Random Story

I just thought I would post this story because I thought it was hilarious. So, this past weekend, I think it was Sunday, I was sitting in a cafe near my apartment. It actually happens to be called "Cafeteria Groins," which is quite hilarious. It also re-assures me that I do not live in a touristy area. Anyway, so I am enjoying my meal and a San Miguel, looking at the diners around me. My attention immediately focuses on these two quite elderly ladies sitting at the table to my front left. These ladies must have been at least 85. They were sipping their dessert wine when one gives the other a small package wrapped in plastic. I am not sure if this was a gift, or something that they got for free (you never quite can tell with old ladies of this sort). Anyway, it was clearly a jar of jam and one of those cheapo memo pads shrink-wrapped together. These things cannot wait and so the old lady preceded to open it. Or at least attempted to. She first tries to open it with her fumbling fingers, but is unable to do so. "Give me your spoon" she says to her friend. With the spoon, she manages to pierce the plastic a bit, before getting the spoon tangled up in the plastic. But the old lady is not stymied for long. She rummages in her bag and pulls out a pair of scissors. The kind that goes on a keychain that you can fold and unfold. I watch in horror as she attempts to fit the scissors onto her fingers to use them. That too fails.

At this point, I am about to jump out of my chair and offer to open it myself. I mean, how much more of this arthritic struggle can I watch? And then finally, SUCCESS! The old lady manages to rip the plastic and out tumbles the jar of jam, the notepad, and the now slightly-bent spoon. These items dually inspected, they are placed into the abyss of her black bag.

Some things are universal.

Canyoning in the Pyrenees

What a fabulous day! My long-anticipated excursion in the Pyrenees finally arrived. Here is the back-story. I was looking around for some sort of hiking/active fun thing to do in the Pyrenees mountains. They are right around the corner here. As I was surfing the Internet, I stumbled across a company called Spanish-Trails, based in Barcelona. They offer all sorts of day trips and one of them is their Canyoning day trip to the Pyrenees. One minute into reading the description, I was hooked. "Canyoning" is the term for traveling in canyons using a variety of techniques such as climbing, jumping, swimming, and rappelling. (Thank you, Wikipedia). After quite a bit of marketing, I had 5 other ladies in the Arcadia group agree to come on the trip.

So this morning, bright and early, we met our guide, Siska, and drove out to the town of Baga, only about 20 miles from the French border. The scenery was breathtaking!

We arrived in Baga and had some hot chocolate and croissants before meeting up with our canyoning guides, Chavi and Manuel. Chavi warned us that the water would be cold and even gave us some other excursion options that we could do instead. But we were there to canyon, and canyon we did.

The equipment loaded into the vans, we drove up to the top of the canyon. Then it was time to get out of the van on the side of the road, strip down to bathing suits, and put on 5 mm wet-suits. They were attractive, let me tell you. We suited up with helmets and harnesses and then hiked for 10 minutes up to our first descent.

Which one am I?...the one on the far right!

Oh, and if you are observant, you may have noticed that there are only 5 of us total, instead of 6. One of the girls is very sick and was unable to come.

And this is where the fun started! (see picture to the right) That first descent was so tame compared to the rest that followed. We were not only rappelling through the pounding water, but also sliding down waterfalls, scrambling over rocks, and swimming through pools. It was so cold!!! The water was up to our necks at the bottom of some portions of the falls and we got soaked through and through. I loved every minute. Well, almost every minute. There were a few moments in which I thought I was going to get hypothermia and freeze to death. Chavi and Manuel were awesome guides, being patient, but also pushing us to climb faster. Not to be prideful, but I think that they were a little surprised at how determined and persevering we ladies were. It was definitely a challenge and I felt so victorious when we finally reached the end of the trail.

Hopefully, I will be able to post a picture of me descending soon, its on someone else's camera....

I would love to go on another waterfall rappelling trip soon. Where? who knows?!

Besos!

All About Madrid

Hey y'all. Want to hear about Madrid? Here it is:

The Trip:

We left quite early on Friday morning to catch an 8:30 am plane to Madrid. Nothing interesting here, except that I got patted down by airport security for the first time. And they analyzed my shoes with this shoe analyzer machine. And my belt got caught in the x-ray machine, in between the rubber flaps, and it took them way longer than necessary to get it out. Good times.

Friday:

So immediately after we step off the plane, we are whisked off to a tour of the Retiro Park and then the Prado art museum. The park was very beautiful and there were a lot of pretty fountains and such. We stopped by the Palacio de Cristal:

After a pleasant stroll, we arrived at the Prado. While I realize that this museum is supposedly wonderful, it was a bit awful. The tour guide was very difficult to understand. I didn't like the paintings she picked, with the exception of Las Meninas. Do I need to see Goya's dark period? I don't really appreciate cannibalism, even as an "art form." After two hours of traipsing around the museum and only seeing about 6 paintings, we were finally set free.

My friend Kelsey and I decided that with our limited amount of time, the best way to get around Madrid would be to take the bus tour. So we did. It was a beautiful day, although a bit brisk. Sitting at the top of the bus is a great way to see all of the city in one go, especially the architecture. It also helped us get an idea of what we wanted to do and see on Saturday afternoon.

After a brief rest at the hotel, I went out to get some tapas with a group of friends for dinner. It was quite nice.

Saturday:

We woke up bright and early to head to the Palacio Real. This is one of the highlights of my trip to Spain so far, for sure. Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures in the Palacio Real, so I don't have any to share. To sum up, it is one of the most luxuriously, beautifully decorated buildings I have ever seen in my life. I don't think I could live there because it would be too overwhelming.

After an excellent guided visit of the Palace, we went to lunch at a restaurant. The food was typical for Madrid, and very good. After this, we headed out for some shopping. In the evening, I went to visit the Reina Sofia, another art museum which was right next to our hotel. This was a highlight, because they had La Guernica by Picasso. Not only that, but they had all of his pre-sketches and some photos of the work in progress. The other cool thing about the museum was it had a third floor with a huge terrace, made of glass. I happened to explore it just at sunset, and it was awesome to see the city starting to light up.

Later on that evening, I had yummy chicken paella for dinner and we went on a quest to find the best churros with chocolate in Madrid. And they were delicious! 1 am rolled around, time to go to El Kapital and dance the night away!

and then on Sunday, we came back to Barcelona.

That ends the tale of my last trip.

Besos!

Forecast for this Week: Severe Storms of Homework with a chance of Torrential Lack of Sleep

My dear readers,

I had a wonderful time in Madrid this past weekend, and I do want to tell you all about it. However, I am currently quite occupied by homework and studying. Once the coast clears, I will be posting about my Madrid adventure.

Besos!

The Daily Slog

I am posting simply because I had quite a terrible day. We had an intercambio (exchange) this morning with Spanish students who are studying English. They told us about various holidays and we told them about Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Superbowl Sunday, etc. We were supposed to be there at 10:00 am and I figured the place was relatively close to the Arcadia Center. I woke up a bit late and at 9:15 am, I pulled up the map that they sent us so that I could glance at where the school is located. Shoot, it's like 15 blocks away from the Center....and i don't think changing metro lines will get me there any faster. Leaving, now. Long story short, I made it at 10:03, quite out of breath and a bit disheveled.

The intercambio lasted until noon and then i had my usual hour to get a snack before art class at 1. I decided to read over my assignment for my class at 6 and was quite unsatisfied with my work and wasn't sure how to improve it.

Then comes art class, and at this point, I am a full day behind the rest of the class, being a slower sort of artist.

A harried trip to the Pharmacist to get some antibiotics to kick the congestion in my chest and then back to the Arcadia Center to try to make end-of-semester plans with a friend...a whole story unto itself. At 5 pm, I finally got a chance to look over the assignment again and I managed to make some changes to it before printing it and hustling to class.

Women writer's class consists of the professor calling on people randomly and having them read out loud their written responses to questions she has given us about today's particular text. This can be very interesting, it can also be EXTREMELY PAINFUL. This depends on the quality of work and the person's ability to speak Spanish correctly. Today, there was a girl who had basically paraphrased the entire text for her assignment. And paraphrase is generous, she had lifted entire sections of the text into her writing. And it was 3 pages long. And she read the WHOLE thing, out loud.

Only one thing remains clear in my brain - I could use some cafe con leche.

Besos!

Roadtrip with the Parental Units

You may have noticed that I have not posted in 9 whole days! (Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new record.) Don't blame me, it's my parents fault. I had to be a busy bee and work really hard this past week so that I could be free of homework-related worries for the weekend's epic road trip adventure.

Dad had a medical conference in Valencia and so he and mom took the opportunity to stop by Barcelona before heading back to the States. It was very wonderful to see them. This is the longest that I have been away from home and I am really glad that they were able to come over here.

So what did we do? During the week, we had lunch, went out for tapas, went to Ciutadella Park and the Picasso museum, and had dinner with my host family. The Picasso Museum was one of my favorite art museums I have ever been too. It was laid out in chronological order. I really didn't know that much about Picasso. It turns out that he was an amazing painter with a huge talent in a lot of different styles (not just Cubism). He also had a fabulous sense of humor. Want proof? Check out his series of Cubist, tongue-in-cheek paintings of Las Meninas, a famous painting by Velazquez.

Mom found this restaurant called El Singular to take out my host mom and host sister. There is nothing quite like this kind of dinner. It is just impossible to predict how its going to be. Despite the slight language barrier, we had a wonderful time and I was so happy that my parents could meet my host family. I think my mom was especially glad (and a bit relieved too I suppose). With the foundation of the Lord's blessing, it is amazing what excellent food and laughter can do.

And then it was Saturday! We set off on the road for Zaragoza, a city 3 hours to the west of Barcelona. We drove almost straight through and arrived in the early afternoon. One comment here, the rest stops in Spain are quite nice. They have a whole cafe/restaurant thing where you walk through with a tray to get your snacks, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and cafe with milk and sugar. Don't forget a few bottles of wine!

ZARAGOZA:

I really liked Zaragoza. We were in town for the kick-off of the festival of El Pilar. Our hotel was facing the plaza, which was very nice. When it was pouring rain, we got to sit by our balcony windows and watch the parade and other festivities while staying dry and relatively warm. It was freezing! The festival was very family-oriented and there were lots of little kids and an enormous amount of young people. It was amazing. The parade trouped by, each neighborhood having their own flag, little marching band, and costume. We also got to check out a local artisanal flea market and bought some wine from a local, family-owned winery as well as honey and other yummy things. As far as food, I have to say the highlight was Sunday afternoon. We were hungry, I wasn't feeling good, and we weren't sure where to go. Everyplace seemed so crowded. Finally, we saw all these people eating pieces of bread topped with steaming, butter-drowned mushrooms. Dad pushed his way up to the front of the bar, fighting for a spot like a native Catalan, and ordered 3. We trooped out onto the street with everyone else, holding the mushrooms on a wooden plate. They were messy, buttery, salty, hot, and delicious. Good one, dad.

MONTBLANC:

We got into Montblanc around 5:30 pm on Sunday. Dad managed to fit the car up the narrow streets with barely inches to spare and we checked into Fonda Cal Blasi, a local B&B. After arranging for dinner at 9, we set off to explore Montblanc. The city is just chock full of medieval structures. We turned the street corner and we confronted with a beautiful church. Continuing farther up the path got up to the very top of the town, with an incredible view - a huge rainbow over the valley! We made our way around the walls, most of which are still completely intact. Dinnertime brought excellent food (since everything from Catalonia is the best! ;) and a lesson on how to make pa amb tomaquet (bread with tomato spread, very common in this region). This morning, we made a quick trip to the Monastery of Poblet before heading back to Barcelona.

So that was my crazy and wonderful weekend! Tomorrow, I have no school, since it is a national holiday (yup, another one, they come in spades around here). Homework time! I gotta be on top of things because this weekend is Madrid!

Besos!

Tarragona, Torres Winery, and beach surprises!

On Friday, we went on a trip to Tarragona, which is about an hour south of Barcelona along the eastern coast of Spain. The day was split into two parts. First, we visited a whole bunch of Roman ruins (although they don't really count as ruins since they're mostly intact). Almost the entire wall that surrounded ancient Tarraco is still standing and many of the buildings are as well. Interestingly, modern-day Tarragona is a thriving city and plenty of people live there, living in the old walls and with all of the ruins right at their doorstep. The most interesting thing that we saw in my opinion was the Roman amphitheater with a church built right in the middle of it. During Roman times, Christians were persecuted and killed in the arena as a sport. When Christianity took hold, the practice of was outlawed and the church was built to commemorate the Christians who were killed.

After we toured around, we got some free time. Beach time!!! the water was beautiful and I was kicking myself for not bringing my swimsuit. But we only had 45 min there anyway, which is not a lot of swim time considering that you have to be wet and salty for the bus ride home.

We jumped back on the bus and headed to the Torres winery. Now, this was something. First, we got to watch a video. Not a video on wine-making, a promotional video extolling the greatness of the Torres tradition. Then we troop into this room and they showed us this weird, modern video that was supposed to fill our senses with the seasons of grape harvesting. To say the least, it was rather strange. We are then escorted outside and get into this little tram which takes us past the grape vines, trucks filled with grapes, and around the newest wine aging facility (which looks more like a modern house than a facility). It even has the Torres family statue, called "La Familia." How original. I don't think the comparison to the Sagrada Familia was unintentional either. Then these doors open and we are taken into pitch blackness. The tram halts and these screens appear, and another whole video about the sanctity of the Torres tradition plays. As the finale, the screens roll up and reveals the hundreds of barrels of wine. (It is now apparent that we are in the cellar). After this, we get back on the tram and eventually roll back to the main place where we taste some wine, which was fairly good. I really could not get over how extremely ostentatious the whole thing was. It was quite amazing.

And lastly, today I went to the beach! It was such a nice day and the water was perfect. :) And surprise, there was an airshow. So I got to sit in the sand and see all sorts of cool planes doing tricks. And then I went for a swim and there were 4 jets doing tricks in unison and they dropped fireworks! I don't know what the deal is with Barcelona and fireworks, but I have now seen at least 5. Awesome!!!

A quick note: I know I write a lot of positive, fun things on this blog. Don't get me wrong, there are days when this is really tough. When I don't want to speak Spanish any more and I just want to come home. However, I am using this blog to help myself keep a record all of the awesome things that I have done - kind of like a reminder to myself that for every difficult moment, there is a wonderful moment.

Besos!