You Know You've Lived in Barcelona When...

{{Es esta vida y funciona así: hoy aquí, mañana allí}}

1. You more-or-less live in the metro and count on it to get you basically everywhere in the city. You have your home base metro stop; mine was Clot, with Line 1 (red) and Line 2 (violet) for all my transport needs
2. You hate motos (motorcycles), both when you are driving and when you are walking. They weave in and out of every square milimeter of traffic like they had nine lives to spend. They also seem to go at least 10 km/hr faster than everyone else.
3. Whether driving or walking, as soon as the other light turns red, you begin going. When a pedestrian, if the stop light is red, you start walking; when driving, if the pedestrian has a red "no walk" person, you're at least changing gear.
4. While waiting to cross the street, you always stand part-way out into the street to see if there's a car coming or if you can cross now now now
5. While on the metro, you start pressing the door button or open the door handle the second the train enters the station, even though it won't open until the train stops. You also feel a great anxiety to be the first to press the button, and you feel personally culpable if the doors don't open the second the train stops, like you didn't press it well enough
6. You always say "Adéu" when you leave a locale, even if the entire time you were speaking in Spanish
7. You find words of Catalan slipping into your everyday Spanish. Some of my main culprits: "mica"/"miqueta", "molt bé", "trucar"/"truca'm"/"trucada", "bon dia", "adéu", "sortir"/"sortida", "tornar", "arribar"/"arribada", "museu" (respectively "poco"/"poquito" (little), "muy bien" (very good), "llamar"/"llámame"/"llamada" (to call/call me/a call), "buenos días" (good day), "adios" (goodbye), "salir"/"salida" (to leave/the exit), "regresar" (to return), "llegar"/"llegada" (to arrive/the arrival), "museo" (museum)).
8. You can easily sleep through the sounds of sirens, garbage trucks, yelling revelers, and constant road traffic no matter what the hour
9. You own a black motorcycle-style jacket. Bonus points if you have more than one, and more bonus points if the others are in different colors as well
10. You both love and hate Las Ramblas
11. You use l'Fnac as a place to meet people so you can browse the books if they run late
12. You love sitting in Plaça Catalunya and people-watching
13. Even if you don't really follow football (aka. soccer), you love Barça matches and ruthlessly cheer on every goal against the opponent
14. Dinner is way too early if it's before 10
15. After every meal you drink a little coffee (tallat/cortado; small espresso with milk). You basically just drink coffee always, and you expect it to always be excellent, even from the little corner bar
16. You know that if you want to do anything out in the evening, before 10 is too early
17. Pa amb tomàquet is the perfect snack always.

Adéu, Barcelona

{{Y daría, tantas cosas daría, sólo por que este mundo no girara tan deprisa}}

That unfortunate time has come again where I have to say goodbye to an amazing place that has found a way into my heart and marked me after months of living in it, for tomorrow I leave Barcelona and return to the States. My time here since January has been amazing, full, flew way too fast, and helped me appreciate and become a part of yet another completely different culture. Barcelona is certainly not Urubamba, and neither one is Portland! But they all share small similarities that I delighted in finding as I make my way between the three cities that are now "mine". I met some truly amazing people here, people that I will be able to visit both in the States and abroad, and I was lucky to spend several quality months as part of Guillem's family, listening to them talk in Catalan amongst themselves (and learning their language myself), traveling with them to see other parts of Europe through their eyes, and learning how to make Barcelonan paella.

And I don't think I could have been luckier with my choice of city. Barcelona is incredibly beautiful, blessed with creative, modern architecture on every corner; I never tired of gazing up at the decorative iron railings and unique buildings everywhere I went (from simple touches to a grand madman's invention that is la Sagrada Família). I've fallen in love with the way Catalan and Spanish are both used here, in passing clumps of people speaking one or the other as I walk anywhere, and am proud that I now understand and can respond in kind. I'll miss the fantacism for Barça, the commentaries on TV3 that make fun of the politics of both Spain and Catalunya, being able to walk down to the beach whenever I want, then turn around and enter a free contemporary art exhibit at CaixaForum.

I have completely fallen in love with this city, and, compared to everywhere else that I visited in the south (all beautiful, with amazing history and people), it is still my home. I even breathed an internal sigh of relief as my train pulled close and I could see the Telefònica tower on Montjuïc that let me know I was close to home. I know I will be back soon and I can't wait to see what my next Barcelona adventures will be. But for now, it's time to start looking towards the college part and readjusting to living in the US (dinner at 7.....what?! I eat at 10:30...I can't even be hungry at 7!).

No et dic "adéu", Barcelona, però "fins aviat". Gràcies per a tot, guapa, m'he divertit molt molt molt. Ets boníssima i bonica, ho saps, no?

Doncs res, ens veiem, sip!

Tancant el Capítol de l'UB

{{Tu de què vas}}

Last Friday we had the goodbye party for all the students of Estudios Hispánicos at the Universitat de Barcelona. I wasn't quite done with the UB yet--I still had a test for Cine Español that afternoon and one for Historia de Arte Monday afternoon--but it gave a great symbolic close to the four months I've spent studying there. Throughout my time in Barcelona, the UB has been the only constant in terms of my classes. Differing French and Catalan courses have come and gone, but I have always known that several times a week I would walk or metro my way over to Universitat to learn more about Spain's artistic culture. Several of my closest friends--Alli, Marine, Lauren--have come from my classes at the UB, and I always feel a sense of great pride as I walk towards the great front doors of the Universitat.

To celebrate the goodbye, we all grouped in the Panorifam, a special room in the University that is only used for thesis presentations and special evening concerts. I had gotten to visit this spectacular room once with my art history professor, but I was completely as wowed the second time by the complete decadence and art inside. My professor explained to all the gathered Estudios Hispánicos students about the importance of the room. The right and left walls are covered in a series of paintings that depict important events in the history of Spain, uniting Muslims and Christians and Jews, scholars and kings, merchants and sultans, bringing together all the different facets of what makes Spain today. The far wall has paintings of two women, one representing the arts, with names of famous painters, composers, architects, and writers, surrounding her, and the other representing the sciences, with the names of such as Gallileo and Newton surrounding her. The room is magnificent and was a fittingly solemn place to say our goodbyes to our university away from home. My art professor wore the traditional formal professors' robe, which has been in use since the 1500s, and talked about the importance of the room and Estudios Hispánicos from the pulpit where the student delivering his/her thesis would defend it against the "Devil's lawyer".

After the ceremony we were invited to mix and mingle over tasty bocadillos and sodas. It was a perfect way for me to enjoy some last moments talking with some of my fellow students from classes and enjoy the atmosphere of Estudios Hispánicos one last time. Plus get a bit of free energy before my test!!

But my ultimate goodbye to the UB actually came this past Thursday, when I spent my last day with Alli before she flew back to the US. We wanted to wander around the gardens one last time, and what did we find, but a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Catalan, right in the middle of the gardens. The students were obviously rehearsing for a performance that night, still cleaning up a few entrances and lines, and unfortunately we arrived towards the end of the play. But that, however, didn't take away from the perfection of this particular play, in the language of Catalunya, for a final goodbye measure to our university. Only at l'UB would that happen, and only after living here would we be able to know which play it was after hearing only a few words in Catalan.

Adéu, l'Universitat de Barcelona, segura que ens veiem de nou algun dia. Només vull que no sigui molt temps!! Gràcies per a tot!

Flamenco in...Barcelona?! C'est la Feria d'Abril!

{{Yo nunca olvidaré el último vals}}

La Feria d'Abril is put on by the Federación de Entidades Culturales Andaluzas en Catalunya (Federacion of Andalusian Cultural Entities in Catalunya) to celebrate the annual Ferias that are held throughout Andalucia, the most famous being in Sevilla. In Andalucia, the ferias completely shut down the cities and turn everything in festivities, music, food, and good sherry, but here the Southern-style merriment was carried out only in the Parc del Fòrum by the Mediterranean shore.

The event was amazingly fun, even though it rained the entire evening I was there. The entire fairgrounds of the Fòrum is covered in small tents selling traditional Andalusian cheeses, sausages, succulent Pernil ham, fresh-distilled olive oils, sherry, and beautiful red wines. Some even gave away samples! (I had quite a bit at one cheese sellers' stall....but it was too good to just have one little piece!). There were also stalls selling traditional flamenco outfits, churro carts (though none will ever have a place in my heart like churro man in Urubamba!), mini-restaurants with absolutely amazing cheap food (octopus! paella! patatas bravas! ham! calamaris! roasted sausages!), and a memorable tent filled with herbs and spices to cure different ailments and make you feel better (I saw at least 5 different products advertising how to stop you from smoking, which are desperately needed here in Spain).

But the most important stalls were the larger tents with wooden floors that were specifically set up for flamenco dancers. In some, everyone sat back and enjoyed Andalusian specialty dishes while groups of professional flamenco dancers performed for them; in others, everyone, from smiling grandmas to energetic little kids excited to be up past bedtime, danced together in the middle, stopping every once and a while to refresh themselves with tapas or a glass of wine. The excited, festive spirit was contagious and I couldn't help but smile as I watched all the different couples dancing, celebrating their native heritage here in Catalunya. The dance is instilled into them from when they are young; it is so much a part of their culture that it is not a thing to be forgotten, but something that a moment inspires, gathering people together in a circle as they clap for a couple in the center, strangers before made compatriots by the rhythm and their dance.

If I couldn't be in Sevilla this year to celebrate the biggest Feria in Andalucia, I'm glad I got to enjoy a taste of the South here in my city! And soon I'll get to see just what Andalucia is like when Mom and I depart Barcelona for our Spain vacation next Friday.

Inside an Obra Maestra

Karen came and visited me last weekend and, with her urging, I finally entered one of my favorite—and most well-known—landmarks of Barcelona: la Sagrada Família. I had always been told that, because it’s currently a “work in progress” until we don’t really know when (current prediction is 15 years, but it looks like it will take longer, just like all architecture projects…), it wasn’t worth the 10 euros to enter. I even had heard a few “It’s just like any other church”-es. But I can definitely say, without a doubt, that all of those people are quite wrong

La Sagrada Família is an absolutely astounding architectural marvel inside, even though it is under construction, and you learn all about the historical and physical process of creating this obra maestra when you go inside. Yes, the fact that there is scaffolding everywhere inside and the noise and dust of construction is bothersome, but, a) I have yet to see a church in Europe that’s not currently en obras, and b) that in no way detracts from the masterful architecture that is to be seen inside the church. In fact, seeing what has already been done, what parts of Gaudí’s dream temple have already been completed, almost made me excited to see the scaffolding because I cannot wait to see what will come in the future years as they continue the work.

The thing I find the most interesting about the continual construction of la Sagrada Família is that now any architect who takes up the mantle of continuing to direct the project must be brave enough to attempt to insert himself or herself in Gaudí’s mind and try and understand the way this architectural genius worked. It is, in part, because of this that the project is continuing at such a slow rate, even though we do have so many more advanced architecture techniques than during Gaudí’s time. Many of Gaudí’s plans and maquetas for la Sagrada Família were burned or destroyed during the Spanish Civil War when the anarchists broke into his study on the grounds of la Sagrada Família. Fortunately they didn’t attempt to destroy la Sagrada Família itself because, as the story goes, one of them realized that Gaudí had died poor like them and therefore his church shouldn’t be destroyed. Because Gaudí was such an experimentalist with his architecture, he tried every technique that he used in la Sagrada Família in smaller forms in his other works. He often said he never would have dared to do the things he did in la Sagrada Família on such a large scale if he hadn’t first attempted them in various aspects of his buildings. We don’t know what other experiments he may have done if he hadn’t been struck down by a streetcar. La Sagrada Família could have a very different structure than the one we know today. It could be exactly the same. He could have completely new ideas for how to construct the remaining façades. Since la Sagrada Família was his grand masterpiece, the culmination of all of his work, he used his best and most inventive techniques in it. But, no architect today can say that he or she has the mind and exact thinking pattern as Gaudí to be able to recreate his ideas and extrapolate from there to form new ones to reshape the plans for today’s Sagrada Família. No one dares put their name and stamp on Gaudí’s masterpiece, and I doubt that if I were an architect I would have the guts to do it either! Working on the temple so changed one master sculptor that he became an extremely devout Catholic, just as Gaudí was.

When we went inside la Sagrada Família we got to not only see a little bit about the process of the construction and walk inside the spectacular forest-like congregation, but were able to go up the main towers to look out over Barcelona. Because of the construction, you can only go up the towers in elevator (and pay 2 euros more, but oh well, it means that I’ll get to see the finished Sagrada Família 2 euros faster!), but we were able to descend them by foot, exploring the connecting spiral towers along the way. It was absolutely magnificent, looking out over Barcelona from the birds’-eye view behind the dove-studded tree on the old façade. Knowing that I was inside one of those iconic towers and seeing how high I was, comparing that to how much even higher the central tower will be, looking down upon the continuing construction project, examining up close and personal the parts of the church that I had only ever seen from the ground, far away with my neck craned and eyes squinted to focus it better, was all astounding. In total we spent almost 4 spectacular hours exploring all the nooks and crannies we could of la Sagrada Família, and I would call them four very well spent hours with 12 well-spent euros to attempt to get inside the head of this masterful architect and come to a more personal understanding of his most personally valued project.

Roses, Books, and Catalanisme: La Diada de Sant Jordi

{{Por eso esperaba, con la carita empapada, a que llegaras con rosas, con mil rosas para mi}}

Friday, April 23, was the Diada de Sant Jordi, or Saint George's Day in English, one of the most important holidays in Catalunya. Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalunya, and they go truly all-out to celebrate his day. According to the legend, there was once a town that a dragon descended upon and began to ravish. To placate the dragon, the inhabitants agreed to hold a lottery to sacrifice a person to the dragon each day. One day the name of the princess, who was loved by all the inhabitants, was called, and because the king was a just man and the princess brave, they refused to let another be sacrificed in her place. But as she stood waiting for the dragon to come and take her away, Sant Jordi arrived on a white horse to fight off the dragon (some say the dragon first carried away the princess and Sant Jordi rescued her from its cave). When Sant Jordi slayed the dragon, the most beautiful rosebush ever grew from its blood, and Sant Jordi gave the princess a rose before riding away. For this reason, one of the traditions of la Diada de Sant Jordi is for all men to give women a rose (mainly for couples, but good friends do this as well).

The tradition of giving books arose as an idea of a bookseller in the 1930s, who promoted this as a special day to sell books because both Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the 23rd of April. Traditionally women give men books, but that has also changed, with people buying books for their loved ones in general, or for themselves. The great majority of Catalunya's book sales occur the 23rd and the days before Sant Jordi. Stalls selling books and roses are set up all across the city, with the highest density (and prices) concentrated on Las Ramblas, authors sign books at all the major bookstores, and everyone gets into the spirit of reading and giving.

One reason that Sant Jordi is such an important figure for Catalunya is that he, in a way, represents the fight of Catalunya against Spain itself, in terms of preserving its culture, traditions, language, and national pride. Sant Jordi represents Catalanisme, the struggle of the small power against the large.

Las Ramblas was the most crowded I have ever seen it, a complete flood of people holding roses and browsing booksellers, music, smiles, and festivities. Even though Sant Jordi is not technically a holiday day and people still have to work, most still find a way to escape from their jobs at least for a bit and enjoy the festive atmosphere. I enjoyed some of the famous pan de Sant Jordi, which is a small loaf bread made with stripes of cheese bread and bread with some sort of pepper, so that, if you cut it properly, it has yellow and red stripes like the Catalan flag. Mine was perfect because it had just come out of the oven when I bought it and was perfectly warm and soft inside with a lovely crunch on the crust. I wish they made it the rest of the year too!

For la Diada de Sant Jordi, the government of Catalunya opens two major government buildings--La Palau de la Generalitat and the building of the Ajuntament--to the public to walk through and gain a better understanding of what is behind the walls of their government buildings. I went in both of them and they were absolutely stunning. The Ajuntament, where the offices of the governor of Barcelona are located, along with other official offices, was an absolutely stunning building; ornate, richly decorated, with priceless art covering the walls, beautiful painted scenes depicting the history of Catalunya or anecdotes about justice and truth. The Palau de la Generalitat was less impressive at first (more technical spaces with places for the press and for meetings of the Generalitat de Catalunya), but as we wandered further we discovered great rooms with statues and paintings and carvings of Sant Jordi (I found 15, and I'm sure there are more), and then later a gigantic chapel with magnificent paintings of monumental moments in the history of Spain and Catalunya (such as Columbus' reception by Ferdinand and Isabella after discovering the Americas).

I had a great day wandering and enjoying the spirit of la Diada de Sant Jordi all day Friday. There were readings of Don Quixote in cafes, spirited dances of the Sardana in plazas throughout the city, and general celebrations of love, reading, and all that makes Catalunya its own special nation with a pride and heritage of its own.

Cubism's Creator

Image from: http://www.redbubble.com/people/najeroux/journal/1448213-a-call-for-guerilla-public-art-nofrillsart-and-guernica

Image from: http://search.it.online.fr/covers/wp-content/pablo-picasso-las-meninas.jpg

{{Porque su mundo es diferente}}

Last Friday I didn't have film class, so I decided it was time to pay the Museu Picasso a visit. The Museu Picasso of Barcelona deals mostly with the artist's young life and his development as an artist that led him to become more or less the founder and most well-known artist of Cubism. Picasso lived in Barcelona for much of his youth, and was a part of the "artists' gang" of Els Quatre Gats, a bar that was frequented by Rusiñol, Casas, and other modernist artists, poets, and thinkers of the late 1800s and early 1900s. He later moved to Paris, where he further developed his style and started branching into a completely new way of seeing that would become cubism.

The Museu Picasso was really interesting and a great way to spend an afternoon. The way that Picasso completely changed his style of painting is absolutely astounding; it's almost impossible to believe that his early paintings and his Cubism paintings came from the same person! He had an amazing creative talent and eye, even turning later to sculpture and ceramic work to branch out on his artistic efforts.

Everyone thought that the young Picasso would grow up to be an excellent landscape painter, but nothing else. But as he started to spend more time with the gang at Els Quatre Gats, they encouraged him to focus more on the human form, and as he began to explore it, he began to play with it as well, to play with perspective and lighting, deconstructing the form into its geometric parts. While beforehand the great search of art had been to perfect the placement of lighting, to make the art look as real as possible, almost as if it could move (like Velázquez's "Las Meninas"), Picasso did away with lighting and perspective, painting a face both in profile and from the front at the same time, turning the curves of a human shape into their basic geometric parts, expressing his view of the modern world with different colors for different moods.

One really interesting part was a movie and then several gallery rooms dedicated to Picasso's reinterpretation of "Las Meninas". He counted Velázquez as one of his great artistic masters, and decided to do a reinterpretation of "Las Meninas" for the current time. The painting of the 17th century was from a world completely different from the world of the mid-50s when Picasso created the series. He painted a total of 58 different paintings expounding upon "Las Meninas", including studies of different characters within the painting, in different colors, with different forms, some in black and white, some more geometric, some less, some more realistic, some less. It's an absolutely astounding body of work and pays a great honor to one of Spain's masters of art.

The Museu Picasso was a great stop on my Barcelona museum list and left me very amazed at what a truly revolutionary and talented artist Picasso was.

Brussels: Land of Chocolate, Waffles, and EU officials

{{Me encantó viajar contigo}}

For Semana Santa I went with Guillem's family on a road trip through the southern French countryside to Brussels. Carla, Esperança, Claudio, and I drove to Brussels to meet Guillem, who had been there the five previous days for a model European Union conference with other young people from all around Europe. I loved passing by car through the south of France, which is absolutely beautiful. It was amazing to see how the scenery changed as we all compared what we saw out our window with different states; to go from northern California to the mountain passes of Montana to northern New England in the space of just a few days. But at the same time, it was undoubtedly French; the small towns we passed could have been Belle's hometown in "The Beauty of the Beast", like perfect postcard shots of the pastoral French countryside.

Brussels is a very international city, as many of the main offices for the European Union are located there. They boast that approximately 50% of the population is not Belgian by birth, being as so much of it is composed of EU officials and their families. As well, Brussels operates on two different languages: French and Flamenco. Flamenco, Guillem's family said, reminded them of misspelled and mispronounced German (they all lived for several years in Germany and speak German fluently). Native Flamenco-speakers are very proud of their language, and in some ways try and avoid speaking French as much as possible. French is what is taught always in the schools, even in the high levels (unlike here, where Spanish and Catalan are required equally).

It was Brussels' grand plaza that impressed me the most about the city; the rest all seemed rather dirty and just filled with faceless industrial or office-style buildings (nothing laid out as well as Barcelona, clearly!). The buildings that surrounded it were all stunning, every inch filled with sculptures and carvings and spires and gilding on some of the statues. We spent lots of time in the grand plaza! And we also ate lots of waffles while we were there; they are not simply some American invention, Belgian waffles. They were a little lighter and fluffier than waffles at home, always a dessert food, covered in chocolate or sugar or honey. The answer to crepes in Belgium I guess!

We also took several different day trips (we were gone a full six days): one day to Luxembourg and one day to Bruges and another small Belgian town close to Brussels. Luxembourg was absolutely gorgeous and perfectly picturesque. We were lucky because the duke was in the city when we were there, staying in his royal residence, so we even got to watch the guard outside the palace parade up and down for a while at exact hours. It was the perfect idea of an European town: charming, with cobblestone streets that wind throughout the city, beautiful countryside churches, white-washed houses with red roofs, everything.

Bruges was equally charming and an enjoyable stop on our road trip. It is a very popular tourist destination (I think for epitomizing that small European town feeling) and we were told that, since we went on a Saturday, we would find it absolutely overwhelmed by tourists, but it ended up not being the case; they were present, but it wasn't like walking down Las Ramblas on a Saturday mid-day either!

On our way back through France, we spent the night in Lyon, where Guillem lived for three weeks several summers ago to improve his French. It was fun having a guide who could lead us through the most important parts of the city on a quick evening tour. It was much bigger than I had expected it to be, and had a really unique opera house that Guillem said they really try and make part of the everyday culture of Lyon.

Throughout the trip I got to practice my French a little bit, and everyone always said they listened to try and detect the dreaded "American accent". But, fortunately, I passed the test and have managed to eliminate it, which they are quite proud of as a result of my 2.5 months with the French Institute! I also heard a lot of Catalan being as, when they spoke amongst themselves, they always spoke in Catalan. I now understand the vast majority of what I hear, and would even respond to general questions to the group that were in Catalan. It's really amazing how much you can improve on a language simply by listening to it all the time!

Primavera Francòfona

{{Ca sera moi la plus belle}}

Last night, the French Institute hosted a big festival, "Primavera Francòfona" (Francophone Spring) to celebrate the turning of the season and Francophone culture throughout the world. The outside of the building was turned into a giant piece of art (with groups of different colored tents with lights inside of them) and a concert hall and inside each level was dedicated to different parts of the Francophone world. The Switzerland level was my favorite; they had free samples of amazing cheese and chocolates, along with lots of recipes for Swiss cheese varieties (made me hungry just to look over the recipes!). The Africa level was very cool as well; they had pictures of various former African colonies, and inside one of the classrooms, performed African dances. A woman also told several traditional African legends in both Catalan and French (got to practice both of my new languages!). Next came the Caribbean Islands, where they had promotional information about why you'd want to come (umm sun, sand, beautiful scenery...why wouldn't I want to come?!). And above that there was a fine wine tasting (you had to pay quite a bit for it, so I passed, though I did get to enjoy a bit of nice French white wine). Finally came Morocco, all set up with carpets and wall hangings and amazing-looking catered food. That all went super fast, however, so I didn't get to try any! (Just went back to Switzerland for more cheese; they came well-prepared with plenty for everyone!).

Outside there was more food you could buy if you so desired, a big outdoor concert, an artesian market of cool jewelry, accessories, and clothing. The concert was really fun; the best group by far appears in my photo above. They said they were the "Representatives from the French colonies in outer space" here to show us what French-space culture is like through music. The songs all had absolutely hilarious titles and they used literally anything they could to make their instruments (from real guitars to a kazoo inside a watering can to pots and jars to two phones against a microphone to kids' bicycle horns). They were a show just in the way they dressed and acted and everyone wanted them to keep playing all night long.

But the French Institute had something else planned: turn the entrance level of the Institute into a discotheque, complete with French DJs and everything. They even traded out the normal lights in the ceiling for colored lights! It was hilarious and way more fun than I had expected it to be when I first decided to go with a friend from Catalan; they really pulled out the stops!

Unfortunately, the Primavera Francòfona corresponded with the end of my French class. Today we had the oral part of our final exam and then went for a final coffee together in the French Institute cafe. After spending two hours every day with this great group of people, I am really going to miss them all. Our teacher was very funny (and very French!) and the other students were fun to get along with and neat people from different walks of Barcelonan life. Definitely going to miss everyone quite a bit! It's going to feel strange on Monday when I don't go to French for the first time in...two and a half months!

Basic 2, Prepare Yourself...Here We Come!

{{Què hi ha entre nosaltres}}

On Tuesday we had a party in my Catalan Basic 1 course to celebrate the completion of the 1st level of learning Catalan and as a goodbye get-together before Semana Santa next week (when we don't have class). We all get to reunite for Basic 2 in early April, continuing through the end of May, which makes me quite happy. I probably couldn't have asked for a better group of people for my Catalan class. The other students come from all over South America, from other regions of Spain, from Morocco, Italy, China; we're a nice little cross-section of the world! And the students are a great mix of ages and interests that are open to meeting other people and sharing about themselves. Our professor is very funny and easy to relate to, along with being a good teacher. We spend about half of the class just laughing with her and each other.

For the last day of class, we organized a potluck lunch, where everyone brought in specialty dishes from their native country. We had great burritos with homemade guacamole and salsa from Mexico, cheese rolls from Brasil, papa huancayo from Peru, empanadas from Chile, Galician crepes, a spectacular Italian chocolate torte, Moroccan green tea...the list goes on and on. I brought Piedmont Bell Peppers, a family favorite, and everyone was impressed that the American didn't only eat hotdogs and hamburgers (though one of Chilean friends kept saying he wished I had brought hot dogs because he likes them; now I know what to make for the Basic 2 party!). Everything was spectacular, and, as much as there was, we somehow managed to eat it all (or fill bags and purses with more for later...quite a bit made it home to be my dinner!). All of us just talking and laughing the entire time, enjoying being with each other; poor students in the classroom next door who were taking an exam!!

Cerdà + Barcelona

(Cerdà's original plan; the final has only one diagonal street and several other small changes)

{{The invention of a capital}}

This year in Barcelona is Cerdà year, in honor of the civil engineer and architect, Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer, who redesigned Barcelona in the mid-1800s into the city it is today. On Thursday I went to a very interesting exhibit at the Museu d'Història de Barcelona about the redesign process and how Barcelona was transformed from a closed "military" city with dividing walls to the open, pedestrian-friendly metropolis that it is today. When the civilians finally won out against the military councils to gain approval to tear down the walls, he realized that he had to plan the expansion of the city so it would be a livable and enjoyable place to be, instead of the congested and epidemic-prone town it was before. Inventing completely new ideas and also drawing from the plans of already-successful metropolises such as Paris, he architected the Eixample district of Barcelona, helped to facilitate the integration plan for the surrounding small communities (with connecting streets and tramways), and created an entirely new documentation in Spain about urbanization and city planning.

Cerdà had several key needs in his redesign project. He believed strongly in the need in people for sunlight and ventilation in their homes, the importance of green space in people's surroundings (for him, the ideal house configuration would be a cube with a garden in the center, but of course that would not be possible for most citizens), the need for effective waste disposal to eliminate the danger of diseases, and the necessity for the seamless movement of people, goods, energy, and information. With these concepts in mind, he created the grid-shaped Eixample district, defined by four main roads: Avinguda Diagonal, Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Las Ramblas, and Passeig de Gràcia, and dotted with beautiful plazas and open green spaces such as Plaça Catalunya to unite people in space. Plaça Catalunya is unique in that it unites three of the main roads of l'Exiample--Passeig de Gràcia, Gran Via, and Las Ramblas--making it a hub for information and a meeting-point.

Cerdà's made two main plans for the redesign of l'Eixample, and it is the second one that is still seen in the Eixample of today (though, of course, the low buildings are now not all so low). Cerdà faced great opposition from most of the Catalan architects of his time, who even went so far to accuse him of socialism, though they were also the ones who, in the end, designed the spectacular modernist façades of the buildings that made the area particularly famous to tourists.

Nametwins in Barcelona!

{{Muertos de risa, vivimos la vida}}

Early this morning, I had to see off and say goodbye for the second time to Vicky, one of my closest friends from Peru. She was one of the Germans who worked with Munaychay and we got to be very close while I was working there. She's funny, fun, creative, adventurous, and a total sweetheart. She stayed in Urubamba until early February and returned just a bit after the big floods hit the Sacred Valley.

She came to Barcelona this Wednesday and we enjoyed a whirlwind three days together. It was amazing having her here, showing her around my city, wandering the narrow streets of el Raval together, exploring various tapas restaurants, reminiscing about Peru, making new memories together. It's so special that I was able to see one of my international friends from Peru again; it's going to be so hard for us, as we're spread out across the world, to see each other, and it's so hard to think that after making such amazing friendships in such a short time, it would be possible to not see that person again. Peru was so perfect in that respect, and I can never fully believe how I made such strong friendships with such special people there, and at times I wish I could go back and live it again, be there, watch the time go by more slowly, just so I wouldn't have to say my goodbyes. But seeing Vicky again in another country, another city, laughing together again, making new memories together, all of that reminded me that it is possible, that we can see the people we truly love again, no matter the distance that separates us, we simply have to never lose the contact with those who are important in our lives.

All in all, I couldn't be happier that my darling nametwin came to Barcelona to start off many more years of post-Urubamba fun together!

Snow! Nieve! Niege! Neu!

{{Walkin' in a...winter wonderland...?}}

This Monday, Barcelona was hit by one of the last things I expected to experience while here: a snowstorm. When I left for French class, I was completely surprised to find big white flakes drifting down from the sky above me. But I didn't have much time to think about it then because I had to get to the French Institute quickly to not be late for my exam. Everyone in class was slightly distracted by the snow; we kept looking out the window, or wandering over to look at the cars below growing increasingly whiter, as we waited for the oral part of the exam. And by the time I left French around 4, it was blowing quite strongly, with even thicker flakes, cold cold temperatures, and a chilly wind.

I went down to one of my favorite cafes to drink a coffee and escape the cold for a little bit; I didn't want to go home and miss the spectacle of snow downtown, but I needed a bit of warmth in my bones first. In the little time I was there, the snow started to fall even harder, completely coating the street and parked cars and slowing traffic to a crawl. But the human traffic around Las Ramblas had increased exponentially; it seemed that every Barcelonan was out enjoying the snow--taking photos, staging impromptu snowball fights, lovers wandering hand-in-hand and smiling at the phenomenon. I wandered down Las Ramblas to Plaça Catalunya, taking it in, but noting the increased wind and thicker snowfall the further downtown I got. The Plaça was absolutely gorgeous in the snow, with the fountains coated in white, the sky heavy with silver clouds, the surrounding buildings draped in a cold, fluffy blanket.

It was darkening and I wanted to take some photos in Clot, so I took the metro back home, just in time I believe. The metro was absolutely overflowing with people; we were packed together more-or-less like sardines in the train, and people who didn't move fast enough had to wait for the next train and hope that it was full of people who lived around Catalunya. When I got home Carla told me that it was lucky I had taken the metro home, as the tranvía and bus lines had been discontinued because they couldn't make it through the snow. Clot was quiet and peaceful in the snow, with the sound of laughing children, falling flakes, and honking horns on Carrer Aragó.

That evening, the Catalonian news channel, TV3, was filled with stories about the surprise snowfall. A full 30 minutes of the regular news were devoted to it, and after Crackòvia there was an hour-long special on the snow. Barcelona ended up with about 12 cm of snow, which completely paralyzed the city's transportation system. The government of Barcelona had to look for places to put up people caught at the bus stations, train stations, and airport. In other parts of Catalunya as many as 40 cm of snow fell. It all melted fairly quickly in Barcelona, thanks to above-freezing temperatures during the evening and sun Tuesday (though still cold temperatures), but my friend Vicky, who flew into Girona on Wednesday, told me it was still white around the airport there and she had been unsure if she would be able to make it in.

A short day of a Barcelonan winter wonderland, the first snowfall in the city in some 20+ years, and I was here for the snowfall of 08/03/10!

Paris, City of Light

{{Vuelve a sonreír, a recordar París}}

Last weekend I went with Guillem and his parents on a whirlwind tour--my first--of Paris, which was amazing and absolutely beautiful. It's a city absolutely full of history, of grand and impressive buildings, fashionably dressed people roaming the streets, years of culture and art--in its written form, with paintings, statues, architecture, theater--, and excellent food. We saw a little bit of everything in a full day and a half, plus a night, and I left with a great first taste of one of the most talked-about and referenced cities in the world. I can't wait to be able to return someday and wander its streets even longer, get to know it in greater depth, experience the full magic of Paris.

We walked under the amazing creation that is the Eiffel Tower, wandered along the banks of the Seine, over the Alexander III golden bridge, past the Mona Lisa, a statue of Nike, Napoleon's coronation, and innumerable priceless works of art, the heritage of the world, in the Louvre, marveled at the spectacular detail work of the stained glass in Saint-Chappele, stood under the gargoyles of Notre Dame, looked over all of Paris from Montmartre, saw the lights of Moulin Rouge at night, and wandered the artistic, creative, student-filled Quartier Latin, imagining how it would be to study at the Sorbonne. We also took a tourist bus to escape the freezing wind and passed along the Champs-Elysees, around the Arc de Triomf, by Napoleon's École Militaire, next to the gilded Opera, all of this giving us even more of a taste of Paris than what we could experience only by walking.

As beautiful as Paris was, and as much history as there is there, I have to say that I prefer Barcelona. The architecture of Paris was all so cold, built only to impress, strong, straight-edged, hard, grand, classical. Barcelona's feels, to me, more beautiful simply for beauty's sake, lighter, more relaxed, impressive because of its ingenuity and creativity, colorful, timeless in its ability to balance modernity with classical styles. Barcelona, to me, feels like an architecturally more welcoming city, with grand pedestrian avenues, small little alleys winding through old houses with the wrought iron balconies, fanciful, curving buildings, bright colors. I simply love walking through Barcelona, losing myself in the little streets, sitting and people-watching in Plaça Catalunya. But Paris is one of Europe's centers, and I loved every moment there. I'm just a bit Barcelona-biased! ;)