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.