Random International Update (30.6.14)

The time has come to leave what I can safely say is my favorite city on earth. It is not every day one is given the opportunity to meet so many new people, see so many new places, and add meaning and personal experience to things one has only heard about in books, or art, or movies. A big thank you to mom and dad for making this possible for me. Some parents might think twice about sending their kid to Europe on his own for a year. All though I am sure you did, in fact, think twice, I appreciate the way you hid this from me. 

I have spent all of the last two days saying goodbye to friends around the city, and while a hug or kiss or handshake can never do a friendship justice, they were all I could muster. 

I'm not sure if Gaudí actually said the following sentence or not. Regardless, té la veritat, and with it I will be on my way home. With, of course, a brief stop in... Brasil!

Els habitants dels països que banya la Mediterrània sentim la Bellesa amb més intensitat.

The inhabitants of the countries washed by the Mediterranean feel Beauty with more intensity.

Random International Update (4.5.14)

May is here, June is lurking, and I'm pretty sure someone pulled the plug on my Barcelona bubble bath, because my time in it is quickly slipping away. I have a pretty busy schedule until its end, though. It goes something like this:

Monday

Literatura Española 

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Another literature class for my Hispanic Studies major - the professor speaks quite quickly sometimes, especially when she tries to be clever and witty and make a joke in Spanish. Having class in the morning does not help me in my difficulties. Anecdote: one day a student entered the class unannounced and asked if he could make an announcement to the students about some social movement he was involved in. The professor politely responded that during the break (there's a break for a few minutes in the middle of class) he would be more than welcome. He couldn't do that, so he left. But because he and the professor were both speaking in Catalan during this break, the professor just continued speaking Catalan - much to the dismay of the Spanish and international students - for almost 15 minutes before someone let her know what she had done. She claimed she didn't even notice the switch. I'm unsure whether I believe her or not.

Català (A2)

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

This is a language class. I am learning Catalan, and its amazing. Anecdote: someone was trying to say "I have two pets" and said "Tinc dos pets". In Catalan, the word pet means "fart". Our teacher laughed and called the poor girl's statement very surrealista. It was a kind-hearted laugh, just to clarify.

Lunch

1:30 - 2:00(?) PM

Generally a kebab (especially because of no more marathon training). But Makamaka had this amazing burger of the month... Brie, asparagus, caramelized unions. On a burger. Actually heaven.

Internship

2:00 - 6:00 PM

I work at an urban planning firm a few days of the week, helping with whatever my boss, Manuela, thinks I should help with. Recently they have been preparing a few electric motorcycle reports for the greater European Union - that, of course, means I've been translating a few of the more important documents to English for all the world to hear. The people in the office are very nice, and boy do they love that I try to speak Catalan!

Tuesday

Contemporary History I

9:00 - 11:00 AM

History of the world wars and the interwar period. Counts for my history core requirement at BC. The one catch - it's taught in Catalan! So Will has to pay very close attention. 

Amics de la gent gran 

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

I volunteer with this group that sends people to accompany retired people who have few or no family to hang out with. Victoria is 92 years old, and awesome. But also had a cold, and apparently when you get a cold when you're 92, that means two weeks of bed time. So this is on hold. But it's a great experience.

Wednesday

Literatura Española 

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Català (A2)

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Internship

2:00 - 6:00 PM

Thursday

Contemporary History I

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Internship Seminar

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

The five students doing the internship option also have a weekly seminar that talks about intercultural exchange and a bunch of aspects to it. Usually leave with something new to think about.

Friday

Literatura Española 

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Internship

11:30 AM - 2:00 PM (they end early on Fridays)

English classes

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

No, I'm not forgetting English. I teach it, to small Catalan children in this one family. They're awesome, and it's always a great time. The kids are pretty small, so there are no intensive grammar structures covered... mostly just vocabulary.

Yeah those are my weeks. I thought they would feel stressful and busy, but it's actually very relaxing, still. Tuesday and Thursday look like beach afternoon days, and the weekend are more well-received after a full week, for sure.

Highlights from the last month or so:

Know your audience. Somehow I was elected despite the farcical nature of my campaign.

I sure messed with people in a great way on this Saturday in Boston - I slicked my hair back, put on a fake mustache, and had my friends who had already been duped introduce me to other people as if I were a different person. The reactions were priceless.

Not the most confident of faces, but there I am. Running. Final time was 3:02:00! There weren't that many people my age running around me, but I didn't expect to get 2nd in my age group! That sure was a surprise.

I cross the finish line on the far right.

An enormous bowl of homemade paella at Carlos' house in Sitges. About 10 of us made our way on the train down the coast to his house - he's an amazing cook and all-round excellent human. I'm actually on a roll with eating home-cooked meals in the last few days. One of the older guys who plays soccer on Wednesdays invited me to meet his family and have dinner for the Champions League game a few nights ago - his son, Derek, is my age, and they are all really nice people. Then Thursday, the BC crew had dinner with the homestay family of Sam and Addison (Sam - girl - is currently in the homestay; Addison - guy - was in a homestay with a family friend last fall). Another bomb dinner. Then Sitges and Carlos' house! What a great last few days, topped off, as always, with some Sunday night soccer.

Random International Update (14.3.14)

Traveling away from Barcelona is great, but it makes me miss Barcelona. A lot more than I imagined. Over the last two weekends I have been to Scotland and France, and it was a blast. But the part of me that wanted to see as much of Europe as possible in the months that remain has been completely snuffed out by the relative greatness of the city where I signed up to live and study. So anyways. On to happenings since the last post.

I saw The Monuments Men with two friends from school. Carolina is Italian, Mary is Catalan, so we spoke Spanish all evening, exchanging childhood stories and even drifting into Catalan here and there. The movie was eh. Mari (Italian, and in my Catalan class) and I did an oral presentation on cava, the Catalan version of champagne, in Catalan. At the end of class we surprised everyone with two bottles of the thing we presented. So, yes. We popped bottles in class. It was memorable. Two Fridays ago, Sam arrived from the USA on vacation from his work; he is hanging around until this coming Saturday and has been traveling to Glasgow and Paris with me to see our friends. The day after he arrived, we flew to Scotland.

Glasgow was very relaxing for a number of reasons. First, everyone speaks a variety of English. Second, Scottish people think southern accents are hilarious. Third, Alan's roommates were gone, so Sam and I had big beds to ourselves (we worked with Alan at camp last summer). We got to see the University of Glasgow, Alan and I bet on some football matches (only a few pounds), and we met Frazer and Ryan at a bar later Sunday night to catch up (those two lived on my floor in the residency here in Barcelona last semester). However, we turned in early, around 11:00 PM, because of an impromptu ski trip planned for early Monday! Driving from Glasgow to Glencoe, some mountains slightly to the north, we passed a serene lake called Loch Lomond and had great views of the countryside and water. At the resort, we rented what gear we had too, which was not actually that much because Alan's friends had donated some things to our cause, and headed up on the ski lifts to the mountains. We snowboarded and skied all day until the park closed, then drove back and showered to go to The Head and the Heart concert. The concert was amazing. I would see them once every day for the rest of my life, if I could. Tuesday Sam and I flew back to Barcelona.

After a few days of rest and recovery and homework, we flew to Paris. The first night, when we arrived, Sam was pretty sick, so we asked a taxi to drive us to a pharmacy to get medicine. The cab driver and the pharmacy worker were some of the nicest people ever! Take that, stereotypes. Anyways, after Sam had his medicine, we both got second winds, since we were actually within walking distance from the Eiffel Tower. So we walked there, took photos, and got a cab to the hostel. The next day we met Lorena for breakfast, walked around the Tuileries Garden, hit up the Louvre (too much art! honestly overwhelming), and then in the afternoon we met Miguel and had lunch, stopped by the PSG store, and went up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. After a brief rest, we reconvened for dinner with some other friends, named Sabrina, whom Sam and I both met on our Appalachia service trip almost two years ago exactly. I tried escargot and I liked it a lot, actually. On Saturday the tour continued, with the lock-bridge, Notre Dame, the famous "I love you" wall, as well as the beautiful hill quarter whose name escapes me, where we saw yet another big church. Above all, the weather was amazing all weekend. Under all, both Sam and I were slightly sick (I had a bad cough the last day/night). Saturday night and Sunday combined were probably the highlight of the trip - we saw The Head and the Heart again on Saturday night, and on Sunday we made a trip to Versailles on the train with Miguel, Lorena, Sabrina, and their friend Cam. Versailles is pretty ridiculous; I was more upset that people were so grossly rich during those times to build palaces and live that way, when the French people were dying. But the gardens outside were beautiful. We took long, relaxing naps on the grass, and it was great. We had an early flight the next day, and were both kind of sick and tired, so we turned in early on Sunday night.

This week in Barcelona I have been doing some more work for classes. I just finished a paper for my International Expansion class, which did not take long in itself, but the case it was on was about 20 pages and took a while to read. This Thursday I was devastated to learn that I had my Catalan final exam - not because I don't like exams, but because Catalan is by far my favorite class. My film class only has a final paper due late next week, and my history/culture class has a final exam around that time, too. Economics finishes next Tuesday with a final exam, too. Since I don't have class in the mornings, I've been trying to show Sam some of the more touristy parts of Barcelona - we went to Sagrada Familia yesterday. It feels good to be back in Barcelona.

Not a bad first night. It did feel a little strange though, because we were basically the only people out and about at midnight on Thursday. Sam and I kept saying that it felt like everything was especially set up just for us, kind of in a Truman Show style. 

Viva la vida

Good ol' Napoleon

This is French stereotypes in a car. The steering wheel is a beret, and the exhaust pipes are champagne bottles, to give you an idea.

Pont de l'Archeveche - or love lock bridge

Hunchback territory. Although Sam was convinced we were actually in South Bend, Indiana. 

The "I love you" wall has that famous phrase written in a whole bunch of languages, even Catalan (t'estimo)

Nice view on our walk. So many churches everywhere you turn in Paris.

Miguel and Lorena! So great to see these guys again. We are the year-abroad crew. 

Harrisburg, PA service trip reunion with Sabrina and Sam

University of Glasgow

Glencoe

Barcelona street art

One of my favorite caminos

The Head and the Heart in Paris

Alan, Sam, and I before the concert in Glasgow

The Head and the Heart in Glasgow

Random International Update (24.2.14)

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.

Random International Update (13.2.14)

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.

We reserved the big table for lunch. Carrot Life.

Freixenet

To the mines.

Sunrise from the bunkers.

Llums de Eulàlia, also known as the awesome street light festival

I hope the video works.

Random International Update (26.1.14)

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.