Explanations

1/31/09

            Everything makes sense now… Antonia’s mother passed away on Friday morning so she took off to Sevilla, leaving us each 30 euro to cover our food expenses until Monday when she will come back. She didn’t want to wake me up (and I assume didn’t want to explain everything) so she just creeped on into my room and left the money on my computer.

            As for the mustard and bags… it was a DIFFERENT creeper into my room who left those. Chessie had bought the Dijon and the sandwich bags the previous day and thought I might need them to pack my lunch so she left them on my floor so I would know where they were. It’s all seems clear NOW, yet I was by myself that entire day left to my own speculations as to what had occurred in the morning hours inside my room next to my sleeping face. Chessie and Thea both had a field trip that day and Antonia didn’t leave me a note or anything. When I came home in the afternoon Marta was there, jamming to her tunes and cleaning the kitchen, and she told me what had happened.

            We’ve had a 3 day weekend which means I have put off doing any homework and I have to finish Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia” which means I need to start reading rigggghhhtt…. NOW.

Curious

I woke up this morning to a sound in my room, so I look over my shoulder and Antonia is shuffling out as if she has been caught red handed. I wait a little while and turn on my lights. There is 30 euro on my computer, a box of plastic bags on the ground, and a jar of mustard rolling across my floor.

Hopefully Some of this will be explained but I thought it would be more interesting for everyone if I gave them only this part of the story first...

Eurotrip

1/28/09

            I booked another flight – to London, the weekend after Rome. World traveler over here. Now I just need to plan spring break (hopefully Greece) and my pipe dreams of travel will be realized.

            I have to keep a journal in 2 of my classes, one for Travel Writing in Spain, where I just have to journal continuously throughout my time abroad, and one for my Barcelona class, where I have to journal about our field trips.

            Needless to say, my blog=my travel writing journal. However, in the spirit of killing 2 birds with one stone, I will also be recording my field trip journal reactions in here, the first one being today. The following will be me imparting my knowledge on you, so read on if you would like to become a little bit smarter today:

El Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat

            I went with my friend Cindy today to go visit a museum for my Barcelona class. We watched a short video about the progression of Barcelona and then walked through some ruins of the original Roman city of Barcino. I actually didn’t know that Barcelona started out as Barcino, I don’t think a lot of people in my class did so I don’t feel so dumb – I DID plan on learning about Barcelona whilst being IN Barcelona so things are going according to plan. 

            When we were at the clothes washing site we were told by our british automated tour guide that there would be places for the citizens to pee outside, and the urine would be used to help bleach and wash the clothes. The laundry place actually paid a tax in order to keep these things out in their street… so that people could pee in them… and their urine could be used… to clean. I guess I know how I can hold myself over on clothes until the senora gets around to putting them in the washing machine.

            Something that I find pretty bizarre is how much the citizens were concerned with personal hygiene and appearance. The women wore makeup and even used tweezers, people brushed their teeth to make them white and chewed mint to make their breath fresh. Women had extensive collections of jewelry and men wore jewelry as well.  Even though it is such a huge part of our society today, it is hard for me to imagine it being so important for them. There were cases that showed some of the tools they used and we read that the women would blend pastes and powders to make the make up that they would wear. In our time, we can go out and buy some blush or lipstick so easily, but it’s a different thing to think about spending the time to make it yourself, not to mention, making the tools that you use to make it yourself.

            It is really amazing how much Barcelona has grown out of  its original walls. What was one merely a stopover city, built for convenience and retired people, is now an enormous busy area that attracts tourists from all over the world. Barcelona grew while the rest of the Roman Empire was going down. While Christianity spread, Romans began to question authority and undermined the empire, becoming one of the major factors in its decline. In Barcino, Santa Eulalia, a 13 year old girl, became one of the first Christian martyrs. Eulalia was tortured and killed for her faith and was supposedly buried in Barcino, making it a place of pilgrimage for crusaders, and bringing in revenue for expansion.

            It was definitely an experience walking through the ruins There were remains from houses, the original Roman city, remains from where they washed clothes, had public baths, made wine, dyed fabrics, dried fish. You could really picture the citizens living a life there and walking through the same passageways we were led. It is surreal being in a place with such a huge history, it makes me realize how young the US actually is. 

Jazz Si

Chessie having fun with photoshop : Parc Guell
A pathway in Parc Guell
Shane, David, Matt at the top of the Parc

1/25/09

            I have done a few blogable things since my last post so I will blog them all into one. (blog is a word that can replace many words for me, even though the sound of it makes me want to blog.)

            We went to Park Guell last Friday after our class. (I’m going to assume you know by now that “we” = Chessie, David, Matt, Shane and I). The Park was designed by Gaudi, as is almost every other famous building in Spain. We took our lunch there and ate on the benches, then walked around the park for a long time. We went up to the highest part where we climbed this stone structure that has stone crosses on the top, we had a great view but it was really windy that day (the day before the hurricane-strong winds). There were no railings so Chessie and I clung to the benches in the center, but the boys stood on the edge (as seen in the photo).

            After Parc Guell we went to walk around the Gothic Quarter, which is where the original Roman site of Barcelona was. When we were walking out we saw two guys stretching out and they had a speaker with them, so we thought they might be putting on a show in a little while, we decided to wait… So we waited an awkwardly long amount of time and I’m very sure they knew we were waiting for them to start cause we were the only ones standing there. Eventually 2 other guys showed up and they break danced, which was awesome and drew a big crowd. It was cool because when they introduced themselves, one was from South Africa, one from Latin America, one from Spain and one from Britain (who I proceeded to fall in love with).

            We went to a bar on Friday night called Dow Jones where the prices of the drinks go up and down depending on who is buying them and sometimes there is a ‘crash’ and all the prices go way down. It was a cool idea, but filled with Americans and we only stayed for a little while. Then Chessie, Kelly and I went to a Discoteca called “Opium” that is right on the Mediterranean. The place was really cool, very lavish and large with a patio right on the beach. We ended up dancing the night away and getting home around 7am.

            Saturday we bummed around all day, but we went out to watch the Futbol game with a bunch of people at an English pub called George and Dragon. The place was cool and it had a big screen for the game, Barca won. We have all been really getting into the games so we love watching them.

            Today Chessie, Matt, Shane, Brett, Meg and I tried to go a “Labyrinth” park that is supposed to be free on Sundays, but we got all the way there only to discover that it had been closed because of the strong winds the day before. Womp womp. So we decided to go to the Beach. We took the metro down and walked along the shore, it was a gorgeous day and we finally got to touch the Mediterranean. Definitely will be going back when it warms up. We were all pretty hungry so we grabbed some comida (not quite lunch but not quite dinner) before we met up with Kelly and Sante to go to a jazz club they had been to.

            This is my favorite spot in Barcelona so far, it’s called “Jazz si” and we heard about it because Sante’s house brother plays the piano there. It’s a very small place and it costs 5.50 euro to get in but you also get a free drink with your ticket. We got there at around 7, which is when the music starts, and it was pretty full already. It’s a small room and it’s got a small stage, but there are also stairs up to an indoor balcony that wraps around the room, about the size of a hallway. People sit on and dangle their legs over and other people stand behind, we managed to find a great spot sitting on the edge upstairs on the side of the stage, even though it was pretty packed. (By the 8:30 it was completely full). The musicians were great, it’s a thing where a bunch of musicians come and bring instruments and sign up to play. Then there are also a few different singers who come sing and the girl had an amazing, powerful voice. It’s not actually Jazz really, a lot of different kinds of music from U2 to country was played, all American songs. It’s the kind of place that has a lot of regulars and all the musicians know each other. It was just a great environment with awesome music and we plan to go back every Sunday that we can.

            In other exciting news, Chessie and I booked a flight to Rome for 4 days from Feb 19^th to the 22^nd. I. am. Psyched. 

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This is the place Chessie and I found for our picnic, when we were looking for that park. It's about ten minutes from our apartment.