Tarragona and Mallorcan Festival (?)

I realized most of the subject matter I've been discussing has dealt more with my observations rather than chronicling what I've been up to, so I figured I'd give this a try...

This past saturday we had a group trip to Tarragona, a small town about 90 minutes or so outside of Barcelona, which was once the capital of the ancient Roman province of Hispania.

We began the day around 10:00, when we boarded the bus and headed off to our destination. The ride was nice because I finally got a chance to catch up on some reading (Everything is Illuminated), plus it was nice to view some of the areas that surround Barcelona.

Immediately after we arrived we began a 2 hour or so walking tour of some of the ancient ruins (which were sweet, but not as abundant as I had expected). More than the history behind the town, I was especially impressed by its beauty and quaintness (not sure if that's a word, but I'll use it anyway), with its narrow streets, small shops, and empty beaches. It was definitely nice to take a break from city life and really relax for a bit. Aside from the relaxing and ruin-viewing, the trip proved to be extra eventful in that I had an awesome lunch (home-made spaghetti and my first crepe since arriving) and got to feel like a badass when we sneakily ran across train tracks and hopped a wall to get to the beach. Oh yeah, and it also didn't hurt that the weather was perfect.

That night we went to some sort of Mallorcan music and dance festival that my Spanish teacher had reccomended. I'm not sure what it really was, but it seemed to be more of a Catalan nationalism/independence rally than a music fest (although there was music being played). Whatever it was, it was awesome. Basically we were among a huge crowd of locals, singing along (or pretending to, at least), dancing to what sounded much like Irish folk songs, and pumping our fists to Catalan anthems.

On the topic of nationalism, Catalan pride is pretty wild, and you can see its various forms (mostly graffiti) all over the place.


All in all, it was a pretty awesome day/night. I'll be posting pics onto facebook soon so you folks can get a better understanding of what I'm talking about.

Anyway, that's it for now...

(Tarragona's Roman Amphitheater)

Edit (Feb. 5): I learned in class (Cultures Without State: The Case of Catalonia) today that the Mallorcan festival was in honor of the 300th anniversary of its conquest by Jaume I, and its inclusion as a part of Catalonia.

Lost in Translation

So apparently getting around without knowing Spanish (Castillano) or Catalan is a lot more more tricky than I had expected. While many people are able to speak English and most seem able to understand it to at least some extent, not being well versed in either of the predominant local languages makes for often uncomfortable and confusing situations (typically involving pointing, a game of charades, or trying to pronounce English words with a Spanish accent). Things go smoothly in the touristy areas, as the people there are used to us uncultured guiris (foreigners, akin to "gringos"), but it's much different once outside the city's center.

Interestingly enough, I find myself speaking Urdu just as often as Spanish (both intentionally and unintentionally), as there are a surprising amount of Pakistanis here. While my urdu is less than stellar, it's much better than my Spanish, so this has been pretty advantageous thus far (bargaining, special treatment, etc.).

Speaking of Pakistanis....Unfortunately, the situation for us folk (and just Desis in general) seems pretty bleak in Barcelona. While it's very possible that there are plenty of successful Desi professionals, all of those whom I encounter seem to be recent immigrants, simply trying to make a living by whatever means necessary. These guys tend to fall in one of two categories: Shopkeepers and Street Vendors. The former are the Pakistanis who run tiny kabob shops (selling Doner and Shawarma), or souvenir shops selling all sorts of Barcelona paraphernalia ranging from postcards to fake soccer jerseys. And then there are the street vendors. These are the guys who stand in high pedestrian traffic areas (particularly on Las Ramblas) late at night selling samosas to people outside of bars or selling cheap beer to passer-bys. The latter make for an especially disturbing sight.

Back to topic...the moral of the story is this: language barriers are no fun. Granted, I've only had 4 days of Spanish class thus far, so I suppose I can't expect to have gotten entirely back into the groove after my three year hiatus, but it'd certainly be nice to be able to hold my own and know what's going on around me.

That's enough complaining for now...

Too Cool for School

My classes began last week, and I must say, are nothing like what I had anticipated. While I'm not exactly sure if our separate and overly-structured study abroad program is representative of the typical college experience in Europe, school here kinda sucks. The courses are fine and seem interesting enough, but the format itself is driving me nuts.

Classes for us are monday through thursday (so we can travel on the weekends?), and are arranged in blocks of fixed time, beginning from 9am, breaking for a lunch hour at 12:45, and ending at 5:30, depending on the classes one is taking. Then take into account the fact that all the classes are in the same building, with the same 200+ english-speaking kids (we're on a separate campus from the locals), and...voila!. It's essentially high school/middle school all over again, except with horrifically long classes (1hr 45min each, with 15 minutes break inbetween).

So basically my days of rolling out of bed, throwing on some sweats (I wear jeans more than twice a week here, how crazy is that?), walking to class, coming back to nap/eat/shower/gym/etc, are over. Though they say life in Europe is far more laid back than in the States, my schooling experience seems to be quite the opposite.

I suppose I can't sue for false advertisement though, seeing as I am "studying", and I am "abroad", so the description still fits.

Oh, and in case you're still wondering, Barcelona hasn't gotten any less amazing.

Adéu!

(My "campus", once part of the Hospital de Sant Pau complex)

First blog post

Hey Kids,

This is my first time blogging (or doing anything of the like, for that matter) so I'm not exactly sure how things are going to turn out. In any case, I figure this will be a hell of a lot easier than telling 50 different people the same story over and over again.

Since everybody seems to have the same initial questions, I'll go ahead and answer those first.

¿How are you liking Barcelona? (yeah, I put upside-down question marks before questions. ¿You wanna fight about it?)
So far it's pretty ridiculous. I've only recently begun grasping the notion that I'll be here for the next four months. Every day I feel a little less like I'm on vacation. I can honestly say that these have probably been the longest 9 days of my life. Not in the "God I'm so bored" sense, but in the "Holycrapthereswaytoomuchtodoaroundhere" sense. Days have been freakishly long as there's many places/things/people to see and much exploring (intentional and unintentional) to be done.

¿How are the kids from your program/roommates?
Thank God, I've yet to have a negative experience with any of the kids from the program. Granted, you all know that I'm ridiculously shy when it comes to strangers, so I can hardly say I've spoken/interacted with enough people to really gauge this, but everyone seems to be very friendly and sociable. Of the 40 or so kids in my program, about 30 are either from California, or go to school there, so it's a bit of a culture shock for me.

My roommates are awesome. Enough said. I live with two girls (Sarah -from LA, goes to Berkley; Lauren -from Orange County, goes to UC Irvine), and one guy (Alex -from Orange County, goes to UC Irvine).

¿How´s your apartment?
My apartment is pretty sweet. It's spacious, fully furnished, and doesn't have any rats or roaches as far as I know, which is all that really matters. The only complaint I have is that my mattress is absurdly soft and its center is caved in. Basically if I'm sleeping on the edge, it's inevitable that I'll be rolling down to the middle within a matter of seconds. Serves me right for being the bastard that stole the big room.

¿How's the weather?
It's a lot colder than I had initially expected, although it's still not too bad. The temperature probably ranges from 40 to 55 degrees. A Jacket and scarf are plenty to keep warm at night.

¿How's the food?
Other than the occasional dog crap strewn sidewalks and the retarded dollar-euro conversion rate, this is my only gripe about Barcelona. This is not to say that the food is bad, but that seemingly everything has some traces of pork in it. Basically, I've been living off of croissants, bananas, and fried potato chunks (Patatas Bravas) for the past 9 days. As soon as I'm able to translate menus better, I'm sure this will become less of an issue.

¿Have you met any locals?
Kind of. My roommate Alex played club soccer with a Spaniard, Marc, who completed his masters in the States at UC Irvine. We hang out with him quite a bit, which is cool because (a) he's a born and bred Barcelonian, and (b) he's a great resource to have when it comes to adjusting to life here, and for any questions we may have.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy to befriend other locals, namely because we don't interact with them that often (other than at shops, etc.). Since all of our classes are with solely international students (100+ Americans, a dozen or so Germans, a few other Europeans, and a handful of Chinese), there's pretty much no possibility of meeting locals through school, which is a bit of a bummer.


Anyway, if you guys have more questions or ideas for stuff for me to write about, let me know...

Oh, and if you want to see some of the pictures I've taken so far, check my facebook.




(My room)