¡La penúltima! - 16

Welcome to the penultimate update blog post on my semester in Barcelona! (FYI: "Penultimate" means next-to-last and happens to be one of my dad's all-time favorite words.) While it's a bit sad to be so close to the end, it's also okay because going back to the US means (a) being home and (b) that CHRISTMAS is upon us. And (c) the end of blog posts will be a welcome relief to those who got bored with my updates around Week 2 - take heart, we're nearing the finish!

Ok, first order of business - just got back from Barca's 5-0 pummeling of Real Sociedad.. It was so great. The only other Barca game I've attended in person at Camp Nou was a disappointing 2-0 loss to Hércules (their only loss in 15 Liga games this year!), so I was ready to see some goals and a win. My boys played with style and finesse and definitely impressed with goals by Messi (2), Villa, Bojan & Iniesta. Highlights here. Note: If you're ever going to watch the highlights of a fútbol game in your life, watch them for this game. All five goals are just wonderful. (I love when the announcer in the highlights says, after the first goal: "It's taken to a level that Einstein would shake his head at! This is astonishing, heavenly football!!.. There aren't compliments enough in the world to throw at their feet!" Granted, he's a bit extravagant with his words, but - guys - this Barca outfit is possibly one of the best teams ever assembled.) Right now Barca is SO easy to watch; the team, as a unit, is such a well-oiled machine and they play soccer beautifully, as it should be played. Sorry if I sound sappy, but it's true. I feel so lucky to be in Barcelona when they're in this kind of form.


The whole crowd chanting "ME-SSI! ME-SSI! ME-SSI" after his 2nd scintillating goal of the night.

Andalucía - Part 2: As promised, here's what went down in Córdoba & Granada last week -

So Córdoba was small but really cool. The highlight of the city - and the reason we went - is the Mezquita-Catedral that dominates the old district. The place was formerly the Great Mosque of Córdoba, considered one of the biggest achievements of the Umayyad Caliphate (that's the 5th-largest empire in history, folks). When the Catholic Spanish took over the mosque during the Reconquista, the mosque became a Catholic Church.. Actually, if the story is told properly, over an even longer time scope, the site was pagan-Christian-Muslim-Christian!

Now that I've summarized the fist paragraph of the "Cathedral-Mosque of Córdoba" Wikipedia page, I'll talk about my own, original impressions ;). Walking around inside the Mezquita was kind of wild - inside, it's this huge, kind of dark, and very ornate behemoth. There are "candy-cane" arches EVERYWHERE and loads and loads of little chapels that line the sides of the big open areas in the center. There's also an impressive, but gaudy, cathedral in the center of the Mezquita, where I had a nice little pray, and various interesting pieces of art and decorative items throughout. Here's what the arches looked like:



After checking out the mosque, my buddy and I walked around town and ended up at the Córdoba Zoo, which was free for Spanish Constitution Day. Overall, the zoo was pretty sad because it had really small enclosures for most of the animals, but I was really happy that I got to touch an elephant's trunk! Ahhh it was so cool. Basically the gap between the elephant's enclosure and the sidewalk wasn't that big, so the elephant would reach out its trunk to investigate the ground near where the visitors are. Being a naturalist (i.e. lover of nature, not a streaker) at heart, I had to reach my hand wayy out when it was investigating with its trunk, and I guess it took a liking to me, because it reached its trunk waayyy out towards me and our respective members touched in the middle - so so cool. Sorry to leave you hanging, but I don't have the pic of the pachyderm "moment" yet - I'll put it up when I get it from my friend! Oh, and the weather was absurd: within 8 hrs in Córdoba, we hit the gamut - sunny, rainy, partly cloudy, torrential downpour, drizzling.. insane.

Granada: Really really cool city. I loved it. Awesome.

Reason #1 - The Alhambra. The Alhambra is this amazing, 14th-century Moorish palacial complex complete with extensive gardens, towers, fountains, and gorgeous Islamic art. I actually went to see it twice during my stay, and just loved it. As many of you know, Islamic art almost always uses geometric shapes and figures rather than images of people or animals. It's almost like a class assignment: "See what you can come up with when you're limited to just geometric shapes" and the results are just stunning. I also really liked how the Alhambra makes use of light.. An example below:




Examples of some cool geometric patterns in the Alhambra

Reason #2 - Granada does this sweet thing where, in practically every bar you go to, if you order a drink you get a free tapa (the term can refer to any kind of appetizer-sized food item). So, for as little as 5 euros, you can get three drinks and three appetizers, which is more or less a sizable meal! So cool. And there's often a huge menu of tapas to pick from, so it's always interesting to try different things. Even as a vegetarian, I found plenty to choose from.


Two tapas.

Reason #3 - In general, Granada is just really walkable and fun to mosey around. The sun cooperated (unlike in Sevilla) and shone pretty much the whole time we were there, making sightseeing a blast. There are some great teterías, or tea houses, in the city, which was ace for me. And zillions of little shops that sold all kinds of interesting items.

And that's about it. The Andalucía trip was the last of my travels before going home, so basically now it's just work work work until school papers and finals are done.. One week + 2 days and I'll be homeward bound!

Andando por Andalucía (Parte 1) - 15

Howdy from the south of Spain! I’m in the middle of that endearing thing that Spainiards do called a puente – a bridge between two holidays (fiestas) that they decide to go ahead and make an even longer holiday. In this case, Monday was Día de la Constitución, Tuesday (today) was the puente, and Wednesday is the Día de la Inmaculada Concepción. So far, I’ve been in Sevilla and Córdoba, and just got into Granada last tonight. Here’s how things have been so far.

Getting to Sevilla: Bear with me, but this is a whole story in itself. For the first time in my life, I went to the airport and left it without having flown anywhere. It turns out that I didn’t actually have a ticket for my Ryanair flight – a major bummer to say the least. I think what happened is that, back in October, I tried to buy my plane ticket and got a page that looked like a confirmation notification (it even said “Payment Due – 0.00 EUR”) that wasn’t a confirmation…! Of course, it’s totally my fault for not checking my flight details more carefully, but the point is that 9am Friday morning rolled around and I was without a flight in a crowded airport full of Spaniards trying to get around the country for puente. I won’t bore you with the details, but after lots of effort I finally ascertained that neither another flight (180 EUR) nor a train (250 EUR) were feasible, so luckily I found a 15-hr bus ride that charged much more reasonable fare..

Of course – having located the bus ticket – I wasn’t able to buy it by phone (you can only buy a ticket over the phone 2 days in advance), so the guy kindly directed me to their great website (that they seem very proud of).. which was having problems for the day and wouldn’t let me buy the ticket. By the time I realized that I needed to bite the bullet and go to the bus station in person, the first bus was full, so I settled for one that left five hours later. All things considered, it worked out well, and I was able do some reading on the way, but by the end of the experience I was quite frustrated with the Spanish way of doing things. As you might be aware from some of my posts, things (and by “things,” I mean government, education, transit, food, EVERYTHING) just don’t work nearly as efficiently or smoothly here as they do in the US. The note I wrote to myself after my travel experience: “NOTHING WORKS IN SPAIN YET THEY ACT LIKE THINGS DO. EMAIL, PLANES, TRAINS, PHONES, WEBSITES - THE WHOLE COUNTRY. CALL ME A SPOILED AMERICAN BUT THE WAY THINGS ARE HERE IS A COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY.”

I will stop complaining now. So Sevilla itself! It’s a really cool town, very mellow and peaceful. It’s much much smaller than Barcelona; you can go almost anywhere in Sevilla within 30 min. walking, whereas in Barca the Metro is a key part of getting around. There are also ORANGE TREES everywhere in Sevilla, which is beyond cool. And the oranges are currently in season. Of course, against my friends’ admonitions, I had to eat a couple of the fruits – very sour but edible. My buddy and I also made some fresh orange juice out of some oranges we picked, which was delicious with a bit (actually a lot) of sugar added to it. We also saw a cool little flamenco show at a bar one night. I’m sure I don’t know enough to appreciate all the intricacies of this typically Spanish dance & musical art form, but nevertheless I was fascinated by the various components that make up flamenco. There were 2 clappers, a guitar player, and a woman dancing. Basically the guitar player strums a light series of chords in a certain rhythym, the clappers add complementary emphases or syncopations, and the dancing is sort of the artistic focal point that the musical background supports. It’s a really cool tradition, and the beat often crescendoes to a frenzy that eventually culminates in a final flair by the dancer that always seems to correspond perfectly to the stopping of the music. Impressive and interesting.

A definite highlight of my time in Sevilla was church on Sunday. Of course, Catholic churches in Spain far outnumber their evangelical counterparts, so it was a bit difficult to find a good place; but, with the help of the clerk at my hostel, I found the location of a church called the Iglesia Cristiana Evangelica that sounded like it was worth a shot. When I arrived at the spot for the 11 am service, drenched and cold from the morning downpour, it was so nice to be ushered into a warm, welcoming, and authentically Andalucian Christian community. The first lady I talked to asked if it was my first time at the church, and when I said that it was, she pleasantly and sincerely said “¡Hallelujah!”, gave me a program, and planted the traditional two kisses on my cheeks. After this auspicious start, I felt right at home! The feeling continued as the praise band led us in a number of Spanish worship songs, punctuated by prayers. A couple of the songs I recognized as Spanish translations of songs I know well in English, and in general the format was very similar to my churches both in Princeton and Barcelona. And then the sermon was great! The pastor was charismatic and engaging; he often interacted with specific members of the congregation and sprinkled his talk with jokes.

I think my favorite part of his talk went something like this: “Si no tienes suficiente comunión con Dios, haz tres cosas: Uno – Ora! Dos – Ora! Tres – Ora!!! Una iglesia que ora puede cambiar el mundo.” The translation is: “If you don’t have enough communion with God, do three things: One – Pray! Two – Pray! Three – Pray!!! A church that prays can change the world.” Simple but powerful words.

It was also neat to meet another American study abroad student in the sea of Spaniards.. The girl I met goes to Brown and actually knew some of my Brown friends who I was in Sevilla with, so she played tour guide for us for an hour or two as we checked out the Alcazar and the city a bit. The Alcazar is a palace with tons of Arabic influence and beautiul gardens, as well as a sweet hedge maze! After we split ways, our group hit up the Catedral de Sevilla, which was huge and ornate. I got to see Christopher Columbus’ tomb, which was especially interesting since I’ve been reading his memoirs about traveling to the Americas for my Literatura Hispanoamericana class. It’s funny because there are so many ridiculously wrought churches and cathedrals in Spain that you almost get numb to their amazing architecture and start taking them for granted. I’m trying to avoid that as much as possible, because I know there will come a point when I’m like “Oh yea, that was incredible” and wish I could see it again.

The only real downside to our stay in Sevilla was that it rained – a lot. But, still a great trip so far and looking forward to the remaining travel in Andalucia the next couple of days. Will relate my stays in Córdoba and Granada next week! And I'll upload some photos then too.

Setas y Fútbol - 14

Watsup yall, hope everyone had a sedentary and supremely satisfying Thanksgiving, wherever you happened to celebrate it! For me, it was a different but also good experience to eat Thanksgiving dinner away from home for the first time in my life.. I figured since I wasn’t with my fam, I had to compensate by eating two dinners – one with my church home group and the other with the American students in my program! Everyone pitched in to make both meals a success, and we (the Americans) gave some of our international friends their first taste (haha) of a Thanksgiving celebration.

(If you’re not a soccer fan, feel free to skip the next paragraph!)

Ok before I go any further I have to say that I’m still in somewhat of a euphoric state after Barca’s 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid last night.. (A Spanish newspaper said: Los goles caen en el Camp Nou como las hojas en otoño... or "The goals fall in Camp Nou (the Barca Stadium) like leaves in autumn...") For those who watched the game, you can appreciate just how bad of a drubbing the blaugrana gave los blancos – as Mr. Kitchens famously said back in AP European History, “it was a beautiful thing.” Tic i taca – a nickname for Barca’s trademark possession-heavy attacking style – was in top form, and there were times when I wanted to cry over the elegant efficiency of FCB’s passing triangles, one-touches, and gorgeous through balls (esp. Messi’s assist on Villa’s 2nd goal – incredible). Xavi's first goal was also unreal.. Extended highlights here. It really showed the difference between a tight team with great chemistry that's played together for years and a store-bought team that has little experience gelling. Barca hasn’t lost in the last five Clásicos, and it’s particularly noteworthy that they kept up their recent dominance in a game that many (if not most) favored Madrid in… It was José Mourinho’s first loss ever (he'd been unbeaten in 19 games!) as the Madrid coach, and payback for his former days as Inter's coach, when he knocked Barca out of the semis last year en route to the Champions League title. Ok, sorry to all the non-soccer fans, I’ll stop talking about the game now!


A short video of the post-game celebration going on at Las Ramblas, the heart of Barcelona..

(Resume reading from here on..)

We’ve hit up the fútbol part of the title, but – you may be wondering – what on earth are setas?? Well, they're actually literally ON the earth. I’ll give you some hints.. they're part of a family of organisms that: can be several tons in size, are important in gastronomy because we eat their reproductive organs, can eat/process dead things and by so doing help keep us alive, can kill you, and are found everywhere from forests to the dark recesses of the inner skin folds on your toe.. Give up? I’m talking, of course, about fungi. But more specifically, setas refers to mushrooms, or the reproductive parts of many fungi. This past weekend, my program went on a trip to Berga, a small city tucked in the foothills of the Pyrenees, right in the heart of prime mushroom-picking country.

Mushroom picking may sound weird to you, but it isn’t to Catalans.. Almost 2.5 million – or around 30% - of the roughly 7 million people in Catalunya go mushroom picking. Apparently it’s not only a neat way to pick your own food, but it’s also a widespread hobby because mushrooms are, for many people, a key way to connect with nature. From what I gather, mushrooms basically provide Catalans with an excuse to go wandering around hills, hiking trails, and streams that are pleasant in their own right.

Anyway, now that you have some background, our experience: I think it was the first time that most of us had gone shroom-hunting.. and it was actually kind of fun. We had a cool guide who taught us a lot.. About how mushrooms were originally used for their hallucinogenic properties and only later eaten, how only ~5 species of mushrooms are deadly, how many mushrooms release tiny seeds that disperse via air to make baby mushrooms (often asexually) all over the place.. and he even convinced me to rub a dusty, puke-colored fungal specimen on a cut I had on my knee. I don’t know how much it helped me heal, but at least I haven’t lost my leg yet! After seeing the mushrooms, we also got to visit a super-cool donkey farm/reserve for the endangered Catalan donkey. It was a really interesting, off-the-beaten path kind of excursion. Just being in the fresh (though smelly) country air was a great change from city life. And the farm had the cutest cats and dogs - the cat below, in particular, was adorable.




Catalan Donkeys!

The weekly collection of other odds & ends:

(1) I saw the new Harry Potter movie a few days ago, and really liked it – the scenery changes were cool, the plot moved along at a great pace, and Dobby the house-elf is boss. However, for the first time in my life, the movie projector stopped working in the middle of the show – twice! Only in Spain… (and no free snacks or movie tickets to compensate either!).

(2) In an attempt to celebrate the American tradition of a Thanksgiving Day pick-up football game (American version), I went to the huge Walmart-esque supermarket near where I lived to try to buy a cheap ball. When I asked where I could find a pelota para fútbol americano, the lady laughed at me and said that the enormous, two-level store didn’t sell them…

(3) Aaand finally, many Spaniards, including my Biostats professor, ask me why I'm not cold when they see me in shorts & a t-shirt in November (in my defense, it's almost always above 40 F).. Today the prof. asked me if I was the only one in the whole campus to be wearing pantalones cortos, and I told him that I thought I was the only one in the whole city to be so aptly dressed.

That's all for now; thanks for tuning in – only three weeks left..waaaa!

Madrileño por 24 horas - 12

Well howdy and welcome to week 12! This past weekend was a bit of a whirlwind; as you may be able to deduce from the title, I went to Madrid for a 24 hour tour before dressing up to join the posh sector of Barcelona society for a Tchaikovsky concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana. Here's how it all went down:

Madrid - Along with my good buddy Alexis, I left Barcelona by bus at 11:00 pm Friday night.. We got to Madrid a little after 6am the following morning, and set about exploring the city. To tell the truth, there wasn't a whole lot to see in the cold, pre-dawn streets but soon things started to pick up, and after a delicious hot chocolate/churros/tortilla española breakfast we headed to the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid's famous art museum and one of the most treasured collections of European art in the world. It was really cool because, in my early years of Spanish classes, we would always have these, like, Cultura de España sections that would often feature pictures of paintings by the Spanish greats. At the Prado I got to see the real deal versions of works I remember from so many years ago: Las Meninas (Velázquez), San Andrés y San Francisco (El Greco), Colossus (Goya), and an entire Rubens - a Flemish painter but still legit - collection were all on tap. As Alexis noted, many of the paintings take some background knowledge (which we lacked) to understand well, but it was nevertheless amazing to see these masterpieces up close.

After bouncing around great art for awhile, we checked out another of Madrid's famous attractions, El Parque del Buen Retiro (literally: Good Retreat Park). This gorgeous, huge, aptly named haven recalled memories of my first visit there in 2006, when my brother was studying abroad in Spain. The park boasts wide pathways, gads of flora, an impressive monument to King Alfonso XII rising over a calm pond, a beautiful Palacio de Cristal, and - enjoying it all - scores of runners, hundreds of happy dogs, and thousands of ambling visitors. Here's a pic w/ the pondside monument in the background:



Probably the coolest part of the Madrid trip was attending an Atlético Madrid (not to be confused w/ Madrid soccer giant Real Madrid.. no one likes them) soccer game in their home stadium, the Calderón.. We managed to get reasonably-priced tickets just 6 rows back from the pitch, affording us an incredible view of the first-half Atlético offensive action, which was in great display! Some background: Atlético's biggest star is Diego Forlán, a flashy Uruguayan striker who, you may remember, won the golden ball this past summer as the Most Outstanding player of the World Cup. Coming into this game, he hadn't scored for Atlético in 12 games.. Not trying to brag, but before the game I called that Forlán would score two goals in a breakout performance to get him back on track, and Diego didn't disappoint, notching 2 goals and an assist. The two first-half goals - the second of which was stunning, set up by a gorgeous chip from Forlán to Kun Agüero - were followed by a ridiculous curling shot by Forlán in the 70th. Almost better than the soccer was the atmosphere inside the stadium - it was nuts! There was one section that literally cheered the entire time (I'm convinced they get free tickets or something for doing that every game), and the whole place exploded after every good play and goal.. When Forlán scored, everyone chanted: "Ur-u-guay-o! Ur-u-guay-o!". Even though it wasn't Barca playing, just being in such a soccer-crazy environment was great. Really cool experience. Oh, and Atlético ended up winning, 3-0. Highlights here if you're interested (you can hear the fans' craziness in the video.. really it's worth watching).



After the game, my friend and I enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal prepared by a friend's host señora. Then we saw the Madrid night life, and I caught a 7 am bus back to Barca to wrap up the day in Madrid.. My overall impressions? I liked Madrid, but I'm really glad I chose to study abroad in Barca. Madrid is spacious, sort of peaceful, beautiful, and a bit serious, but it doesn't have the energy and vivacity that Barcelona does. Of course, I'm biased, but that's my takeaway.


Lunch at the oldest restaurant in the world - el Botín!

Other random news items: In my 1st session w/ my 2nd intercambio (to practice spanish remember), my new friend took me to a swanky private club in the heart of Barcelona.. It had a sweet library, a goldfish pond, and a nice little outside terrace - all within the heart of the city! Also, I was able to see a Tchaikovsky concert - Piano Concerto No. 1, Swan Lake & 1812 Overture performed by the Russian Symphony Orchestra - at the Palau de la Música Catalana (I talked about the Palau in my 9th update) yesterday, which was a really cool experience. Seeing the music hall in the day, on an hour-long tour, was one thing but hearing some of the best classical music in the world, played by a premier orchestra, was another thing altogether. The flying horses, elegant roses, peaceful muses, and Catalan flags that adorn the place seemed to revel in the live music.. The crowd was quite enthusiastic too; because people wouldn't stop clapping at the end, the conductor was forced to have his musicians play 3 encores! All in all, the concert was pricey but I'm glad I went.

And finally, many of you know that my brother also has a blog, called "The 52 Week Project." This week he wrote a sad but, I think, very important piece about World War II and the near-inconceivable loss of lives it engendered, particularly in China. If you haven't had enough of Kurz blogs, check it out: http://www.the52weekproject.com/ There's a strong possibility that you will find Steve's posts more interesting than mine ;)

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.

La Rioja: Tierra del Vino - 6

This week, we're going to relax a bit from the craziness of La Mercè and instead slide into the smooth world of wine. As many of you know, I was very lucky to celebrate my 20th birthday in style, in La Rioja - aka Spanish wine country. La Rioja is the smallest of Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions, but is widely recognized for producing the best wines the country has to offer. Rioja wine is known for its sweet, fruity flavor paired with a gritty, earthy nature. My study abroad program put together a really nice weekend in the region that allowed us to see several bodegas, or wineries, and we got to get in a solid bit of wine tasting as well.

I really hope I don’t mess this up too badly, but here’s my understanding of the wine-making process in La Rioja: The grapes are picked, and the bad ones are sorted out. Then, the pulp is separated from the skin and the skins (piels) are pressed in a circular wooden contraption while the pulp juice ferments in great big metal vats for 13-14 days. Then the pulp juice goes through the second round of fermentation, which takes 20-30 days, after which the pulp juice and the peel juice are recombined in different ways to produce several distinct wines. Finally, the wine is aged. Typically, Rioja wines fall into four categories: Rioja (aged for 1 yr or less); Crianza (1-2 yrs); Rioja Reserva (3 yrs); and Rioja Gran Reserva (5 yrs).

Here's a pic of us trying some vino tinto (red wine) and vino blanco (white wine):

One of the vineyards we visited, Bodegas Marqués de Riscal, had a special wine cellar nick-named El Catedral, which holds their most precious collection of wines dating all the way back to 1862. Every year, they save 300-500 botellas of wine from their production to save it for posterity.. presumably so that at a really important event they can whip out that 100-odd year bottle that is – quite literally – priceless (i.e. not for sale). Word has it that they had to bring out one of the old bottles to convince a certain architect to design their hotel for them.. Before I tell you who the architect was, see if you can figure it out from the building:

(Top: Hotel @ Bodega; Bottom: Lewis Library @ Princeton)

If you guessed Frank Gehry you’d be right. It was really neat to see this building of his - a hotel on the property of the bodega - thousands of miles from the familiar Lewis Library where I often tutor and study. As you can see, he’s still got the crazy new-age look going on in this creation, but there's also a symbolic significance to the color scheme. Apparently the building evokes a bottle of wine, with the purple metal sheets representing the red wine, the gold signifying the label, and the silver acting as the cap of the bottle.

When we weren’t exploring the bodegas, we got to check out Logroño, the capital of La Rioja. This sweet little town was SO different than Barcelona – very laid back and chill.. Logroño reps quaint (and plentiful!) bars and awesome tapas too.. I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and the break from all the people in Barca, but I think it’s the kind of place that could get old after a while. Oh and I bought a cheap soccer ball on my bday which we played some pick-up with, and then everybody in my program signed it.. Pretty sweet memento! And, I even made a couple new friends in Logroño:

Unfortunately, I just found out today from my buddy Trent that his namesake town, Fuenmayor, is a scant 10 miles from Logroño. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to make the pilgrimage while I was in Logroño, but hopefully next time I will do.

Amsterdam this coming weekend – hah any suggestions that don’t have to do with space cakes and the red light district?

La Mercè: Festa major de Barcelona - 5

I can't get over the fact that it's now been over a month since my arrival in Barcelona.. And that I only have 3 months left here! Aaaaah

This blog is dedicated to the amazing weekend that just wrapped up a few hours ago. As you may be able to tell from the title, La Mercè is the biggest festival all year in Barcelona, and man is it fun! It started as a feast day in 1871 to celebrate Our Lady of Mercy, La Mare de Déu de la Mercè, and has only grown in popularity since. The city buzzes with activity all weekend, and the montage of music, pyrotechnics, fire-wielding demons (actually), and human legos is enough to bewilder even the most unflappable extranjero. Here were some highlights:

Dancing Giants - The weekend kicked off with the graceful promenades of 20-foot tall giants.. Three pairs of gigante royalty, as well as an assortment of creatures (monster, dragon, horse, lion..) took the dance floor at the center of Placa de Sant Jaume in front of a delighted throng hundreds strong. It's a quaint tradition, and I have to give the giants credit for having far more aptitude at dancing than I. Here's a pic my friend took of the prince and his princess on their way to cutting loose Footloose style:



Castells - Catalonians are famous for the art of stacking themselves 8 or 9 layers high on top of one another in amazing displays of strength, stamina, and teamwork called castells. I was impressed with the variety of techniques (such as 4 x 8, 1 x 3 or 2 x 7) that the castell teams used to construct these physics-defying structures. Each design is a bit different, but in general 20 or 30 people form a strong base, on top of which tiers of 2-4 people link arms and legs. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the process comes when the enxaneta, a nimble young child less than 70 lbs in weight, quickly scales the mountain of flesh - unabashedly grabbing hold of his companions' shins, shirts & shoulders - and races to the top, where he or she proudly waves a hand to indicate the successful completion of the pyramid. Over the course of an hour or so, we saw several teams form 12 or 15 castells, with only one failed attempt. The high success rate is not due to the ease of the practice, but rather the skill and commitment of the teams. Here's a pic to give you some idea of what I'm talking about:



Diablos y Fuego - Ok, this was my favorite part of the weekend. I'm not sure how the Correfoc actually gets its name, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came from the word Corre (Spanish for RUN) + a common English profanity.. Basically, it's like the running of the bulls except that instead of bulls chasing you, you get horned pitchfork-wielding dudes with fire. In all seriousness, it's only as dangerous as you want it to be, but still Cataluña is crazy. Here's what goes down: men and women dress like demons, wait for nightfall, and then fire menacing shots into the air as they assemble their forces of hell. Then, the gate opens (not kidding) and hundreds of the diablos rush out with very bright, very hot sparklers shoved on the end of an what appears to be an iron torture device. The sparklers throw specks of fire in every direction, and it's up to you to stay on the side of the street or go and dance with the demons. Of course, I had to dance! Even though you inevitably get burned if you elect to rumba with the rabble-rousers, the worst part is the noise the firecrackers make. Every time they burn out (which is pretty frequently), they emit a bang reminiscent of a banished Boggart. The bangs are disturbing enough when you're 30 yards away, but when they go off right by your ear they are downright deafening. Despite all the pitfalls, I immensely enjoyed the event and now have a burn mark-speckled t-shirt as a souvenir. In case you're wondering why hundreds of otherwise-normal civilians enjoy terrorizing the populace, the key is early inculcation: there is a "kiddy parade" two hours before the real deal in which 5 and 6 year olds run around with the same hot, dangerous sparklers and learn how to be a part of the Barcelonian occult. Crazy!



Concerts - Alright I'm running out of steam a bit here, but I'll try to make it to the end of the blog. The concerts were really great, and they took place all over the city. Among the bands I saw: The Morning Benders, OK Go, Belle and Sebastian, a cool samba/salsa gig, and a ridiculous politically-ramped up Senegalian rap group. Lots of gente (that's people) but fun stuff.

Fireworks - This deserves a bit of attention because it was really cool. There were fireworks all weekend, but by far the biggest & best show was Sunday night; it served as a wonderful nightcap on the weekend. At the base of Montjuic (a famous mini-mountain in Barca), the festival put on an incredible, synchronized pyrotechnics exhibition complemented by a musical montage and water fountain show. The music really added a lot to the already phenomenal fireworks, and at least 75% of the songs were American classics - think "We Will Rock You," "Imagine," "Birdland," & "I'm Yours" (ok, not a classic but you get my point)... Probably overall the best fireworks show I've ever seen. A big chunk of the city (thousands and thousands) showed up on the wide promenade leading from Placa Espanya to the mountain, and everyone just soaked in the sights & sounds.

Thanks for sticking with me through what I'd guess is a mutually exhausting blog post. ¡Adéu!

¡Qué Locura! - 3

Thanks for checking out my third Barca update.. Much of this week's post is a tribute to the locura, or madness, that is inherent to the Spanish way of life. Anyone who has spent time in the country will know what I'm talking about - the incomprehensible logistics, rampant inefficiencies, 10-minutes-late-is-on-time unwritten rule, and no pasa nada attitude are alternately endearing and infuriating.

A good example:

Spanish way to obtain FC Barcelona soccer tickets - Buy tickets online. Receive friendly confirmation e-mail giving 20 pick-up locations specially designed for the sake of conveniencia. 20 supermarkets and businesses are scattered around the city, and confirmation gives specific instructions to NOT go to stadium to pick up tickets. Go to local supermercado - closest of 20 sites - 15 minutes away. Find that it is Catalan Independence Day and entire mall is closed. Mental note: on festival days, expectation is to sit at home and celebrate with beer, paella, and flag-waving. Hop into cab to go to any other of 19 spots to pick up tickets. Friendly taxi driver tells you they are all closed as well. Decry locura of country and wonder how 100,000 other fans will get their tickets. Ask taxidriver to instead drive to Camp Nou stadium on other side of city. Arrive to find that confirmation e-mail was wrong and tickets CAN be picked up at stadium. Relief, albeit at the cost of significant toll of stress and sweat.

U.S. way to obtain… Well, I was going to say you just print the tickets from the website, but it's irrelevant because we don't have F.C. Barca in our country. I guess beggars can't be choosers.

ANYWAY, we finally got our tickets and enjoyed amazing seats 20 yards from the pitch for only 50 €. The stadium and atmosphere were incredible, and the energy of the fans was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Camp Nou is the second biggest soccer stadium in the world (only Brazil's legendary Maracaná is bigger) and it's wild to be a part of the soccer craziness.. Basically everything was amazing except for the game itself. Barca - unbelievably - lost to Hercules, a 33-1 underdog coming into the game! Barca dominated possession and created some good chances, but overall the team wasn't clicking like it normally does, and Hercules played their game plan to perfection.. Their packed-in defense and opportunistic forays forward propelled them to the 2-0 result. Even so, I loved the experience and can't wait to be back and see Barca at their best. Check out pic:

Course selection is a bit of a nightmare right now.. I'm trying to navigate Catalan schedules from 3 universities to fit in a few Princeton requirements while here. The locura I mentioned before definitely applies to the universities as well! The expectation is that you go and talk to the professors to work out any problems you have, but basic information (like professor names, e-mails, classroom assignments, course times & dates) are nowhere near as easily available as in the U.S. You practically have to drag the information out of the system, and that's with all the help and guidance we're getting from our CASB program directors! Keeping my fingers crossed that some courses will fall into place this coming week..

Finally, I got to see Parque Güell today.. The park is a mind-boggling architectural and artistic display by Barcelona's famous Antoni Gaudí. Among other features, Guell is famous for its dragon and lizard sculptures, the long serpentine bench that wraps around the park, and its hidden motifs that allude to Catalan nationalism. The park also has INCREDIBLE vistas of Barcelona that make you realize how enormous the city really is. Sitting in the shade near one of Gaudí's striking architectural achievements, listening to mellow music played by the nearby performer, digesting a meal.. was a major highlight of the day. Also saw Gaudí's La Pedrera this past week.. The rooftop in particular is ridiculously nice! The chimneys on top of the building inspired George Lucas in his creation of Darth Vader's mask and the Death Star's guards in Star Wars.. Wild!

That's it for now - stay tuned and stay classy.

El Comienzo - 1

Hey everybody! Welcome to the first of my update blogs about my time in Barcelona.. If you got a facebook message or an e-mail with a link to this page, it's either because you asked to be on the list or I volunteered you for it. If you're NOT on the list and want to be, please let me know, and if you ARE on the list and don't want to be, same deal. Don't feel awkward if you want to un-subscribe; I totes understand and won't be offended. My goal is to write a new update every week or so..

Alright, let's get cracking! I've been here in Barca since last Thursday and I'm loving it so far. The city is really beautiful - it's known for its plentiful plazas, varied barrios (or neighborhoods), abundant motos (mopeds), energetic night life, world-class fútbol, gorgeous architecture, vigorous pride, and local language (catalán). In case you're wondering about the latter two items, Barcelona is the center of a region of Spain called Cataluña, a semi-autonomous region that has a long history of regionalistic pride. More on this later.

My study abroad group is run by an organization called the Consortium for Advanced Studies in Barcelona (CASB). There are seven CASB-affiliated schools: Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton, Stanford, and UChicago (although we also have 2 NYU students and 1 Amherst kid). There are roughly 55 students in the group, and I'm the sole representative from Princeton (talk about pressure!). Hah anyway, all of us are living in a recently-built residencia where we each have our own singles. It's a really nice, safe, and clean facility that mostly houses international students but has spaces for tourists as well.. The housing is centrally located, with convenient access to a lot of the big attractions around Barcelona, such as La Sagrada Familia, La Rambla, La Placa Catalunya, etc.

I've only been here for a few days, but I'm already loving it! There is a ton to see and do in the city, and right now we're just beginning our orientation that is acquainting us with both the city and the Universities where we'll soon be taking classes. The Spanish lifestyle is pretty different than that of America, in a few interesting ways:

First, Spaniards are definitely more laid-back than people in the U.S. The whole day's schedule is pushed back - "morning" lasts at least until 1 pm, the afternoon (including the famous siesta) can reasonably extend until 8 or 9, dinner is frequently at 10 or later, and going out can wrap up at 8 am. I went to a club called Razzmatazz (a discoteca) with some CASB kids the other night, and it was like TI State Night on steroids - Barcelona likes to party!

Also, it's almost expected that things will run later than they are scheduled, and a frequent response to almost any problem is no te preocupes, or "don't worry." For instance, when the director of our program was telling us about the policies of the Universities where we'll be studying, he told us that basically any hairy situation can be quickly remedied by going to the appropriate authority and giving an explanation of what went wrong - class change past the deadline? no te preocupes; no clue how to understand your professor? no te preocupes; need to move your final exam up a month? no te preocupes; cockroach in your vegetarian sandwich? nah, just kidding on that one.. definitely me preocuparía on that one.

Second, Spain (and particularly Barcelona) is crawling with pickpockets. Everybody I've talked to about security in the city has warned me not about violence or drug dealing, but about pickpocketing. The thieves here are good, and they're pro at what they do. Tourists, of course, are favorite targets, which is why it's never a good idea to carry your original passport, or put your bag under you chair when eating (even indoors - you'd be surprised!), or carry your cartera in your back pocket. So far so good, but I'm definitely going to be on guard!

Third, the soccer is much better. FC Barcelona is one of the best teams in the world, and I'm planning to go to a few games while I'm here. Soccer is so big that they sell FC Barca game tickets at the ATMs! The big rivalry is with Real Madrid, so it'll be interesting to see who wins La Liga this year. So far, Barca is 1-0-0, and Madrid is 0-0-1. HAH.

Fourth, it's totally normal for students to go to college for 5,6, heck 10 years! I talked to a woman today who is 27 and still in college. Unlike Americans, Spaniards don't get bent out of shape about failing a class; after all, they'll just take it 2, 3, or 4 more times and eventually pass! They're thrilled with a C (suficiente), and As are so rare that if you earn straight As, your next semester is free! Unfortunately for me, I have to pass all my classes to get credit, so I'm going to try not to fall into the Spanish mindset..

I could list more differences but this blog is getting mo' long so I'll try to wrap up. Let me finish with something I promised I'd write about - Cataluñian pride.. There is a long history to why Barcelona and Cataluña have so much fervor for their region. Basically, Cataluña is very old, and used to be (even more than now, relatively speaking) a major economic, political and social force in Europe. It still is, but its growth has been limited by natural montane, riverine, and marine barriers, while Madrid - the Spanish capital - has only continued to grow. Add a couple wars, some revolutions, and the current part-of-Spain-but-still-largely-self-ruling status, and you get a ton of regionalism. Competition is still very strong between Barca and Madrid, and often manifests itself not only in soccer, but also in elections and political battles. When my group was going on a tour of the city, I asked our guide if it was true (after qualifying my question) that Barcelona has an inferiority complex. She gave me a very detailed explanation in which she carefully explained how Barcelonians do not suffer from feelings of inferiority; rather, they have a SUPERIORITY complex about how great they are..

Draw your own conclusions, but for me - ¡Visca el Barca, y visca Catalunya!