Ok, ok ok... Before you all start yelling at me, please don't... I was already spoken to by numerous people, the most recent being Ms. Catherine Shortliffe (who I just saw LIVE AND IN PERSON in Barcelona!). Anyways, I know that I've been neglecting the blog and it's for good reason: I'm lazy. Moving forward, I'll try to update it at least once a week, not once every 3 or 4 which is the current rate I'm working at. What I'll do is address numerous things that have happened in the past few weeks to get you all caught up:
Classes:
I'm currently enrolled and have started all of my classes! To be honest, my class schedule is pretty sweet. I have class from 1:30-7 on Mondays, 1:30-4:30, 6-8 on Tuesdays, 3-7 on Wednesdays, no class on Thursdays and Fridays. I repeat, NO CLASS THURSDAYS OR FRIDAYS! It's awesome and I'm loving it, although not having class until 1:30 in the afternoon totally messes up my sleep schedule. In otherwords, I can always sleep in, which is NOT good... I think soon, I'll get off at random metro stops and walk around a bit, so that I get a better sense of the city. My first class is Labour Market Policy, which is my university class in English. I've already spoken at length about this class in the past, so let's move on. Next is the Core Course taught at the Space, which is about the lovely city of Barcelona. The class is interesting at times, but usually boring. Today, we ended up going over Spain's entire history in 2 hours... that's more than 2,000 years of event-filled history in 2 hours... Needless to say, we were all happy for it to be over. I'm taking an art history class, Arte y Artistas. Pretty much, it was one of the only classes that fit into my schedule (and it doesn't even fit really... I have to miss the first half hour of it every Monday since it interferes with my UPF class). It's pretty interesting and we'll be covering the artists Gaudi, Miro, Dali, Picasso, and Tapies. It's great to go on cultural visits to museums with the program and actually know what I'm looking at, so this class has already come in handy. My final class is a film class, during which we look at 10 films during the course of the semester. Each Monday is group presentation on the film we just watched and each Wednesday is the film viewing. The professor is really chill and informative, although I can already tell that Mondays will pretty much be ridiculously boring.
Internship:
I'm doing an internship with a local Spanish lawyer, who works for himself. His name is Christian and the firm is called Torres i Mercadal, Advocats (he's Torres). Last week, I skipped class and accompanied him to two different court houses to watch him in action. It was really cool, although I felt overdressed. I wore black pants, a shirt and tie... he wore dark pants, a shirt, and a scarf... it's funny how casual the dress code was. Anyways, the first case I saw was about a theft that took place outside of a bar. A lady walked out after she paid the bill and was robbed by 2 or 3 of 8 guys that were standing outside together in a group. Long story short, our client was one of the guys. Because there were so many contradictions in the witnesses' stories and the ladies story, there's a good chance our guy will be let free, which is good especially since the lady couldn't even ID him. The second case was bizarre, with another robbery, this time at an airport. The guy was caught by police stealing a bag off the baggage claim. While in custody, he tried to hurt himself by ripping up the blanket and strangling himself. He was from Ireland, so there was an interpreter present at the proceeding. The guy got a deal so that he didn't have to serve any jail time, since he had no prior criminal record. If he's arrested again, he's in deep shit (profanity for dramatic effect). Anyways, it was interesting talking with Christian and the interpreter while waiting for the paperwork to get processed. We talked about how it's hard for someone to recover from something like that and that there HAS to be something wrong mentally with this guy. Unfortunately, the forecast is cloudy with a chance of parole. The interpreter asked me about school in the US and we chatted about his career. He said it's incredibly important that in that line of work, you separate your job from your personal life. If you leave the courtroom wondering why, you just get frustrated over something you can't control. Christian agreed and I can see their point. Anyways, it was a good experience and I'm glad to have picked the internship over the other alternative: extensive Spanish classes everyday from Monday to Thursday: yuck. Christian is awesome not only because he talks to me in English, but also because he's in a band and keeps 8 guitars in the glass patio of his office... SCORE!
Madrid:
Our program took a trip to Madrid 2 weekend ago. It was a 3-hour train ride from Barcelona taking the high-speed train. I must give the Trinity-in-Barcelona Program credit for placing us in really nice hotels. We stayed in a really nice hotel and once again, Chris and I were roomies. It's been nice hanging out with him since, let's be honest, we probably never would cross paths at Trinity. The first night, we went tapas bar hopping until we found this one place that let us go downstairs and hang out. It was AMAZING because you sit at these tables that have taps in the middle. They have root beer, light beer, and dark beer. I opted for the dark beer and it was one of the BEST beers I've ever had. It's really cool because you pour the drinks yourself and a computer monitors how much has been dispensed, and charges the table accordingly. Apparently on some nights, they'll put the amount drank on the screens and you can compete with other tables. It was fun until I came to the realization: "Shit, I'm drunk..." Normally I wouldn't care but in this case, I was sitting right next to Carlota (Program Director) and Jo (Professor). I actually carried on a conversation with them, but I have the feeling I was slurring a little... Chris and Katie Laz came up to me afterwards and said, "Greg... we saw you from across the table... with your drunk eyes..." EPIC FAIL. Anyways, I'm glad Chris has the same appetite I have because we ended up going out for food afterwards (tapas definitely wasn't enough). Other highlights included going to the Prado, Reina Sophia, and National Anthropology museums. The Anthropology one was great for numerous reasons, the first being all of the Filipino artifacts that were there. They had lots of fabric on display, the most recognizable being the one that barong tagalogs are made out of. For those of you not Filipino, it's a type of clothing made usually out of pineapple fibers that Filipinos wear for formal occasions. There was also an exhibition on the importance of Islam in Africa. The pictures showcased were amazing and entirely moving. The eagerness to learn demonstrated by these children was incredible, especially when guided by their parents. The museum was also great because of the walk to get there: it was SNOWING and the snowflakes were ginormous. We also stood outside in the horrible weather for 15 minutes trying to figure out where the museum was. We found it when we turned around. Again, EPIC FAIL. We visited Toledo and it was really cool to tour the city with a guide. On my Facebook, there are numerous photos from Toledo. The best part was watching Jaume, our academic advisor, correct the tour guide and try to one-up him whenever possible... absolutely hilarious. Later that night, we all went out to the HUGE club, Kapital. Best part: RIGHT NEXT TO THE HOTEL. After dinner, we threw our coats in the hotel and ran to the club in the freezing cold. The place was amazing: 7 stories with 2 floors for techno, 2 floors for hip-hop, a reggae floor, and a lavishly decorated hang-out on the top floor. At the top, I befriended two British guys: Ben and Paul. They commented on how it's hilarious how many people mistake London to be the entire country, as in London=UK. I eventually ended up sitting on one of Paul's knees and Ben was on the other while we took a picture. Expect a Facebook tag of it real soon (edit: ok, so you can't look at it from my Facebook since I disabled my pictures and videos... this is a temporary measure until I hear back from the internships I applied to). All in all, it was an amazing trip and I had a blast while there.
Euro Shopping:
This past weekend, I went out with Elizabeth and Melissa in an effort to make my wardrobe more Euro. The night before, I went out with them and wore a black sweater over a red and white striped button-up (as seen in my Facebook profile pic). They told me I was screaming, "I'm American, come and pick-pocket me!" I decided that I needed to become more Euro if I wanted to worry less about being beaten to a pulp over 5€ and a UPF student ID. We walked around, in and out of a million stores before I came to the conclusion: there's a reason I dress the way I do... I don't like the Euro style all that much. I couldn't bring myself to buy anything until.... we saw this amazing store that sold million and millions of ties. It's called Andrew's Ties and their ties are made in Italy (there's a few locations in NY, as a quick Google search told me: shout out Sarah Hoyle!). Literally every color was found there. For each pattern, there's at least 10 different colors available. I ended up getting a light green tie with light blue stripes, which looks really good on a blue shirt. Melissa said, "We spend all day shopping Euro and the one thing you get is the most Trincoll thing I've ever seen." EPIC FAIL.
Now that I've explained a lot of things that have happened here, I'll now explain why
I Miss Home:
1. It was my mom's birthday on Monday (Happy Birthday Nay!) and the entire family was over the house... without me. There was a Konditor Meister cake... without me.
2. JMA(G)SH has reunited without me... sadness. See you in a year Mike and Jake!
3. I had butter chicken here and it tasted more like chicken tikka masala... I miss Shah and his butter chicken (more so the butter chicken).
4. Pledging has started and I REALLY wanted to be there for that, now that I'm on the other side. A chat with Manevitz last night made me really homesick (thanks asshole). First, I miss cigar and brandy, now: every single pledge event. I wonder if I’ll be back in time for formal- Powers, want to be my date again? : D
5. I want buffalo chicken. Seriously, there's nothing here. Somebody send me a buffalo chicken pizza from Nick's, a bucket from Windy City, or a sub from Grumpy White's. Anything will do, I promise. Maybe I'll do trivia night at Hooters when I'm back (clearly going for the food and trivia, not... you know what).
6. I actually miss Quincy… a lot. Hanging out with the guys, Al D's parties, randomly getting ambushed by Stunzeed and Urey... I miss it all.
I know that I should take advantage of the fact that I'm in Barcelona and believe me, I am. I'm just saying that the honeymoon phase of this trip is dwindling and I'm starting to miss home and Trinity a little more every day. I hope you all are happy.
There, I said it.
Family comes to visit in March, WHOO HOO!
Anyways, I'm sure this is enough. I'll try to update more often and I hope everyone's semesters, jobs, and lives are going well.
-Greg/Biboy/Greggers/Tuna
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro!
Wow... I'm ashamed. More than a week of being inactive on the blog. Sorry all! Thanks to everyone who has messaged me at some point about liking my blog... I really do appreciate it and at least I know my efforts (or lack there of as of late) aren't going to waste. All right: instead of doing the in-depth posts that I usually do, I'm going to do a quick bulletpoint list of some of the activities. If you want more info on any of these days, just let me know! Hopefully, I'll be able to remember most of the events. Here we go:
Friday:
-completely useless orientation that we all had to wake up early for
-left for Tarragona, which took 2 hours by train
-arrived at this rural village, right outside of Tarragona where we stayed for Fri and Sat night
-"Cal Compete" was the name of the place we stayed, which was this really nicely renovated house that was anything but rural: the accommodations were absolutely amazing and we had the BEST dinner there (I tried goat cheese and veal for the first time: loved both, the cheese more so)
-the weather was unusually cold, with it snowing a little and slush on the ground
Saturday:
-went to see a monastery and watched a video about how the monks used to live
-then went to a winery: saw how wine is made with all of the equipment, then had a wine tasting (I bought a few bottles of the ones I liked the most)
-had a ridiculously long lunch once again and we all went into food comas afterwards. They have this crazy wine jug with 2 ends: one is used to pour and the other tapers off to a point, so that you need to catch the stream of wine into your mouth... it was awesome and I got tipsy off it (whoops...)
-walked around this little village that didn't have much of anything around. Carlota decided to take the most dangerous routes walking around and Nadjeda slipped down this slope that was covered in this slick moss... it was pretty funny actually
-found out Chris can do an amazing Chris Farley impression
Sunday:
-got a full tour of the house that we were staying at. The owners decided to buy it because if not, foreigners were going to renovate it and they wanted to preserve their culture. The house had a lot of historical value and I even saw a ridiculously old urinal that soldiers used during the Spanish Civil War
-took our bus to Tarragona
-went to the amphitheater, where there used to be gladiators who would fight lions and bears. The view was absolutely amazing.
-went to a museum, in which we watched a completely romanticized movie in english about the Roman Empire's influence in Tarragona. Then we walked in the museum which featured numerous objects from the time period. The most impressive were the displays made using stones and precious gems, which were placed strategically in the concrete to make intricate designs
-walked through the city and ened up seeing the place where the chariot races used to take place
-went to an italian restaurant for lunch and had some of the best pasta of my life!
-walked around more and then took the 1.5 hour train ride back
Monday:
-started intensive spanish class. I'm in the Advanced II class which runs for 2.5 hours every day for the first 2 weeks. Shoot me now. The only thing that makes this class bearible is the fact that my professor, Maria, is pretty hot.
-started my UPF class in english. It's called Labour Markey Policies. It's a Political Science class in theory, but it's turning out to be more and more econ. My professor is from Geneva and talks with an accent. I asked him during the break if I should be in the class, since I've only taken Intro to Econ (yay Miggy Ramirez!). He said that the language skills vary, as does the econ experience so I don't need to worry. In this class, I've also befriended a girl named Antonia who's from the UK. It's nice to talk with someone during the break in English.
-started my Spanish Conversation class. Like Intensive, it runs every day for the first two weeks. It's 1.5 hours every day except for Fridays, where it's 2 hours (no other program has Conversation on Friday). What makes this class bearable is the fact that its.... fun. Magnolia is the name of our professor and she's so nice and energetic. She keeps us engaged and likes to pick on me and Chris (as of late, mainly Chris).
-went to a Jazz club at night with Iolanda, Chris, Caitie P, Laz, and Lauren. The music was great and we each got a free beer, which is brewed by this local brewery. Afterwards, we met up with Carlota and had tapas. Carlota is actually a lot nicer that she comes off as... She even told me to order another beer after dinner because it would help me sleep better. Oh yeah, I also ate octopus...
Tuesday-Thursday:
-nothing out of the ordinary happened. Also, I can't remember what happened. Whoops...
Friday:
-after Intensive, walked across the street to El Cafe. I had lunch and stayed there for 2.5 hours, reading my book. I'm reading the book "The Year of Living Biblically." It's pretty hilarious and is a great read. It's follows a guy (an editor of Esquire) through his quest of living his life by the rules of the bible. He devotes 8 months to the Old Testament, and 4 months to the New Testament. Hilarity ensues after he follows the rules, such as stoning adulterers (he finds a guy and throws little pebbles at him from a distance... pretty awesome).
-at Conversation, we ended up having a ridiculously relaxed class which was nice. During a video clip, I ended up sprawling out on top of one of the tables.
-at dinner, ate lamb for the first time. Got a little sick afterwards... but I still enjoyed it.
Saturday:
-woke up and went to meet Jo, one of the professors in our program, to go visit the Miro museum. Only Lauren and I went which sucked, but actually turned out to be great because I learned to much more than I would have if there was a larger group. I also learned that I'm not a huge fan of all his work, but there were some pieces that I absolutely loved.
-had lunch with Lauren at Schilling, which was hilarious due to drunk Americans at the bar across the street. They saw us looking at them through the window and came over. One guy lifted his shirt and pressed his nipple against the class. I couldn't resist: I stroked it from the other side of the glass. Do I regret it? Well...
-walked around La Rambla and looked at all of the stores. Saw a guitar store and hopefully, I can buy a new classical guitar and bring it back to the States. Where else can I get a better classical guitar that Spain?
-videochatted with Bryce, Allison, and Sarah. All of them are doing well in their respective countries. Can't wait to go visit other countries soon!
-met up with Ms. Alyssa Simpson after dinner. We went to a bar and had a few glasses of wine. Then we went to this nice bar and met up with Melissa, her house mate Leo, Nadjeda, and Elizabeth. It was a fun night and I learned that I should stop drinking white wine because to me, it tastes like water... meaning I can drink it like water... bad decision. When taking the free shot, I learned what some people say in Spanish when taking a shot: Arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro! It translates to "up high, down low, in the center, and inside." Of course, you take the shot and hold it up, then bring it down, then put it in the middle, and then take it... fun!
-walked to this place at 2 AM and got durhams? I don't know if that was the name of it but it was ridiculously delicious. It's like a burrito that had spicy meat in it with vegetables. They were just about to close but were nice enough to let us get some to go. Great call Melissa.
-took a cab back... rather intoxicated by the time I made it back home
Sunday:
-woke up and... no hangover! I love that I'm never hungover...
-currently watching the Simpsons... in English
-going to start work soon...ish...
That's about it. I'll try to update more, so that: (a) you guys know what's going on in my life and (2) so that I can read this later on in life and remember the little details. (iii) Status: happy
Friday:
-completely useless orientation that we all had to wake up early for
-left for Tarragona, which took 2 hours by train
-arrived at this rural village, right outside of Tarragona where we stayed for Fri and Sat night
-"Cal Compete" was the name of the place we stayed, which was this really nicely renovated house that was anything but rural: the accommodations were absolutely amazing and we had the BEST dinner there (I tried goat cheese and veal for the first time: loved both, the cheese more so)
-the weather was unusually cold, with it snowing a little and slush on the ground
Saturday:
-went to see a monastery and watched a video about how the monks used to live
-then went to a winery: saw how wine is made with all of the equipment, then had a wine tasting (I bought a few bottles of the ones I liked the most)
-had a ridiculously long lunch once again and we all went into food comas afterwards. They have this crazy wine jug with 2 ends: one is used to pour and the other tapers off to a point, so that you need to catch the stream of wine into your mouth... it was awesome and I got tipsy off it (whoops...)
-walked around this little village that didn't have much of anything around. Carlota decided to take the most dangerous routes walking around and Nadjeda slipped down this slope that was covered in this slick moss... it was pretty funny actually
-found out Chris can do an amazing Chris Farley impression
Sunday:
-got a full tour of the house that we were staying at. The owners decided to buy it because if not, foreigners were going to renovate it and they wanted to preserve their culture. The house had a lot of historical value and I even saw a ridiculously old urinal that soldiers used during the Spanish Civil War
-took our bus to Tarragona
-went to the amphitheater, where there used to be gladiators who would fight lions and bears. The view was absolutely amazing.
-went to a museum, in which we watched a completely romanticized movie in english about the Roman Empire's influence in Tarragona. Then we walked in the museum which featured numerous objects from the time period. The most impressive were the displays made using stones and precious gems, which were placed strategically in the concrete to make intricate designs
-walked through the city and ened up seeing the place where the chariot races used to take place
-went to an italian restaurant for lunch and had some of the best pasta of my life!
-walked around more and then took the 1.5 hour train ride back
Monday:
-started intensive spanish class. I'm in the Advanced II class which runs for 2.5 hours every day for the first 2 weeks. Shoot me now. The only thing that makes this class bearible is the fact that my professor, Maria, is pretty hot.
-started my UPF class in english. It's called Labour Markey Policies. It's a Political Science class in theory, but it's turning out to be more and more econ. My professor is from Geneva and talks with an accent. I asked him during the break if I should be in the class, since I've only taken Intro to Econ (yay Miggy Ramirez!). He said that the language skills vary, as does the econ experience so I don't need to worry. In this class, I've also befriended a girl named Antonia who's from the UK. It's nice to talk with someone during the break in English.
-started my Spanish Conversation class. Like Intensive, it runs every day for the first two weeks. It's 1.5 hours every day except for Fridays, where it's 2 hours (no other program has Conversation on Friday). What makes this class bearable is the fact that its.... fun. Magnolia is the name of our professor and she's so nice and energetic. She keeps us engaged and likes to pick on me and Chris (as of late, mainly Chris).
-went to a Jazz club at night with Iolanda, Chris, Caitie P, Laz, and Lauren. The music was great and we each got a free beer, which is brewed by this local brewery. Afterwards, we met up with Carlota and had tapas. Carlota is actually a lot nicer that she comes off as... She even told me to order another beer after dinner because it would help me sleep better. Oh yeah, I also ate octopus...
Tuesday-Thursday:
-nothing out of the ordinary happened. Also, I can't remember what happened. Whoops...
Friday:
-after Intensive, walked across the street to El Cafe. I had lunch and stayed there for 2.5 hours, reading my book. I'm reading the book "The Year of Living Biblically." It's pretty hilarious and is a great read. It's follows a guy (an editor of Esquire) through his quest of living his life by the rules of the bible. He devotes 8 months to the Old Testament, and 4 months to the New Testament. Hilarity ensues after he follows the rules, such as stoning adulterers (he finds a guy and throws little pebbles at him from a distance... pretty awesome).
-at Conversation, we ended up having a ridiculously relaxed class which was nice. During a video clip, I ended up sprawling out on top of one of the tables.
-at dinner, ate lamb for the first time. Got a little sick afterwards... but I still enjoyed it.
Saturday:
-woke up and went to meet Jo, one of the professors in our program, to go visit the Miro museum. Only Lauren and I went which sucked, but actually turned out to be great because I learned to much more than I would have if there was a larger group. I also learned that I'm not a huge fan of all his work, but there were some pieces that I absolutely loved.
-had lunch with Lauren at Schilling, which was hilarious due to drunk Americans at the bar across the street. They saw us looking at them through the window and came over. One guy lifted his shirt and pressed his nipple against the class. I couldn't resist: I stroked it from the other side of the glass. Do I regret it? Well...
-walked around La Rambla and looked at all of the stores. Saw a guitar store and hopefully, I can buy a new classical guitar and bring it back to the States. Where else can I get a better classical guitar that Spain?
-videochatted with Bryce, Allison, and Sarah. All of them are doing well in their respective countries. Can't wait to go visit other countries soon!
-met up with Ms. Alyssa Simpson after dinner. We went to a bar and had a few glasses of wine. Then we went to this nice bar and met up with Melissa, her house mate Leo, Nadjeda, and Elizabeth. It was a fun night and I learned that I should stop drinking white wine because to me, it tastes like water... meaning I can drink it like water... bad decision. When taking the free shot, I learned what some people say in Spanish when taking a shot: Arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro! It translates to "up high, down low, in the center, and inside." Of course, you take the shot and hold it up, then bring it down, then put it in the middle, and then take it... fun!
-walked to this place at 2 AM and got durhams? I don't know if that was the name of it but it was ridiculously delicious. It's like a burrito that had spicy meat in it with vegetables. They were just about to close but were nice enough to let us get some to go. Great call Melissa.
-took a cab back... rather intoxicated by the time I made it back home
Sunday:
-woke up and... no hangover! I love that I'm never hungover...
-currently watching the Simpsons... in English
-going to start work soon...ish...
That's about it. I'll try to update more, so that: (a) you guys know what's going on in my life and (2) so that I can read this later on in life and remember the little details. (iii) Status: happy
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Sunshine, Moonlight, Good Times, Boogie...
So I'm going to do an update because a lot of funny/interesting things happened today. First off, I've decided to now call Magda 1 and Magda 2 different names. They're now Muffin 1 and Muffin 2. I just looked in my pocket dictionary and "magdalena" translates to MUFFIN! BAHAHA I just had an argument with Magda 2 because I didn't believe her on the translation. When I looked it up online, it translated it to "fairy cake." I've decided to just call them Muffin, of course not directly to them (shoutout to Ms. Hadley Gleason, who will always be the original Muffin).
I took my Spanish placement test. Don't ask me how I did because I honestly couldn't tell you: we'll find out tomorrow and that's when I'll worry. It really doesn't matter because I don't think they'll send me home if a did poorly... I think. Anyways, today was interesting nonetheless. We met up at the space and walked to the exam with Ana. Afterwards, a few of us had lunch on campus. Everything was pretty cheap and I had this croissant filled with "oozy" chocolate. It was very delicious and inspired Catie to buy one as well. Afterwards, we went back to the space and I went over my schedule with Ana. I decided to drop Contemporary Thought II, which was the class that I was supposed to have form 5 to 7 tonight. I instead chose to take another class, which is in.... ENGLISH! BAM! It's going to be a lot easier now that my university level class is in a language I fully comprehend. I was able to do that because I'm taking 5 classes, which qualifies me for 1 English class. It's not a cop out, believe me. It's a class that will probably transfer as 1.5 credits because it requires an extra hour a week... fun fun. Hopefully, it'll be interesting. I figure if I can barely stand to read Nietzsche in English, what are the chances I'll find him comprehendable in Spanish? Tomorrow, we're going on a trip to Tarragona! We leave tomorrow night and return on Sunday. We're staying in this little place that is probably comparable to a bed and breakfast. Chris and I are hoping that we have our own room, because then girls will have to squish together... I'm an ass, I know. We're going to do a lot of traveling and sightseeing, so I'll have some pictures to put up on facebook.
Tonight, we all decided to scrap plans to do the Pub Crawl. We decided that it's better to be able to go out at our leisure, since the Pub Crawl starts at 9 and we need tickets to go. 9 is when dinner starts here and we didn't want to go out and eat (too much money), so we may just have a few drinks elsewhere.
Update on my love life: nothing to report (I know you all are pulling for me!) I saw this unbelieveable Spanish girl on the train today and I got really excited that she was holding a UPF folder... UPF stands for Universitat Pompeu Fabra (everything here is in Catalan), which is the university I'm studying at. I was thinking to myself, "YES! I could potentially have class with her!" but that's now doubtful, seeing as I transfered out of my only university Spanish class. I was joking with Katie Laz today about how awesome it would be if I introduced myself to this girl later on and she said, "You had me at hola..." If only...
After our meeting at the space, I hopped on the train and was on the way home when I realized the croissant was not going to be enough food. I was starving and ended up doing the unthinkable. Against my better judgment, I succumbed to temptation: I went to KFC. Now, those of you who know me (which SHOULD be all of you) know that I'm a sucker for fried chicken. It definitely made me feel at home when biting into that crispy goodness. I ordered the 2 piece meal, but didn't know how to ask for a breast and wing piece so I took my big brother Dan Hoyle's advice: I asked the cashier if he spoke english. Luckily he did and he looked like he was filipino! Although we're not entirely sure, we'll make the Barcelona Filipino count 2.
I took my food to go and headed back on the train. I was slightly ashamed because it was definitely a tell-tale sign that I am American. I felt like the KFC was a flag that was coveying the message, "EVERYONE LOOK! Here's an American who has no desire to learn our culture and eat our food! Stare at him in disgust!" Obviously, I overthought the situation because I'm sure Spanish people like their KFC every now and again otherwise, why would there be one in Spain? Anyways, I felt less embarassed when this guy walked on the train and was wearing a tie that had computer keys printed on them. It was the tackist thing I've ever seen which was extremely confusing. For the most part, men here are entirely metrosexual. They have great fashion sense and always dress to impress. Anyways, I thought there was no possible way that a chicken eating American and a tacky Spaniard could be topped... but it happened. On comes this Spaniard in this purple shirt that's half buttoned. He turns on his headphones and starts listening to his music. First comes the foot tap. Then comes the rhythmic snap. Then comes the little shuffle. Then comes the singing. I $h!t you not, this man was singing at the top of lungs on the train. He's saying over and over again, "Sunshine... Moonlight... Good Times... Boogie." After doing some research on Google (shoutout to Sarah Hoyle!), I discovered that it's from a song "Blame it on the Boogie" by the Jackson 5. He definitely skipped numerous words in the song and decide to just say the last word of each line in the chorus. Now keep in mind, his English isn't that great so he's doing all of this with an accent. I'm sitting there looking around to see if anyone else notices. Of course they do, but they try to keep a stern face. Now, I was blessed with many talents: I can crack my big toes without touching them, I can look at stairs quickly and know which foot I need to start off on to end up landing on my right foot (I'm slightly OCD). As you can see, I was born with numerous abilities. I was NOT born with the ability to be subtle. I start smirking and eventually get to the point where I bury my face in my hands because I'm trying so hard not to laugh. After 5 minutes of this, the guy finally does a pretty sweet spin and shuffle off the train, to the delight of everyone else and to the dissapointment of me.
I will leave it at that. There is no possible way I can top that. Goodnight and remember to always boogie.
I took my Spanish placement test. Don't ask me how I did because I honestly couldn't tell you: we'll find out tomorrow and that's when I'll worry. It really doesn't matter because I don't think they'll send me home if a did poorly... I think. Anyways, today was interesting nonetheless. We met up at the space and walked to the exam with Ana. Afterwards, a few of us had lunch on campus. Everything was pretty cheap and I had this croissant filled with "oozy" chocolate. It was very delicious and inspired Catie to buy one as well. Afterwards, we went back to the space and I went over my schedule with Ana. I decided to drop Contemporary Thought II, which was the class that I was supposed to have form 5 to 7 tonight. I instead chose to take another class, which is in.... ENGLISH! BAM! It's going to be a lot easier now that my university level class is in a language I fully comprehend. I was able to do that because I'm taking 5 classes, which qualifies me for 1 English class. It's not a cop out, believe me. It's a class that will probably transfer as 1.5 credits because it requires an extra hour a week... fun fun. Hopefully, it'll be interesting. I figure if I can barely stand to read Nietzsche in English, what are the chances I'll find him comprehendable in Spanish? Tomorrow, we're going on a trip to Tarragona! We leave tomorrow night and return on Sunday. We're staying in this little place that is probably comparable to a bed and breakfast. Chris and I are hoping that we have our own room, because then girls will have to squish together... I'm an ass, I know. We're going to do a lot of traveling and sightseeing, so I'll have some pictures to put up on facebook.
Tonight, we all decided to scrap plans to do the Pub Crawl. We decided that it's better to be able to go out at our leisure, since the Pub Crawl starts at 9 and we need tickets to go. 9 is when dinner starts here and we didn't want to go out and eat (too much money), so we may just have a few drinks elsewhere.
Update on my love life: nothing to report (I know you all are pulling for me!) I saw this unbelieveable Spanish girl on the train today and I got really excited that she was holding a UPF folder... UPF stands for Universitat Pompeu Fabra (everything here is in Catalan), which is the university I'm studying at. I was thinking to myself, "YES! I could potentially have class with her!" but that's now doubtful, seeing as I transfered out of my only university Spanish class. I was joking with Katie Laz today about how awesome it would be if I introduced myself to this girl later on and she said, "You had me at hola..." If only...
After our meeting at the space, I hopped on the train and was on the way home when I realized the croissant was not going to be enough food. I was starving and ended up doing the unthinkable. Against my better judgment, I succumbed to temptation: I went to KFC. Now, those of you who know me (which SHOULD be all of you) know that I'm a sucker for fried chicken. It definitely made me feel at home when biting into that crispy goodness. I ordered the 2 piece meal, but didn't know how to ask for a breast and wing piece so I took my big brother Dan Hoyle's advice: I asked the cashier if he spoke english. Luckily he did and he looked like he was filipino! Although we're not entirely sure, we'll make the Barcelona Filipino count 2.
I took my food to go and headed back on the train. I was slightly ashamed because it was definitely a tell-tale sign that I am American. I felt like the KFC was a flag that was coveying the message, "EVERYONE LOOK! Here's an American who has no desire to learn our culture and eat our food! Stare at him in disgust!" Obviously, I overthought the situation because I'm sure Spanish people like their KFC every now and again otherwise, why would there be one in Spain? Anyways, I felt less embarassed when this guy walked on the train and was wearing a tie that had computer keys printed on them. It was the tackist thing I've ever seen which was extremely confusing. For the most part, men here are entirely metrosexual. They have great fashion sense and always dress to impress. Anyways, I thought there was no possible way that a chicken eating American and a tacky Spaniard could be topped... but it happened. On comes this Spaniard in this purple shirt that's half buttoned. He turns on his headphones and starts listening to his music. First comes the foot tap. Then comes the rhythmic snap. Then comes the little shuffle. Then comes the singing. I $h!t you not, this man was singing at the top of lungs on the train. He's saying over and over again, "Sunshine... Moonlight... Good Times... Boogie." After doing some research on Google (shoutout to Sarah Hoyle!), I discovered that it's from a song "Blame it on the Boogie" by the Jackson 5. He definitely skipped numerous words in the song and decide to just say the last word of each line in the chorus. Now keep in mind, his English isn't that great so he's doing all of this with an accent. I'm sitting there looking around to see if anyone else notices. Of course they do, but they try to keep a stern face. Now, I was blessed with many talents: I can crack my big toes without touching them, I can look at stairs quickly and know which foot I need to start off on to end up landing on my right foot (I'm slightly OCD). As you can see, I was born with numerous abilities. I was NOT born with the ability to be subtle. I start smirking and eventually get to the point where I bury my face in my hands because I'm trying so hard not to laugh. After 5 minutes of this, the guy finally does a pretty sweet spin and shuffle off the train, to the delight of everyone else and to the dissapointment of me.
I will leave it at that. There is no possible way I can top that. Goodnight and remember to always boogie.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Waking up at Noon? Whoops...
Bored so I'm going to write a little bit. Woke up today at noon, right when Magda returned from work. Showered and then watched Spiderman 3. Some of the others started class today but I start tomorrow. Scared for this class because it's taught at university level spanish and it's called Contemporary Thought II. Iolanda reassured me that it's an interesting class but I'm still freaking out and the timing sucks since it starts at 5 and ends at 7. We don't start our other classes (HESP) until a few weeks, which shouldn't be too bad. Today, I met up with Katie, Catie, Lauren, and Chris for lunch at a place called Schilling. It was really good and I had the chicken baguette, which had chicken marinated in a sweet chili sauce. I came a little late and ordered separately, during which the waiter asked me if I was filipino. Turns out he was as well... that makes the Barcelona filipino count 1 (whoo hoo!). Afterward, I bought phone cards at a kiosk in the street to "recharge" my cell phone. Then came back home, where I'm currently watching the Eurosport 2 channel with Federer playing a match. In a little bit, I'm heading out to see a concert with the rest of the students in the program. Ana, one of the directors, is taking us. She's awesome and I had an interesting conversation with her the other day about European basketball and Pau Gasol. They LOVE him here and see the NBA as the big show. I explained to her how college basketball is huge in the states and how March Madness takes over everyone's lives. After the concert, we might get a few drinks but not too many since we have our placement tests tomorrow. Can't wait for Thursday night: PUB CRAWL! It's going to be awesome although, we need to make sure we're ready by 12:30 on Friday for our group excursion to Tarragona, which will last all weekend. Carlota, the program's main director said, "If you're old enough to go out, you're old enough to come on time." Vamos a ver.
Oh yeah! P.S. I just got engaged via facebook to Lindsey Eichler. The whole "long distance" thing could be disastrous, but we're willing to make it work
P.P.S. Just kidding Nanay (mom), I'm really not...
Oh yeah! P.S. I just got engaged via facebook to Lindsey Eichler. The whole "long distance" thing could be disastrous, but we're willing to make it work
P.P.S. Just kidding Nanay (mom), I'm really not...
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Lo es que ella dijo...
Here's a quick update. I'm doing well and I hope you all are too. Yesterday, I had orientation at "the space," which is where Trinity has its office. It took me about 35-45 minutes to get there by Metro. It has computers and reference books for us to use and we'll be having our core class there. Afterwards, we walked around the city and saw the university, which is beautiful. I have a placement test and class on Thursday. It's a bit overwhelming but I'm really excited. During lunch, I asked Iolanda, my student mentor, if anyone says "that's what she said." She said no and I then explained to her what a sexual innuendo is, as well as how it's used in the US and on the show, the Office. "Lo es que ella dijo." Later, we also walked all over the city and then I went back home. Magda and Magda are really awesome and I feel like a member of the family, which is amazing. Some of the other students don't see their host moms for days at a time, so I consider myself lucky. Also, everyone's jealous that I have satellite TV and can watch movies and shows in English (with a host sister that speaks english).
Last night, a group of us went into the city and found this Irish pub, Temple Bar. It was a nice place and I had my first Guinness. We then went out to a club called Catwalk. Nightlife is fun in Barcelona but the club wasn't that packed, seeing as the next day was a holiday. I took a taxi back home and had a great conversation with the driver. Normally, it takes me a few seconds to formulate my sentences in Spanish but when I'm drunk, I can speak Spanish quickly. He said that my Spanish is very good and that it's good that I'm studying in Barcelona. He said "if you're studying french, go to france; german, go to germany; spanish, go to BARCELONA! (emphasis was clearly indicated). Today is the day that they celebrate "Reyes", which is comparable to our Christmas. Madga squared bought me a present: a Green Day concert on DVD! Currently, Magda and I are on the couch with our laptops IMing people. She showed me pictures of her friends and her band and I showed her pictures of my family and friends (she especially liked the video of the Pike pledges dancing... especially when we all slap Champoux on the ass). Later, we're going to have a traditional cake to celebrate. There's a game that goes along with it: if your piece has a bean in it, you need to pay for the cake (although Magda assured me that she's paying no matter what). If you get a little figurine, you get praises and a potential toothache. I'm gunning for the figurine... Vamos a ver.
I love everything so far. Lauren took pictures last night so I'm sure they'll be up soon.
That's it. Take care!
Last night, a group of us went into the city and found this Irish pub, Temple Bar. It was a nice place and I had my first Guinness. We then went out to a club called Catwalk. Nightlife is fun in Barcelona but the club wasn't that packed, seeing as the next day was a holiday. I took a taxi back home and had a great conversation with the driver. Normally, it takes me a few seconds to formulate my sentences in Spanish but when I'm drunk, I can speak Spanish quickly. He said that my Spanish is very good and that it's good that I'm studying in Barcelona. He said "if you're studying french, go to france; german, go to germany; spanish, go to BARCELONA! (emphasis was clearly indicated). Today is the day that they celebrate "Reyes", which is comparable to our Christmas. Madga squared bought me a present: a Green Day concert on DVD! Currently, Magda and I are on the couch with our laptops IMing people. She showed me pictures of her friends and her band and I showed her pictures of my family and friends (she especially liked the video of the Pike pledges dancing... especially when we all slap Champoux on the ass). Later, we're going to have a traditional cake to celebrate. There's a game that goes along with it: if your piece has a bean in it, you need to pay for the cake (although Magda assured me that she's paying no matter what). If you get a little figurine, you get praises and a potential toothache. I'm gunning for the figurine... Vamos a ver.
I love everything so far. Lauren took pictures last night so I'm sure they'll be up soon.
That's it. Take care!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Days 1 and 2
So yeah, I’m in Spain. The past 2 days have been crazy. The flight from Boston to Frankfurt wasn’t too bad (although I sat next to a family of three and their daughter had the “I don’t care about anything except my Ipod touch” attitude, which was rather annoying). There was a little turbulence but it wasn’t anything too bad. (Special note for Sarah and Allison: one the plane, I knew that it’d be a good semester abroad because on the flight, they showed a movie starring none other than the one and only Diane Lane! What a cougar… I ended up reading while listening to the movie purposely set on the Spanish option so that I’d get used to it.) The first flight took a little more than 6 hours. When we landed in Frankfurt, we had to get our passports stamped by this customs agent who was somewhat of an ass and didn’t show any emotion. I wasted a perfectly good thank you on him. I didn’t get much sleep and ended up napping for most of my flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona. I traveled with Cait, Lauren, and Emma, who are also doing the Trinity-in-Barcelona Program and it was nice not to travel alone.
After getting our suitcases from the baggage claim, we walked out to the lobby where my host mother Magda and the program coordinator Carlota were waiting, along with the other families. Magda is AWESOME and I couldn’t have asked for a better host mother. We started walking towards the car and I was thinking to myself “shit, I actually have to speak some Spanish now.” It wasn’t bad at all and she asked me about the food that I like and about my life in general (told her about how I HATE fish, but I didn’t mention my specific hatred of tuna). P.S. Pike brothers: unfortunately there are no fraternities in Barcelona so it looks like I’ll just have to run into a Pike by chance. It was hilarious because she drives this little two-seater that’s really nice and sleek (made by some car company I’ve never heard of). We finally arrived at her place, in which she lives on the primer piso (which is actually the second floor of the building). It’s a really nice place and is well decorated. I have a little room that’s really cozy: Magda keeps all of her books in here (she’s a Lit Professor) so it should motivate me to do some work every once in a while. I met my host sister, also named Magda, who’s really awesome. She’s a first year student at another university studying engineering. She speaks English really well and when I say really well, I mean PERFECTLY. She has better grammar than I have…go figure. She’s a hard rocker and listens to music like the Ramones, Green Day, AC/DC, Kiss, etc. It was cool chilling with her and talking about music and movies in English. We had la comida at 2 (really late for lunch in the U.S. but right on time in Spain) and we talked about the house rules, what beer is popular in Spain (and America… they’ve never heard of Bud Light), etc. The house rules are simple: what’s theirs is mine. She said that she considers me to be equal to her daughter and I can help myself to whatever’s in the fridge (kind of dangerous for me). She told me to bring her my laundry every day and she’ll do it, which is awesome. I definitely lucked out with the housing: they even got me a new bed that is incredibly comfortable.
After a nap, Madga (older) walked with me to the train station to take “the Metro.” It’s about a 5-10 minute walk, which I’ll need to take everyday in order to get to class. It’ll take me approximately one hour to get to class everyday because I need to walk 10 minutes to the Metro station, take the green line to the yellow line, and then walk a few blocks to the university. Hopefully, I’ll get used to the additional exercise plus, the weather is a lot warmer than I anticipated. It’s still cold, but it’s not freezing. I’d say roughly 40 degrees outside, but it feels a lot warmer because the sun’s always out. I took the greenline to a stop (parada) called Fontana. I met up with the three girls and my student mentor, Iolanda. Iolanda is unbelievably funny. She’s very sociable and open, although she mainly talks to us in Spanish. Her English is perfect and she can also speak Catalan, German, and French. It’s pretty ridiculous and impressive at the same time. She said that we need to speak as much Spanish as possible, even on our own because the group from the semester before us spoke too much English and some people didn’t improve their Spanish (thanks Darby…). We walked to this place whose name I don’t remember but it was really nice. There was a stage and theater on the inside, but the main room had tables for people to sit down and drink. I think Lauren captured it best, “this place looks like the one in Harry Potter” because the walls had sculptures/heads sticking out of it. They basically had a Jack Johnson CD playing, which was comforting. It’s funny because a lot of the music played on the radio is American, something I didn’t expect. After two beers (which Trinity paid for), we took the Metro back.
Today, I went to the department store, “el Corte Ingles” and bought an adapter for my laptop. It took me FOREVER to find it because I thought it’d be by the electronics but no, of course it was in the basement with the electrical supplies. I walked around for about an hour looking at everything (my favorite item was the DVD titled, “el Caballero Oscuro” which translated means, the Dark Knight) and finally mustered up enough courage to ask a sale associate (a big step in my book). He probably thought I was a dumbass or what not but I finally found it. It helps that I stopped at a Starbucks on my way back and ordered an iced chai (made me miss home a little bit). The walk back was very satisfying because I survived my first trip to a Spanish store, had an iced chai, bought my adapter and plus, the weather was beautiful. Everyone in Spain has a dog and it was really sad when I saw a beagle that looked just like Toby. It was all good, because I realized during my walk today that I’m going to love spending the semester here (an assessment that’s a little premature, but hopefully will prove to be true).
So the people in Spain take their lunch seriously. I just had a lunch that lasted 2.5 hours (insert one of Mike’s “sweet Jesus” here). We had paella (without fish) and then had a few more dishes before we polished it off with a glass of champagne. Afterward, we played a marathon dominoes game in which I won once and the two Magdas tying for first. La señora’s friend Mercedes came by to join us and she definitely lived up to her name: large earrings, hands and neck flooded with jewelry, fur shall, etc. Over la comida, the ever-popular topic of American politics took place with Obama as the main topic. Everyone approves of him for the most part and I’m sure I’ll be asked about him many more times in the future.
All right, this is ridiculously long as is. I’ll update again later. ¡Hasta luego!
After getting our suitcases from the baggage claim, we walked out to the lobby where my host mother Magda and the program coordinator Carlota were waiting, along with the other families. Magda is AWESOME and I couldn’t have asked for a better host mother. We started walking towards the car and I was thinking to myself “shit, I actually have to speak some Spanish now.” It wasn’t bad at all and she asked me about the food that I like and about my life in general (told her about how I HATE fish, but I didn’t mention my specific hatred of tuna). P.S. Pike brothers: unfortunately there are no fraternities in Barcelona so it looks like I’ll just have to run into a Pike by chance. It was hilarious because she drives this little two-seater that’s really nice and sleek (made by some car company I’ve never heard of). We finally arrived at her place, in which she lives on the primer piso (which is actually the second floor of the building). It’s a really nice place and is well decorated. I have a little room that’s really cozy: Magda keeps all of her books in here (she’s a Lit Professor) so it should motivate me to do some work every once in a while. I met my host sister, also named Magda, who’s really awesome. She’s a first year student at another university studying engineering. She speaks English really well and when I say really well, I mean PERFECTLY. She has better grammar than I have…go figure. She’s a hard rocker and listens to music like the Ramones, Green Day, AC/DC, Kiss, etc. It was cool chilling with her and talking about music and movies in English. We had la comida at 2 (really late for lunch in the U.S. but right on time in Spain) and we talked about the house rules, what beer is popular in Spain (and America… they’ve never heard of Bud Light), etc. The house rules are simple: what’s theirs is mine. She said that she considers me to be equal to her daughter and I can help myself to whatever’s in the fridge (kind of dangerous for me). She told me to bring her my laundry every day and she’ll do it, which is awesome. I definitely lucked out with the housing: they even got me a new bed that is incredibly comfortable.
After a nap, Madga (older) walked with me to the train station to take “the Metro.” It’s about a 5-10 minute walk, which I’ll need to take everyday in order to get to class. It’ll take me approximately one hour to get to class everyday because I need to walk 10 minutes to the Metro station, take the green line to the yellow line, and then walk a few blocks to the university. Hopefully, I’ll get used to the additional exercise plus, the weather is a lot warmer than I anticipated. It’s still cold, but it’s not freezing. I’d say roughly 40 degrees outside, but it feels a lot warmer because the sun’s always out. I took the greenline to a stop (parada) called Fontana. I met up with the three girls and my student mentor, Iolanda. Iolanda is unbelievably funny. She’s very sociable and open, although she mainly talks to us in Spanish. Her English is perfect and she can also speak Catalan, German, and French. It’s pretty ridiculous and impressive at the same time. She said that we need to speak as much Spanish as possible, even on our own because the group from the semester before us spoke too much English and some people didn’t improve their Spanish (thanks Darby…). We walked to this place whose name I don’t remember but it was really nice. There was a stage and theater on the inside, but the main room had tables for people to sit down and drink. I think Lauren captured it best, “this place looks like the one in Harry Potter” because the walls had sculptures/heads sticking out of it. They basically had a Jack Johnson CD playing, which was comforting. It’s funny because a lot of the music played on the radio is American, something I didn’t expect. After two beers (which Trinity paid for), we took the Metro back.
Today, I went to the department store, “el Corte Ingles” and bought an adapter for my laptop. It took me FOREVER to find it because I thought it’d be by the electronics but no, of course it was in the basement with the electrical supplies. I walked around for about an hour looking at everything (my favorite item was the DVD titled, “el Caballero Oscuro” which translated means, the Dark Knight) and finally mustered up enough courage to ask a sale associate (a big step in my book). He probably thought I was a dumbass or what not but I finally found it. It helps that I stopped at a Starbucks on my way back and ordered an iced chai (made me miss home a little bit). The walk back was very satisfying because I survived my first trip to a Spanish store, had an iced chai, bought my adapter and plus, the weather was beautiful. Everyone in Spain has a dog and it was really sad when I saw a beagle that looked just like Toby. It was all good, because I realized during my walk today that I’m going to love spending the semester here (an assessment that’s a little premature, but hopefully will prove to be true).
So the people in Spain take their lunch seriously. I just had a lunch that lasted 2.5 hours (insert one of Mike’s “sweet Jesus” here). We had paella (without fish) and then had a few more dishes before we polished it off with a glass of champagne. Afterward, we played a marathon dominoes game in which I won once and the two Magdas tying for first. La señora’s friend Mercedes came by to join us and she definitely lived up to her name: large earrings, hands and neck flooded with jewelry, fur shall, etc. Over la comida, the ever-popular topic of American politics took place with Obama as the main topic. Everyone approves of him for the most part and I’m sure I’ll be asked about him many more times in the future.
All right, this is ridiculously long as is. I’ll update again later. ¡Hasta luego!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Day -1
Hello all,
So instead of sending emails to everyone and potentially flooding your inboxes, I've decided to start a blog so you can all follow along with my adventures in Barcelona at your leisure. I can't guarantee that these posts will be interesting, but I'll try my best to keep everyone entertained (myself included).
Let's get the ball rolling...
I'm leaving tomorrow, with my flight departing at 4:35 p.m. After stopping off in Germany, I'll be in Barcelona by Saturday morning. My host mom and sister seem very nice and I look forward to meeting them. Other than that, not much else to add. I'll be posting again once I'm in Barcelona.
And in case you were not entertained:
Where can you find a one-legged dog?
-Right where you left it
I giggled. That's all that matters.
So instead of sending emails to everyone and potentially flooding your inboxes, I've decided to start a blog so you can all follow along with my adventures in Barcelona at your leisure. I can't guarantee that these posts will be interesting, but I'll try my best to keep everyone entertained (myself included).
Let's get the ball rolling...
I'm leaving tomorrow, with my flight departing at 4:35 p.m. After stopping off in Germany, I'll be in Barcelona by Saturday morning. My host mom and sister seem very nice and I look forward to meeting them. Other than that, not much else to add. I'll be posting again once I'm in Barcelona.
And in case you were not entertained:
Where can you find a one-legged dog?
-Right where you left it
I giggled. That's all that matters.
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