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.
2 comments:
Usman - I just got this Blog link forwarded to me. It's so much fun to read it. I really felt your pain when you talked about language barriers. When Shaheen and I went to Tunisia for a week after we got married, I was truly startled at the fact that I couldn't really communicate with anyone - they only spoke Arabic and French. Like you, much of my time was spent gesticulating wildly. Tops was when I had to convey the creepy guy giving us camel rides near the hotel to keep his hands off my wife.
I was really glad to read this particular post about the Festival - it sounds like you had a wonderful time. I hope you have more days like this. Take care, Usman, and I'll try to write again soon.
So I finally caught up on all your blogging. Keep up the good work and keep writing....it's certainly entertaining. Glad to hear the food's getting better. The pictures are awesome...especially of your school! It is absolutely GORGEOUS! I am so jealous. I want to come back to Europe and visit Spain.
How are classes? What did you eat for lunch? Are you fat yet?
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