Monday, March 23, 2009

¡Barcelona!

I wasn't sure how much I was going to like Barcelona. Sure, it has everything-- the beach, art and culture, good food-- but I guess I just had this pre-conceived notion that it wasn't going to be a city "for me." Boy was I wrong...

We were supposed to leave Sevilla at about 4 PM on Thursday, but the flight was delayed 40 minutes due to an air traffic control strike in France. (Our plane had to come from Brussels.) But it wasn't really that big of a deal-- we didn't have anything planned for Thursday night, so when we got to the hostel, we unloaded our stuff and decided to go find somewhere for dinner. There was a girl staying in the room with us, Abby from Arizona, that was traveling alone, so we invited her to come along. Laura is doing a presentation on Catalonian food, so we had to go to local places, which was perfect. We went into this one place and found out that they had tiny tapas, so we decided to just get 4 and share them, and then we'd move on to another place. The next place was one of my favorite restaurants that I've been to while I've been here. It was more of a sit-down dinner place, but we just ordered a few tapas to share, followed by a couple of desserts! The food was awesome, the atmosphere was fun, the decorations were cute... It was great. :) After dinner, though, it was kinda late, so we just went back to the hostel and rested up for the next day.

The next morning, the first thing on our itinerary was La Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudí. It isn't finished, and there were a ton of construction cranes surrounding it, but it was still amazing.


Next, we trekked up to Park Güell, which is the park that Gaudí designed. There was a big plaza that overlooked all of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.




After exploring the park, we headed back down toward the main part of Barcelona in search of some of Gaudí's "casas," or apartment buildings that he designed. There were several close to our hostel:



And finally... the beach!!! I was looking so forward to that-- getting to see and play in the Mediterranean?! It's always been a dream of mine... We found a spot we liked and sat down in the sand, enjoying the sun. It was a cloudless day, and I just lay there, looking up at the sky, thinking about how truly blessed I am. I'm 21 years old and am living one of my life's dreams... After a brief siesta, Laura, Tori, and I decided we wanted to play in the water. So we each took turns, someone taking pictures while the others played. It was probably my favorite part of the trip.



After the beach, we walked along an area called Port Vell. It was neat-- there were a couple of cool sculptures:



For dinner, we went to a local place that was recommended to us by the staff at the hostel. It was so local that the menu was in Catalán, the local dialect of Barcelona. There were a few chef's recommendations, so we chose those and hoped they'd be good. They were!

The next morning, we really only had one thing on our intinerary: the Picasso Museum. It didn't have any of his most famous works, but it showed his progression as an artist with works that he did over the course of his life. One of my favorite rooms had various "copies" of the famous Las Meninas by Velázquez. Many artists will try to directly imitate a work of another artist, but Picasso did anything but. He did imitate the content of Las Meninas, but his interpretation is completely different-- the colors, the shapes, the perspective... All is different. I had no idea that Picasso had done these copies, and they were a very pleasant surprise for me to see.

After the museum, we just decided to wander around Barri Gótic, or the old part of the city, for a little while. It was very much like Sevilla, with its tiny, winding, quiet streets. There was also quite a lot of graffiti.



After lunch in a cute little café, we walked along Las Ramblas, which is a big tree-lined street that has shops and restaurants all along it. There were also a bunch of random... street performers, I guess you could call them. They'd paint themselves and put on costumes and stand like statues on pedestals until people came near them, and then they'd scare the people or do some sort of skit. There were a ton of them. But my favorite place along Las Ramblas was the market. It was huge and had everything from 65-euros-per-kilo chocolate to raw, fresh meat to fresh fruits and veggies. The fruit stands were selling fresh-squeezed fruit juice- I cannot tell you how good it was. My favorite was strawberry-coconut. Fabulous. :)



That night, our last in Barcelona, we decided to cave and get Chinese food. I know, I know, but trust me-- we've been eating plenty of Spanish food. So it was a nice change. And a perfect way to end the perfect weekend in Barcelona, España. :)

Sunday, March 22, 2009

¡Lisboa, Portugal!

Oh, I don't even know where to start with Lisbon. I had been looking forward to this excursion for over a year. And because it came at the end of a very stressful week of midterms, it was the perfect weekend trip.

We left pretty early on Friday morning because we were going to have a long bus ride ahead of us. We finally got to Lisbon around 1:30 PM local time (they're an hour behind Spain) and met again at 3:30 PM to go to Castelo de São Jorge, located high up on a hill that overlooks the city and the river. We walked through the winding streets of the city to get there. I always love walking through the city, especially when I first arrive, because it really gives a sense of what the city is like. Our ISA director told us that Lisbon is sort of like a combination of San Francisco and Rome-- it is really old and has gorgeous architecture, but it's also a hilly city with working cable cars and it's very own Golden Gate Bridge!


When we finally reached the castle, we were all speechless. While we were all really excited about the Lisbon excursion, none of us had really had the time (or the overwhelming desire, I regret to say) to research Lisbon. We really had no idea what to expect. I think it was then that I realized how much I was in love with the city. We all took our 759 pictures from there and then continued on into the castle itself. There isn't really anything inside-- it's just open courtyard space-- but you can climb to the top of the wall surrounding the whole complex, and there are numerous things to hold your attention. Each side obviously offers a different view, but there are also little nooks and crannies that beg to be inspected as well. It was a beautiful afternoon, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we would not have wanted to spend it any other way.


After visiting Castelo de São Jorge, we were free to explore the city. It was around dinnertime, so we leisurely walked through the streets looking for somewhere that served Portuguese food. We were told to try a certain dish, which our directors told us was like paella but with more soup. (I can't for the life of me remember the name of it.) It was really good! Very fishy, but that doesn't bother me, so I liked it! After dinner, we walked the streets and observed how the Portuguese like to "let loose." Many people think that Portugal and the Portuguese are a lot like Spain and the Spanish, and in some ways, they are. But really, the two cultures are very different. It's difficult to explain; the Portuguese seem to be more laid back and casual. Not that the Spanish aren't, of course, but Lisbon had the relaxed feel of a seaside town, despite the fact that it has no actual coast line. The food and the language also separate the cultures. It is often thought that the Portuguese language is only a little different from Spanish, and while it is true that a lot of their words are similar, it is also very easy to see the French influence on the language as well.

The next day, we went with the group to tour the Monasterio de los Jerónimos, the Torre de Belem, and the Monument to the Discoveries, and then we were on our own. We found this little Italian place in the Barrio Alto for lunch (I know, it isn't Portuguese, but what can I say?), and it turned out to be some of the best food we've had. They had homemade pasta. :) It was great. Then we walked to this small park area that overlooked the lower parts of the city, the castle, and the river and relaxed and chatted for the rest of the afternoon. I think it was then when I began to realize that leaving Europe in June is going to be just as hard as I thought it might be...

Monday, March 16, 2009

¡Flamenco!

So it's been a little while since I've posted... one word-- midterms! BUT, those are over, and now I can update you on what's been going on...

A few weekends ago, some friends and I decided to go see some flamenco. Tori, a friend who goes to the Universidad de Sevilla, is taking a class on the history of flamenco, and she asked her professor where to go. He led us to this tiny, non-descript bar in a neighborhood of Sevilla called Triana. The bar was called "La Casa de la Anselma" and is owned by, you guessed it, Anselma. She was this fun, spunky little Spanish woman. The show was rumored to start about 11 PM, and when we arrived, there were already people meandering about outside. But as with many things Spanish, it didn't start on time. The opened the doors at 12 AM, and the show got started around 12:45 or 1 AM. I'm not really sure how to describe the show. Well, first of all, it was completely amazing. There weren't women in extravaggent costumes or men with tiny musical instruments, stuff you probably think of when you think flamenco. A lot of that is for the tourists. But we knew our show was definitely not for tourists-- the place was packed to capacity, and we were the only Americans there. :) Plus, it was free! We just had to buy a drink. It was perfect. The musicians and singers were great, and the dancers were lively. At the end, Anselma herself got up and performed a few songs for us. Her "Casa" was authentically Spanish, and for the very first time since coming to Spain, I really felt like I was in Spain. It was such an amazing experience. Next weekend, though, ISA is taking us to Granada, and we're going to a show there. I'm really interested to be able to compare the two. We'll see... :)


Sunday, March 1, 2009

Mi Familia Española

Today was a very lazy day. But that's what Sundays are in Spain-- days to rest. My house-mom's daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter came over for lunch (as they often do), and then all of us relaxed in la sala. I love spending time with them. The granddaughter is three and a half and is absolutely adorable. She's also quite animated and stubborn. ;) This afternoon, the daughter looked at me and said, "Our family is crazy." I laughed and said, "I love it! My family is crazy, too!" When they left, my house-mom invited me to ride with her to her niece's to pick something up, and on the way, she came up with the idea to take me on a personal tour of Sevilla. She drove around to the different sections and showed me "points of interest," telling me about them. She took me to places I haven't been to before and that I probably would never have seen had it not been for her. I've said this before, but all of Spain is gorgeous at night. I know I looked like a kid in a candy store! After, instead of going home and cooking, my house-mom suggested that we stop at a restaurant and share some tapas. It was so nice-- the Betis (a Sevillian team) fútbol game was playing in the background, the food she picked was awesome (obviously, I wasn't going to order! I had no idea...), and the conversation was light. I totally lucked out when it comes to host families. Other students have said that they are happy with their families, but it's easy to tell that ours is different. Our house-mom is constantly telling my roommate and me that it is our house just as much as hers. We don't speak Spanish that well, and I know that it has to be frustrating for them to talk to us at times, but they always insist that it isn't a problem. They go out of their way to include us in all conversations, even when the topic of discussion doesn't pertain to us. I don't know how we got so lucky... I don't have many pictures yet, but I promise to post more as soon as I can! ¡Hasta luego!