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.