Time is FLYING. I enjoyed another few days in Barcelona last week, having tapas nights and bars and attempts at homecooked meals with my friends. On Friday I left for Bologna, where I met up with Lucy for Carnaval in Venice. The weekend was a blast-- I love the people I'm meeting in Spain, but there is nothing quite like a hug (/spoon-and-giggle-fest) from someone who knows you well. Seeing Lucy came at the perfect time, and we had a chance to catch up in a non-skype way (SO necessary) and hold hands while wandering down the uneven brick streets of Bologna.
So, without going into detail (because you can imagine what Carnaval is like, and if you can't, you're my parents and that means you don't want to imagine), I'll say that this weekend was delightful. I'm looking forward to a week that might even be BETTER, starting with tonight, which is a Mardi Gras celebration in Sitiges, a beach about an hour south of Barcelona. I'll catch up on a little sleep/homework tomorrow before Lucy gets here tomorrow night, then I'll show her around to the most important places (like Maoz and the beach) on Thursday. On Friday, Connor, Griffin and my cousin Tom all get here, and I can't wait to take them around and give them all huge hugs. God bless America.
Alright, enough blogging. Gotta live now.
Tara
PS- I haven't uploaded pictures from Italy yet, but when I do I'll post a few.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v92OsaD40w
It is unreal how accurate this song feels right now, accordion and Spanish and all.
This whole week I’ve been walking around with a smile on my face—partly due to the cardigan-and-sunglasses weather we’ve been having here and partly because of Valentine’s Day, which happens to be my favorite holiday after Christmas (boy, you just learn something new every time you read this blog, don’t you?). I know that Valentine’s Day is just another excuse for corporations to cash in on over-eager, spend-happy America, blah blah blah, cynical cynical cynical, but I just love the idea of a day in the year where it’s not quite as creepy to let the lovely people who surround me know that I think they’re great. Plus, I always get so nostalgic for Valentine’s Days of old, when in Omaha the weather was getting warmer (disclaimer: I think I remember spring in Omaha as warmer than it actually is) and my dad would surprise us with little boxes of chocolates after school, and in still-freezing Boston where Lucy and Emily and I would go to Sugar and Spice to celebrate love AND my half-birthday. What a fantastic bunch of people I’ve gone and mentioned…
So I spent an hour Thursday afternoon sitting on my balcony in the sun, armed with scissors and colored pencils, listening to a cheesy love song mix, excited to make eccentric little Valentines for a couple new and old friends. My housemates and I spent the week planning an amazing weekend that included trips to Sagrada Familia and Montjuïc during the day Saturday and big, Barcelona-worthy nights. It all started so well—Friday we had an amazing time at this club called Elephant, where the clientele consisted of mainly friendly Spaniards of the non-creepy sort, and afterward Suki, Will and I even found a place to get pizza at 6:30 am when the club closed. Unfortunately, this meant that we didn’t stumble out of bed until around 3 o’clock Saturday afternoon, not quite in a cathedral state of mind. We spent a while that afternoon feeling kind of crappy that we’d messed up our sightseeing day, but in the end decided that we should come up with a new game plan and leave the other plans for another day. I know it’s strange to say so, but breaking plans I’ve made with myself makes me feel kind of liberated and wonderful, so I was good with all of this.
Saturday evening, I had a coffee date with my friend Jess. We went to a restaurant at the top of Corte Ingles that had a fantastic view of the city and the mountains. I’ve been keeping a mental list of places to take people when they visit, and I think this one definitely makes the list. That night we all went to Gracia, a trendy, gentrified neighborhood just north of the city, to have dinner and drinks. We ended up at a Lebanese restaurant that was really cheap and delicious. I’m drooling just thinking about it. Anyway, enough describing food and colored pencils for now, I’ve got to go see more of this delightful city.
Que lástima, pero adiós.
T
PS- I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being over-eager or spend-happy, anyway.
blast from vday past
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Darlin, your head's not right
This past Sunday I bought a city guide which listed different movies, art exhibits and music events happening in Barcelona this week. One of the events was listed as a singer-songwriter jam session, so my housemates and I went to check it out on Monday night. It was at a little underground bar near the water, and about thirty or forty people had crowded in to listen to the songs of acoustic Spanish singer-songwriters. I signed up to play and was SUPER nervous, considering that I was having trouble just figuring out how I would introduce myself to a bar full of people in Spanish, but as soon as I got to the microphone and said 'Soy de Nebraska,' the rowdy Spaniards all started cheering good-naturedly.
I played two songs: one (Every Little Word) which I introduced as being about 'un chico muy guapo de Nebraska' and the other (Things I Said) I said probably should've been called 'cosas que dije cuando estaba emborachada.' They all clapped and laughed, and even though I was pretty sure they were making fun of me a little bit, it all seemed pretty relaxed so I just went with it. So I played the songs and everyone was really excited and friendly, asking me for my website and if I'd come back next week, and even a few who asked if they could kiss my cheeks (which is normal here.. I think). Anyway, it was a good experience and I was really glad to have my housemates with me, and we're all going to go back next week. Wahoo!
Let’s see, what else… I just finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a book which is aimed at an audience much younger than me, but was still really worthwhile to read. It basically tells the story of a year in the life of this freshmen in high school who quietly watches the people around him, having all these profound adolescent revelations. I feel a little weird about the fact that the protagonist in the story is a full five years younger than me, but it was also kind of nice to remember that everybody shares in teenagerdom.
I guess a part of growing up, or just making progress, is being able to look back every half year or so at the half year or so that preceded it and be slightly less mortified about the stupid things I did. I know that I am continually (though slowly) getting better at living, but there is still an adolescent girl who gets all riled up listening to bands like The Strokes and Outkast roaming around in this grown-ass woman’s body, and some of the situations the kid in this book ends up in really speak to her. The other big part of growing up for me, it seems, is learning that buying piles of clothes and jewelry and food and mind-altering substances won’t make me happy. I am still learning though.
Anyway, less emo, more Barcelona. Check, double-check. Next time.
T
Emily, Kate and Carina on the roof of Casa Battlo
Emily and Kate... this picture is one of my favorites of all time
Carina inside la Casa Battlo
I played two songs: one (Every Little Word) which I introduced as being about 'un chico muy guapo de Nebraska' and the other (Things I Said) I said probably should've been called 'cosas que dije cuando estaba emborachada.' They all clapped and laughed, and even though I was pretty sure they were making fun of me a little bit, it all seemed pretty relaxed so I just went with it. So I played the songs and everyone was really excited and friendly, asking me for my website and if I'd come back next week, and even a few who asked if they could kiss my cheeks (which is normal here.. I think). Anyway, it was a good experience and I was really glad to have my housemates with me, and we're all going to go back next week. Wahoo!
Let’s see, what else… I just finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a book which is aimed at an audience much younger than me, but was still really worthwhile to read. It basically tells the story of a year in the life of this freshmen in high school who quietly watches the people around him, having all these profound adolescent revelations. I feel a little weird about the fact that the protagonist in the story is a full five years younger than me, but it was also kind of nice to remember that everybody shares in teenagerdom.
I guess a part of growing up, or just making progress, is being able to look back every half year or so at the half year or so that preceded it and be slightly less mortified about the stupid things I did. I know that I am continually (though slowly) getting better at living, but there is still an adolescent girl who gets all riled up listening to bands like The Strokes and Outkast roaming around in this grown-ass woman’s body, and some of the situations the kid in this book ends up in really speak to her. The other big part of growing up for me, it seems, is learning that buying piles of clothes and jewelry and food and mind-altering substances won’t make me happy. I am still learning though.
Anyway, less emo, more Barcelona. Check, double-check. Next time.
T
Emily, Kate and Carina on the roof of Casa Battlo
Emily and Kate... this picture is one of my favorites of all time
Carina inside la Casa BattloSunday, February 8, 2009
In the mood to lose my way
Yesterday I woke up around noon and wandered over to the university with Suki and Carina for our make-up photography class (we were making up a class that we’re missing because of a Spanish holiday in a few weeks), then wandered back towards the apartment by myself. I do a lot of wandering, and Leah said I can call it ‘andando sin rumbo’ to make it sound even cooler. I had my 35mm camera with me, and I wanted to use up its current roll of film, so I andando sin rumbo’d my way over to the market a few blocks away from where I live. This market is amazing—it is basically a huge farmers market that you would find on Sunday afternoons in the Old Market in Omaha or near Quincy Market in Boston, except it’s open every day! I know what you’re thinking, and yes, they even have what appears to be skinned chihuahuas with the eyes still in them. So I took a few pictures at the market and picked up a few basic necessities that I was basically necessitating.
I guess something that you wouldn’t know about me from knowing about me is that I really like running. Specifically, running to get to know new cities (also drunk running through the streets of Somerville, but that’s a horse of a different color altogether), because it helps me to keep some kind of rhythm in a new setting and is a great way to get accustomed to the layout of a city. So after returning from the market, I strapped on my New Balance sneakers and jogging gear and hit the street. I like to take different routes every time I go, but I usually wind up picking some form of water as a destination; this particular time I figured that if I ran east for awhile I would eventually hit a beach that I hadn’t seen yet.
Unfortunately Barcelona is not set up in a complete grid, so I wound up running straight into a zoo and a palace-type thing which I couldn’t get around and ended up twenty minutes later finding a dodgier beach that I’d been told to avoid after nightfall (Barceloneta, if you’re wondering), but luckily I made it just in time for the sunset. I sat there in the sand, Mediterranean breeze cooling my flushed cheeks, watching the sun sink down over the top of Montjuic, listening to my American, American music. Oh yeah, it turns out that I’ve decided that listening to my iPod is ok… Sorry Barcelona, I know you’d prefer I complement you with spicy flamenco rhythms, but this is MY perspective so it makes sense that I see you through my rose colored lenses and hear you through filters of Chris Brown and Rilo Kiley.
Anyway, after sunset I quickly booked it off the beach and managed my way back to the apartment, where housemate Kate was ready with a mom-like round of questions—she thinks it’s pretty bizarre that I slip off on my own sometimes. Todo esta bien. After I showered (ahh, I could take three paragraphs right here to describe my soap—maybe I’ll send a bar of it to Morgan so she can dedicate one of her blogs to it), I hung around with the girls for a bit, making dinner and listening to music and laughing, before we headed out on the town for the night. Nine hours later, I went to bed. Hello, Saturday.
mercado de la concepcio
sculpture on the beach
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Elbows and exposed knees
I guess I've been avoiding writing a little bit, even when I had the chance, because I kind of wanted to wait until I had some decent pictures to share with the world. Unfortunately, all the pictures I've taken since I've been here have just been really...bad. So maybe those will wait. Anyway, Barcelona is wonderful! At the moment I'm sitting in the study lounge at the Arcadia center with two of my also wireless-less housemates. Ahh, my housemates.
Like I mentioned, I live with four other American students: Suki, my roommate, is a Nashville girl going to school at Charleston College in South Carolina. She does yoga every morning and is honestly one of the most genuine people I've ever met. I have a very good feeling about her. Carina goes to GW in DC but is from LA and has a couple typical characteristics of other LA girls I know-- she's well-dressed and street-smart, seemingly never surprised by some of the bizarre stuff that happens to us in the city. She's also hilarious and keeps me on my toes all the time. Kate and Emily are both from Massachusetts, so we're already planning some kind of bay state reunion for when we all head back to the states. Kate is incredibly witty and sassy, and looks frighteningly similar to Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. Emily is very sweet and is always laughing-- her twenty-first birthday is actually TONIGHT at midnight, which might make 9:30am spanish class tomorrow a little painful, but 21st birthdays are so worth the pain.
Gah, I feel like Louisa May Alcott describing the little women... how obscene. But I feel like I should give you (whoever you might be) some idea of who we're dealing with here. Basically, I love my living situation; even without a living room or wireless we are having a great time. Althoooough, both of those would be nice.
So the five of us, along with other friends we've met through the program (and quite a few others who we've met just wandering down the street, in bars and clubs, or through classes at the university) are having a grand old time taking in the city. We're trying to adjust to Spanish hours, which include lunch around 2 or 3 followed by siesta, dinner at 9 or 10, heading to a bar around midnight, and ending things by going to a discoteca at 2 or 3, finally returning home at 6 or so. It's crazy how lively things are here at 2 in the morning-- the streets are full of people young and old, just looking to have a good time.
Aside from the nightlife and hours, we've also been having some exciting adventures in cooking. I've never been completely responsible for cooking for myself all the time, as I've had LeeAnn's gourmet stylings in Omaha and Dewick's sophisticated offerings in Somerville to keep me satisfied. Here though, I'm finding an unexpected little adventure in going to the various stands (fruits, vegetables, meats) and Spanish supermarkets to find things to cook, then cooking them. I won't go into detail, but I have come up with some extremely creative menus that I think I will force upon everyone when I get back.
One other thing I've been doing since I got here is taking classes (duh). Mom and Dad, I know you were probably wondering when I'd get to this part, but obviously I have to save the juicy stuff, like classes, for last. I'm taking four classes: a Spanish class which meets 4 times a week for two hours (at this rate, I better be fluent in a week TOPS), 2 classes in English at the Arcadia center, and a class taught in Spanish at the University of Barcelona. The two English classes are Art & Architecture and Photography, and I'm really pumped about both of them-- so far, so good. The class that I'm taking at U of B is called Contemporary Spanish Culture, and for half of it I'm learning Catalan (really strange-- I'm learning to speak Catalan in a class taught in Spanish... quite confusing but really exciting!) and the other half, Spanish geography and culture.
Wow, am I rambling...I just feel like I should try to fit in everything I've been experiencing for the past week since I don't know when I'll have sustainable internet again. However, as my fine brother Ryan so eloquently puts it, less is more, so I think for now I'll go do some more exploring and the next time I have a chance to write, I can go into more detail about events now that the general stuff is out of the way.. until then!
Tara
Okay, a few pictures...
My little room! And balcony.. you are jealous, I can tell.
Roommates at Gaudi's Parc Guell: L-R Suki, Kate, Emily, Carina, me
ceiling of what was supposed to be the market at Parc Guell
part of Gaudi's Casa Batllo, and some nerds hanging out around the Barclays ATM
Young Elizabeth Taylor
one of the orange tree-filled courtyards at U of Barcelona
and finally, Suki and Emily getting some homework done with the help of 5 bottles of wine (hopefully the 83 cent type)
Like I mentioned, I live with four other American students: Suki, my roommate, is a Nashville girl going to school at Charleston College in South Carolina. She does yoga every morning and is honestly one of the most genuine people I've ever met. I have a very good feeling about her. Carina goes to GW in DC but is from LA and has a couple typical characteristics of other LA girls I know-- she's well-dressed and street-smart, seemingly never surprised by some of the bizarre stuff that happens to us in the city. She's also hilarious and keeps me on my toes all the time. Kate and Emily are both from Massachusetts, so we're already planning some kind of bay state reunion for when we all head back to the states. Kate is incredibly witty and sassy, and looks frighteningly similar to Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra. Emily is very sweet and is always laughing-- her twenty-first birthday is actually TONIGHT at midnight, which might make 9:30am spanish class tomorrow a little painful, but 21st birthdays are so worth the pain.
Gah, I feel like Louisa May Alcott describing the little women... how obscene. But I feel like I should give you (whoever you might be) some idea of who we're dealing with here. Basically, I love my living situation; even without a living room or wireless we are having a great time. Althoooough, both of those would be nice.
So the five of us, along with other friends we've met through the program (and quite a few others who we've met just wandering down the street, in bars and clubs, or through classes at the university) are having a grand old time taking in the city. We're trying to adjust to Spanish hours, which include lunch around 2 or 3 followed by siesta, dinner at 9 or 10, heading to a bar around midnight, and ending things by going to a discoteca at 2 or 3, finally returning home at 6 or so. It's crazy how lively things are here at 2 in the morning-- the streets are full of people young and old, just looking to have a good time.
Aside from the nightlife and hours, we've also been having some exciting adventures in cooking. I've never been completely responsible for cooking for myself all the time, as I've had LeeAnn's gourmet stylings in Omaha and Dewick's sophisticated offerings in Somerville to keep me satisfied. Here though, I'm finding an unexpected little adventure in going to the various stands (fruits, vegetables, meats) and Spanish supermarkets to find things to cook, then cooking them. I won't go into detail, but I have come up with some extremely creative menus that I think I will force upon everyone when I get back.
One other thing I've been doing since I got here is taking classes (duh). Mom and Dad, I know you were probably wondering when I'd get to this part, but obviously I have to save the juicy stuff, like classes, for last. I'm taking four classes: a Spanish class which meets 4 times a week for two hours (at this rate, I better be fluent in a week TOPS), 2 classes in English at the Arcadia center, and a class taught in Spanish at the University of Barcelona. The two English classes are Art & Architecture and Photography, and I'm really pumped about both of them-- so far, so good. The class that I'm taking at U of B is called Contemporary Spanish Culture, and for half of it I'm learning Catalan (really strange-- I'm learning to speak Catalan in a class taught in Spanish... quite confusing but really exciting!) and the other half, Spanish geography and culture.
Wow, am I rambling...I just feel like I should try to fit in everything I've been experiencing for the past week since I don't know when I'll have sustainable internet again. However, as my fine brother Ryan so eloquently puts it, less is more, so I think for now I'll go do some more exploring and the next time I have a chance to write, I can go into more detail about events now that the general stuff is out of the way.. until then!
Tara
Okay, a few pictures...
My little room! And balcony.. you are jealous, I can tell.
Roommates at Gaudi's Parc Guell: L-R Suki, Kate, Emily, Carina, me
ceiling of what was supposed to be the market at Parc Guell
part of Gaudi's Casa Batllo, and some nerds hanging out around the Barclays ATM
Young Elizabeth Taylor
one of the orange tree-filled courtyards at U of Barcelona
and finally, Suki and Emily getting some homework done with the help of 5 bottles of wine (hopefully the 83 cent type)
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