Tibidabo

Tibidabo!  Or, the mountain overlooking Barcelona with a church which glows at night (okay, maybe it's just lit up, not glowing) and a children's theme park.  What a great combination!  This place was the last on my touristy-things-to-do-list in Barcelona.  I went with one Cornell friend from my program, a Cornell friend on a different program (but also in Barcelona), and the friend of the second friend who is on the same other Barcelona program and also from Cornell.  (Confusing, eh?)

Getting to Tibidabo was an interesting adventure.  It involved 2 different trains, a tram, and a funicular.  Wow-- that's three different methods of transportation!  Here's the tram:

Goodbye dinner

It's time to say goodbye!  At least one person from my program seems to be leaving every day... and my turn is coming up soon this Thursday!  Unfortunately I still have some school work to do before then... ugh, I'm not quite done. But CASB was smart enough to organize a goodbye dinner for all of us last Friday-- the last day of classes.  We traveled a good amount of time on the metro to get to a restaurant called La Mamasita.  We had a 3 course meal (as per the usual program dinner) and it was quite filling for obvious reasons.  So much food!

Palau Güell

The very last Gaudí creation I will see in my time in Barcelona! (I leave Thursday-- so soon!!!)  This Gaudí has been under renovation for the last 4 years and it just opened its doors back up for visitors May 26th, so of course I had to go!  It's most like Casa Batlló-- nicely decorated on the inside, and a fantastic roof.  Also, an audio guide was included in the admission price.  Although the audio guide wasn't as interesting as Batlló, it kept playing music composed by Eusebi Güell's daughter... who cares, honestly?  This 'palace' (i.e. mansion) was built for the Güell family (obviously very rich people) before both Casa Batlló and Casa Milá.  So it was one of his first real art-nouveau/modernist pieces and served as a precursor to all the other ones.  I toured the house with 2 friends from my program.  Here's a picture of the outside:

Barcelona 3, Manchester United 1

The biggest game of the year: FC Barcelona vs. Manchester United at Wembley!  Normally, I'm not very excited for soccer matches, but this was the big Champions League title, so of course I had to participate in the fun with everyone else.  One of my hall mates reserved a table at a sports bar nearby so we could get there close to when the game started and not have to worry about finding seats.  Ironically, the sports bar (less than 2 blocks away from my residence) is an American-themed sports bar.  Note the Wrigley Field sign in the background:

Palamós - La Costa Brava

Our last CASB trip!  I can't believe I only have 2 1/2 more weeks left in Spain... too much to see and do and too little time!  However this weekend trip was a great way to end the semester as a group (we do have one more group activity left- a goodbye dinner).  It was much better than Madrid because all we did was relax under the sun and the hotel was fabulous.  Super yummy food!  And excellent weather.  Also we left at a reasonable time on Friday (5pm) as opposed to the regular 7 or 8am of previous trips.  And the ride up the coast was only 2 hours on a bus, so not bad at all.  (Beats the 3 hour flight delay we had going to Menorca).

As soon as I got there, I dumped my belongings in my room and wandered along the beach... right in front of our hotel!

L'aquàrium Barcelona

Jordan and I went on a short trip to the aquarium see the fish of the Mediterranean up close and personal!  Just a warning for future Barcelona Aquarium-goers, the entrance fee costs more than any Gaudi building entrance fee, so you need to really want to go if you're thinking about visiting.  Also consider the time of day you go-- Jordan and I went in the middle of the day on Monday, the same time as a lot of highly energetic Catalan schoolchildren on a field trip.

When we entered, employees snapped our picture in front of a giant plastic shark so that we could buy the picture after our visit for 8 euros.  We did not buy the picture.  We could take photos, but no flash, so sorry for many of the blurry photos this blog will contain.
Walking in:

Casa Batlló

While Jordan was in Barcelona this past week, we went to see a Gaudí creation that I haven't visited before... Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gracia!

Madrid

The weekend of April 29th to May 1st was another CASB weekend excursion... this time to Madrid!  This excursion wasn't originally in the books, but one of the kids on my program realized we all wanted to go so he asked the program coordinators if we could go as a group.  Our program coordinators are awesome, so of course they said yes!  Originally their plan was to go to Palamos and La Costa Brava for the weekend, but they switched it up with Madrid.  I thought that the Palamos/Costa Brava weekend trip would be cancelled, but no! they've just rescheduled it for the 20-22nd of May.  Whee!

On Friday I woke up at 6:15am in order to get myself to the train station at 7:45am.  Our train was scheduled to leave at 8:30am and arrive in Madrid at 11:13am.  Yes, that's right!  It only takes 2 3/4 hours to get from Barcelona to Madrid!  We traveled by high speed train-- so much fun!  Although I probably wouldn't have noticed it was a high speed train if someone didn't tell me beforehand because it's not like we were going so fast as to break the sound barrier.  The highest speed I observed (they had a indication of our speed right next to the time in every cabin) was 300 kph, which is about 186 mph.  And they also showed a movie... Toy Story 3!  In Spanish! Both dubbed and subtitles-- although sometimes the dubbing and subtitles were different... apparently dubbing and subtitles are done by different companies?  I was also interested to see how they would handle Buzz's "Spanish Mode" because they were all speaking in Spanish.  I thought they handled it very well because they gave him a very thick Spanish accent with a lisp and Jessie called it Buzz's "Romantic Mode".

Torremolinos and Granada

Day 8: Fes/Málaga/Torremolinos, April 20th
We woke up at 6am in Fes, caught a quick breakfast at the hotel, and jumped in the car with the same driver from the Marrakech-Fes trip to catch an early flight to Casablanca (where we would then transfer to a flight to Málaga).  We made it safely to the airport (not too much lane passing this time-- the road really wasn't too crowded at 7am... although we did see plenty of sheep, goats, and their herders on the side of the road).  And guess who we saw at the airport!  My friend and her family!  So this was the second time we ran into them!  Although this would be the last time because they were headed to Marrakech and we were headed to southern Spain.  The flight was super quick to Casablanca.  But our flight to Málaga was delayed about 4 hours.  So we passed the time in a hotel internet cafe, the only restaurant we could find for lunch, and all the touristy gift shops.  
Finally we got to the Málaga airport.  We looked around for our hotel transport to the Bed and Breakfast, but we didn't see them and had trouble attempting to use a pay phone, so we took an expensive taxi ride to the bed and breakfast.  The B&B was located outside of the city, up in the hills.  They told us that they owned a restaurant in the city and they go back and forth between the B&B and the city several times a day.  We arrived at the B&B and buzzed the outside gate to let us in.  Finally a frazzled maid came down from the house (which was the B&B) to get us.  She said that she was the only one there at the moment and couldn't find the owner so we should wait until someone got home.  She showed us up to our room and left us, saying that we could take a shower and get comfortable.  Okay, so if you haven't noticed a lot of things that are off about this place so far, you're not reading very well.  We were the ONLY ONES there!  When my mom booked the place, she thought that maybe the 10 rooms they had would be full and bustling with people because of the busy weekend.  Apparently there aren't 10 rooms, but only one room-- the one we were going to stay in.  There was no reception, or anything else you expect a standard hotel/B&B to have.

Fes

This is the second of three posts on my Spring break!


Day 5: On the Road/Fes, April 17th
In the morning in Marrakech we were picked up in the morning outside of our hotel by a driver from the tour company.We bought some almond cookies (which weren't that good) and stolen dried fruit from the breakfast buffet to help us get through the long ride to Fes, which lasted about 7 hours or so.  Even though the ride was advertised to be about 5 hours, it wasn't.  I was surprised because the crazy driver we had (who made mom very nervous) would use every opportunity he could to pass cars in front of us.  I've never been in a car that has made so much use of the passing lane before and been so close to directly facing oncoming cars!  Luckily, we made it to Fes in one piece although we did see a bad car/bicycle accident on the side of the road.  About his 'magnificent' driving, the driver said, "Driving safe is like art.  You know?  Like painting?"  Also, he said that his daughter, who is still a kid, will become a doctor, study in Paris, and then return to Morocco.  And his son, who is only 5, will join the military because it provides great benefits.  Here are some photos of a lookout point we stopped at and a rest stop along the way:

Marrakech

Spring break!  And right before all my friends back in the states are in their last week of classes and heading into finals week.  My mom came to visit me for the week and a half I had off (hi mom!) and we had quite the adventure traveling from Barcelona to Morocco (Marrakech and Fes) and southern Spain (Torremolinos and Malaga).  From those weeks of traveling, I took more than 900 photos.  So I'll post a few of them on the blog, but to see everything, ask to see my external hard drive when I'm back in the states!  To warn the few people who are reading this blog, it's a long one!  And there are still even more spring break posts to come!

Day 1: Marrakech April 13th
Arrival in the Marrakech airport!

El Alcalde de Zalamea in Castelldefels

Last Sunday evening I went to see a play in Castelldefels with my Teatro Español en el Siglo de Oro class.   It's El Alcalde de Zalamea by Calderón de la Barca.  It's his second most famous play behind La Vida es Sueño (which we will be reading in the month of May).  We met outside one of the main train stations in the center of the city and had to buy Zone 2 train tickets.  (My Zone 1 T-Jove wouldn't cut it).  Castelldefels is a town outside of Barcelona, but technically still inside Barcelona.  I believe it's close to the airport.  The town reminded me of a city suburb, with typical European thin streets.  After the 30 minute train ride, we arrived in the town with about 45 minutes to spare until showtime.  The theater was right outside the train station, so it really would be very difficult to get lost.  Here's my train ticket with a blurry group of students from my class (and the other section of the class) behind.  The building they're standing in front of is the train station.

La Sagrada Família

Or, what you'll receive on a postcard if anyone ever sends you one from Barcelona.  Or, Barcelona's most emblematic architectural icon.  Or, the most visited tourist site in all of Spain.  Or, Antonio Gaudí's most ostentatious work.

The Temple Expiatori (Expiatory Church) was started in 1882 and was finished in... wait... nope, it's still not finished.  If you ever do receive a postcard of La Sagrada Família, the photo on the front is a lie.  It is not the picturesque version with lovely clean, blue skies you'll see.  But instead there are huge construction cranes sticking out of the top.  In fact, most of Barcelona is littered with cranes.  It's the city that's always changing, perhaps.  Or in the case of La Sagrada Familia, it's the church that's never finished.  They say it will be completed in the next 10 to 20 years, but you never know...

Jardins del Laberint D'Horta

The Labyrinth Park!  I've wanted to go here ever since I knew that this park exists in the outskirts of Barcelona. I mean, who can resist getting lost in a hedge-maze (even if there are a bunch of screaming schoolchildren occasionally getting in your way)?  This park is so carefully manicured and cared for that it cost 2,17 euro to get in!  I arrived a little after 11 in the morning and wandered around waiting for my friend to join me (she lost her phone and I was waiting for her at the wrong spot-- long story short).  So here are plenty of pictures of the park!

Park Güell

A friend from New Trier who's studying abroad in Italy came to visit me this week, so I've been pushed to do more touristy things... this is good!  This morning we woke up early to go to Park Güell, one of Gaudí's famous works in the Grácia neighborhood (above Las Ramblas).  It's prounounced "Guey" not "GueLL".  We left the residence at 9am and took the metro up to the closest stop near the park.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a stop right near the park so we had to do some wandering.  After one wrong turn (which lead me to take the picture of the lilac? jacaranda? tree below... so I don't regret it) we found our way to a street that headed straight up to the top of the park... complete with outside escalators!  Although, there was still a bit of climbing, so the walk wasn't without some exercise.

Empúries and the Dalí Museum in Figueres

Another Saturday day trip with CASB!  To continue with the semester's theme of "The Mediterranean: Bridge or  Border" we first went to the Greek and Roman ruins of Empúries.  We met outside the residence at 9am (reasonable!) and took a 2 hour bus ride to Empúries to get a tour of the ruins by a UPF professor (whose shoes I really liked).

The first section of the ruins was the Ciudad Griega (Greek City).  Honestly, it didn't look like much more than a bunch of piles of stones, but I took pictures anyway.

Las Fallas in Valencia

I signed up last week (and payed 28 euros) to ride the bus with my residence hall to Valencia and back last Saturday.  We left at about 1:15 in the afternoon and rode for about 2 1/2 hours until we ate lunch at a truck stop on the side of the highway.  They provided us with some yummy food-- apple and orange juice, a water bottle, cold pasta with pesto, and focaccia with brie and leeks.  We sat in the grass and I took a couple pictures of some funny-looking bugs.

The Magic Fountain

At the base of Montjuic, a gigantic fountain plays host to a musical/light/water acrobatics show every Friday and Saturday evening every 30 minutes for 2 hours.  Someone told me to go see it, and it was even more spectacular than I imagined!  This tourist attraction is a product of the 1929 Universal Exhibition.

Noche de Tapas

Tonight I went with my program to a tapas bar to have dinner.  The restaurant was called Las Cuatro Encinas (The Four Oaks) and was located right near Plaça Catalunya (the main square on top of Las Ramblas).  None of the food was anything we hadn't seen before, but still it was nice to sit down for an hour and a half (they kicked us out at 10) and nibble at a lot of dishes!


Wine and slices of pork (also some nuts and chips in the background).

Museo del Mamut

Last Sunday I went to the Mammoth Museum with my friends from Cornell who are studying in Barcelona.  That's right... you heard me correctly... the Mammoth Museum!  It's a small place, with maybe 4 or 5 rooms, and it's full of prehistoric bones.  I guess when the scientists are done extracting all the DNA they can from the bones (or whatever they do with them), this is where they send the skeletons!  It's run like a kids' museum, you're allowed to take pictures and touch everything.  Yes-- you can touch real mammoth bones!  It's located a block away from the Picasso Museum and it costs 5 euros to get in with a student ID.  Here are some pictures of mammoths and other prehistoric creatures (sorry they're blurry, I didn't use flash).

Classes

Yes, of course I'm taking classes here!  Although it doesn't quite feel like it because the workload here is nowhere near as stressful or as difficult as Cornell's.  But hey, I'm not complaining!  The first classes I took were part of a pro-seminar that lasted from January 18th to February 8th.  The pro-seminar consists of 4 parts (one of which is still ongoing).  All four parts transfer as a class and I'm hoping for it to count as an elective toward my Spanish major-- I emailed my Spanish advisor and he said it was okay... hopefully the Spanish department will agree!

1) Spanish Language (30%) One in-class essay and one 3 page paper.
2) Catalan Language (30%) One short, easy test.
3) History and Culture of Catalonia (30%) Research project with a 10 minute presentation and 5 page paper.
4) Activities and excursions throughout the semester.  Theme: "The Mediterranean: Bridge or Border". (10%) Graded on attendance!

Calçotada

Calçots are a type of onion that are consumed in Catalonia during the winter time.  Today, we had a group outing to a restaurant for lunch, called Taverna El Glop in the neighborhood Gracia, to take part in the tradition of eating them.  But of course it involved an entire meal (appetizers, 1st plate, 2nd plate, and dessert), bibs and plastic gloves, and it lasted a couple hours.... as per usual.  (Always, too much food!)

Menorca

To be at the airport at 8am last Friday, I had to wake up at 6:30, leave the residence by 7 and take 2 trains and 1 bus.  One of the trains stopped underground for about 10 minutes for an unknown reason, so I was a little late.  But our flight wasn't until 10am, so it didn't matter anyway.  After we got into the terminal, the flight monitors told us our flight was delayed 2 hours.... fabulous.  At least they gave us a meal ticket for a free breakfast! (Croissant and orange juice).  Finally we got on the plane and the pilot told us that the long flight delay was due to a bird who found its way into the cargo hold.  Haha- okay I forgive Spainair because it's one of the funniest reasons I've heard for a flight delay.  In addition to the free breakfast at the airport, I was easily occupied by a Haagen-Dazs store and reading Harry Potter #1 in Spanish.

The flight was only 30 minutes.  I swear I never even heard the stewardess say it was okay to turn on electronic devices... and the drink cart only made it halfway through the rows.  After arriving in Menorca, we took a 45 minute bus ride to the other side of the island to check in at our hotel.

La Boqueria

Mercat de San Josep de la Boqueria is probably one of the most fabulous open-air markets you will ever see (or won't see if you haven't visited Barcelona and don't plan on visiting).  It's right next to Las Ramblas so it's ALWAYS super busy.  Many years ago, tourists would walk in, take pictures, and maybe if the vendors were lucky, buy an apple-- not very good for business.  Since then, the fruit vendors sell zumos (juices) of every flavor imaginable so even more tourists flock to the market and go shopping.  There are so many stalls, shoppers can find just about everything: meat, cheese, seafood (raw and cooked), candy, nuts, fruits, and vegetables.  Feast your eyes on the photos I've taken and be sure not to drool on your computer!

Parc de la Ciutadella

For a project in the "History and Culture of Catalunya" class that was part of my proseminar, we had to research a public space.  The research involved observation, photos, interviews, and was presented in class as a PowerPoint.  We also have to write individual essays of 8-10 pages on the public space and hand them in before the end of February (I haven't started mine yet... probably should do that soon).

The public space my group and I chose was the Parc de la Ciutadella.  What Central Park is to NYC is what this park is to Barcelona.  And it's a 10 minute walk from my residence!  Here's a map to show you how big the park is and how far away I live (obviously, I'm the orange star and the park is the orange blob).  Map by Google Maps (plus Photoshop by me).

Montserrat

The mountain of Montserrat is located about 30 miles northwest of Barcelona.  "Montserrat" means "serrated mountain" in Catalan.  It is most famous for the Monastery of Montserrat which is associated with several legends: "here St. Peter left a statue of the Virgin Mary carved by St. Luke, Parsifal found the Holy Grail, and Wagner sought inspiration for his opera."  Even though all the guidebooks emphasize the monastery, my friends and I never actually went inside for the entire afternoon we were there.  We left the residence at 11:30am and spent an hour or two on trains before we arrived.  As soon as we got there, the views were STUNNING and we decided to take a funicular and go for an hour hike to the tallest peak. We thought that we'd go into the monastery on the way back down, but by the time we eventually walked down (we missed the last funicular ride) the last train was going to leave in 15 minutes. We got back to the residence around 9pm.

Excursión al río Ebro

Last Saturday we had our first day-long excursion to somewhere outside of Barcelona.  We went to the river Ebro (a delta) about a 2 1/2 hour drive south of Barcelona.  We left at 8:30am and came back around 7pm.  Here's a map to give you a better idea of where we were:

La Pedrera

Casa Milà, aka La Pedrera ("The Quarry"), by the famous architect Antonio Gaudi, is a building in the Eixample district of Barcelona.  It was commissioned by a rich couple who told Gaudi that the building could cost as much as he wanted (no limits!) as long as it stood out from all the surrounding buildings. I think he most certainly achieved this goal.  Also, I think that a few floors are actually occupied by residents.  Here's the outside of it:

Earlier today we went on a walking tour and got to go inside this building.  From the outside, I think it's supposed to look like a cliff or maybe a dragon's cave/lair (because Barcelona is obsessed with Saint George).  Here are some more pictures of the outside:

Stumbled upon a movie shoot

I was walking around the city today and stumbled upon a movie being filmed!  I think it's about the Second Spanish Republic-- I had to look up the flag the crowd was waving online to see what it was.  The filming took place at Plaça Sant Jaume.  Here are some photos and a video:

Torre Agbar

Finally I got a photo of what this tower looks like at night.

Crazy!  It's like a disco ball for the city.  Its shaped weird and it REALLY sticks out on the skyline.  Its main occupant is the Barcelona water company.

Mercat Del Encants

So one of the girls on my program had done a little research online and found this flea market that's only open 4 days a week.  Yesterday, after classes, we went to have a look around and I have to say it's one of the most bizarre markets I've ever been to.  You've got fabric, lamps, cosmetics, piles of antiques, radios, and just about every kind of 'junk' you can think of.  It was certainly not what I expected  And if anything, it reminded me of a terrible garage sale.  The antique vendors just left everything in a pile-- no sense of organization whatsoever.  Needless to say I did not make any purchases.

View from the top of my building at night

I took some long exposure night shots from the roof of my building.  They call this area the "solarium."  It has a pool and a bunch of reclining beach chairs that are eagerly awaiting use in the coming late spring and summer months.  The blob shadow at the very bottom of the photo is my shadow.

Barça vs. Racing Santander

Today I went to a futbol (soccer) game at Camp Nau (their stadium).  Overall a good experience, but I don't think I'm going to go again.  Once is enough.  And we won 3-0!  Here's my ticket:

Taller de cocina

Yesterday we had a "Taller de Cocina": We went to a store similar to Cook's Corner in Wilmette where you help to cook the food then after you get to eat what you cooked.  We made a few dishes and I'm going to put the recipe below for my favorite one which is basically a gazpacho soup.

The biggest differences between the US and Spain

Because I've been here almost a week, I thought I'd write about the biggest differences between Spain and the United States (aside from the obvious time zone change) that I've noticed so far.

1. Everything is done later in the day.
They wake up later, they eat later, they party later, and they sleep later.  Lunch takes place between 2 and 3, dinner between 9 and 10, and I have no idea when or if anyone eats breakfast.  They go out to clubs at 12 and the 'coolest' time of night to party, i.e. when the clubs are most crowded, is around 4 or 5 in the morning.  I have no idea how they pull this off, but I don't think I'm going to try it.

Walking around the Melon District Marina residence

I live at the Melon District Marina towards the right of the main part of the city and about a 10-15 minute walk down to the beach.  Upon arrival, I received my key which functions the same way as any hotel key.  It's white, about the size of a credit card, and it has a photo of me that the reception took with an external webcam.  When I enter my room, I have to put the key into a slot by the door that allows me to turn on the lights, heating, and air conditioning.  This place is very "green".

Here's the entrance where I also have to swipe my card to get in and out.  Towards the left is the reception.  I'm allowed to have guests during the daytime, but I only have 2 free guest sleepover passes a month.  So if you want to visit me, don't stay more than 2 days otherwise you'll be paying a little more than 20 euros a night.

Moving in

I've arrived!

CASB Barcelona (my program) consists of about 30-40 people.  12 of those are from last semester and continuing on for the full year.  The rest are newbies like me!  The group is also mostly girls-- just like all my Spanish classes have been at Cornell.  I'm so awful at memorizing names so even 38 people (or however many there are, I forget exactly) is going to be difficult.  However, there is another Zoe! And I roomed with her in the hotel we stayed in last night, so I've definitely got her name down.

An Introduction

Hello world!  This is where I will be blogging about my adventures in Barcelona for the spring 2011 semester.  I leave from Chicago on January 13th and arrive in Barcelona on the 14th.  Check back then for updates!