Adventure the Fifth: Fireworks, Castles, and Girona

Today marks the end of my fourth week in Spain and so far it has been packed with activity, until now. Even though, thanks to La Merce, I only had classes on Monday and Tuesday I still had an incredibly calm and relaxing weekend. I began the long weekend by going to one of the free concerts that are part of La Merce and exploring the barrio known as Raval. The best way to describe Raval; hipster. Seriously there were beanies everywhere. Sometime I would like to go back to that barrio when it is less crowded. Being in the area after a concert, when no one has to work the next day is not always the best idea. Wednesday only brought on bigger crowds as I and a few friends ventured to Placa de Jaume to see some amazing human castells. Yes, the castells are always interesting, but what I really learned that day was that the Spanish really have no respect for personal space. Riding the metro that day gave me a taste of what it was like to be packed in like sardines. It was really terrible! Despite the fact that the metro doors couldn't close people still thought it was a good idea to shove their way onto the metro. In the evening it was time to head to Placa Espanya for the closing fireworks show where I was, once again, met by crowds and people who were perfectly comfortable with practically standing on top of me. But the fireworks show was spectacular; considerably better than any 4th of July show I've seen in the states, and I've been to Boston for 4th of July! The fireworks were choreographed to the music and a film on the history of Catalonia would play in between the explosions. I wish I could describe the experience, but it really was a "You had to be there moment". Also there was a pole in the middle of my view so videos didn't really turn out that great. Thus ended my experience with La Merce. A wonderful week full of fire, explosions, free concerts, and no classes.

Thursday and Friday were spent relaxing and, quite frankly, doing nothing. I successfully found the library in my barrio and the store that sells all the American goodies such as peanut butter and Mac & Cheese. Friday was spent laying on the beach and doing nothing else. Now that is what I call living the good life. Saturday brought a little more adventure as I headed to a city about 45 minutes outside of Barcelona called Girona. All we knew was that we were leaving Barcelona at 12:45 and returning from Girona at 9:00, otherwise we had no plans. No idea of what to do in Girona, no guidebook, no nothing. So keeping that in mind here are a few stories/thoughts on the things we saw while in Girona.

University of Girona: I would transfer there if I could. I'm pretty sure one of the buildings used to be a castle. Essentially it's the Spanish version of Hogwarts

Jewish Quarter: Kind of a let down. Honestly I didn't know I was in the Jewish quarter until we walked past the Jewish history museum. I was hoping for restaurants with latkes and stores that had recipes for matzo ball soup. Instead I got a store that sold t-shirts that said Girona with a picture of a menorah on it.

Cathedral: Big. That's it just big. It cost 7 euro to go in so we were content with just observing the exterior.

Fashion Show: I don't think we were supposed to be there. It just looked like a plaza with a bunch of vendors until a friend pointed out that the red carpet I was standing on was actually the runway. So we quickly had some free snacks and then left.

Hiking Trails; Just like any other trails except these were in Spain. Although at some point we did end up in someone's backyard. To be fair that is where the trail led us.

Great Wall of Spain: I'm sure there is a real name for the castle/wall but I don't know what it is. We dubbed it The Great Wall of Spain because at some point we looked to the left and saw the wall and castle towers continuing on. We got a little adventurous and chose to climb the castle wall and shimmy around a gate and then jump a small gap just to reach some small temple like thing. Not really sure how legal these activities were, but there were no posted signs telling us what not to do so I assume we didn't break any serious laws.

Adventure the Fourth: La Merce

Beginning on Friday the 19th and officially ending on Wednesday is the festival of Barcelona's patron saint known as La Merce. The festival has concerts, parades, fireworks, and other fire related festivities. There were multiple events that I knew would not be legal in America. My experience with La Merce began very calmly; watching fireworks from the beach. Nothing spectacular, just a simple fireworks show. From the festival would get a little more intense. On Saturday night I, along with a few friends, headed to Placa Jaume to watch the fire parade. However, the placa was packed and we arrived late so we didn't get to see much. But no worries, as we left in search of food we ran into the parade! Coming straight at us were various goblin and dragon looking floats that had at one point been "breathing" fire! We would run into the parade a few more times as we attempted to follow back streets to find our way out. Once I got over the initial shock of being face to face with a smoking dragon-like creature being in the parade was very fun. There were drummers with each float and confetti being thrown right and left. Finally, our quest to find food ended at NAP pizzeria. Yes, I am very aware that pizza is not Spanish, but it was clearly the place to be. This little place is just a hole in the wall that anyone could easily walk past. We had to wait 40 minutes for a table but it was well worth the wait. The pizza's are about 11 inches and baked in a brick oven. Quite possibly one of the best things I have eaten in Spain and for only 6 euro! Thus concludes my second night of La Merce.

The third day of La Merce only increased in crazy fire related activities. For Sunday meant el Correfoc, the fire run. Of the whole festival I was most looking forward to this day; until I actually saw what happened. Essentially, people dressed as devils or dragons (I couldn't tell) hold giant sparklers as they go walking down the street. That doesn't sound too bad. Just watch the people wander down the street with sparklers. Coming from a state where buying and shooting off fireworks is perfectly legal I wasn't concerned. Then I watched what was supposed to happen. People who participate in the run crowd around those carrying the sparklers and jump and dance under the sparklers. For those who participated it was recommended that clothing be thicker, hair was covered, and either glasses or goggles should be worn to protect the eyes. So I came prepared with my NCC hoodie and bought a pair of fake glasses to protect my eyes. An hour and half later I was jumping and dancing underneath the sparks and hoping that none of my clothing would get singed. All went well and there are only the smallest of burn marks on the hood of my sweatshirt. All in all I'd say it was a pretty good start to La Merce.  

Adventure the Third: From Protests to Beaches

On Thursday while everyone in America remembered 9/11, Catalonia also looked into the past, but the commemoration of this day is not somber like the U.S.  El Día Nacional de Cataluña is meant to celebrate the past and is also used as an opportunity for the people of Catalan to express their desire to be independent from Spain. All day people were in the streets with flags for Catalan independence. Along some streets people wore red and yellow and lined up to form the stripes of their flag. Later that evening the people formed a giant "V" to represent the victory that they will have when Catalonia is finally independent. Rather than stick out like a sore thumb I figured I had better get myself a flag and so I did. For 5 euro I bought a flag that I wore as a cape for the rest of the day. Probably not the best idea because of the heat and humidity but after a while you get used to being sweaty.

Besides the chanting and flags it is also a Spanish tradition to build castell's or human towers at festivals. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. There is a large cluster of people below serving as support. From there each level is formed by people simply climbing up. Generally, those at the top are children so that the tower doesn't get too heavy. The ones I saw were about 4 stories high! Towards the end of my stay here my program is putting on a castell workshop. Should I choose to participate and be a member of the human tower I am fairly certain that I will be doing most of the climbing up since I am so tiny.

The next two days (Friday and Saturday) was spent relaxing at the beach. A few hours in I realized that I was swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! How amazing is that! It was a perfect day. We got to the beach around 12:30 and left a little before 6. The waves at the beach were perfect and constantly rolling. The only downside; salt water. When the bigger waves came they would pick me up, set me back down, and then I would hover for a few seconds as the water went back to a normal level. I never quite got the hang of this so every time the wave would set me down I would try to touch the bottom and realize I couldn't. This sent me underwater and spluttering and trying to spit out as much salt water as I could. Both were still wonderful days, although Saturday was considerably colder and cloudy.

In the evenings we headed to Placa Espanya to see the Font Mágica, a beautiful fountain show that uses colors and music. Directly behind the fountain is the National Museum of Art which is a beautiful building especially at night when everything is lit up. Also near the placa is a shopping mall that used to be a bull fighting arena, bull fighting is illegal in Barcelona. You can go up to the top of the arena and have a beautiful view of the placa, fountain, and museum! My host mom kept telling me the view was spectacular and she was right! Barcelona just keeps getting more and more beautiful every day!

Adventure the Second: Learning to be Spanish

This week things have calmed down and classes have started. My school (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) has two campuses in the city, both of which are about a 30 minute commute for me. Because it is the first week professors haven't really dived into the content, but that hasn't stopped me from learning. So far everything I've learned about being Spanish has come through random observations.

Lesson 1: Americans are naturally loud
Every time you leave the country or talk about differences between Europe and the U.S. this point is always brought up. But, I thought they meant we yell a lot and get a little rambunctious in groups. While this is true, Americans are loud in general. I noticed this in class one day. In one of my classes we went around the room and introduced ourselves. As we went around I realized that the Americans in the class we considerably louder than the Europeans; even me. In America I always believed myself to be quiet, but this is not so in Europe. I'm loud and, for a few seconds, thought my volume was even a little obnoxious.

Lesson 2: America really is fast paced
As I solidify my route to school I've started to realize that I probably look like a crazy speed walker. I am constantly weaving in out and of people when I change trains and probably look like I am on a serious mission. Which, technically speaking, I am. I want to get to wherever it is I am going as quickly as possible. The local Spaniards well get there eventually. I think this is comparable to the driving differences of Illinoisans and Sconnies. Sconnies always appear to be going slow aka the speed limit, while Illinoisans fly by at ridiculous speeds. So I've learned to slow down a little bit and take my time to get places.

Lesson 3: Classes/Education are taken seriously
In the U.S. professors, or at least mine, tended to be a little more lax about eating in class, showing up a few minutes late, and attire. This is not so in Spain. So far the only similarity is that day 1 is always syllabus day. In Spain food is not allowed in class, hats and sweats cannot be worn and you will get locked out if you are late to class. Thus far multiple professors have told the class that if you know you are going to be late, don't bother coming. Absences are also taken very seriously. In any language classe you must be present for 80% of the classes in order to take the final. Finally, no one has to buy books! One professor stated that we already pay enough for education and, because it is so important, there is no need to add to that cost. Finding out that I don't have to buy books may be the best part of the week. Hooray for saving money!

That's all of my learning for the time being. Tomorrow (Sept. 11) is the National Day of Catalonia so I don't have class tomorrow and there are never classes on Friday. Woo-hoo 4 day weekend!  But I will certainly partake in and observe the various events that occur. I've been told that there will be demonstrations and I certainly don't want to miss that!

Adventure the First: Getting to Know Barcelona

It's hard to believe that it has only been a week since I landed in Spain. I've been so busy that it gets hard to keep track of the days, but now that classes have started things have calmed down a little bit. My time in Spain began around 9:00 a.m. on Sept. 2nd when I landed in Barcelona. Shortly after I was taken to meet my senora (host mom) and unpack. My senora is very nice and caring, but she doesn't speak English so I am learning Spanish as quickly as I can to communicate with her. Already I find myself thinking in the little Spanish I know. After meeting my senora she took me on the metro to day 1 of orientation. Honestly, I was so jet lagged that I don't remember much else from that first day. My only thought for the day was that I was really hungry and they don't eat dinner until 9:00 p.m. in Barcelona! I'm still getting used to the late meals; it certainly is an adjustment.

Day 2 I remember very well, mostly because my legs are still recovering. The second day, after another hour of orientation, we took a hike up Mt. Tibidabo for lunch. The hike took around 2 hours and there were portions that felt like we were going straight up! But the views along the way and the lunch at the top were well worth it. But again they eat lunch later, around 2:30 p.m. so I was hungry for much of the hike. Lunch was a traditional Catalan meal. We had pan con tomate, salad, sausage, duck, ice cream and coffee. It was at this meal that I discovered my new favorite food; pan con tomate. It has garlic, tomate, oil and salt on bread. So simple yet so delicious! Later that evening I enjoyed tapas and sangria with the other students from NCC.

Day 3 was not kind to my legs, but nevertheless fun. There was no hiking; instead we did a two hour tour of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona. The legends that are told about some of the buildings are wonderful. My personal favorite is about the gargoyles on the Catedral de Santa Eulalia. The gargoyles were once witches who were enchanted to forever spit water out of their mouths as punishment for spitting on and cursing the Christians. The legend is meant to be a bit comical and the gargoyles are animals like sheep and pigs. The entire tour was interesting and was mostly in Spanish and I actually understood most of it! In just a few days my Spanish was already improving.

Day 4 rolled and was the day I was most excited for; a day trip to Tarragona! Unfortunately I was still very jet lagged and had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. Tarragona is built on ancient roman ruins and has a roman amphitheater as well. The amphitheater was used for various games like racing or having people battle animals. The romans actually caused a small breed of elephant to go extinct because of these games! Our tour ended with a delicious lunch where I enjoyed fideua and paella. Fideua is very similar to paella except it is made with small noodles instead of rice. Personally I prefer fideua to paella. Our day in Tarragona ended with a short trip to the beach and it was beautiful! Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed the beach.

Day 5 began our first weekend in Barcelona and the NCC students made it a Gaudi day. We visited Parque Guell and La Sagrada Familia. If ever you go to Spain you absolutely have to visit la Sagrada Familia it is magnificent. Not only did we get to enter but we went up one of the towers as well; 70 meters up! Not really great for someone who is afraid of heights (me) but it was well worth it. We could see all the way to the sea and the mountains; it was absolutely beautiful. The climb back down was not so fun. We took an elevator up but chose the stairs on the way back down. The stairs wound and wound and never seemed to end; seriously I was dizzy when I reached the bottom and once again had sore legs. But this whole first week the pain and tiredness has been well worth it. I've seen some amazing things and already learned so much.