Om nom nom nom

About 20 minutes ago a student came into the library with his backpack, books, etc. Sat down in front of me, and proceeded to do nothing. Unless you consider biting nails a studious activity.

Why would you go to the library with nothing to do?! Is he waiting for someone? Is he nervous about studying? Or do his roommates just not enjoy when he goes to town on his nails in their apartment? These are the questions popping up in my head as I try to write about the reign of Maria Cristina de Nápoles, proof that anything can and will completely derail any thoughts of doing work.

I'll keep you updated, it's just a waiting game now.

cositas de la semana

1. Went to spanish court to testify, incredibly scary experience but my ability to successfully give testimony and be questioned extensively feels like a testament to how much my spanish language skills have developed.  

2. Finally completely figured out how to use the public busses and have become a regular bus taker! 

3. BCA dinner at El Cangrejo Loco Wednesday night - seated practically on the ocean, amazing food and more importantly free flowing red wine.  

4. Successful phone interview with a import/export brokerage firm in Philly, dedos cruzados that I get a second interview!

5. Began the making my own photo paper on which to develop photos for my photography class, and realized how nerve-wracking it is to mix your own chemicals when you have no chemistry experience and are in a darkroom.  

6. Celebrated El Día de San Jordi, spanish valentine's day and day of Catalan independence, with lots of books and roses and happy people.

7. Picnic lunch in Parc Cuidatdella with my favorita amigas, good food, games, and some spanish guitar (kudos to Kara).

8. Had the best BEST churros of my life.

off to move my workspace to the terrace to catch a bit of sun!

sartorialist style

La Rambla, Barcelona

Looking for participants in my 'get a stranger to smile for you' photo assignment, I spotted this guy on La Rambla. His pants are kind of dirty and I think his fly is down, but the skateboard, sweater, and hair are a great combo. And luckily Dani made him laugh as I photographed him, which makes the picture. 

just when you thought life couldn't get any crazier...

....today I received a official summons to testify in court against that guy who mugged me. This should be interesting.

Sorry for the terrible quality of the photo, but sin camera I had to make due with photo booth :)

riding the broke train to spring break

First, I apologize this has been a crazy past couple weeks and I have sorely neglected this lovely little rambling I call a blog.  As I sit drinking café con leche, listening to Madeleine Peyroux [can anyone speak to me like Madeleine, I just don't think so] I am ready to share.

Same streets, same classes, same stresses, two weeks ago I desperately needed a break!  This boredom paralleled nicely with my weeping bank account and so spring break in BCN was born.  Luckily (for me, not them) Dani and Becca were riding the broke train as well, so the three of us decided to stay put in Barna for the holiday and explore.  

Mother Nature provided us with a week full of beautiful spring days in which to exercise our refreshed curiosity and off we went to re-discover Barcelona. Among others, here are some places that you should check out if you ever find yourself in Barca:

Parc d' Laberinth ...I can not believe in all my months in Barcelona, I had not visited this natural woodland park! Dani and I took the metro up to the top of the city to picnic here and it was simply beautiful. Not only does it allow you to see gorgeous views of the city and the mediterrean, it even has a Harry Potter-esque maze! Added bonus, most visitors of the park are local families and to my knowledge it doesn't have a huge tourist following.

Montjuic ...Although I had taken the cable car to the top of Montjuic before, Jordan and I had  purchased the wrong ticket so we couldn't get off at the top to explore. After making sure we did it right this time, Dani, Becca, and I took the funicular to the top of the mountain and spent the afternoon exploring the fortress, and ate lunch in the moat where grass now grows.  

a view from the top of Montjuic - the port and far to the left the world trade center

Barri Gracia ...Another day the three of us went to explore Dani's neighborhood [where we are possibly thinking of living when we move back to bcn] and had a great afternoon. Gracia is a typical spanish neighborhood full of tiny art galleries, fair trade boutiques, chino stores with everything you could possibly want, picturesque plaças, and even a privately owned Gaudi house.  

Becca and I strolling through el barrio

In other news, I was lucky enough to celebrate my 21st in Barcelona this past weekend :) And to make it even sweeter, Silvia came to visit from France with one of her friends from the States, Kevin. We had an amazing night of tapas, strawberry daiquiris, estrella, chupitos, great friends, ole-ing, and party hats. Dani and Becs also gave me the best present - a small owl figurine which in the Catalan culture gives the receiver good luck, and also a small handmade money pouch made with fabric from Japan that they purchased from a local market. Do I have amazing friends or what? 

I submit that I do.

oh and F.C. Barca beat Real Madrid 2-0 last night. ¡Puta Madrid! ¡Visça Barca!

cositas del día

1. The most adorable baby boy waved at me this morning while crossing the street to the metro.

2. A man dressed (very authentically) as Batman strolled around my train car with his friends and gave me a slip of paper that read the following: Fiestas del años! En fecha 29-mayo-2010 Marco Proli (batman), se va a unir en matrimonio. Las chicas Españolas es capaz de cambiar su mente??? ...and for all you non-spanish speakers...On the 29th of May of 2010 Marco Proli (batman) is getting married! Do spanish girls have the ability to change his mind??

3. I got my history of spain partial exam back and I passed!

4. My group for my Marketing class project emailed me their parts of the project...they plagiarized almost the entire thing from Wikipedia.

5. Went to La Boquería to take photos for my photography class project (see Flickr)...annoyed lots of store owners and was hit on by a man pushing a shopping cart full of meat.

6. Stumbled upon an tiny art gallery.

7. Handsome F.C. Barca fan gave me a pen on the metro. Not sure why.

8. Spent a half hour trying to get into Jordan's apartment building...buzzed about 6 of her neighbors by accident.

9. Stopped by Becca's to drop off her camera and scored a scrumptious delicious chocolate croissant. 

10. Barcelona defeats (obnoxious German) Stutgart 4-0!

Off to finish my financial analysis of U.C. of Bennetton, study for Int'l Econ. then bed (at a decent hour hopefully..)! 

asleep on a sunbeam

I always have the urge to write on this thing at some ungodly hour. When 2 am rolls around, normal people think hey why don't I head to bed? not me, no I think hey why don't I post a blog? Of course staying up writing means I'm not sleeping which ultimately means hitting snooze 6 times and cursing myself the rest of the day. And sometimes it means I even fall asleep in class, which is exactly what happened Friday.

After a long week of classes and photo assignments and marketing projects and more classes, by the time my Friday morning classes rolled around I was beat. Unfortunately there were still four hours of morning lectures between me and the weekend. International Economics went quickly, mostly because I was on Jordan's itouch checking my email almost the entire time, but by the time Foto came around I was just not all there. I flew solo to class (Jordan took the day off to spend time with her friend Denice that was visiting), actually managed to get there on time despite the fact it was raining and I nearly killed myself again when I didn't wait for the crosswalk to flash green before crossing (I mean those trams don't even care that you're late to class). Avoiding a Gaudi-esque death I arrived in Foto only to promptly fall asleep when the prof hit the lights to showcase some of his photos. I have the unfortunate habit of talking in my sleep while I'm dreaming and Friday was no exception.

I was dreaming Jordan had actually decided to come to class and was sitting a couple rows from me. In the dead silence of the class I began to exclaim to a girl I did not know, Hey! Jordan! You came? Luckily I woke in the middle of shouting Jordan and managed to camouflage a cough but people did not, not notice meaning, I definitely got some looks. This would have been fine and good except that throughout the rest of the class I continued to nod off (six times to be exact), thinking the professor was talking to me (he clearly was not) and though I keep 'coughing' or 'sneezing', I think people were beginning to get suspicious and needless to say I'm NEVER going back there (well not really, but it felt good to say it!).

The weekend was slightly more exciting, Becs and Daniela came over after my narcoleptic episodes and we had a grand ole time baking cookies, throwing flour, and drinking tea and wine. Saturday we received the bad news the Katana, our friend Barbara's dog, passed away. Katana had been with Barbs all through her childhood and they were extremely close. Of course Daniela was feeling bad for Barbs about the whole thing and so decided to promise Barbs that she would pee on a bush in Katana's honor. So when Saturday night came, after a couple Cañas at Cornelia's, Daniela and I headed down to the park where we found a semi-hidden bush and Daniela proceeded to pop a squat. Next thing you know it's Sunday, our weekly movie day. Usually we choose Disney films so we can sing along obnoxiously and keeping with tradition it was Lion King day.

Before I knew it was back home for dinner, studying time, and then 2 am when I started to write this. I'll leave you with some snow pictures to brighten this dull post and also a music request...if you have not heard Regina Spektor's song Eet., please go listen right now. NOW. It is amazing and it will change your life. No, seriously.





p.s. I'm going to post my Flickr photo stream as soon as I have it up a running properly. Look for it!