16 January
Random international updates are random for a reason. We apologize for any delays. Anywho, I believe I left off mid-Bre visit, which ended great! We all went out to some bars on Thursday night, and then a club called Sutton. There was some variety of a spin the bottle // dance contest of which I partook. Needless to say (the most irritating of introductory phrases) it was difficult to believe that Friday was, well, Friday when I got up.
Awesome week!
17 January
I managed to arise at 11:00 AM to get brunch with Bre and her friend from the hostel, and then guide Bre to the train to Girona where Stevie and his family live (all three of us worked at camp last summer). I think she had a good time. Well, she and her sister are coming back in early February (which I'm told is a few weeks away... what?) so surely she did. I grabbed a short nap, and then had lunch with Tanja at the fabled Bar Lobo, a Flautt family favorite. Ain't nothing like some tapas. After lunch we got some school supplies. We also stopped at a store called Viena (spelled with one 'n') because, well, Tanja is from Austria. How could she not. I got a journal. Writing in the journal makes remembering things for blog updates much more thorough and reflective, so it bodes well for whoever reads this. I'm never quite sure who that is, though. Oh, and I also got =Impulse buy= Settlers of Catan in Spanish. It is an award winning board game from Germany. The Boston clan have taken a liking to Catan. It is always a good time. Recommended prerequisites include intro to macroeconomics, intro to political science, and international relations. We take games seriously and losses personally. Despite the warnings, Mariaelena, an Italian girl in my Catalan class whom we all met a few weeks ago, came over to our residency and hung out with us whilst we played. Pretty sure we terrified her, but she still likes us, so it's all good. This is Friday night, by the way. Friday afternoon, we actually had a cooking class with some other Americans from various parts of the USA, mostly San Diego, but spreading to Berkeley and Georgia. Robert is from Georgia. He and I belted out the Krusty Krab Pizza song. God knows why, but it happened. New things I learned: cutting artichokes is not as easy as the professional chef makes it look. Also, heaps of onions invariably makes ones eyes tear (in the liquid sense, not the fabric sense).
Pause. I had the strangest feeling on Friday night. It was "I wish I wouldn't laugh so much". Prolonged laughter is in fact quite physically demanding. And my body, specifically my chest cavity and abdominal muscles, were telling me to stop. Please stop laughing. We are tired. Stop it! I could not think of a better problem to have. It was really strange to feel this way.
Onwards. I met some Tennesse folks, strangely enough. One from Clarksville who plays(ed) soccer in some D-III school in East Tennessee, and another from Galatin or someplace like that. They were only staying ten days or so in Barcelona. Their program hits a bunch of cities in Europe for about ten days each, and has (I think) an intensive culture class in each city as well. I couldn't make out everything well through the thick layers of southern accents. I jest. My timeline is a little jumbled. I blame my former self for poor journal entry technique. After cooking class, and after meeting Tennessee people, and after playing the board game, a few of us went to Otto Zutz, a club just to the left of the neighborhood of Gràcia. I saw some of my teammates from the past weekend, and we celebrated our victory.
Me, Dale, and Addison cooking
This is Settlers of Catan
18 January
Saturday came around, and Sam (whom we met at Bo de B, a restaurant in Barri Gotic. Really cool. Studied at UPF undergrad, now she is working for a travel company in Barcelona) showed us La Xampanyeria. Cheap burgers and Cava. It was, not surprisingly, packed. We got back and played Catan (again). This will be a theme. I may stop mentioning it to save poor blog-readers the boredom. Anywho, we played, and then Dale and I tried to go to the Gym, but lo and behold, the gym closes at 8:00 PM on Saturdays. So we tried to buy new boxers instead (obviously). Ok I'll explain. Neither of us wanted to do laundry, so we decided to buy more boxers and procrastinate this lau(n)d(r)able task for another day. But no. We procrastinated procrastination. Instead we went back and split a pizza at the Melon Cafe. Sigh. Not our proudest moment. Later that night, we all went over to Ovella Negra for pool and cerveza. It was a chill night. We got back around 2:30 AM, and decided to cook hotdogs and bacon, and play Catan.
19 January
Sunday morning (read: afternoon) Dale and I pooled our boxers and socks and hence did a batch of the purely necessary clothing (spoiler: next Friday morning I actually bought more boxers). In between cycles we got Carrot Cafe. Oh wait. No we didn't. We walked over, it was closed (NOOO). Instead we went back and split a pizza at the Melon Cafe. Not our proudest moment. After lunch, Dale, Addison, Alex, and I played soccer with the other residents. Always a good time. After playing, we tried to watch the Chelsea - Manchester United game, but couldn't find a place nearby that showed it. So instead, we just headed back to our rooms and washed up. I was going to have another soccer game, but since it was raining, that got cancelled. Which was nice; I was tired. Thus began the cooking adventure. I spilled eggs, over-defrosted frozen chicken breast, let the pasta-water boil over the sides of the pot, and overall made a great meal. Yes, we played Catan afterwards. Dale and I had a nice talk // music session late into the night while I finished washing the dishes.
Parmesan chicken, pasta, glazed carrots, vino, and juice. I'm getting better at cooking.
20 January
7:00 AM alarms are always ambitious. I can usually tell the night before if I will have the willpower to wake up. I woke up at 12:15 PM and strolled to class after a light breakfast at home. Between classes I went to the gym. After my second class, Andre arrived from his whirlwind tour of Europe with his other Brazilian friends. He, I, and about 15 other people went to dinner at Cien Montaditos for cheap, good sandwiches. 0.50€ each. So good. Took a while to accumulate enough tables together for everyone to sit down, but whatever. It worked. After dinner, Andre and I went to his friends' apartment and hung out before going to Apolo for Andre's last night out in Barcelona. We got a table and everything there. It was a blast. Great music. Think remixes of Two Door Cinema Club, The Strokes, and Capital Cities. Really cool. Somehow we made it back to Melon around 6:00 AM, and I still got to sleep for about 8 hours before my Catalan class.
This is why I am slowly learning Portuguese. I somehow always hang out with Brazilians.
Andre // Apolo
21 January
Didn't even set and alarm, because my class was at 3:00 PM, and who sleeps until 3:00 PM? Not me. No sir. Internal clock is too fine tuned. Got lunch with Dale, and after I went to get coffee with Mari before class. Catalan! What a cool class. By far my favorite, and also by far the least necessary, according to Boston College transcripts. But hey. When in Rome. Later that night, I ate leftovers (horray for tupperware) and listened to Jacob, a Canadian on my floor, play songs like this one. Andre at this time was really exhausted, jet lagged, etc. He slept from about 11:00 PM to noon the next day.
22 January
Andre's last day. 7:00 AM alarm again. Watching the sunrise was a bold idea. Andre was really tired. I had a class trip at 1:00 PM, we saw the Roman ruins in the old Gothic neighborhood and went on a tour of the museum there. When I got back to Melon, Andre was awake and packed. We got lunch at Carrot Cafe, and then went to the Font de Canaletes on La Rambla. They say that if you drink from this fountain, you will return to Barcelona someday. After the short trip, we went back to Melon, got Andre's suitcases, and said goodbye. So sad to see him go, but at least no one else is leaving for a while. This semester is missing a lot of awesome people from the last one, but I already like this semester so much more. After class (ended at 7:00 PM) I went and saw 12 Years a Slave, but in Spanish, with one of my good friends from last semester, Carolina. Powerful movie, even in Spanish. I really enjoyed it. I think it is up for some awards.
23 January
Got up a made pancakes! Only had strawberry syrup though. Second Catalan class happened shortly afterwards. We have learned that the hardest part is proper pronunciation. Afterwards I had econ class, and after that I went to the gym. But I stopped and got Julia, Guillem, and Sergi some small Christmas gifts. I teach them English. Julia is 6, and actually learns. Guillem and Sergi are twins, 4 years old, and crazy. I am their gymnasium. So much random climbing happens. But that happened the next day, Friday. I did lunges in the gym for the first time in a while. I am still sore, and it is now Sunday. I had dinner at home, and hung out with everyone on my floor. Another concert with Jacob, and it turns out there is an American girl who can sing really well. Natalia and I just watched as we ate and enjoyed the free entertainment. A crew of people went to Ovella Negra for some drinks, but I was tired from the gym and class, so I turned in early.
24 January
Finally approaching the present. So this was Friday morning. I don't have class on Friday, but I went to bed early, so I had some time to kill before 6:00 PM, when I had to go to the family's house where I teach English. I got up at 7:20 AM and did a test run (pun intended) of my new, super-light Asics down to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful even though it was a bit cloudy. After breakfast I went shopping at Glòries, a shopping mall nearby. Afterwards I got lunch in Gràcia at The Avenue Bar. It was great, as was the company. Thanks to Markos, a guy from Nebraska, and friends with Sam, also working for the European travel company, for the recommendation. After lunch, I went to Carrot Cafe with Dale, where we exchanged tales from the last few nights and days. He got lunch. I got cheesecake, I had already eaten. At night, it was Lizeth's birthday dinner (she lives in Melon too, and was here last semester, currently studying for a masters degree). We tried to go to La Rosa Negra (a good Mexican restaurant, Lizeth is Mexican) but it was too long a wait (for 11 people!) so we went to La República instead. Got some empanadas. The spicy beef ones are great.
Sunrise on the Mediterranean.
The "Stolen Goods" market. Or flea market. Call it what you want.
25 January
Team AMERica (pronounced uh-MUR-ih-kuh) had a volleyball/basketball/soccer tournament with some other residents at a local gym from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. It was a lot of fun, but it made me pretty tired for my game later that afternoon. I played central defense, so it wasn't that bad. The game started at 6:00 PM, and it was my first 11v11 game in about a year. It was also my first 90 minute 11v11 game, since I usually play 40 minute halves. Now that I think about it, maybe they were 40 minute halves. It just felt longer. The other team was pretty good. But we messed up. We missed a penalty in the first few minutes (would have been 1-0), and I headed a shot off the crossbar late in the game (would have been 1-1). We ended up losing 0-2. Granted, they were the better team. After a quick shower back home, I headed out to Gràcia to meet Dale, Addison, Bridget, and Mari for the Foguerons de Sa Pobla, a Mallorcan festival with bonfires, fireworks, dancing, music, fireworks, sausages, beer, and fireworks. The five of us had a nice night watching the festivities and then sitting outside and enjoying some patatas bravas and cervezas. The waiter at the restaurant was kinda slow, so Addison gave me a euro to run into the supermarket nearby and buy some potato chips while we waited. That was funny. Also, when the waiter was trying to walk back inside, I did one of those "which way are you walking?" stutter-steps with him. But we both moved the same way about three times. It was wild. I tried to make a joke by saying "Haha, it's like we're dancing!" and he just gave me a funny look and walked inside. That was the funny story of the night. The funny expression of the night was even better though. Instead of saying something like "He's not all there" or "He's a little off his rocker", we found the phrase "He's a few shards of pottery short of a full anthropological theory" to be far superior. So expect that to pop up every once in a while.
She's a witch! Burn her!
Human castles. Called castells in Catalan.
Mid-fireworks
26 January
Today. The present. Bridget, Mari, a friend from Bridget's Spanish class, and I went to get coffee and then to mass at La Sagrada Família. It was in Spanish. What a great way to start the day. Also got to see Gaudi's tomb up close and personal. This afternoon I am napping, writing, reading, and resting my legs for a mini soccer tournament tonight with Ted and Alex.
