Montañas, Música y Mamá - 9

Watsup everybody.. Another week of odds & ends has left me to write about myriad musings; meanwhile, may my musings aMeliorate midterm messyness.

Montañas: This past week I got to see Montserrat, an awesome monastery way up a mountain. The place is known for its nuns, its cathedral, its views, and its hiking. All impressed (except for the nuns, whom I didn't get to chill with). The highlight for me was probably the views.. We literally saw a whole ocean of clouds beneath us, with a gorgeous ring of mountains on all sides framing it. The hike we did was short but still really nice, and again presented us with some unreal vistas. In the cathedral, we got to catch a performance by the boy's choir - beautiful voices. Here's a pic of Montserrat:



Palau de la Música Catalana: Basically an incredibly wrought and achingly beautiful monument to music. The actual auditorium in particular was incredible: it repped spear-wielding women on wild horses, muses playing a host of instruments, a gorgeous 3,000 piece stained-glass tear drop/bowl/chandelier, and so much more. Visit if you ever get the chance. Alas, we couldn't take pictures inside the Palau.. But here's one I sniped from google images:



Bioestadística ridiculousness: I just found out today, more than a month into the class, that there are weekly problem sessions led by the teacher. No wonder I had no idea what I was doing..

Intercambio: This is where one person's language skillz help another person and vice versa. For example, if I were to talk to Legolas, he would teach me Elvish and I would teach him to not be a pretty boy. In this case, however, I was doing a more boring English-Spanish intercambio. I learned that Spanish guys, on average, stay at home until the age of 35-37.. For the females, it's 29. Kinda crazy when you think about the US norms, but my intercambiadora told me that it's because most jóvenes don't have the dinero to afford moving out. And the economy is really bad here. Also, I've learned that Catalan people are very nice, you just have to make the first move. Kind of like a male bird of paradise (upon seeing how receptive his wife is to his jiggle).

Oh, and the Mamá part.. She made sure my 'belly number' - i.e. how hungry I am - never dropped below a respectable 3.