PERI: Andrew and the Pope visit BCN

Well it has been a very eventful week (? two weeks?... sorry!) since I last wrote.  On the 27th my fiance Andrew flew in for a week long visit!  Needless to say, it was fantastic to see him.  His first few experiences in BCN were not very pleasant ones.  Being blonde, I usually get a lot of unwanted attention from the local men, and I was really hoping that this would subside having Drew with me.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  Right off the bat we had people saying very nasty things to us, always ending in "Americanos".  Not only did we get negative attention because we are American, we also got negative attention from the older people because we are an interracial couple.  It really bothered Drew at first, but we learned to make a game with it, and it seemed like the staring and talking lightened up.  That aside, we had a wonderful time!  We did a lot of things: some things that I had never done before, and others that are my favorite things to do around here.  My favorite thing was going to the Labyrinth Park, I had never been before and it was so beautiful and romantic!

Eating gelato in the big market :)

Labyrinth

I am so thankful that he was able to come out here, he has a much better perspective of what my life is like over here now.  My words and stories are just not enough to convey my experiences.  It was really bittersweet saying goodbye; he reminded me of how much I miss home.  BUT, I only have 7 weeks left here, I can't believe it!  The upcoming weekend is the only weekend I have free until I go home... where has the time gone!?!

Fountain in Parque de la Cuidatella 

After Drew left, I spent the weekend catching up on homework and crossing things off my to-do list.  The one thing that I did plan to do this past weekend was head down to La Sagrada Familia Cathedral on Sunday (yesterday) because the Pope was paying Barcelona a visit!  La Sagrada Familia is the famous cathedral designed by Gaudi.  The church has been under construction for almost 100 years and is still not finished!  However, the Pope was coming to consecrate it so that mass can be held there every Sunday.  This is the first time in 20 years that the Pope has been in BCN, so there has been a lot of buzz about it for a long time.  Some people were very excited that he would be in town; others were outraged.  I found out that the cause for anger is not directed at the Catholic church, or at the Pope himself, but at the government.  It cost Spain 7 million Euro (about 9.75 million dollars) to bring the Pope here, and with the state that the country is in financially..... people get a little upset.  We had heard about several riots/protests that were supposed to take place and so we were a little leery of going out, but we decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Turns out, it was not the riots we needed to watch out for...  Myself, my roommate Elizabeth, and another girl from our program Jessica, went out about 10:45am in order to catch the Pope's exit from the cathedral at 12:45.  About 500,000 people were expected to be in this area today so many makeshift squares were set up to accommodate all the people.  Before it started to get really packed, Jessica made a comment about how there were a lot of paramedics and hospital stations around because of the large number of elderly people in attendance (and as it turns out... not just the elderly need them).  Of course, the day's events were running on "Spain time" and at 1:30, the Pope had still not made his exit, and was showing no signs of getting ready to.  By this time, we are pretty packed into this space, us 3 girls were about 4 rows of people back from the barrier on the street.  Long story short, I started to feel a little weak, so I told myself to take deep breaths, don't lock my knees, etc.  I turned to Elizabeth and said "I feel like I am going to pass out" (which I didn't mean literally at the time!), I took a deep breath and closed my eyes and the next thing I know, I am on the ground and I feel like I just woke up from a nap!   Cops and paramedics came out of the crowd to help me up and half-carry me to the ambulance that was close by.  I was in the ambulance for about 20 minutes, one of the paramedics spoke no English, and the other just a little, but they checked my blood sugar, heart rate, respirations, and took my blood pressure about 7 or 8 times.  I believe the reason I passed out was because of low blood pressure: I was hydrated, I had slept and eaten breakfast, and it was not hot in the crowd of people.  I don't remember any of this but apparently after I said I thought I was going to pass out I started to sway so Jessica grabbed me by the jacket and helped me fall gracefully to the ground.  It was a very strange experience!  I am glad that the paramedics were so responsive and were close by and that I had good friends to help me out.  The rest of the day I hydrated and rested, and today I am feeling much better.  Alas, I did not end up seeing the Pope :(.  I hear his exit was very disappointing though: he flew through the crowd in his PopeMobile, without slowing for the cliche parade waves or anything!  Well, that is all for now, sorry for the novel!!!

The last picture I took before I went down!  Lots of people!

MITZI: Morocco!

Before we left the states ISA offered us a chance to take an optional excursion to Morocco.  It was something I had to pay extra for, but I jumped at the chance to go to Africa because I didn’t know if I will ever get the chance to go again.

It was incredible.

A five day trip through the straight of Gibraltar, to the cities of Fes and Meknes, and the Sahara desert.  It was a very humbling trip, for I have never been to a third-world country before, and I feel like I have an ever bigger world view now. 

We left Sevilla at 4 in the morning on Friday and didn’t get into Fes until late afternoon.  The crossing of the border between Morocco and Spain was an interesting thing to see.  After crossing the straight we were physically on the continent of Africa, but in a city called Ceuta, a Spanish province in Africa, so technically still in Spain.  It was there that we crossed the border.  Our ISA directors told us that the Moroccans have an agreement with Spain to have to ability to cross into Ceuta to buy things that Morocco may not have, such as diapers.  It was something that you really have to see to be able to understand, but we were not allowed to take pictures while we were crossing.

Our first night in Fes was pretty relaxing.  A group of my friends and I decided to get some coffee/tea at a tea house near our hotel before dinner.

One thing that Morocco is known for: mint tea.  Needless to say I feel in love.

Walking around the city I felt very out of place.  All the men just stare, and there are hardly any women out, for in the Muslim culture they are not allowed out unless they are married.  Also, it was more like we were in the Middle East than in Africa.  Morocco is 98% Muslim and obviously close to Egypt, so that in itself wasn’t something I was really expecting.

The next day in Fes we basically spent our whole day in the medina.  The medina is an antique marketplace in the city consisting of over 1900 small narrow pedestrian (and donkey!) streets with small venders lining the streets.

View from above of the Medina.

WATCH OUT! Donkey coming through!

They sold anything and everything.  We went to a “pharmacy,” a kind-of apothecary store where they sold spices, perfumes, and beauty products.  We also went to an authentic Moroccan rug store, a ceramic store, a leather store, and my favorite, a linen store where they sold hand woven scarves and linens.

"Pharmacy"

Leather shoes!

The following day was basically another day of travel.  It took us a good 8 hours to get to the Sahara desert.  We arrived at the outskirts of the desert after dusk and then took 4x4 jeeps into our campsite.  We stayed in “Haimas,” basically star wars style tents made of sticks and blankets.  It was awesome.  The first night my friends and I decided to sleep outside under the stars.  It was freezing cold, but totally worth it.  Beautiful scenery. 

Our campsite.  The "Haimas"

"In realizing our own insignificance in the whole of the universe, we
are dumbstruck by a realization of God's indescribable vastness and also
his most loving intentions.:"

The next day we spent a full day in the desert.  We rode camels to one of the big sand dunes and climbed to the top where we were able to see Algeria.

Turban wearin', camel ridin' girl. :)

We explored one of the little desert towns and were followed around by little Berber kids.  I met a couple of Berbers who spoke over 5 languages!  It was really cool to talk to them, when they weren’t trying to sell me stuff...  Their culture is so so so different than ours, it was a very interesting experience.  Actually one of them added me on facebook as soon as I got home which I thought was interesting because their town doesn’t even have clean water, but they have internet!

The next two days were basically just road-tripping it back to Spain.  It was a beautiful drive.

An African view.

By this time more than half of our group, including myself, was Africa sick, meaning we had some interesting smells and “emergency stops,” where you would see some kid running up a hill to find a rock or tree.... Not very enjoyable, but still totally worth it.

Katie and I on the ferry on the Straight of Gibraltar on the way home.  Beautiful sunset.

My trip to Morocco was definitely a unique experience of a lifetime.  It was humbling to see such a dichotomy of rich and poor, and also to see the vastness of this world.  It made me realize even more my own insignificance and gave me even more of a drive to make a difference in this world.

MITZI: Tranquility and Parks

As my time here is progressing I am beginning to find my niche in Sevilla.  I am still finding new things I love about the city everyday, but I am also finding my favorite places that I tend to return.

I went to the alcazar (palace) again because I loved it so much the first time.  And I fell in love with this door.

Real Alcazar.  Round two.

  One new thing that I discovered here is actually quite embarrassing.  I knew that Maria Lousia Park was very close to my apartment, and I had been in it a couple times but only for short periods of time.  I never realized how big it was and how magnificent the Plazas that rest in it are.  Specifically Plaza de España.  It’s near the entrance to the park and is simply glorious.  They just newly renovated it and it has benches tiled specifically for every city in Spain!  Very unique, I quite enjoy it.

Plaza de España

 I decided to go running through the park last weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find the Plaza and little places in the park perfect for reading and relaxing.

Parque Maria Lousia

Perfect reading place. :)

Plaza de España. Courtsey of Google search, they can do what I can't when I don't have my photographer boyfriend with me.

  I love love love love love love love the atmosphere here in Spain.  Everyone and everything is so tranquil.  It’s normal here to just go for a walk and get lost in your thoughts or chat with your friends.  I love it.  No stress, no pressure, no agenda.  Just simply to enjoy life and appreciate what is around you. 

PERI: The Start of Fall

Sorry I have been a little delinquent in my blog writing, I cannot believe how fast time is passing here!  The weather has really changed in the past week or so;  we are no longer able to lounge on the beach (pout!!) and a jacket is definitely necessary when leaving the house in the morning.  I have midterms in the upcoming week and the Monday after;  I am a little unsure about how those will go... the structure of classes here is very different from the States, things are not as straight forward.  However, I feel like I am one of the most prepared students in both of my classes, so I am not worried.  Spanish class is going well, I feel like my Spanish is improving everyday.  It is still a bit difficult to speak with my host mom because of her accent and her strong tendency to mix Catalan words in with Spanish.  One thing that really helps me though is listening to the news.  Every night at dinner the TV is turned on to the news, and although that would be an odd dinner behavior in my house back home, I enjoy listening to the newscasters because they have a nice pace and little accent.

Last weekend Elizabeth and I went to Tarragona, a province about an hour by train south of Barcelona.  Tarragona is famous for its Roman ruins.  It was great to see the ancient amphitheater, palaces, and prison (and even more great because it only cost 5 Euro for students to see all the cites!).  I am really trying to be frugal these days, the worth of the American dollar seems to keep going down compared to the Euro, it seems like the conversion rate is getting consistently worse unfortunately for us American students.

Roman Amphitheater (notice the LC shirt) ;)

This week I learned something VERY cool about where I live.  In my History of Barcelona class, we are learning about the Gothic Quarter, and more specifically, the Jewish Quarter of Barcelona.  In one of our class readings discussing the remaining buildings from this period, MY ADDRESS was mentioned several times!  "Other notable features are part of the [Roman] wall with the walkway across the top and a tower at [my address]... , excavated in 1996... The remaining part of this defensive construction must be partly hidden inside the buildings".  The article also says that that origins of my building were built in the 14th or 15th century.  COOL!  My profesora was very impressed that I get to live here (and I feel very lucky too!).

The part of my street that the article is referring to (my house on the left)

Time passes very strangely here: the days seem to go by too slow (a 16+ hour day here is very normal... hence the siestas), the nights go by too fast, and it seems like the weeks are just disappearing!  This weekend we are traveling to Valencia with our ISA group.  I am so excited I can hardly contain myself for next week.... Andrew, my fiance, is coming to visit for a week!!! :)  After he leaves I have two free weekends then an ISA trip to Girona, Spain, then for Thanksgiving and my birthday I am going to visit Mitzi in Sevilla, then we have our Rome trip, finals week, and then one final trip to Geneva, Switzerland that we booked this week!  It is going to be pretty hectic, but very exciting. All these trips are helping this time fly by until I go home to see my loved ones again!  As much as I love it here, I have to admit that Christmas time is going to be a very very happy time for me :).

MITZI: Midterms and Daily Life

I first want to apologize for not posting sooner.  Time is flying by here, ridiculously fast.  Two months from today I will be home.  Right in time for Christmas, which by the way I think will be my best Christmas yet.  :)  It’s been hard to be away from home, but skype and google talk, and all forms of communication, help me stay in tuned with home.

I am right smack dab in the middle of midterm week right now, and in fact, I should be studying, but I don’t think my mind can take any more Spanish right now.  There are some times here where I am super tired and I physically have to force myself to concentrate when my mamá or whoever is talking to me.  It’s hard!!  I feel like my brain goes on overload and can’t comprehend what they are saying.  Or I will focus on one word and try to translate it in my head, but when I start listening again I missed the ten following words...  I felt like I hit a wall with my comprehension and speaking abilities for a while, but now I feel like I am getting back into the swing of things and feel more confident.

So yes, midterms.  Tomorrow I have a midterm oral exam for my Spanish conversation class where I have to talk with my partner for ten minutes straight about a specific theme (such as food, movies, our childhood, our plans for the future, etc.).  Needless to say it is a bit difficult and we have spent countless hours these past couple of days in Starbucks practicing.  I can only imagine what we sound like to Spaniards trying to enjoy a cup of coffee... Ha.  I also have my midterm for my one class in English tomorrow: History of Spanish Art, which should be interesting.  I have more on thursday and next week but I don’t feel like writing about them because it just reminds me of all that I have to do.

I figure that it might help to understand a typical day for me here in Sevilla.  On weekdays I get up around 730 or 930 depending on classes and make myself breakfast.  I have become addicted to tostadas con aceite, which is toasted french bread with lots of olive oil on it.  Yumm.  Definitely bringing that addiction back to the states. :)  After breakfast I get ready for classes and take the metro (about a 40 minute commute) to school.  I have two classes Monday through Thursday and am home for lunch around 230pm with my family each day.  Every day lunch and dinner are provided for Katie and I, which has been wonderful.  Usually after lunch I will take a little siesta.  Afterwords I will meet with a friend, do homework, go for a walk, or whatever really.  It’s super relaxed and I love it.  Then I have dinner around 9pm and occasionally get together with a friend and go out for dessert.  It’s been great so far. :)

With love,
Mitzi

PERI: General Strike, Mont Serrat, and some Lakers :)

     I swear that things never cease to amaze me here!  Since La Mercé, I have not seen any human towers or people being chased with fireworks, but I have seen some unprecedented things nonetheless!  On September 30th, there was a "Vaga General" (General Strike in Catalan) throughout the country.  The Spanish economy is in very bad shape: the government has had to cut wages, hours, benefits, and jobs in many many areas of work.  Hence, the two main trade unions in the country organized a general strike, the first in the country since 2002.  According to several news stations, it would be "business as usual" throughout the country... this could not be farther from the truth.
     Our program warned us of the possibilities of what could be going on here; they told us that it would be wise to stay in as much as possible, be cautious and aware, but that everything should be just fine.  Our culture classes were cancelled for the day, but language classes were still going to be in session.  My profesora assured us that she would be there (even though the metro would only be running at 25% of their capacity), and that if is was at all possible for us to get to school, that we needed to.  So, the morning of the strike, Elizabeth and I head out for school.  Everything was deathly quiet: shops not preparing to open, no one in the usually-crowded square except for policemen, no men handing out the morning paper, no people with their dogs and strollers in the park... it was eerie.  So we arrive at school and cannot get through the main doors because large protester's banners had been placed over the doors.  We made it in a side door and up to our classes.  Four other students were waiting outside my class as well; we waited about ten minutes, then I decided to text Elizabeth.  She told me that no one showed up at her class, and one of our friend's professors told her that all classes were cancelled because of a large mob that was at the school earlier.  She said that the mob would have come into classes and made them be dismissed, so the professors were telling their students to go home... scary!

      We then decided to go home.  After resting for a few hours, I became very restless and wanted to get out of the room.  Elizabeth and I decided to go out and see what was going on, which was nothing (thankfully).  Garbage-men (which are normally astonishingly efficient) were on strike, so trash was strewn all over the streets, making them smelly and difficult to walk through, but other than that there were not many physical signs of the strike.  I am thankful that our area was so quiet, in other parts of the city, this was not the case.  There were mobs of protestors taking over empty buildings, smashing in store windows and stealing merchandise (Levi's store that I know of), burning trash cans in the streets, blocking off roads, and even, as the picture below shows, burning police cars. ¡Qué fuerte!  It was scary being here in the country and not realizing the full weight of this issue, and not knowing how much the situation was going to progress, and only partially knowing what people are capable of.

Police car-- lit on fire by strikers

Mob of strikers and policemen in Plaza Catalunya-- pictures from Demotix news site

    The strike was held on a Wednesday, and luckily, Thursday things really were back to normal.  On Sunday myself, Elizabeth, and two other girls from our program took a day trip to Montserrat.  Montserrat is about and hour and a half outside of Barcelona by train, and it is a gorgeous mountainous area that looks completely different from the landscape around the city.  Montserrat was, and still is today, a monastery for Benedictine monks; today however, it is also a popular tourist spot.  Once we got off the train, we had to take the furnacular (cable car) to the top of the mountain.  We arrived in the morning, so it was still very foggy and chilly, but luckily as the day went on, the fog wore off.  The buildings surrounding the monastery were gorgeous, and the mountain views are nothing short of incredible.  When the fog was slowly working its way up the mountain and also burning off on top from the sun, I honestly felt as though we were in some strange limbo between heaven and earth, it was breathtaking.  We didn't go into the museum, but we took a 40 minute hike over to a cross on another peak of the mountain.  It was a lovely day trip :).

 Furnacular up to the monastery

 The monastery

 The monastery and other buildings are on the left, cross is barely visible on the far right

    Tonight, the Lakers play Barcelona's Basketball team.  The whole city is buzzing over it because Pau Gasol of the Lakers is from Spain.  We had been hearing rumors about a 2 on 2 tournament between Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and 2 Spanish players.  After hearing bits and pieces, we finally heard of a definite place (a court set up by Foot Locker and Nike in a remote and kind of ghetto back alley) and time.  We went early because we new that it was probably going to be crazy.  I am so glad we did!  There was only one way to get in, and we needed a ticket... dang it!  After talking to the guard at the gate (a little), we stood hopefully waiting for some chance to get in.  Then, one by one, he started slipping us tickets to go in!  All of our group got in and was able to sit together, yay!  We waited over 2 and a half hours to even see Kobe (fashionably late?) and I ended up missing class because it went so long past when it was supposed to, which I hadn't planned on doing.  It was really cool to get to  see Kobe and Pau! Kobe was very relaxed and comfortable and was joking around with the other players.  After the 2 on 2 tournament of various teams of young players finished, the 4 professional players all sat down for a short interview with the commentator.  They then played a short (very short) game of 2 on 2... it was 16 seconds long... But, it was very cool to see the players (especially when the whole city is so excited about them being here), and just feel the electric energy of the whole scene. 

Left to right: Ricky Rubio, Kobe Bryant, Juan Carlos Nevarro, Pau Gasol

 

Spray paint murals they were completing while we watched... very talented!

MITZI: Sevilla

Yesterday I took a little stroll around my part of town, Nervión.  It’s the newer part of the city, mostly apartments.  I found a super cute park and lots of little restaurants along the street. 

Park in Nervión

I slowly made my way toward the city center, where the cathedral and my favorite part of the city, barrio de santa cruz, is.  I randomly met up with some girls I knew from school and had lunch with them.  It was a good day.

One random thing that I saw a dominos delivery guy... on a motorcycle! Haha I loved it! So awesome!  It had a place for the pizzas on the back and everything!  It makes complete sense too because the streets are so narrow in some places.  On my way back I also saw two couples who had just gotten married.  So cute.  It’s crazy if you go to the center on a saturday, you can just follow people who are super dressed up and end up at a wedding, because they are public!  At least that is what someone told me, and I am definitely going to try it out.

How about a "get-away" horse drawn carriage? :)

One thing that I am really starting to get tired of is how men treat women here.  It is so common to be objectified and cat-called, it is starting to not phase me anymore.  Here we call them “viejos verdes,” they are really just guys who have a cultural license to be rude to women.  They will kiss at you, say super inappropriate stuff, laugh, point, and just stare.  I knew that this would happen when I came, so I wasn’t surprised or anything, it’s just annoying.

I am really really really happy with my living situation.  Katie and I talk a lot about how lucky we are to have a really great host family.  We are all starting to bond a little more, and understand each other’s personalities.  I really like having an older brother to joke around with, and my grandma is freaking hilarious (like most grandmas, always saying the most random, inappropriate stuff), and my mamá is so sweet, I feel like she really actually cares about us.  This weekend she left to go out with a friend and I was staying home, so she came into my room and gave me two kisses “dos besitos” on the cheek.  It was just really comforting.

Today I went to a Spanish Baptist church.  It was two and a half hours long. No joke.  But I really liked it, I was able to understand the gist of what the pastor was saying if I really concentrated.  It was different from the churches back a home, obviously, but it was still a good experience.  It’s just nice to know that it is something that connects people from all parts of the world. :)