It's been awhile since my last post, and certain people have been bugging me to write, so here it is:
Let's see, my life in the last 3 weeks has been above all, BUSY. The weeks have slipped by in a whirlwind of homework (finally... what?), vending machine coffee and procrastination. I have finals coming up in less than 2 weeks so I've finally begun to do some work. Keep in mind, I am not doing nearly as much as I could/ should be doing. The Spanish procrastination bug has hit me hard. But I do tend to spend my time outside of class attempting to do work of some sort.
Lots of this time is also taken up by prep for the interviews I've begun for the research project I'm trying to do about the underground electronic music scene here in Barcelona. Conclusions so far: I need to learn Spanish (interviewing someone in Spanish is very very hard) and according to my first interviewee, Victor Nublas, in reference to my difficulties finding the music scene: "Well, it's very underground." Thank you for that. I have my second interview tomorrow so we'll see how that goes...
In contrast to the weekdays, my last 3 weekends have been chock-full of amazing vacations! I was lucky enough to see Rome, London and Spain's Costa Brava (although I hardly spent enough time in any of these places). Rome was by far the coolest city I've ever been to. The food was amazing (and somewhat cheaper than Barcelona) and I was thrilled to be able to walk through an amazing city and then all of a sudden stumble upon a three thousand year old ruin. A few highlights from the trip included walking back to our friend's apartment along the Tiber river at about 4:30pm after a rainy day at the Vatican and seeing a gigantic bird exodus as the sun set, wandering around the last night with Elena looking for the synagogue but instead finding a huuuge ruin of some sort of theater and stumbling upon a beautiful fountain in a hilly neighborhood while lost trying to find our way back in the dark. Basically I really want to go back to Rome.
London was cool because Celia and I tried couchsurfing for the first time. Contrary to popular predictions, we did NOT die. Terry (the dude we stayed with) was really nice, had an entire extra bedroom for us, and made us tea and curry! It was really fun to skip the hostel and meet a new friend. London was cool but very rainy and cold so we really didn't end up seeing too much. But we did walk around whenever it wasn't pouring. Also, the absolute highlight of this trip was when Celia and I went to see St. Paul's Cathedral- we get there (humming "feed the birds") and hear Motown music being blasted from around the corner so naturally we go investigate. We come across a temporary carnival set up right next to the church and, after observing the rides, Celia decided she reallly really wanted to go on the scrambler so she coerced me into going with her. IT WAS THE FASTEST SCRAMBLER RIDE EVER!! And it kept feeling like we were going to smash into the side of St. Paul's. Basically it was the most fun I've had in a long time!
Last weekend, CASB (my program) took us to Cadaqués and Figueres to follow the "Dalí Route." We went to Dalí's house in Cadaqués, a beautiful beach town with white houses located at the intersection of the Pyrenees Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, the Dalí museum in Figueres, and Dalí's lifelong love Gala's house (which was actually an old castle). After this trip I can conclude that A. There is no question that Salvador Dalí was absolutely insane and B. He was pretty much the shit. His house was decorated soo weirdly, with many taxidermied animals. There was a round room in which you could hear your echo like you were standing next to yourself and talking. He had a phallic-shaped swimming pool. He also lived right on the water and I could totally see how his landscapes were influenced by what he saw out his window. Pictures will come soon to facebook.
And that's basically it. I should be prepping for my interview tomorrow so I'm going to sign out. I feel a little sad that I'm leaving this place so soon-- I only have a month left. I feel like there's so much that I haven't done that I should have. Barcelona is amazing but I really do miss everyone and can't wait to come home!!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Half-Done
The last few days have been very significant for me. Wednesday, October 28th, was the exact middle day of my stay here in Barcelona. I got here on August 28th and I leave on December 28th. So, yes, October 28th was an important day. Completely by chance, Wednesday was also the day that I got to see Wayne Shorter, my all-time favorite jazz saxophone player. I couldn't find anyone to go with me (nobody knew who he was!) so I splurged and got 50-euro, SECOND ROW seats. The view was incredible. I was literally 30 feet from my jazz idol for an hour and a half.
Before the concert started I had taken out my camera to take some pictures of the venue, and the Spanish guy sitting next to me asked me if I'd email the pictures I took of the concert to him. I was more than happy to do so, and we struck up a conversation about Wayne Shorter and jazz in general. He, like me, had come alone to the concert because none of his friends liked jazz. By chance we had both paid the extra euros and gotten seats next to each other. I considered meeting Miki a significant event for October 28th because it was the first time I'd just started talking to a Spaniard and received such friendliness in return. We were able to maintain a decent conversation, despite my sub-par Spanish and his probable preference to speak in Catalan. The concert itself was incredible. Wayne Shorter has still got it going on even though he's like 75 years old or something. His band was really tight and they had the whole place groovin’. I’m still in shock that I actually got to see him. He has been my favorite jazz artist for years.
Significant event number two came on Thursday morning (the 29th). I had to give a presentation in my Medieval History class completely in Spanish. Now, I’d been worried about this presentation since the start of class and, honestly, if I had had to give the presentation three weeks earlier I would have been screwed. But my group and I (all Americans) managed to pull off a decent presentation, if I say so myself. I felt really good about it.
And the third yet very significant event took place the very next day on Friday. I finally made myself do some work on my research project (electronic music scene in Barcelona) and sent out a few emails, asking for interviews/ info. One of the two emails I spent half an hour writing and was directed to la orquesta del caos, or the Orchestra of Chaos. It’s an experimental music orchestra, headed by one José Manuel Berenger and in addition to creating music, hosts workshops and works with the cultural center of Barcelona to put on events. So I’ve gathered that it’s a pretty big deal. Crazily enough, José Manuel Berenger himself emailed me back within 2 hours enthusiastically suggesting that we meet sometime in the next few weeks!! So now I’ve accomplished something with the project (sort of) but that means I actually have to start thinking of questions to ask, which is sort of freaking me out. I’ve never even interviewed anyone in English before! But I’m really excited that I’m making headway.
So yes, three significant events right around the middle of my stay here. Overall I’m beginning to feel more comfortable in my day to day interactions, so I hope these events are just a hint of what’s to come in my last two months!
Oh yea, and I met a shepherd
Before the concert started I had taken out my camera to take some pictures of the venue, and the Spanish guy sitting next to me asked me if I'd email the pictures I took of the concert to him. I was more than happy to do so, and we struck up a conversation about Wayne Shorter and jazz in general. He, like me, had come alone to the concert because none of his friends liked jazz. By chance we had both paid the extra euros and gotten seats next to each other. I considered meeting Miki a significant event for October 28th because it was the first time I'd just started talking to a Spaniard and received such friendliness in return. We were able to maintain a decent conversation, despite my sub-par Spanish and his probable preference to speak in Catalan. The concert itself was incredible. Wayne Shorter has still got it going on even though he's like 75 years old or something. His band was really tight and they had the whole place groovin’. I’m still in shock that I actually got to see him. He has been my favorite jazz artist for years.
Significant event number two came on Thursday morning (the 29th). I had to give a presentation in my Medieval History class completely in Spanish. Now, I’d been worried about this presentation since the start of class and, honestly, if I had had to give the presentation three weeks earlier I would have been screwed. But my group and I (all Americans) managed to pull off a decent presentation, if I say so myself. I felt really good about it.
And the third yet very significant event took place the very next day on Friday. I finally made myself do some work on my research project (electronic music scene in Barcelona) and sent out a few emails, asking for interviews/ info. One of the two emails I spent half an hour writing and was directed to la orquesta del caos, or the Orchestra of Chaos. It’s an experimental music orchestra, headed by one José Manuel Berenger and in addition to creating music, hosts workshops and works with the cultural center of Barcelona to put on events. So I’ve gathered that it’s a pretty big deal. Crazily enough, José Manuel Berenger himself emailed me back within 2 hours enthusiastically suggesting that we meet sometime in the next few weeks!! So now I’ve accomplished something with the project (sort of) but that means I actually have to start thinking of questions to ask, which is sort of freaking me out. I’ve never even interviewed anyone in English before! But I’m really excited that I’m making headway.
So yes, three significant events right around the middle of my stay here. Overall I’m beginning to feel more comfortable in my day to day interactions, so I hope these events are just a hint of what’s to come in my last two months!
Oh yea, and I met a shepherd
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