to explain the title of this entry, it is a line of a song i was just listening to, and it applies to this entry because of our little dali trip on saturday.
this past week we finally wrapped up the intensive spanish course. our teacher was a little bit ridiculous towards the end, and we had a pretty intense schedule for the last few days, involving a paper, two short essays, and a 20-minute presentation on a topic within our academic specialty. Unfortunately, while my classmates got to talk about Spanish poems and whatnot, I got to give my personal analysis of the growing gap between young liberal voters and older conservative voters, including differences in their beliefs on the economy, role of religion in the state, and a pan-European identity. But today I started real classes at UPF! I only had one class today, and not until three o'clock- Modern Spanish Literature. It seems like it will be a really cool class, we spent the first two-hour session going over a timeline of major events and trends in Spanish literature since the twelfth century. Since literature, like any art form, is heavily influenced by political events, we had a history lesson as well, which I badly needed. All in all, a good first day. Tomorrow I'll be taking Spanish Language & Society (sounds fancy, but your basic Spanish class), 20th century Spanish cinema, and an art class that I am hoping to switch into. But enough about class.
This past week and weekend I spent wandering around the city some more, as usual. My wanderings last week took me to a couple more art and history museums, as usual. Today I ventured past L'Eixample (pretty much the city center, northwest of my residencia) to Gracia, which google maps says is about 4.5 kilometeres away. it was a good walk, and i hit up the alleged best pastry shop in all of barcelona (i have to say that i was not disappointed), a couple more produce/meat markets, and a paper store to purchase a notebook. Sidenote: 99/100 notebooks you find here are made with graph paper. It is bizarre. You have to go out of your way and pay a lot of euros to find normal lined paper. I was successful in the end. Anyway, that was today, and all before class at 3 pm! Having class late is such a good idea.
On Saturday, we went on a CIEE excursion to Figueres and Besalu. Figueres is Dali's birthplace, and the museum there is amazing. I am a huge Dali fan, and the museum is really extensive. We spent some more time just walking around the town, because it's quaint and historical. From there we moved on to Besalu, another small town which used to have a huge Jewish population. We saw the old synagogue, mikvah, and remnants of the Romanic period in general. Sidenote, speaking of Judaism: shana tovah to those to whom it applies!
The Figueres/Besalu trip was definitely the highlight and principal part of the weekend. One of my friends from high school, Dina, also came to Barcelona over the weekend with a friend from her program in Paris. That was really fun, and I spent Friday and Saturday night with her. On Friday, I went out to dinner with a big group, since my friends Christine and Sarah also had friends visiting this weekend. We had some delicious tapas and introduced the non-Barcelona folk to the glories of pan con tomate and patatas bravas.
the rest of this week will be devoted to birthday festivities (it is 12:02 AM here, so happy birthday to me!) taking place tomorrow in the form of a nice quiet dinner out with a few program friends, and classes the rest of the week. And then, on Friday, I'm off to Rome with Mimi! We're staying in Rome Friday thru Monday, and leaving really early Monday morning to spend basically 36 hours in Venice. We are ambitious travelers, but that's how we roll. I am so excited- Rome is the place I have most wanted to go in Europe. If you have any suggestions of how to spend my limited three days there, I'd love to hear them. As far as birthday presents go, I think a trip to Rome and Venice is pretty tough to beat.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
tres semanas en barcelona, feliz aniversario!
i cannot believe we have only been here three weeks, what with the volume of stuff that i have done so far. Here are my highlights so far:
1) Everything Gaudi (as for now, la Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell- as well as el Museu Diocesa which has an extensive collection of his sketches, furniture, etc.)
2) Gothic architecture, especially the cathedrals. My favorite so far is La Cathedral, with Eglesia de Santa Maria del Pi and Eglesia de Santa Maria del Mar as close seconds.
3) The markets. Both La Boqueria and Mercat Santa Caterina are amazing, with staggering amounts of fresh produce, dried fruit, meat, cheese, bread, etc. I could digress into my usual praise of food here, but I'll spare everyone.
4) The museums. I have so so many more to see (including two art museums on my list for tomorrow- since it is La Merce, lots of museums are free!), but so far I have explored el Museu Picasso (a great collection of Picasso's early impressionist work as well as his very late work, including Las Meninas), el Museu D'Art Pre-Colombi (an eclectic collection of ancient art and pottery), and el Museu d'historia de Catalunya (a great museum I stumbled upon today which gives the entire history of the Catalonian region and people, from the prehistoric to the present, including some sweet artifacts, artwork, and reproductions).
5) Montjuic. This is a secluded part of Barcelona that contains a lot of the museums and natural beauty of the place. We have seen the magic fountains at night, visited the Olympic stadium, and walked around the botanical gardens.
6) Relaxation. Going to the beach, shopping, just wandering around the old city and spending hours in cafes. This doesn't really happen at home.
7) La Merce. This has been the primary occupier of my time this weekend. La Merce is Barcelona's biggest annual holiday- the actual day is tomorrow, but festivities began this weekend. On Saturday, some friends from the program and I went to Plaza Catalunya to see some music and dancing- a huge variety: traditional Catalonian, but also Uruguayan, Argentinian, and African. That night, we saw/unknowingly took part in the correfoc (literally- fire run). The picture can't really do it justice- the main street in the old city crammed with spectators, while people ran with poles that shot flames and sparks everywhere. The next day, we went early to see one of the main events, castellers (human castles- these people have skill) in Plaza Sant Jaume. After, we saw some more festival activities at Parc de la Ciutadella- which is also one of my favorite places here, a beautiful spot to relax. That night we went to the beach for an amazing fireworks display. All in all, it was a great weekend...and tomorrow, the madness continues! So I will be writing about that soon.
Once again, way too long. But just a brief preview of what is to come: tomorrow, the continuation of La Merce. As I said before, some museums are free, so I'm looking to check out both Fundacio Joan Miro (a RIDICULOUS amount of his stuff is there) and Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya, featuring Catalan art from the middle ages to present. This will be ambitious (we have off of school for the holiday, which means that we're going to check out a few nearby clubs) but I'll make it work. And, tomorrow night...I am going to an FC Barcelona game at Camp Nou. I have been anticipating this for quite some time, and am super excited. It's supposed to be a really crazy time, and it's pretty much a rite of passage if you're spending any amount of time in Barcelona. We have two more days of the intensive class this week, before we start real class on Monday. This weekend, our program is taking us on another day trip, to Figueres, where Dali's house is located, now containing a museum of his work. For a Dali fanatic such as myself, this is a dream come true.
Hope the recap wasn't too dull. Also, if you notice, the links within my post are not to my pictures (too complicated, because they are up on facebook and not on a public page). But, if you don't have facebook and want to see my pictures of all of these places, just e-mail me. Feliz merce! and, again, go phillies.
-andrea
1) Everything Gaudi (as for now, la Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell- as well as el Museu Diocesa which has an extensive collection of his sketches, furniture, etc.)
2) Gothic architecture, especially the cathedrals. My favorite so far is La Cathedral, with Eglesia de Santa Maria del Pi and Eglesia de Santa Maria del Mar as close seconds.
3) The markets. Both La Boqueria and Mercat Santa Caterina are amazing, with staggering amounts of fresh produce, dried fruit, meat, cheese, bread, etc. I could digress into my usual praise of food here, but I'll spare everyone.
4) The museums. I have so so many more to see (including two art museums on my list for tomorrow- since it is La Merce, lots of museums are free!), but so far I have explored el Museu Picasso (a great collection of Picasso's early impressionist work as well as his very late work, including Las Meninas), el Museu D'Art Pre-Colombi (an eclectic collection of ancient art and pottery), and el Museu d'historia de Catalunya (a great museum I stumbled upon today which gives the entire history of the Catalonian region and people, from the prehistoric to the present, including some sweet artifacts, artwork, and reproductions).
5) Montjuic. This is a secluded part of Barcelona that contains a lot of the museums and natural beauty of the place. We have seen the magic fountains at night, visited the Olympic stadium, and walked around the botanical gardens.
6) Relaxation. Going to the beach, shopping, just wandering around the old city and spending hours in cafes. This doesn't really happen at home.
7) La Merce. This has been the primary occupier of my time this weekend. La Merce is Barcelona's biggest annual holiday- the actual day is tomorrow, but festivities began this weekend. On Saturday, some friends from the program and I went to Plaza Catalunya to see some music and dancing- a huge variety: traditional Catalonian, but also Uruguayan, Argentinian, and African. That night, we saw/unknowingly took part in the correfoc (literally- fire run). The picture can't really do it justice- the main street in the old city crammed with spectators, while people ran with poles that shot flames and sparks everywhere. The next day, we went early to see one of the main events, castellers (human castles- these people have skill) in Plaza Sant Jaume. After, we saw some more festival activities at Parc de la Ciutadella- which is also one of my favorite places here, a beautiful spot to relax. That night we went to the beach for an amazing fireworks display. All in all, it was a great weekend...and tomorrow, the madness continues! So I will be writing about that soon.
Once again, way too long. But just a brief preview of what is to come: tomorrow, the continuation of La Merce. As I said before, some museums are free, so I'm looking to check out both Fundacio Joan Miro (a RIDICULOUS amount of his stuff is there) and Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya, featuring Catalan art from the middle ages to present. This will be ambitious (we have off of school for the holiday, which means that we're going to check out a few nearby clubs) but I'll make it work. And, tomorrow night...I am going to an FC Barcelona game at Camp Nou. I have been anticipating this for quite some time, and am super excited. It's supposed to be a really crazy time, and it's pretty much a rite of passage if you're spending any amount of time in Barcelona. We have two more days of the intensive class this week, before we start real class on Monday. This weekend, our program is taking us on another day trip, to Figueres, where Dali's house is located, now containing a museum of his work. For a Dali fanatic such as myself, this is a dream come true.
Hope the recap wasn't too dull. Also, if you notice, the links within my post are not to my pictures (too complicated, because they are up on facebook and not on a public page). But, if you don't have facebook and want to see my pictures of all of these places, just e-mail me. Feliz merce! and, again, go phillies.
-andrea
Thursday, September 18, 2008
spanish cookies > > > american cookies
spanish cookies are superior in every way to american cookies. the choices, the taste, the quality... although that is pretty much true of most food over here. For instance, today after class, I went wandering with four of the girls from my program in search of some good food in La Ribera. We chose this completely random place, but the food was so excellent. I won't elaborate on the subject of Spanish food (even though I could for quite some time)- but all I have to say is, it is amazing. The masterminds behind paella and tapas are geniuses.
Until tonight, this week has been very very calm (finally!), which meant some time to catch up on sleep, bad American TV, and reading. I really appreciated the chance to do all of these things, being that I've been running on overdrive since the first of september. On Monday, I had a chance to check out another amazing market, Mercat de Santa Caterina, with an abundance of fresh produce, meat, spices, etc. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to see one of my friends from high school, Liddy, who was here on vacation with a friend for two weeks- since she has trimesters and does not start school until the end of the month. It was great seeing her, and traveling out to Western L'Eixample, farther out than I had been yet, and a nice neighborhood. Last night, I went to see "Che" with one of the kids on my program. The movie was great, but I could tell that I missed a lot of the dialogue, especially when the audience started laughing, and I clearly hadn't gotten the joke. It was definitely a good idea to try and see a movie without subtitles- I'd like to see one at the end of the semester, and see how my comprehension has improved. Today involved a fantastic lunch, as detailed above, and then traipsing around Passeig de Gracia looking for a bookstore and some good clothes shopping. We found both, and even some books en ingles!
Unfortunately, tonight has consisted of four hours (no joke) of work- preparation for a 30 minute presentation tomorrow, and an unrelated two-page paper. These were assigned yesterday. Spanish teachers have no concept of giving sufficient notice. At least the weekend is almost here. Tomorrow, we have an organized CIEE trip to el Museo Picasso (!!!!- i have wanted to go there forever). No other plans for the weekend yet, but...next wednesday...FC BARCA GAME. I could not be more excited.
bona nit! (as they say in catalan)
-andrea
P.S. for anyone who knows/cares... i might not be following the news in the states much, except for the fact that the philadelphia phillies are tearing it up. solid.
Until tonight, this week has been very very calm (finally!), which meant some time to catch up on sleep, bad American TV, and reading. I really appreciated the chance to do all of these things, being that I've been running on overdrive since the first of september. On Monday, I had a chance to check out another amazing market, Mercat de Santa Caterina, with an abundance of fresh produce, meat, spices, etc. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to see one of my friends from high school, Liddy, who was here on vacation with a friend for two weeks- since she has trimesters and does not start school until the end of the month. It was great seeing her, and traveling out to Western L'Eixample, farther out than I had been yet, and a nice neighborhood. Last night, I went to see "Che" with one of the kids on my program. The movie was great, but I could tell that I missed a lot of the dialogue, especially when the audience started laughing, and I clearly hadn't gotten the joke. It was definitely a good idea to try and see a movie without subtitles- I'd like to see one at the end of the semester, and see how my comprehension has improved. Today involved a fantastic lunch, as detailed above, and then traipsing around Passeig de Gracia looking for a bookstore and some good clothes shopping. We found both, and even some books en ingles!
Unfortunately, tonight has consisted of four hours (no joke) of work- preparation for a 30 minute presentation tomorrow, and an unrelated two-page paper. These were assigned yesterday. Spanish teachers have no concept of giving sufficient notice. At least the weekend is almost here. Tomorrow, we have an organized CIEE trip to el Museo Picasso (!!!!- i have wanted to go there forever). No other plans for the weekend yet, but...next wednesday...FC BARCA GAME. I could not be more excited.
bona nit! (as they say in catalan)
-andrea
P.S. for anyone who knows/cares... i might not be following the news in the states much, except for the fact that the philadelphia phillies are tearing it up. solid.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
viva catalonia!
i am going to try to keep this post brief to offset the absurd length of my previous two posts.
1) made it through week one of class. class itself is not so difficult to keep up with, but the assignments are time-consuming. we have had homework each day so far, including a two-page paper and an interview due on Friday. Tomorrow, we are having a debate and handing in an analysis of our interview. We also have several oral presentations, a seminar, another debate, and a handful of written assignments still to come. Did I mention we only have two weeks left of class?
2) However, finishing class at 12:45 each day leaves me plenty of time to roam around the city. Mostly, this has involved hitting up the beach with some girls from the residencia (since this is something that we won't be able to do for too much longer), but I'll expand my horizons soon enough.
3) This past Thursday we did not have school, because it was a holiday- el dia de Catalunya. Essentially, this is when Catalonia lost the Siege of Barcelona as part of the War of the Spanish Succession...and was overtaken by the Bourbon monarchy. This seems like an interesting thing to celebrate, but it's basically a day of catalonia pride- flags, parades, demonstrations, signs, drumming. We went to join the throngs of people in the Plaza Urquinaona for parades and music- quite the experience.
4) The weather has been lovely this weekend. A few of us took advantage yesterday by going to Montjuic- a remote but beautiful part of the city. We ambled around the gardens there, visited the 1992 Olympic stadium, and went to the botanical gardens. Definitely not like botanical gardens in the states, but lots of plants and trees from different regions of the world, which was cool. There was more to do in montjuic, but we decided to save it for another day, and waste some time in a cafe. That is one european tradition i could definitely incorporate into my life. We met back up at "La Font Magica" on the edge of Montjuic, for this amazing light and music show at the fountains. It sounds silly, but was actually incredible.
5) The nightlife here is a little insane and takes some getting used to (case and point: after the fountains last night, we wanted to go to a lounge/club, but it was way too early- around midnight. we killed a little time walking around, showed up around 12:45...but the place was getting pretty hopping around 2. we left a little after 3:30, which is very early). Wednesday night we went to an equally crazy/noisy/crowded club. It's fun, but you have to be in the mood. Exploring the neighborhoods and hanging out at a bar or cafe (like we did Friday night) will always be a good idea. I guess I'm more of an American (loner? nerd?) than I thought.
Well, I failed at making this a short post. Pictures are on facebook, or e-mail me for links.
1) made it through week one of class. class itself is not so difficult to keep up with, but the assignments are time-consuming. we have had homework each day so far, including a two-page paper and an interview due on Friday. Tomorrow, we are having a debate and handing in an analysis of our interview. We also have several oral presentations, a seminar, another debate, and a handful of written assignments still to come. Did I mention we only have two weeks left of class?
2) However, finishing class at 12:45 each day leaves me plenty of time to roam around the city. Mostly, this has involved hitting up the beach with some girls from the residencia (since this is something that we won't be able to do for too much longer), but I'll expand my horizons soon enough.
3) This past Thursday we did not have school, because it was a holiday- el dia de Catalunya. Essentially, this is when Catalonia lost the Siege of Barcelona as part of the War of the Spanish Succession...and was overtaken by the Bourbon monarchy. This seems like an interesting thing to celebrate, but it's basically a day of catalonia pride- flags, parades, demonstrations, signs, drumming. We went to join the throngs of people in the Plaza Urquinaona for parades and music- quite the experience.
4) The weather has been lovely this weekend. A few of us took advantage yesterday by going to Montjuic- a remote but beautiful part of the city. We ambled around the gardens there, visited the 1992 Olympic stadium, and went to the botanical gardens. Definitely not like botanical gardens in the states, but lots of plants and trees from different regions of the world, which was cool. There was more to do in montjuic, but we decided to save it for another day, and waste some time in a cafe. That is one european tradition i could definitely incorporate into my life. We met back up at "La Font Magica" on the edge of Montjuic, for this amazing light and music show at the fountains. It sounds silly, but was actually incredible.
5) The nightlife here is a little insane and takes some getting used to (case and point: after the fountains last night, we wanted to go to a lounge/club, but it was way too early- around midnight. we killed a little time walking around, showed up around 12:45...but the place was getting pretty hopping around 2. we left a little after 3:30, which is very early). Wednesday night we went to an equally crazy/noisy/crowded club. It's fun, but you have to be in the mood. Exploring the neighborhoods and hanging out at a bar or cafe (like we did Friday night) will always be a good idea. I guess I'm more of an American (loner? nerd?) than I thought.
Well, I failed at making this a short post. Pictures are on facebook, or e-mail me for links.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
"Advanced Spanish for Academic Discourse"...
...is the name of the intensive Spanish course I am taking here for the first three weeks. For reasons unknown, I placed into this (higher) level, along with three other CIEE kids. Now, I have taken through Spanish IV at Tufts, which amounts to pretty much nothing...but the placement test gods have spoken, and I have gotten through the first two days of class unscathed. I'm here to learn the language, so I might as well challenge myself. Although we are spoiled by only being in class 3.25 hours a day, Monday-Friday for these first three weeks, it's still 3.25 hours in a row of Spanish, and nothing but Spanish. I have to hang on my teacher's every word to understand what she's saying, but I get the gist- we already have homework though! The three-week class alone is going to involve an interview, a few two-page essays, an oral presentation, a "seminar" presentation (as in, we teach the class about something), and a final project. But I like the challenge- and I got an affirmation of my abilities after class today when I asked my teacher if there was some sort of mistake that got me into the class. She was a little offended by my hesitation, and assured me that it was not a mistake, and that I have "good opinions." I wanted to say that I have good opinions in whatever language, but that doesn't mean I should be in advanced Spanish...but decided not to press the issue.
ANYWAY, enough about class. Last weekend we went on a day trip to Penedes (wine country) and Sitges (small beach town about an hour away). In Sitges we got to enjoy the beach, the food, and the ancient architecture for a few hours, before heading to Penedes, where we learned more than I could ever remember about differences between wines, how wine is made, etc. Then we got to do a tasting involving white wine (vino blano), red wine (vino tinto), and cava (like champagne- except from spain). It was delicious. This also took place at about 5 o clock, so the bus ride back was quite quiet as we all went to sleep.
On Sunday, my friend Sarah and I were determined to take full advantage of our first completely CIEE unplanned day to explore. We started out in Barri Gotic at El Museu Diocesa de Barcelona which had an interesting collection of medieval religious art, plus some of Gaudi's furniture and household items, and a temporary exhibit by modern impressionist painter Richard Urgell. It seemed like they kind of just threw together a bunch of random art, but it worked. Outside in the plaza afterwards there were a bunch of Barcelonians playing music and doing a traditional dance, so we stopped and watched. Then, it was time for Gaudi. We spent a few hours in la Sagrada Familia. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful and amazing it is. Besides getting to see the intricacies of the exterior sculptures and carvings and the interior stained glass, we took an elevator up and climbed these winding staircases around the top. Definitely the highlight of the day, although Park Guell (Gaudi's second most famous work besides la Sagrada Familia) certainly did not disappoint. The design was amazing, and we took quite a hike up to the top of the small mountain on which it is situated. Altogether a great day.
Yesterday, after class, I visited el Parque de la Ciutadella, a huge expanse really near our residencia, where the zoo, another Cathedral, and Catalonia's parliament building are located. Later, our CIEE group went to a flamenco show near las Ramblas, which was also amazing. Today, a few of the girls in my program and I got lunch after class at this amazing paella place (at 3:30...which is when most people are eating lunch. i really like the european eating schedule), and then wandered around las Ramblas, hitting up some shoe stores and la Boqueria- the most famous outdoor market in Barcelona. We were particularly enchanted by the dried fruit. As you can see, there's rarely a dull moment here.
Congratulations if you read that all. More to come soon!
ANYWAY, enough about class. Last weekend we went on a day trip to Penedes (wine country) and Sitges (small beach town about an hour away). In Sitges we got to enjoy the beach, the food, and the ancient architecture for a few hours, before heading to Penedes, where we learned more than I could ever remember about differences between wines, how wine is made, etc. Then we got to do a tasting involving white wine (vino blano), red wine (vino tinto), and cava (like champagne- except from spain). It was delicious. This also took place at about 5 o clock, so the bus ride back was quite quiet as we all went to sleep.
On Sunday, my friend Sarah and I were determined to take full advantage of our first completely CIEE unplanned day to explore. We started out in Barri Gotic at El Museu Diocesa de Barcelona which had an interesting collection of medieval religious art, plus some of Gaudi's furniture and household items, and a temporary exhibit by modern impressionist painter Richard Urgell. It seemed like they kind of just threw together a bunch of random art, but it worked. Outside in the plaza afterwards there were a bunch of Barcelonians playing music and doing a traditional dance, so we stopped and watched. Then, it was time for Gaudi. We spent a few hours in la Sagrada Familia. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful and amazing it is. Besides getting to see the intricacies of the exterior sculptures and carvings and the interior stained glass, we took an elevator up and climbed these winding staircases around the top. Definitely the highlight of the day, although Park Guell (Gaudi's second most famous work besides la Sagrada Familia) certainly did not disappoint. The design was amazing, and we took quite a hike up to the top of the small mountain on which it is situated. Altogether a great day.
Yesterday, after class, I visited el Parque de la Ciutadella, a huge expanse really near our residencia, where the zoo, another Cathedral, and Catalonia's parliament building are located. Later, our CIEE group went to a flamenco show near las Ramblas, which was also amazing. Today, a few of the girls in my program and I got lunch after class at this amazing paella place (at 3:30...which is when most people are eating lunch. i really like the european eating schedule), and then wandered around las Ramblas, hitting up some shoe stores and la Boqueria- the most famous outdoor market in Barcelona. We were particularly enchanted by the dried fruit. As you can see, there's rarely a dull moment here.
Congratulations if you read that all. More to come soon!
Friday, September 5, 2008
vale. vale vale vale vale vale.
"vale" is one of those all-encompassing phrases that people use a lot here. I'm not sure if anyone knows exactly what it means- kind of like "okay? okay." or like "understand? okay. alright. yeah."
this is basically the first bit of free time that I have had since arriving. They have kept us incredibly busy and exhausted (someone suggested this was to keep us from going out the first few nights- if this is true, it definitely worked). Orientation activities ended today, and classes do not start til Monday. First, we will be taking an intensive spanish class (3.5 hours a day/5 days a week) for the first three weeks. Then, we will be starting regular classes on September 29th. We received our class schedules during orientation. Tentatively, I'm going to be taking the continuation of my intensive spanish class (Advanced grammar, composition, and conversation II), Contemporary Spanish literature, Society and Politics in Contemporary Spain, and 20th century Spanish Cinema. This might be changing, but it's what I've got for now. The language class will be with other students from the CIEE program, but the other three are part of Universitat Pompeu Fabra's HESP (Hispanic and English Studies Program). This means that, although the classes are going to be in Spanish, they are geared towards international students. I will be in those classes with other students from CIEE in addition to any other study abroad programs that are run through the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Most other students from my program will be taking a direct enrollment class in UPF- however, I just don't think my level of Spanish is good enough. I found out that I am basically the only CIEE student doing the liberal arts program here who just started Spanish in college. As in, I have taken up through Spanish IV. Most other kids have taken through the equivalent of 22 (two more semesters), or even more! This is a little bit scary, but I know I'll learn a lot...it also strengthened my resolve not to take a direct enrollment class.
I'll write more about classes when they start. To talk briefly about orientation, it began on Tuesday. My flights went smoothly and I was able to make my connection from Frankfurt to Barcelona without a problem. From the airport, we came to the hotel where orientation was held, and immediately got a few talks about basic things from the Resident Staff here- safety, security, rules, etc. We then met our "Guardian Angels" (students in Barcelona who are here to help us out). Belen, my GA, took us to buy cell phones and walk a little bit around the area, known as L'Eixample. All of the streets are a grid in L'Eixample, which distinguishes it from other areas. It is a pretty nice area, with a lot of upscale shopping. Not my favorite thing in the world, but it was nice to walk around. We slept well that night- we were all pretty jet-lagged.
The next day we got split up from the CIEE: Language and Culture (read: kids who basically don't speak Spanish at all) for our orientation. This meant that from then on, everything was done in Spanish. A few hours worth of wisdom were imparted to us re: academics, housing, cultural differences, cultural activities. Listening to all of that in Spanish was exhausting, but I got the gist. We took a bus tour around the city, which made me more excited to see everything (from a bus you kind of just see everything very peripherally). The city is beautiful though- one thing I learned from the tour. We saw lots of Gaudi. That night, those of us in Residencias (a cross between apartments and dorms, basically) moved in, and the rest of the kids met their host families. The residencia is nice- small kitchen, bathroom, desk, chair, lots of storage space. It's really bare because I wasn't exactly going to bring my posters, so I'll have to work on that. Again, sleep was essential.
Yesterday we had yet more rounds of talks about academics, and a language placement exam. The exam was okay- I know I should be in the lowest level of Spanish in the program, so it was nothing to lose sleep about. We also had a walking tour of the Barri Gotic, which is the ancient part of Barcelona. It was beautiful again, and we saw La Catedral and some other ancient religious and other sites, including remains of Roman buildings that still exist under modern-day Barcelona. Lauren, one of the other girls from the group, and I went to Plaza Catalunya after the tour to sit and people-watch. All of the plazas and other public spaces here are nice, but it was particularly gorgeous, and there were some entertaining street musicians. We had ridiculously good tapas for dinner. That night, I came to the conclusion that Spanish food is amazing.
AND- today. We finally saw the campus where we will be spending time. It was good getting to see it, but our guides did really unnecessary things, such as parade all twenty-five of us through the library, in a circle, and through the library again. It basically screamed "hey! look! American students!" After that, orientation was over, and we celebrated by having beach time. Now, I'm just enjoying the time to myself. Tonight we're actually going to try to experience the nightlife, because we've been slacking so far. Tomorrow we are going wine-tasting in southern catalonia! I am so excited.
I'll try to write again soon, feel free to e-mail me as well!
love, andrea
this is basically the first bit of free time that I have had since arriving. They have kept us incredibly busy and exhausted (someone suggested this was to keep us from going out the first few nights- if this is true, it definitely worked). Orientation activities ended today, and classes do not start til Monday. First, we will be taking an intensive spanish class (3.5 hours a day/5 days a week) for the first three weeks. Then, we will be starting regular classes on September 29th. We received our class schedules during orientation. Tentatively, I'm going to be taking the continuation of my intensive spanish class (Advanced grammar, composition, and conversation II), Contemporary Spanish literature, Society and Politics in Contemporary Spain, and 20th century Spanish Cinema. This might be changing, but it's what I've got for now. The language class will be with other students from the CIEE program, but the other three are part of Universitat Pompeu Fabra's HESP (Hispanic and English Studies Program). This means that, although the classes are going to be in Spanish, they are geared towards international students. I will be in those classes with other students from CIEE in addition to any other study abroad programs that are run through the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Most other students from my program will be taking a direct enrollment class in UPF- however, I just don't think my level of Spanish is good enough. I found out that I am basically the only CIEE student doing the liberal arts program here who just started Spanish in college. As in, I have taken up through Spanish IV. Most other kids have taken through the equivalent of 22 (two more semesters), or even more! This is a little bit scary, but I know I'll learn a lot...it also strengthened my resolve not to take a direct enrollment class.
I'll write more about classes when they start. To talk briefly about orientation, it began on Tuesday. My flights went smoothly and I was able to make my connection from Frankfurt to Barcelona without a problem. From the airport, we came to the hotel where orientation was held, and immediately got a few talks about basic things from the Resident Staff here- safety, security, rules, etc. We then met our "Guardian Angels" (students in Barcelona who are here to help us out). Belen, my GA, took us to buy cell phones and walk a little bit around the area, known as L'Eixample. All of the streets are a grid in L'Eixample, which distinguishes it from other areas. It is a pretty nice area, with a lot of upscale shopping. Not my favorite thing in the world, but it was nice to walk around. We slept well that night- we were all pretty jet-lagged.
The next day we got split up from the CIEE: Language and Culture (read: kids who basically don't speak Spanish at all) for our orientation. This meant that from then on, everything was done in Spanish. A few hours worth of wisdom were imparted to us re: academics, housing, cultural differences, cultural activities. Listening to all of that in Spanish was exhausting, but I got the gist. We took a bus tour around the city, which made me more excited to see everything (from a bus you kind of just see everything very peripherally). The city is beautiful though- one thing I learned from the tour. We saw lots of Gaudi. That night, those of us in Residencias (a cross between apartments and dorms, basically) moved in, and the rest of the kids met their host families. The residencia is nice- small kitchen, bathroom, desk, chair, lots of storage space. It's really bare because I wasn't exactly going to bring my posters, so I'll have to work on that. Again, sleep was essential.
Yesterday we had yet more rounds of talks about academics, and a language placement exam. The exam was okay- I know I should be in the lowest level of Spanish in the program, so it was nothing to lose sleep about. We also had a walking tour of the Barri Gotic, which is the ancient part of Barcelona. It was beautiful again, and we saw La Catedral and some other ancient religious and other sites, including remains of Roman buildings that still exist under modern-day Barcelona. Lauren, one of the other girls from the group, and I went to Plaza Catalunya after the tour to sit and people-watch. All of the plazas and other public spaces here are nice, but it was particularly gorgeous, and there were some entertaining street musicians. We had ridiculously good tapas for dinner. That night, I came to the conclusion that Spanish food is amazing.
AND- today. We finally saw the campus where we will be spending time. It was good getting to see it, but our guides did really unnecessary things, such as parade all twenty-five of us through the library, in a circle, and through the library again. It basically screamed "hey! look! American students!" After that, orientation was over, and we celebrated by having beach time. Now, I'm just enjoying the time to myself. Tonight we're actually going to try to experience the nightlife, because we've been slacking so far. Tomorrow we are going wine-tasting in southern catalonia! I am so excited.
I'll try to write again soon, feel free to e-mail me as well!
love, andrea
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