12 posts tagged “barcelona”
Got into Barcelona safely and soundly, it feels like I never left and is REALLY WEIRD. Like, so much is coming back to me, I was walking around earlier and barely had to think about what I was doing or where I was going. Everything is just....the same it was 2 and a half years ago.
What is actually kind of terrifying me right now are the hostels. Not in like an "omg I'm going to get raped" sort of terrified, but like, "new freshman with no friends in the dorm on the first day of college" terrified. Most people are sane and, therefore, travel with people. I am insane and chose to travel alone and feel awkward. People are definitely nice but I still feel awkward! :( I am sure after a week or so of "hostelling" I will be used to it and will have a sort of system down for like, taking showers and getting ready for bed in a quick and painless manner, but right now I'm all bumbling around and forgetting shit in my bag and having to go back and get it and all that....(might also have to do with the fact that I, like, haven't slept in like a day and a half). But at the moment I just feel out of place. And weird. And, like, fish out of water.
Here's hoping it gets better! Which it will....in due time.
Sorry for the uninteresting post.
Soooo I did it. Bought my plane tickets. I am leaving Denver on August 17, will fly non-stop to London and then hop on a connecting flight to Barcelona. Seven weeks later on October 5, I will do the same thing in reverse. I am ridiculously excited, ridiculously nervous and....ridiculously excited. I have no idea what I'm going to do there. I want to go to around 12ish places so I figure I can stay about 3 or 4 days in each place, though I'm keeping things open so I'll stay longer in places I really love, less in places I feel less attracted to.
I am going to go to some of the "big" locations, like Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Grenada, etc (as well as starting and ending in Barcelona.) But I also really want to go to several places that I have no idea about. I really want to go to Extremadura, east of Portugal, which apparently is "more rural" than most other places, but other than that I have no idea what's there. But I plan on finding out! Right now I am sort of planning on doing a clockwise jaunt through Spain, starting in Barcelona, going south to Valencia and then west through Andalusia, then north and over etc.
Both my dad and my sister immediately asked me "where else" am I going, as if going to Spain wasn't enough. My dad mentioned Greece and the UK, my sister mentioned Italy and France. Maybe! I might keep an eye on Ryanair.com and see if they have any insane deals, since sometimes their flights are cheaper than it would be to go elsewhere in Spain by rail. So I'm open to the possibility of going somewhere else for a bit, but this is still a "trip to Spain" so I don't want to get carried away. Plus I don't speak Greek, Italian or French, lol, and part of the reason I'm going to Spain, apart from it being amazing, is that I speak the language.
But yeah...I already have a little countdown going. 62 days!!! :D
Over the past few days there seem to have been a lot of things that remind me of Barcelona. I'm sure part of it has to do with the warm weather (even in the middle of February when it was rainy and crappy, I, being a native Coloradan, still thought of Barcelona as being "warm" and "tropical.") I also just read George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia for my political science class, which was pretty interesting, since a lot of it was in Barcelona. The commentary about Spaniards was amusing as well, and even though it was written 70 years ago, most of it's still true (like everyone always saying things will happen "mañana," and how if something's supposed to start at 7pm, it might start anywhere between 6:30 and 9pm.) Definitely worth a read if you're at all interested in Spain, the Spanish Civil War, and/or events leading up to World War II.
Anyway, my missing Barcelona has sort of dulled over the past few months. Not that I don't miss it still, of course I do, but I think my brain has finally catalogued the experience into the "Amazing Times to Remember Fondly" mental folder, instead of it just floating around in my mind where I'd just think about how much I wanted to go back and how much life kind of...sucks back in the US. I've mostly gotten over that, and am more happy and content when I look back on it, rather than angry and disappointed that I'll never have that experience again. I'm glad it happened, rather than sad it won't happen again. Baby steps! It only took me like a year to get over it.
Though one thing I would really, really like to do is to go to Barcelona for, say, a summer, and just work for a few months. Like, work in a bakery or clothes store or something simple. I'm disappointed in my level of Spanish proficiency, and I think a period of time back in Spain would totally polish up my Spanish and, maybe, I'd actually get to the point where I'd consider myself to be "fluent." Also, working (and living) with Spaniards would force me to not only listen, but to talk as well. I'm usually much more of a listener than a talker (believe it or not) and consequently, my speaking ability is severely lacking in comparison with my listening comprehension.
That probably won't happen for a while though...money's kind of an issue (especially since the dollar is weak sauce now.) But after I graduate, I'll try to save up some money for it.
So I'm really starting to miss Barcelona (starting?) like...a lot. Kinsy got back into town a couple days ago so we hung out a bit today and pretty much spent the entire time talking about the craziness that was Barcelona (and everywhere else!) Aside from the all the drama we've been through, we continue to be good friends, something I can fully credit to the both of us being in Barcelona together, because I honestly don't think we'd have become friends again had we not been almost forced to get over our differences in a giant foreign city. Anyway, the sad thing is that no matter how many times I go back to Barcelona, no matter how long I stay when I do go back, it will absolutely never ever even come CLOSE to the glorious experience that was Grupo ISA año 1 (our study abroad group). For serious, if you have the means to do so, STUDY ABROAD. It will truly be the experience of a lifetime, and that's not at all an exaggeration. I'm actually considering doing it again, though on my own coin and after I graduate, and probably not through a study abroad program. But I most definitely will return to the lovely continent of Europe sometime in the semi-near future, hopefully for at least a few months. Berlin, perhaps?
In other news...some things are starting to look up for me, some are starting to look down, and I'm trying to maintain my sanity with everything. My parents are in Canyon City (even I don't know where it is...somewhere far away near Colorado Springs, where all the crazy religious people are) for the night and get back tomorrow afternoon, which means I basically get a night entirely alone so I can watch movies and play video games and whatnot until all hours of the morning and not have to worry about waking anyone up. I already poured myself a glass of wine and plan on enjoying myself. I like being alone and I haven't really had much of an opportunity to just get away from everyone for a nice chunk of time (well, get everyone away from me).
Still playing WoW, still obsessed with Harry Potter, and still lonely (despite my fondness of being alone), heh. The 5th HP movie comes out on Wednesday, then two weeks from today the book comes out, and then the third season of my favorite TV show, South of Nowhere, begins on August 10. So I've got a few things to look forward to in the next several weeks. I also now have enough money for an Xbox 360, and will probably buy it in time to get Mass Effect (seriously, only reasons I want a 360: Mass Effect, GTA4 [hello exclusive episodic content], Fable 2 and Halo 3).
It's funny, back when I was attending school full time AND working (I had three jobs at one point during high school) I seemed to have all the time in the world for video games anyway. Now that I have no job and have about 7 hours of class a week, I seem to have NO TIME AT ALL for video games. At least it seems that way in my mind, which I'm convinced is deceiving me, as I constantly feel rushed and overwhelmed even when I have shit-all to do ("ohmygod I have three movies out from Blockbuster, however shall I watch them all when I have this one video game to play as well?!?") I actually do think it's something vaguely psychological that's wrong with me, and I'm tempted to blame it on a subtle culture shock that is still there on a subconscious level. Oh well, I hardly consider it a problem even though it sort of befuddles me sometimes.
And for those wondering (which is probably to say, no one) the line in the subject is from the Tenacious D song "Tribute" (to the Greatest Song in the World!) Great song, it reminds me of driving up to Crested Butte to go snowboarding. Not to mention it's just funny. While Jack Black sort of repulses me in a way, I can't help but love him in a sort of nerdy way. For some reason that just made me think of Peter Jackson, who has lost a ton of weight. Total props to him, and not only for being a genius.
And now that I've made the turn off of Topic Highway onto Random Road, it's time for me to end this Pointless Entry of the Day. Stay tuned!
Since I've been back in the US for a little over a week, everyone I talk to asks me the simple and obvious question: How was Barcelona? I usually respond with "good," "really good," "awesome," or some other one- or two-word reply. The truth is, it wasn't good, it wasn't awesome. It was absolutely amazingly indescribable, something I can't even describe to the people I met over there who were going through roughly the same experience. It's hard to tell my eye doctor, or the woman who works at my gym, about how I made some of the best friends I've ever had in my entire life, how I learned so much about the Spanish culture yet barely scraped the surface, how I can now fully appreciate the challenge and satisfaction of learning another language, and how, living practically on my own in a giant city 5500 miles away from mommy and daddy was easily the most eye-opening experience of my young life.
So, that's how Barcelona was. Even with everything bad that happened, it was perfect.
In completely unrelated news, I started watching a bit of Degrassi. Why, I have no idea. But I like it, and again, I have no idea. There are 6 seasons, though they're not too long, so I think I'll pop by the library and see if they have them, and chickity-check them out.
Today was our last day of language class, it was pretty sad...afterwords we were just sitting outside, the usual crew of me, Michael, Katarina, Kinsy and Oscar. So sad!! :( Oh well. I got their emails though so I can keep in touch with them, and Mike's staying here so if when I come back to Barcelona, I can at least see him. We're all planning on going and getting drinks some time or another next week during finals so I'm looking forward to that. I've known Mike and Katarina all year (they're Swedish) and met Oscar this semester (he's Dutch), but never really hung out with them outside of classes, and I think now that it comes down to the end of the year all of us are like "oh shit we need to hang out."
Anyway last night I packed up some more, and I got all antsy and couldn't sleep a wink. It's kind of hitting me how excited I am to go home, and I'm excited for some other stuff as well, so I'm looking forward to it. But...Barcelona!! Even when I do come back, I won't have the same experience that I had this whole year...but I guess that's a good thing, if something is easy to recreate then it's probably not all that special anyway.
Anyway, time to go study for finals....ugh. Doesn't feel like Friday at all, but I'm gonna have fun this weekend since it's my last one here!! :(
Oh and this is just too funny not to mention: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#article:9797 I think it's funny how they sexualize Hermione and not a character who's pretty much only there as a sexual interest (for Harry), like Cho (or even Ginny, just stay away from Hermy-one!)
This weekend was noice. I went to the beach yesterday with Zara, Amanda (not last semester Amanda who's coming to visit, this is another Amanda) Kinsy and some dude named Jordi (about as Catalan a name as you can get, and you do pronounce the J). It was way weird though, we were all just lying out around the beach and maybe around 4:30 or so it was still really sunny and clear out, and then all the sudden within a minute or less it was super foggy and you could barely see anything farther than maybe 200 feet away. So we were like "oh shit tidal wave!" and booked it on out of there (and ended up getting food at some place along the water anyway, but regardless...). The haze was creeeeepppyyy, though. I went back this afternoon with Ben, it's nicer today than yesterday which means it's even friggen HOTTER. I'm already getting like way tan after only two afternoons down there. I love the beach though...the water isn't particularly warm or clean (mmmm, delicious Mediterranean), and it's not particularly quiet and peaceful, but it's just nice. There was a guy yesterday running around with a giant box of donuts balanced on his head selling them whilst singing and yelling, how can you not enjoy it?
Anyway today is the last day of Catalan. Right now is when the class is finishing (so yeah, I didn't go. Oops?) I feel really bad about that class. It sounded like such a great idea at the time I was registering for it. "I'll be in a Catalan city? Ok, I'll take a class and learn the basics." Ah, no, actually, more like let's take a class that expects you to be a) really quick with languages, b) already possessing a solid vocabulary of basic Catalan words and phrases, c) psychic and d) fucking crazy. We spent a bit of time on present tense, then a bit of time on past, then future, now I think we're into like pluscuamperfecto of preterito indefinido or some way complicated shit (by comparison, I spent all of Spanish 1 learning present tense, Spanish 2 doing past, then from Spanish 3 upwards learning a mix of everything, all the while learning vocab and other things). Oh and did I mention that it's almost entirely in Catalan? Not even some translations into Castellano for some help. Nothing. Nada. Fucking sucks. I don't see how I can pass that class, I honestly can't say anything other than what's in the subject line (I like to go to the beach) and "Hola, jo sóc Katie, tinc dinou anys i m'agrada formatge." (Hi my name is Katie, I'm 19 years old and I like cheese.) So, yeah. Today we had a "practice exam" that I totally opted out of in favor of the beach, so now I just have the final to go to and I'm done. I'm gonna study a bit, I think, I dunno. I talked to Kinsy just now, and she went to the class and said that he basically told them all the questions that will be on the final, so hopefully I can get that from her and see what I can do. But I don't think I can even scrape the surface of this friggen crazy language in two weeks, plus I didn't really turn in a lot of stuff I should have (nor did I go to the practise test today, so basically I just fucked myself over completely. Love when that happens!) Soooo yeah. I'm probably going to fail, which means my parents are going to kill me, and which probably means that I'm going to have to pay for something that I initially wasn't going to have to pay for. Alas, woe is me.
But anyway! On Satuday I went to the ancient ruins of Barcino with Kinsy. It was pretty cool, you take an elevator down like one storey and then they have a metal and glass flooring a few feet above the ruins. The part they excavated was a wine factory and then there was also a factory that made some funky fish sauce, and then there was a big house and some sort of cathedral. It was cool though, plus that's what part of my final is on for my Historia de España: Antiguo y Medieval class (which is actually a good class that I've learned from and that I will study for and do well in, unlike SOME classes. Grumble.) so I picked up all the little booklets about it all to study from. After that we got ice cream, which I hadn't had here since sometime early last semester probably, and coffee. Then beach on Sunday, beach on Monday, beach on Tuesday...actually it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow as well, so I might go down after class....hmmm. I totally ruined one of my señora's towels though, haha. It's all sandy and brown and gross (it's a bath towel, so I probably shouldn't have taken it down in the first place). Oh well, I think I can clean it up enough before I put it in the laundry so she's not all "what the hell" when she sees it in there. I could totally live in some little Mediterranean beach town for a summer or something. Not here because it's a fucking city and it's huge and loud and I hate big cities, but I could totally go for like, a little Italian village on the coast. Maybe I need to start planning my next adventure...I was leaning towards Scotland earlier but now I think I could totally do small-town Italy, or Greece. That would be nice.
Today is Día de Sant Jordi (see? That name is Catalan like woah), the sort of bastardised Catalan version of Valentine's Day (guys give girls flowers, girls give guys books...does anyone else think that girls get the short end of the stick on that one?) So everyone's out selling flowers with their crazy Catalan flags flying high. This probably sounds like a very anti-Catalan entry, but I'm just bitter about the class and think it's shit...I also think that a lot of Catalan people are crazy, especially the ones between the ages of 15 and 25. But I did buy a Catalan flag the other day, and I'm planning on putting it up along with my flag of Spain (I won't go into details about how I asked for a "pantera" rather than a "bandera", though thankfully the man did, in fact, give me a flag rather than a panther.)
Two weeks of class, one week of finals. I have 19 days left, and the fact that I'm slipping down into the teens makes me nervous! I totally don't know if I want to go home or not, I can't decide. I think I want to, but I want to go home and come back, I don't want to just leave and not have any idea when I might be able to stroll around the streets of Barcelona again :( Sad day indeed.
After some intense thought and a nice side portion of stress, I've decided to....stay with the Spanish major. Like you care! But anyway, that'd be the easiest thing for me to do ("easy" as in "ease of classes" as well as "ease of figuring it all out.") Everything else needs some crazy prerequisites, whereas in Spanish, I'm well on track to graduate in 4 years, assuming I do some classes over the summer. I do need a minor though, so now I just have to figure out a nifty minor to do that, like my major, won't be hard to swing. Philosophy, perchance? Sociology?
Next week Mary and her mom are coming to visit (Mary's my neighbor who I've known my whole life who studied with ISA in Barcelona a couple years ago, and stayed with the same host family). So that's exciting! I get to see two faces from home as well as (I'm guessing) go out to eat for some tasty vittles. Then after that I'm off to the UK for a bit, and then back here for a month and then I go home....Jesus it sounds like such a short time when I say it like that. I'm really going to miss Barcelona, I will say. As much as I'm looking forward to going home, just to be home, there's something about this place that I love (and no, it's not the urine smell in the streets, nor is it the beggars, nor the dirty old men who holler "guapa!" or "rubia!") *tears up*
And yes, I did quote Natalie Portman in Where The Heart Is for the subject line. Novalee Nation ftw.
So I'm here...and alive...I think. I got into Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon like around 3 local time or so. Fucking dumbass airline people, I booked my flight online through US Airways, basically telling them "I need to get from Denver to Barcelona on this day, give me something." So what they gave me ended up not having enough time in Madrid between when I got in from Philly and when I left for Barcelona, so I had to change flights and wait an extra couple hours there. The checkin lady at DIA also told me that I would need to claim my one checked bag and re-check it at Madrid becuase of security and whatever, so I freaked out in Madrid when my bad wasn't there, then I asked a security guard in botched Spanglish (how the fuck do you say that in Spanish, anyway? I barely know how to explain it in English) and she told me I didn't need to do that so all was well. Anyway, so then I got in, and because I'm dumb I went out that night con mis amigos and didn't get to sleep until like 2am (which was like 36 hours after I had woken up the morning before to leave, because I didn't sleep a wink on any of the flights) and have pretty much done the same thing the last two nights, so I'm totally not on any sort of normal sleeping schedule (I woke up at 1pm today and it was brutal).
In other news, the new roomie is cool, she's a lot nicer and funnier and more easy going than Ainslie ever was. It can be a bit awkward at times, but I guess that¡s to be expected. I have my Wii over at Ben's apartment, and it works fine other than the fact that it's in...black and white. Haha. We're not sure if it's some bogus setting on the TV, or what, and they don't have a remote for it so until his roommate buys a remote for it like he said he would, we're stuck playing Zelda in black and white (which SUCKS).
And I'm sure I have more to ramble about but I have my cine español class in like two minutes, so adios.
Well tomorrow I head back to Barcelona...I'm going out for breakfast with my parents and sister and then to the airport cuz my flight's at 1:40pm. I get into Barcelona at 12:40pm the next day (4:40am mountain time), which is cool cuz I'll get back to my homestay just in time for lunch, then I can clean up and unload my shit and then I'll probably head over to Ben's new apartment and nerd it up with some Wii (that I'm bringing) and 360 (that his brother brought for him when he visited in December). So excited. We're like the biggest nerds ever, we'll go have a drink and just be talking about games the entire time, and it's usually the quickest way to get fellow English speakers to go away.
Anyway I'm going to miss my computer, mainly the access to people/information/media when I want/need it. I'm going to miss Mexican food too. Though we have discovered a pretty good Mexican place in Barcelona off Via Laetana called Rosa Negra. Pretty good stuff there, and it's fairly cheap. I'm NOT going to miss the Colorado weather, and my inability to drink. Class doesn't start until Thursday so I'm totally going out to the bars on Tuesday after I get in and we have our nerd-a-thon.
I'm NOT excited for the flight though. I used to love flying, now it's just a necessary evil that comes with traveling. I don't mind flights nearly as much if I have someone with me to talk to, which of course I don't have on my lovely trans-Atlantic jaunts. Fortunately, I'm checking a small suitcase so I won't have THAT much crap to take with me on the plane (well I have the same bags I came back with, only they're far, far less full).
Anyway I guess I'm making this entry because I'm trying to put off finishing packing. All I really have left are some odds and ends from various electronics. I'm taking my Wii in my carryon bag so I'm just trying to get that all padded and protected as much as possible (though the security people are going to rip off all my beautiful bubble-wrap anyway...damn them). *sigh* I'm afraid I'm going to forget something. I'm also afraid I won't be very good at Spanish by the end of the semester. I've already pledged myself to try harder this semester, hopefully I can actually do it and not get lazy.
Oh and I hope my roommate is cool. Even if she's a bitch, it'd be hard for her to be worse than Ainslie, so I think it'll be fine.
And I should be a bit better about pictures this semester. Every picture that I want to share will be up on Facebook at some point in time because it's easiest, though I'll also try and get some up on my LiveJournal if I can. But yeah, if you don't have Facebook, you should join and find me and then you can see a lot more pictures than you ever really wanted to see.
