Holes to Heaven: February 2014

There are a lot of highlights from the past week or so. Two Fridays ago I taught little Jùlia card games during English "class". The Saturday after I spent the afternoon on the beach with a book (still in jeans and a flannel, but it was really nice out nonetheless) and then played 11v11 soccer, topping the night off with a steak from our favorite neighborhood cheap and awesome steak place. Sunday my team won our 7v7 mini-tournament in the rainy, cold night. Monday I did my part of our group presentation on a Spanish movie called Vacas. Highlight of that highlight was me mistaking ciclismo for ciclos de la vida. I was trying to say something along the lines of "the cycles of life" but instead I said ciclismo, and ciclismo means recreational bicycling. Moving on to last Tuesday, I watched the City - Barcelona Champions League soccer match in a bar // restaurant. We were surrounded by what we thought were Catalan and/or Barcelona fans. But they were very old and very pessimistic and critical and did not seem the least bit enthused about Barcelona's 0-2 victory against arguably the strongest English soccer team! Wednesday was a display of prime before-exam studying: I woke up at 6:00 AM, studied for a few hours, made eggs, studied more, and took an exam at 1:00 PM. It went very well! I felt very comfortable writing in Spanish - since I am not in a Spanish language class, I don't have as many opportunities to write formally for grades. Tragically Arsenal lost to Bayern Munich, the defending Champions League Champions. Champions Champions Champions. Champions. Anyways. Thursday morn I went for a run with Jacob, a Canadian chap on my floor. It was a lovely run, but the following day I learned Jacob had taken a turn for the worse - i.e. he done got a cold - after the run, and perhaps partly because of the run itself. Anywho. The real highlight I have saved for last.

My first trip of the semester was a ski trip to Andorra with about 50 students in the Melon District residency. I say ski trip, but I mean snowy-mountain trip, because I, in fact, snowboarded. Took the first few hours and a refresher class for me to find my snowboarding legs (primarily my right calf muscles... hot damn they were a-burnin'!) By the end of Saturday I was on to the green hills. Sunday I started off on blue, and felt very comfortable by the end of the day. But I did not dare to do red. Elisa, Eduardo, and I made the ~40 minute series of cable cars // lifts to the other side of the mountain on Sunday. The weather was sunny and the views astounding. What a stunning trip. I might have to go snowboarding more often; it's really cool.

Melted cheese x Chicken x Salad

Cable car up from the parking lot // bus

The first side of the mountain (Saturday)

Eduardo, me, and Bill - the snowboard crew

Eduardo and Elisa. Note the view behind us - the closer parts are the other hills we took a big cable car to get to on Sunday

Most satisfying burger I have had in Europe. Ain't nothing on Five Guys // Steak 'n Shake // In-N-Out, but still pretty darn good (yes, they put eggs on their burgers - it isn't that bad, actually)

The Boston College crew: Dale, me, and Addison. Those two guys are great, and together we all make up 75% of the Boston College presence in Barcelona. And yes, they are matching on purpose.

Oh, it's ~~February~~ two weeks into February?

I have been getting back into my running routine. I've joined a gym, and made a few nice morning runs. There are a few big hills in Barcleona. Sometimes I stay away from them, but other times I have found the views of the sunrise over the Mediterranean far worth the burn. My friend Carlos is a phenomenal cook, he has shown me caramelized sugar // brie crackers, patates braves, and tortilla de patata. I have successfully become a regular client at a few places: 1) Carrot Cafe: right around the corner; we love the cubano sandwich, it's delicious. Jordi, the waiter, criticizes us whenever we go without bringing female friends 2) Bar Santa Fe: right near school, usually Mariaelena and I get coffee before class there. Ruben, the owner // dad, is from Brazil 3) Ryan's Bar: is an Irish Pub that the two other BC guys go to a lot, the Irish bartenders are really cool. 4) La Malandrina: the best steak place in town, plus amazing bowls of melted cheese (yes, bowls of melted cheese) 5) "Cafeteria Bar Restaurant Italian Food" is the name, I think. It doesn't matter. It's a family from Napoli, and they make amazing pizzas. One waiter was born in West Ham, London, and likes to practice his English.

Speaking of La Malandrina, two weeks ago we had a Dudes' Steak Night. One of the best nights so far, in terms of laughs, stories, company, food, and drink. Props to Addison for the idea. Speaking of Addison, the next day (Thursday) we had dinner at his old host mother's house up closer to the mountain. I had about five enormous soft tacos, it was great. The next morning, I started my volunteering with Amics de la gent gran, or "Friends of the Elderly" in English. I spend two hours a week with Victoria, a 92-year-old lady who is really cool. The idea of the organization is to provide the human side of social services that governments cannot, such as simple things like company. It is inspirational to see how well Victoria is doing at her age. We have gone for some (short) walks around her neighborhood, and we talk about all sorts of things - how Barcelona was when she first moved there, what her family is doing, what her past week was like, etc.

Catalan class is going really well. Two Fridays ago, we did a class trip to the nearby Mercat de Santa Catarina to practice our communication skills. I got to talk to a lovely older couple about what they liked about the market, and then also their favorite part of Barcelona. Also practiced food vocabulary. Just yesterday (well, Tuesday) I had my first midterm in Catalan, and it went really well.

Sadly my friend Angelo (with whom I went to Peniche, Portugal to surf) left for Chile to finish his studies, or start work. I forget which. The joke of his sending-off night was "sense tu, el meu hort és mort", which is basically a really cheesy line from a Catalan song. The song builds the metaphor of various fruits and vegetables as representing the guy's love for his lady. The direct translation of the line is "without you, my vegetable garden is dead". Beyond romantic, I know.

Been playing consistent soccer, both 11v11 and 7v7. On Saturdays I play 11v11, and Sundays 7v7. Last Sunday I got a black eye from hitting heads with another guy going for a header. That has been a fun one to explain to classmates // teachers // people I've just met. "No, no, no. I got this playing soccer. Futbol. Not a fight. I did not fight anyone."

I've gotten quite good at cooking pasta. I use random tomato sauces (Bolognese? Napolitano? What is the difference? All the jars are red and saucy) but add some spicy sausage, cheese, and garlic. Yum. I have also developed a taste for red wine! Add that to the list that includes coffee, and I'm almost a stereotypical adult!

The nice thing about Europe, from a soccer fan's perspective, is that the matches air at convenient times. Usually 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM. I finish class, text a few guys, and we go grab a beer and watch a Barcelona game, a Chelsea - Manchester City game, or an Arsenal - Manchester United game.

The key to never doing laundry is having stashes of clean undergarments. Moving on...

I was going to go to sleep early last Wednesday, but then I saw a link to the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate about creationism as a valid explanation for life as we know it today. What fascinating stuff! I was actually more interested in the creationist viewpoint, because, well, I already am familiar with the science-y stuff. The main argument for creationism was that we cannot confide in scientific data that is not hands-on, physically-seen, or experimentally observed with our own eyes. In astronomy I was always a little puzzled by that fact: all the data astronomers use to discover things about the universe (besides a few spacecraft in our solarsystem) is just a variance in the wavelength and intensity of photons that hit the telescope. Photons. Variance in photos is what our knowledge of the unexplored universe comes from. So I understood the point Ken Ham was making. But come on, folks. You ain't gone make me believe that death did not exist anywhere in the whole world before Adam and Eve sinned. Preposterous.

Last Friday the 7th the BC crew and Teresa did a tour of Freixenet, a local (but internationally known) cava company (cava is more or less champagne, but the grapes come from here in Catalunya). The tour was very interesting. For example, we learned that the size of the modern wine bottle (750mL) was the average breath of the bottle-makers, back when they had to blow the hot, molten glass to make the shapes themselves.

Bre and her sister, Sashell, visited Barcelona last weekend; it was a blast. As always. Stevie, who worked at camp last summer, also made the trip down from Girona (to get to Girona, follow the coast up towards France). We all had yummy food, lots of laughs, and overall another great weekend in Barcelona! I think we may have convinced Bre to come back for one last weekend before her whirlwind tour of Europe ends in March.

The last few days I have been a little sick. Thanks to NyQuil, I have not been that sick. But overall, Barcelona is still the bomb. I haven't been able to do everything I planned to this semester, such as reading a lot, running every day, or finding cool cafes to read books in. But I'm getting there. A few big weights off my chest have been 1) figuring out housing for next year at Boston College (drum roll....... rooming with Pat again! I'm pretty excited about that. You don't meet all-around great people like Pat every day.) 2) figuring out my internship in Barcelona next semester; it looks to be with Barcelona Ecologia, an urban planning sort of firm. Looks fascinating. 3) Senior thesis: this video is why I'm excited about my internship and why I have ideas for a thesis of some sorts.