The Other Football Club and Birthday

So for my sports class we go on a fair amount of field trips to check out some of the local sports culture (i.e. Olympic Museum). Last week we went to see the other football club in Barcelona, RCD Espanyol (Real Club Deportes--Royal Sports Club Espanyol). Our teacher (Dawn Hiscock, and yes that is her real name) explained that this club is the smaller club that gets forgotten about in Barcelona. From a tourist's point of view, I kind of picture them as the White Sox to the Cubs (sorry Sox fans that read this) or the Mets to the Yankees in that every tourist will come to Chicago or New York and want to see a game at Wrigley Field or Yankee Stadium. Here, everyone wants to see a Barca game, and most don't even know that Espanyol exists. Anyhoo, the stadium was brand new and very nice. They designed it so that it could be used all year round for concerts (the Black Eyed Peas are playing there next weekend), corporate events or any other need that people have for a large stadium.

Other than that news, I have been kinda just hanging out since I got back from France last weekend. Classes are still going ok and I have been trying to see more of the city. I will try to get to Sagrada Familia this week (maybe tomorrow), but I also have to go check out the Sant Antoni neighborhood and find a grocery store and wine store I have been told for Mom, Liz and Jake. I love this city and all of my new friends I have made here, but it will be nice to see some familiar faces this coming week. I think that's all for now, and I promise to stay alive whilst celebrating my birthday this evening.

Observation of the day: Spanish students in the dorm
The Spanish students in the dorm are all super nice and seem very eager to talk to us. We learned a couple weeks ago that American students in years past have stayed to themselves and not even approached the locals in the dorm, whereas we have been eating with them, going out with them and talking at every opportunity with them. I find it fascinating to talk to them about their feelings toward the US (I have heard one person say they don't know anything about it, one who hated our policies and another thanking us for being the only nation with the cajones to do anything internationally controversial). I also learn interesting stuff about Spain--such as most of my discussion on the reasons Catalonia hates the rest of Spain and that the 1 Euro bottles of wine we buy to pre-game are usually reserved for homeless people. All-in-all, they are students. They study, they party, they are as curious about us as we are of them and I'm glad we are here with them. Pictures below--and the last picture is of the two girls that live next door, Rachel and Marisa. . . they are in my class as well.

France

I apologize for the lay-off, but I have been busy and sick. . . a rough combination. We got back from France last Sunday evening just in time for me to wish a certain someone happy Father's Day. We spent our nights and the majority of our time over the weekend in the French town of Carcassonne. We explored there Friday and saw the remains of the old castle dating back a thousand years (I always forget how much older stuff is here than in the States). Then the next morning we took a hike up a mountain to see a couple more castles that were perched right on top of some hills. See the pictures below for the views. During the whole trip the weather was cool, so our boat trip down the Canal du Midi in the rain was not that great--and probably has something to do with the awful sore throat and runny nose I have right now. There canal itself would have been very pretty in the sun so try to imagine that in the pictures below. Then on Sunday, we visited an abbey full of monks and the town of Perpignan. Both were very picturesque (even though we didn't actually see any monks) but again, the weather was not ideal.

Sunday when we got back, we walked over to Kitty's Irish Pub a couple blocks away and watched the Brazil-Ivory Coast game. I had one of the best burgers I have ever had (America included) with cheese, grilled onions and bacon. Anyhoo, tomorrow is the biggest holiday in Barcelona during the summer, Dia de San Juan, during which they apparently light tons of stuff on fire all night and blow off massive amounts of fireworks. Should be fun.

Observation of the day: Pharmacies
I'm sick, so this one has to do with getting drugs in Spain. The only thing you can buy in a grocery store here are vitamin c pills (of which I have a large stash). To get anything from cough drops to ibuprofen to Viagra to medicinal marijuana you have to go to a pharmacy. I just thought that was interesting, pictures below.

FC Barca and some cool fountains

On last Sunday night we went down the the Plaza Espanya and saw a really cool fountain show right in front of that national palace that there are pictures of in one of my first posts. The best part was that it was free!!! The pictures below don't really do it justice, so I would recommend going to see it if you are ever in Barcelona.

Today we went to the FC Barcelona museum at their stadium, Camp Nou. We didn't really spend much time in the actual museum, we just wanted to see the stadium. It was huge!! And it wasn't too hard to imagine how loud a place like that would get if Barca scored. I'm disappointed we aren't here during the season so we could catch a game, but it was still neat to see. It was a little like the Wrigley Field tour we took (for those readers who were present for that) and we got to go into the locker rooms, press room, down to the field, press box and best of all, it was unguided. We got to wander around and see what we wanted and take all the pictures we wanted. Anyway, tomorrow I leave for the south of France. . . interestingly enough I will be seeing pretty much the same stuff I will when Mom, Liz and Jake come to visit. I'll be able to tell them which places are boring ;) For the rest of you, I will be seeing a couple castles and a canal that runs from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. I will take as many pictures as I can.

Observation of the day: Geography of Barcelona
Barcelona is settled right between the sea and some hills. This makes for great scenery, but inhibits most outward growth. Thus, Barcelona is a very densely populated city, with many fewer suburbs than Chicago. In the time I have spent here, I have never seen a vacant lot or building, or really any space without a purpose. It seems people here have learned how to be very efficient with their space. I thought this was interesting. . . pictures below.

A little girl on the bus today told me I was 'guapo'

http://translate.google.com/?hl=es#es|en|guapo

Parc Guell (there's one of those two dots things over the 'u' but I don't know how to do that)

You can't call me a liar. I told you I was going to Parc Guell and I did. It was pretty nuts. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a huge park on top of a hill in Barcelona that was designed by Gaudi. The views were incredible, and the architecture was like something out of a Tim Burton movie. The pictures don't really do it justice, but take a look below and you can see some of the architecture and the views (with La Sagrada Familia in the background). If any of you are ever in Barcelona, this comes highly recommended.

Observation of the day: My neighborhood
The neighborhood that my dorm is in (Sarria-Sant Gervasi) is very affluent. We figured this out in the first few days by looking at the car dealerships. We have a Bentley dealer around the corner, along with Jaguar, Mercedes and BMW dealerships nearby. It is mainly a residential neighborhood, with tons of upscale condo and apartment buildings. We are just east of one of the main streets through Barcelona, La Avinguda Diagonal, which is also one of the main shopping destinations in the city. We are a little far from our classes and the beach, but it is nice to be in a quiet neighborhood and near two grocery stores. Hopefully that will give you some idea of where I'm living. . . feel free to ask questions. Pictures below.

Coca-Cola, Fanta, Cerveza, Agua?

Went to the beach today and got sunburned, I know big surprise. The beaches here are awesome. . . there are tons of restaurants, people walking around yelling the title of this post and Asian ladies offering massages. Our plan for today was to head to the beach and sleep off our hang-overs, then go watch the US World Cup game at a bar and have some dinner in a little while. Last night we went out with some of the Spanish guys from our floor. They seemed very surprised that we wanted to go out with them, because I guess all the other American students who have lived here have just kept to themselves. I was also asked if I wanted to have lunch with a couple other Spanish guys down in the cafeteria the other day. . . everybody here is so friendly. They spoke great English, so I didn't really get to practice my Spanish with them, but we ate and talked for about a half hour. They were curious about the differences between Spain and the States, and I found out some good places to watch the World Cup--it was a productive lunch. I am planning to go the the Parc Guell tomorrow, which is a park designed by Gaudi, so I should have some more pictures soon.

Observation of the day: 'Vale'
'Vale,' it seems, is the Spaniards' all-purpose word. I think it is roughly comparable to 'OK' in the States, but it seems like they use it for so much more. They use it to ask if you understand, to curse with, to greet people, when answering questions, when asking questions, if they agree with you, if they disagree with you or any other time they can. You hear it everywhere, and I am thinking about bringing it back with me and starting a new trend back home. Anyway, I wanted the persons coming to visit to know this ahead of time--just say 'Vale' and everybody will think you are Spanish.

Olympic Museum

Today for my sports class, we took a field trip to the Olympic Sports museum. It was actually pretty cool. They have some really interesting exhibits on sports in general, like which sports are popular in Spain and how they got that way. Then they also had tons of stuff on the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. The museum is located up at the top of one of the hills that surrounds Barcelona (Montjuic) and is right near the Olympic stadium (which we also went inside--see the pictures) and some of the other venues for the 92 games. We are spending a fair amount of time in class talking about how important the 92 games were for sports in Barcelona. Apparently, Spain in general was a very conservative society when it came to sports. Women, for the most part, did not play sports at all before the games, and the Spanish were able to play many new sports because venues (for sports like baseball) were built for the games. I find all this fascinating.

Observation of the day: Barcelona vs. Madrid (sticking somewhat with the sports theme)
I like to think I have learned a few things in my time here so far, and one is that Barcelona hates Madrid (and the rest of Spain almost as much). We talked about this in class, and it stems all the way back from when Franco took power. Catalonia (the state that Barcelona is in) has always been fairly different from the rest of Spain and proud of it, but Franco didn't want anything that could potentially undermine his regime. His government (in Madrid of course) was ruthless towards Catalonia and Barcelona (where the main resistance was), so the people of Barcelona have this strong sense of local pride because they were persecuted so much. Also, Franco's favorite football club was Real Madrid, and during his time in power, Real Madrid was given all the money and favors from the government that none of the other clubs got, which has led to one of the most intense rivalries in sports now (between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona). Our teacher told us that because of all this local pride, the people of Catalonia and Barcelona won't even root for the Spanish in the World Cup, unless of course it is for a player from the region. I was trying to think of something like this happening in the States, and the closest I could come was Texas. It's not quite to the same degree, but there is a huge sense of pride in their state. Anyway, maybe you all will find this as interesting as me. If not, sorry for wasting your time with this post. . .

Costa Brava and Southern France

We just got back from our trip up the northern coast of Spain and into southern France. We started by heading northwest to La Jonquera to visit a museum for the Spanish exiles who had to flee Franco's rule in the late 1930's. It was some pretty interesting history (kind of a forgotten part of the build up to WWII), but I don't have to space to go into it here. Then we drove up into southern France to a little fishing town called Collioure to see Antonio Machado's grave (famous Spanish poet) and visit the beach. It was like one of those little European towns you see on a postcard. They are the first pictures below. Then we came back to Spain and checked into our hotel in Girona, which was like our base of operations for the weekend.
On Saturday, we drove to the town of Figueres and went to the Dali Museum. Needless to say it was pretty wild and the pictures below don't do it justice. This was my favorite stop of the weekend because it was full of sketches, paintings and sculptures all done by Dali, and he is also buried there. After that experience, we drove over to the Spanish fishing town where Dali spent much of his life, Cadaques. It was another beautiful little town with tons of shops and restaurants to explore. Then we went back to the hotel in Girona.
Today was our final day, and we spent the majority of it on a walking tour of Girona. We saw a Jewish Museum (there is a pretty big Jewish population there), Arab Baths, the old city walls and the cathedral. The cathedral was very impressive--apparently it has the second widest nave in the world to St. Peter's in Rome. There are a bunch of pictures of the cathedral, Girona itself and some cool flower art that people were making on the steps of the cathedral. After Girona, we went over to another coastal town, Palamos, to have some lunch and check out another beach. Too bad the weather wasn't really beach-friendly. Then we came back down the coast to Barcelona. All in all, it was a really cool trip to some really interesting places. If you are ever in this part of the world, the Costa Brava is highly recommended.

Observation of the day: Disrespectful students
Allow me to vent for a paragraph. I understand that most of the students studying abroad with this program are treating it as a six-week spring break. That doesn't mean that you have to be blatantly disrespectful of the guides taking us around and other people trying to see these museums. I get that some people might not be interested in the Spanish Exile Museum, and too be honest it wasn't the most exciting museum I have ever been in, but you don't need to talk loudly to each other over the tour guide or make jokes about a picture of naked boys standing in formation in a concentration camp being gay. I also understand that you might want to have a few drinks--I like to get drunk and make a fool out of myself as much as the next guy--but I don't think the hour and a half we have to see a fishing town before the bus leaves is the best time to down a bottle of wine by yourself and puke. I also refuse to sympathize with frat guys (no offense to any readers of this blog who belong to a frat) who go out until 5:00am, sleep through breakfast and then complain all day about being tired and hungry. Anywho, I'm sorry for the diatribe, but I needed to get that off my chest.