Gaudi extravaganza

My senora couldn't be cuter. I found out on Thursday that she rides a bike to work everyday (she's like, really tiny -several inches shorted than me - and in her 6os - SO cute!). She loves to chat and makes fabulous dinners all the time - salmon and potatotes, salad with avocado, fried sardine-type fish, fish stew, baked ravioli, etc. Sometimes she even gives me wine with dinner! I'm completely spoiled and so, so happy I changed. She always offers me lunch if I happen to be around even though she technically doesn't have to, and is right now planning a little overnight trip to her aunt's house by the Pyrenees for an upcoming weekend! I also feel like my Spanish has been improving more steadily with her since we spend so much time talking at dinner. Hurray :)


I should technically be backtracking and writing about the things I mentioned in my last post, but backtracking requires more effort/memory and I'm too tired to do that... so instead, we'll talk about this weekend!

Thursday was a very good day overall. For my "Barcelona - Past & Present" class, we went to Casa Mila or La Padrera, an apartment building built by Gaudi. It is actually the first Gaudi building I've been into, I'm ashamed to say (it inspired me to devote much of this weekend to Gaudi, though - Friday I went to the Sagrada Familia at long last, and Saturday I returned to Parc Guell and went into Gaudi's home). I actually wasn't terribly impressed with the Casa Mila - the outside is very cool (the waviness of the walls is amazing) but the inside isn't particularly spectacular. The roof was also a little disappointing too - I liked it but there is so much fencing that it kind of ruins the effect.


Thursday night I usually have my "Intercultural Communications" class from 530-730... It's my favorite class, despite the annoying timeframe. There are only four of us in it, plus our Spanish professor, so we can really get into the nitty gritty of things. This Thursday, though, two girls were gone on to Prague, incidentally, so my professor took the remaining two of us on a fieldtrip! We walked around El Raval, the area with the highest percentage of immigrants, to observe the different cultures interacting - the different stores, languages, etc. It was really interesting. Afterwards she took us to a little cafe that her father used to go to for a speciality drink called a "suizo" - a mix between hot chocolate and pudding with homemade whip cream, usually accompanied by churros - sweet, fried pastry strips. It was delicious and so cool to be in such a quintessentially Spanish cafe that I'm not sure I would have found otherwise - it was completely packed with Spanairds of all ages, everyone eating the exact same thing - suizos and churros.


That same night I went out with my Spanish intercambio partner, Laura, and her friend, Ana. It was pretty fun - a little weird because they're both a couple years younger than I am, and the places we went were all of a younger crowd... But I enjoyed hanging out with actual Spanish girls for once - they often lapsed into speaking Catalan with one another which I couldn't understand any of, of course, and when they met up with other students they would also usually speak Catalan - until they found out I was American and all wanted to practice their English on me. Haha. It was fun.

Friday I went to Pueblo Espanol - this slightly horrific but at the same time somewhat cool Disney-worldish microcosm of Spanish architecture they built several years back. It's very touristy. It has all the different types of buildings, with a couple random art museums mixed in - but the main attraction is the number of wonderful little artesan shops they have.... everything's very expensive but it's almost all "hecho por mano" - handmade ceramics, scarves, woodwork, glass sculptures, etc. I plan to return to do a little Christmas shopping in Dcember, if I even have any money left by then.... haha :-/


After that, I finally went to Sagrada Familia. This building of Gaudi's completely blew my mind. It's been under construction for over 100 years (he died before its completion), and it still has a long way to go. But what is there is stunning - it's so unlike anything you'll ever see. It has the typical striking-detail-everywhere-you-look characteristic that most beautiful churches have, but the details are done in such an interesting and abstract way... it's hard to explain! The building itself looks like it's melting, somehow - all of his work is so organic, it's incredible. There are never any hard edges or lines. It reminds me of what Howard Roarke's (sp?) work would have been like - the fictional architect of The Fountainhead... mixed with Dr. Seuss.










This weekend was basically a Gaudi extravaganza - I went back to Park Guell today. I was there in the first week of September, but that's it - it's a pretty big hike to get there. It's such a cool place - although I hateee how crowded it is. You can hardly move two feet without getting in the way of someone's photo op. But I do love the musicians that are there - there are a lot of cave-like areas with great acoustics that Spanish guitarist will come play in - it's lovely to listen to.







Tonight is one of my friend's senora's birthdays, and she invited me over to their little party. I'm really happy about this weekend, overall - I feel like it's been one of the most interactive with actual Spanish people, which is so cool - I'm so lucky to be able to do it.

Tomorrow I hope to either go to the Aquarium, or to the Laberinto park .... it's funny how there are so many things I still have to do here - I kept feeling like I had so much time, but it's gone by so quickly, and now I'm scrambling to get to it all, especially with the upcoming weekend trips I'm planning. I will do it though, I'm determined! I'll probably need to sleep for like 3 days when I return in December, but that's okay.


And this coming Wednesday I go to Prague! Man oh man. Going from all this to New England winter (it was 65* today), graduation, The Real World... is going to be difficult.

one month later, one month left

Yikes, it's been exactly a month since I last wrote in here! I've just been very busy, and a little stressed recently - and the more time passed, the more ground I had to cover - which made me want to write an entry even less. But it's a rainy day and I don't have much to do at the moment - there's really no good excuse not to update. So here I am! I probably won't get to it all but I'll try to cover the important things.

One of the major happenings has been my change of homestay, for sure. The old one went from bad to worse after that last entry. The two major catlyst events, to make a long, unhappy story short were 1) Noa, the daughter, biting me on the face and then my getting reprimanded by my senora for holding her wrist too tightly while I was telling her not to do it again, and 2) a night where the parents were fighting/Noa was crying until the wee hours of the morning with the senora at the door threatening to leave and all kinds of nonsense, God help me if I knew what they were fighting about - I think it had something to do with Noa never sleeping in her own bed, but if it's difficult to understand Spanairds as is, it's even moreso when they're angry.

These two things along with the parents general and constant fighting, plus Noa stealing something from my room literally every day (and lying about it, until the parents and would find it hidden somewhere in her room - most evil four-year old ever, I'm telling you!), hitting me, kicking me, et cetera - basically just made it not a very pleasant environment. They've had students before, apparently, but I felt that they were going through a rough spot, and I was an added stress - not to mention that they were seriously stressing me out. I never looked forward to being home, and once I was there, ended up staying in my room with the door shut so that Noa wouldn't cause problems.

I wasn't even sure I should move but after talking to friends, family, and then my advisor, I realized that I shouldn't have to look back at my experience here and think "Well, it was great! But my homestay.......(fill in the blank)"


So, I switched - last Tuesday, actually. Having to tell my family that I was leaving and then packing up all my stuff was probably one of the most awkward experiences of my life (and I can be pretty awkward, so that says a lot), but it has been totally worth it. My new homestay is completely the opposite of my old one. I adore my new family - it's much more like I had originally hoped it would be.

I now live with Victoria, a high school math teacher in her sixties, who is one of the sweetest women ever! I practically wept tears of joy at her feet when I first arrived because I could just tell she was going to be so much nicer than my past senora... She lives in a very pretty little apartment in a much nicer area than before, just two blocks from Passeig de Gracia, one of the most emblematic streets of Barcelona (two of Gaudi's most famous houses are located there). She is a fabulous cook and loves to chat - I feel like we've talked more here in one week than I would have in at least two weeks at the other house. She has a daughter my age and a son my brother's age. The son lives in France now, and the daughter lives in Barcelona but mostly lives with her dad (my senora is divorced). I'm pretty sure the daughter primarily lives with her dad simply because he lives closer to the center of town and she has a little difficulty moving around because she was in a motorcycle accident several years ago. But she comes over frequently during the week to eat with us, and is also super nice.

My only regret now is that I didn't move earlier... oh well. We'll call it a learning experience.

I have to go to class soon, but I'll update later tonight or tomorrow with details on and pictures of my trips to Ireland and Madrid during October, and some other random stuff. I have trips to Prague and Rome planned for the upcoming month. I can't believe it's almost over....!!! And that I'll be graduating. Sheesh.


Much love! Miss you all.