It’s strange to think that I’ve been here close to four weeks. Yet today was my first day of real classes. It’s a relief to finally have something that resembles a set routine. I’m taking Spanish grammar (required, and boring), Barcelona: History and City (includes five field trips, which will be great), Society and Politics of Spain, and Spain and Catalonia through the arts. Taking a language class, history course, political science course, and an art history class are all as far away from my major as I can get. But maybe that’s a good thing. All the classes are in Spanish, which is difficult. I understand approximately half of what’s being said. Hopefully that percentage goes up dramatically, and soon. I’m trying not to freak out too much… if I was at home and I only understood half of the material I would be panicking. But I remain optimistic.
A plus to my school schedule is that I finish class at noon on Tuesday and Thursday, which in this city is mid-morning, so I will have a lot of time to explore on my own. I’ve declared Tuesdays to be “Museum Tuesdays” because I have figured out there are exactly the same number of museums in this city as there are weeks of class, and that way I’m being productive with my time. As I was typing that last sentence, I came to the realization that I am one of the biggest nerds I know.
This past weekend was pretty interesting. The weather has been less than perfect, with cold temperatures (40 degrees Fahrenheit), wind, and overcast skies. My program (about 30 of us in the Advanced Program… it’s a joke that I’m considered advanced) made a trip to Tarragona, about an hour south of Barcelona. Tarragona was the capital of Spain when it was occupied by the Romans. The central area of the city is boxed in within the remaining walls of the Roman city. This oldest part of the town was built around 300 B.C. Pretty incredible.
Here’s a picture of modern buildings within the Roman city walls of Tarragona. My friend Mike is trying to avoid a car in the narrow streets. This part of the city is fascinating and quiet, while the rest of Tarragona is industrial and ugly.
A picture of me standing in front of a church. The church was built in the 12th century, making it the most modern building we saw on the tour. The steps I’m standing on are about 1,000 years older than the church. I was freezing cold.
This was the creepy part. This is part of the old Roman ruins (I didn’t include a picture because it didn’t look like much from the outside). I couldn’t understand enough of our tour guide’s fast talking Spanish (with Catalan thrown in) to figure out more about this tunnel, but every 10 yards was another small dark room. He told us to imagine the movie “Glatiator” was we walked through the tunnel.
There was also a gladiator-type stadium at the base of the town, next to the sea. It could be filled with sea water during the summer for water sports and swimming competitions… so awesome!!
Here’s the best view of Tarragona from the top of the Roman tower. Don’t let the beach and blue sky fool you. It was so so cold! The statue is of Julius Caesar.
After leaving Tarragona, we drove an hour west to a monastery. The drive was mostly through the countryside, but to me it looked identical to the western slope of Colorado. It’s arid even though it’s next to the sea, but still manages to be a huge area for agriculture and vineyards. (Again, sounds like western slope CO) Kind of pretty, but not extraordinarily interesting. The monastery, however, was incredible. As far as I could tell no one is there permanently, but it used to house many monks, living there continuously for centuries. Also very old, and that’s basically all I know about it. I’ll include two pictures.
On Sunday, my friend Maggie and I toured a neighborhood called El Eixample, which is considered an outdoor museum of Modernism architecture. In the early 1900s there was basically a competition to create the most eccentric building in the neighborhood. The coolest/ craziest houses were built by Gaudi, and we toured the inside of La Padrera, the coolest of the Gaudi houses. I won’t include many pictures because to be honest I’m kind of sick of everything related to Gaudi (Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and various other places I’ve written about are also by Gaudi). Anyway, the weekend was pretty mellow and educational, and I’m excited to change things up a bit this next weekend.
Picture of my in front of La Padrera. Again, pictures don't do these buildings justice so this is the only one I'll put up.
The Super Bowl starts at 1:00 am on Sunday night, and apparently the place to watch it is at the Hard Rock Café. (Go figure) So I guess I need to decide how much I care about the Bears and decide if they are worth staying up all night for. It would be different if four of my friends here weren’t from Chicago.
Anyway, sorry again for the lengthy update. It will get more interesting from here… I won’t reveal my upcoming trips to keep you in suspense and to give you reason to keep checking up on me.
All for now,
Love,
Laura
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