropriately for European churches! Well, dress appropriately for church in general, but don’t be surprised if you aren’t let in for wearing things above your knees. We even saw a few men stopped because their shorts were too short.

After the Cathedral, we did a bit more wandering around. There was some arts festival going on that weekend, so the streets were packed, and in every plaza there was a stage with some sort of show going on. On one we saw a huge group of acrobats, forming the largest human pyramid I’ve ever seen, and on another was a group of traditional dancers and musicians. It was pretty cool to see the city so alive and bustling, but again, I’m weird and I love crowds. The busier, the better.

So I don’t know how other people who’ve traveled abroad feel about this, but I absolutely LOVE listening to other American tourists, especially middle-aged couples. They’re usually a lot louder than they realize, almost always walk while eating some sort of pastry, and are just all-around hilarious. I always do my best to blend in (which is hard) and try to use my Spanish as much as possible, so I adore finding people who continue to speak louder and slower to waiters and who stop in the middle of streets to point out whatever building or performer that catches their eye. Something about it, even though I know I should hate it for giving Americans a bad name, is profoundly funny and endearing to me.

Oh, but speaking of trying to blend in… sorry in advance for all the side notes… I have no idea why, but I get stopped constantly for directions here. Probably about every other day, some Spaniard asks me where something is, or if they know me somehow. I don’t get it, I look the complete opposite of anything even remotely Spanish, but it’s happened a lot recently. Weird.

Back to Barcelona. After walking around for a while, we finally stopped at the Picasso Museum. While it’s not considered the best collection, it’s by far the biggest, and houses paintings from when he was 12 up until he died. I never used to be a Picasso fan, but after seeing the incredible range he had (as my dad put it, he was about 10 artists rolled into one) and his unbelievable early talent, I can honestly say that was one of the highlights of the trip. It’s a beautiful museum too, tucked away down some alley, and has some incredible works of art. I’ll save you the reading here, as I’m posting some illegal pictures I took with explanations in the captions.

We then returned for our final lunch before heading home. All of the food in the monastery was great, and they served paella for lunch Sunday, so I was really excited, until I actually started to serve it. Well, the seafood in Spain is quite different than in the U.S. For example, they serve shrimp still in the shell with its face still on, and when they serve fish, it usually also has a face and the bones. Of course, this paella was no different, and I picked around the shrimp, eating mostly rice and calamari. Our bus driver and Armando, the director of our program, both got a huge kick out of this. I don’t know what it is, but I seriously can’t eat food with a face. I had a whole lobster once, and I couldn’t eat much of it, since I saw it go into the pot and it still had its face. Without a face? Sure, pile it on my plate, but when I see those eyes, I suddenly feel guilty and can’t bring myself to eat it. Yet another Laura fact of the day! Also, the shrimp is ridiculously tiring to eat, as it’s a lot of work for such a tiny piece of food.

We then boarded the bus for our long (yay!) drive back to Alicante, and as I got on and prepared to settle in with my iPod, I realized that it had turned on in my bag and had been playing for over 4 hours! I thought I heard music once in the Picasso museum, but I shrugged it off. Needless to say, my battery was a ways gone, which was a bummer, but I made it most of the way home. Oh technology, you and I need to become better friends.

We got home late Sunday night, and I was exhausted, and as I said before, I read “Twilight” Monday, I didn’t even start this blog until yesterday. Anyway, as you can probably tell, it was an incredible trip, and though I’m looking forward to a weekend off to relax around here (relax, hah! I mean research grad schools), it was a great weekend. Plus, I got to cross 3 more things off of my “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” book, so it was a successful trip. Barcelona, you get an A in my book.

Alrighty, now that the travel stuff is out of the way, I have a few more regular day-to-day stories to share.

Last week I put together my schedule for the rest of this semester, and I’m pretty excited about it. I’m doing another block of grammar classes (4 weeks, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week), as well as an art class and a lit class, both with Armando, who is brilliant and super awesome, so I’m excited. Those only meet once a week, too, so that will be nice. Then, when this next block of grammar ends, I’m going to be starting my internship! I don’t know the details on that yet, but it’s with a newspaper of some kind and I might be writing an article here and there.

So lately, even though I finally feel like my Spanish is getting better, I’ve been really frustrated with speaking. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I’ve read that it’s common in the 3rd or 4th week, so I’m not all that concerned. I just have days where I don’t feel like speaking Spanish at all, where my head hurts from translating and thinking so much. Well, Monday was one of those days, and I was in a kind of sulky mood all afternoon and continuing on into dinner. I felt bad, but I really wasn’t talking much to Ana (part of me really wanted to get back to my book), and I wasn’t giving her very detailed responses. I know I was probably being rude, but I was in a funk and I couldn’t seem to quite break it. So anyway, Ana pulled out a can of peaches for dessert, and as she set it down on the table, she bumped it and it spilled all over me! It was honestly just the thing I needed, and I don’t mean that sarcastically. It was all over my lap, my shirt, the floor… I burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. Ana kept apologizing, but I told her it was fine as I continued my fit of hysterics. Well, you all know me, and I’m the kind of person who will stop laughing for a bit and then suddenly start up again, which I did for the rest of dinner. It was one of the funniest things that’s happened in a while, and it totally pulled me out of my sour mood. Yay! Anyway, I hope you appreciate that little story 😊

Yesterday it FINALLY rained in Alicante (first time so far), and as excited as I was, I stayed inside all afternoon, occasionally stepping onto the balcony to enjoy the storm, but too scared to actually walk around. I believe I mentioned it in a previous post, but the sidewalks here are terrifying! They’re all made of marble, or tile, or something slippery, and they’re bad enough dry, let alone wet. I knew that the second I stepped outside I’d fall flat on my face, so I stuck to the indoors. It was a nice, quiet afternoon though, and that’s part of why I love rain so much… it gives me an excuse to relax. I was also exhausted, as I was up until 4 reading that book Monday night (I was quite slap-happy in classes Tuesday, which is another story altogether that you really don’t need to hear), so yeah, it was a good afternoon.

Also, I was sick today with a sore throat and a stomach ache, and Ana is absolutely insistent that it’s because I sat on the balcony last night to use my computer and she thought it was too cold outside. Compared to what I’m used to, the weather was perfect, but it’s so funny how adamant she is! She’s on the phone right now, telling her son how I’m sick because I sat in the cold for too long… oh boy.

Alrighty, this was a long one, so if you stuck through it, yay for you! Thanks! I don’t have any scheduled trips for a while, but I’m working on one for the second weekend of October. Until then, my posts will be filled with the little stories (with lots more food ones, I’m sure).

Well, hasta luego!

Laura

P.S. Unfortunately, this batch of pictures isn’t nearly as cool as the last… I’m having some serious camera issues, and I spent most of the weekend just trying to snap the picture before something got screwed up, so I had to sacrifice what little artistic vision I have with photography. Hopefully, since this is my last big trip for a few weeks, my camera will use this well deserved break to rest and function better soon.

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Photos

Parc Guell
Looking up at one of the stone tunnels in Gaudi's park.

Candy Land Castle
One of the homes in the park... Candy Land!

La Sagrada Familia
The older side... it was smaller than I expected for some reason, but still breathtaking.

Pre-13th Century Mary and Jesus
See how stone-faced she looks? She's literally a "chair" for Jesus.

Post-13th Century Mary and Jesus
See? Much more loving and playful.

The Torch!
The Olympic torch from the 1992 Games.

The Stadium
Dad, this one's for you!

Fountain Show
The Fountain/Light show outside of the museum

Football
Soccer game at the Olympic Stadium.

Human Pyramid
They were climbing down by this point... it was almost double in size!

Barcelona Buildings
Some of the beautiful architecture in Barcelona.

First Communion
This is my absolute favorite Picasso painting, and he did it when he was 14! It's huge too, and up close the fabrics seem to almost move. I was beyond excited that this was in the museum.

Will Paint for Food
At one point in his career, Picasso was too poor to afford food, so he offered to paint restaurant menus in exchange for a meal.

Johnny Depp!
Does anyone else see it? I thought it was an awesome similarity.

Comments

[Kaitlin]

Hey Ms. Laura! I'm glad you're having fun. I also applaud your decision to stay indoors during the rain. You have enough trouble walking around at IC where there isn't as much tile or marble. That probably would have resulted in a spectacular "WHOA!" fall. Haha. Also, that one drawing of Picasso does look just like Johnny Depp!

[Lizard Breath]

I <3 Barcelona!
Yeah for fun trips! And for seeing the Olympic stadium. We drove past in when I was there but we didn't get to go inside :( I'm glad you're having so much fun!!