Well look at that. It’s November. I clearly need to refine
my blogging skills. Putting my inconsistency aside, I would love to tell you a
little bit about the past month of my European “life”. I have to put it in
quotes because the past month was so surreal and barely resembled any other
month of my life, with the exception of this past September.
You know how after you spend a little while with a new thing
it becomes normal and then you get bored of it and start looking for the next
thing because humans are adaptable and we always search for novel stimuli?
Well, that has not happened here in the slightest. I am still in honey-moon
mood with Europe. I can’t believe how
incredible it is that I get to be here, every day, trying to appreciate every
moment (though consistently falling short), and if people could hear my
internal dialogue about how grateful I am to be living this, it might even be
obnoxious. Surprisingly, I think I am starting to miss America less with time,
rather than more. . .
October brought gorgeous weather in Sevilla, and I really
appreciate that. Just recently it has started to get chilly in the mornings/evenings. Before you roll your
eyes at my inability to cope with temperature below 60, I would like to remind
you that most of Sevilla does not have heating inside. 50 degrees is less
“brisk and fall-y” and more of a persistent chill when you can’t ever escape it
by going inside. Nonetheless, it has been great so far and still is for 70% of each day.
The first weekend in October I was in Sevilla and registered
for a 5K taking place in a huge park downtown to support breast cancer
awareness. That was a great choice. It was a beautiful day and I felt so
Spanish being mixed in with that crowd like I belonged there. Afterward, there
was a “fitness festival” in the plaza by the park, complete with a stage and
zumba instructors. Probably about a hundred or more women were standing in this
plaza doing zumba together. Such fun. I don’t know how much you know about
zumba, but the dance-exercise can be several different styles of dance. At one
point the instructor was doing a very gruff, kick-box style routine which
included phrases to yell at certain times. We were going along and the
instructor told us what to yell during a certain punch . . . and I stood in
this crowd of Spanish women and I swear all I could hear was *punch, punch*
“Obamaaa!” I am NOT joking! Ashlyn can testify as well. Obviously that was
hilarious to us and totally incorrect. Turns out we were yelling “Po’ toma!”
which basically means “take that!” But we went through at least 5 times of the
routine and this whole plaza punch-dancing and yelling “Obama!” This is the “Obama”
punch pose. . .
BARCE!
The next weekend we flew solo (Ashlyn, Gifton, and I) to
Barcelona, Spain! This city, the second largest in Spain, is a very cool city
that I loved visiting but would not choose for living in. It was our first time
using the airline Ryanair, which we have used to book all our flights because
it is consistently the cheapest option out there, for a couple clear reasons. I
will leave it at that. We got in about 4 hours later than scheduled and made it
to the hostel just fine. Can I give a quick promo for hostels? I love them. I’m
sure some are terrible, but we have gotten great luck with ours and the staff
is always super friendly and informative and we have always had decently hot
water. What more can you need?
The highlight of the weekend was without a doubt the Sagrada
Familia, which is a basilica that has been under construction since ~1884. The
designer/architects name is Antoni Gaudí, and a huge part of the identity of
the city is based around his work. I have never felt about a building the way I
felt about the Sagrada Familia. At first you think it will be a huge, gorgeous,
but more-or-less-predictable super old church. Then when you get closer you
realize you have never seen anything like it and the whole thing is genius. It
is organic and colorful and shows such detail in every inch of the façade and
sculpting; it’s no wonder the thing isn’t finished over a century later. My
favorite part was a wall that depicts the final days of Christ’s life in a very
modern, geometric style. I would love to describe it to you but I have zero
vocabulary for sculpture. But I bought a very cool poster of that side and you
are welcome to see it any time. Or, in the spirit of modern technology, here is
a picture.
Including the basilica, we were super-tourists every day. We
saw a bunch of other works by Gaudí, including the big Park Guell. The whole
city is kind of his museum because his works as a sculptor are most frequently
buildings. In my opinion, that also classifies him as architect and engineer,
which makes him even more impressive. We also went by the Barcelona
church—sorry, I mean soccer stadium—which was huge but we didn’t go inside.
Other notable aspect of Barcelona is that it is the main city in the province
of Catalonia and people there speak a different language—Catalan—that is kind
of a mix of French and Spanish. The people there are fiercely patriotic to
their region and are constantly seeking independence from Spain. Honestly if
you talk about Barcelona for too long with some Sevillanos it gets a little
tense and awkward because there can be such distaste for each other. It’s also
a pretty international city and about 90% of people we approached in Spanish
replied with something like, “Oh, I’m sorry. . . I’m not from here/I don’t
speak Spanish”. Disappointing, but also kind of comical. We are supposed to be
the ones pulling the foreigner card. Also of note, we got fish pedicures (where tooth-less fish eat skin off your feet)! Top 10 weirdest sensations I've experienced. There are fish in a tank below your seat and when you sit down they get all excited and come to the surface. I suppose they're hungry. Overall, fantastic and exhausting trip to
an awesome city. I recommend it.
When we take trips on the weekends, it makes the weeks seem
very short and that has definitely happened through October. Perhaps that’s why
it went by so fast. It also makes school and homework feel like a very distant
concept. October part II will come in a separate post, because when Ashlyn
reads my blog about our lives here her first comment is always, “It’s so long.”
We’ll see what she says when she finds this one J.
Thanks for stopping by to share in the adventure. :)
P.S. Just a couple more from Barcelona. . .
These are the chimneys on the roof of a house/apartment complex Gaudi designed called Casa Mila. They actually are functional. Later, when he was working on the Basilica, these chimneys were the inspiration for the helmets of the guards sculpted in the scene of Christ's crucifixion and they really are quite similar looking. I actually saw the Basilica first however, so the Casa Mila chimneys will forever look like stick people with helmets for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment