Sangria...Blood of the Gods

Okay, so now I’ve been here for like 2.5 days. I have a lot to tell, but have also had some sangria, which affects me mucho. I deleted the last post because I was trying to do it quickly but only made it really incoherent, so I’ll start from the beginning.

So, after confirming my diagnosis of motion sickness by being on land for more than an hour, we went to the school where we were to meet our host families. Sylvia, my room mate, had already been here for a couple hours so she had already gone there and came to get me with the very adorable and helpful father of my host mother, Maria Jesus. Well, when Sylvia got there I was passed out on the desk, which I’m sure looked good to el abuelito. He probably thought I was drunk, maybe I was. I’m still not sure. I didn’t realize she was with him at first, and he is adorable…and neither speaks nor understands English. He’s shorter than me, and talks really quickly, but is really helpful and hauled one of my bags around as we travelled on public transportation. After we took the bus for like half a decade (actually half an hour. It just seemed like a decade because I was so fuzzy from jet lag), we arrived at what I now know as the intersection of calle Begur and Placa de Sans…I think. El abuelito showed us around the apartment, I think the bathroom, how to use the shower, etc, and left to where ever it is he actually lives, I’m not sure. Sylvia and I decided to go exploring a little.

We headed down the street, towards who knows what, and, because we were starving, ended up in a little counter restaurant. We ordered things that looked good, because that usually works, right? This time, we got pretty lucky. We had this ball of meat and potato that was interesting and served with a delicious spicy sauce that came in a ketchup bottle. When I squirted the sauce out, being an American, I expected ketchup, but this was so much better. We also had a devilled egg with a tuna filled, some fried potatoes, and empanadas that had a chicken and pepper filling. All of it was amazing. And, coke light of course. After that, we went searching for the internet.

Barcelona is a lot different than what I’m used to. Instead of looking near us, which we later learned would have been cheaper and better, we trekked all the way back to the university to find something, anything, to connect us with familiarity. Upon finding the internet, at which point I wasn’t really appreciative of Spanish culture in general, we headed back to our home stay for more food, hygiene, and sleep.

Back at our flat, I had completely forgotten what it looked like, thanks jet lag. I finally met Maria Jesus. She’s so tiny and sweet. I don’t think she cares what we do as long as we’re careful and eat a lot. That’s what she tells us all the time: Come mucho (eat a lot) and leave nothing on our plates! Which is a lot of pressure, trust me. We chatted a little but due to my complete inability to think in Spanish let alone English, she left me and Sylvia to eat the feast she had prepared. There was pasta with red sauce, fried pork, salad, bread, and flan with whipped cream for dessert. The pasta was terrible. I think she was trying to feed us American food. I didn’t come here to eat American food, duh. The pork was incredible, it was so tender and moist. And flan, you can never go wrong with that. We also ate at like 10P. Definitely new to me.

After dinner, I encountered the shower. For those that don’t know, there is a drought going on in Spain, especially Barcelona. While right now there is enough water, soon there may not be so people try and conserve. And Spain in general is just more environmentally friendly. Their busses use natural gas so when they pass you, you don’t get black lung (how cool is that?). Anyways, the shower. It is handheld, and doesn’t really hang on the wall well; actually it hangs, it just floods the bathroom, which doesn’t seem like a kosher thing to do in a stranger’s house. Also, everything seems to have been built before WWII. Although it is very clean, it is just old, like rusty and kind of janky (which is synonymous with junky). The showerhead is the same way. I was somewhat afraid to let it touch me. And the shower curtain kept sticking to me. But after all that travelling, it was getting hot and making me clean, so I’m not complaining. Then, I climbed in my hard bed (which I am longer than…I love this) with its one lumpy pillow and strange sheets and passed out.

The next morning, I woke up a lot because I was talking to myself, as usual. I found Sylvia in the dining room eating breakfast, which consisted of cookies (they were like sweet Ritz crackers), margarine, and jam. So I ate my cookies for breakfast and headed off to class via the bus. The bus is full of mostly old people, apparently young people take the train, but we haven’t figured that out yet. Classes are small, like 10-12 people and are taught by UofI TA’s and one professor, the mysterious John C. Wilcox. My TA is Jordi and he is awesome. He’s from Barcelona so he knows a lot about the culture and the city. After class we had a picnic on the patio. Maria Jesus had made us very long sandwiches which consisted of fresh baguette (which I love) and ham spam (which seriously grosses me out). Of course, I consumed the entire thing as my cookies for breakfast hadn’t won me over yet. She also gave us one of the best oranges I’ve had in my life. And a bottle of water. After class, Sylvia and I showed a bunch of people from our class (mainly Analise and Holly) where the internet is. After the internet, we still had some time so we went and, in true European tradition, drank beer at 2p. I loved not getting carded and paying 1.80 Euro (which is cheap, even in the States) for a drink. I realized half way through though, that I don’t like beer. But I finished it and had a good buzz for our trip to the Museo de Historia de Cataluña.

The museum was interesting mostly. We walked there from the Universitat (which is University in Catalan), and it was quite a hike, not a good day for a skirt and flip flops, oh well. We also got to see Las Ramblas, which is the most famous boulevard in the city and has a lot of touristy stuff. Jordi said not to buy anything there because it’s too expensive. The museum would have been a lot easier to focus had I not had to pee terribly from the beer and not been jet lagged. It was cool to see buildings that are really old and the city that’s under the modern city, which was built by the Romans. Afterwards, we walked back and most people got their cell phones (you had to have ID to get it and 3 of us didn’t). While they did that, the three of us, including Sylvia and this girl that wears heels all the time (which really doesn’t make sense to me, like she must by dying), went and drank wine at a hole in the wall bar. Here they chill the red one and the house stuff is better than some of the high priced stuff in the states. I really love it.

After wine drinking, we walked to Flauta where we had our welcome dinner. It was a tapas style dinner served with red wine. The first dish was a potato dish. The potatoes had the texture of the canned fried onions you use to make green bean casserole. There was also eggs that had been cooked over easy and spices; the yolks from the eggs and the spices made this delicious and rich sauce. This was one of my favorites. We also had tortilla española, which is like quiche without crust. It had potatoes and onions in it and was really good also. There was also a plate of the thinly sliced Serrano ham, which is a huge thing here. That was amazing. There was pan con tomate, which is bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil and salt and pepper and is a traditional dish of the Catalan region. There was a plate with fried anchovies and pepper. The anchovies were surprisingly good, as there the peppers. And lastly, a mini tuna sandwich with roasted red pepper. All in all, a really good meal.

After we had drank enough wine, we walked back to Las Ramblas in search of hot chocolate and pastries, since most shops everywhere else close at 8:30ish (which seems really early, I know). We walked around and just looked at the architecture and the people, and finally found a pandería that was open. I had hot chocolate, which was really just like warm pudding in a cup, and a pastry that was like bread stuffed with nutella. It was amazing. After that we walked back to the Universitat and caught the bus home because we were exhausted.

I pretty much passed out right away when I got back and woke up this morning to shower. After more cookies for breakfast, we went over to another pandería to look for something more substantial. And they always just look so delectable. I chose something with an egg/cream cheese custard and we took the bus to class. During the break, I finally go my cell phone and feel much better about being out and about. After class and an egg and tomato sandwich, we went back to the internet. Later on, we met up with the rest of the group and headed over to the Museo d’Arte, which houses most of Barcelona’s famous art. Interestingly enough, we met a British girl, Charlotte, who was supposed to come out with us but hasn’t yet, hopefully she will she seems interesting. We went to the Romantic part, which I thought would be a lot different. It was mostly recovered paintings from churches, which was interesting for like 30 minutes but then got kind of boring. Funny story though (and I have been given permission to write about this…actually, Analise told me to).

So we’re sitting on these marble benches listening to the guide talk about the paintings in Spanish. Analise was sitting behind me, and actually next to Professor John C. Wilcox, and managed to fall asleep. She woke herself up when she gassed so loud that it pretty much echoed around the silent room. We couldn’t keep a straight face for hours. Right next to the professor, good job.

By the way, the museum is like one billion stairs from the street level. Literally. But the view was amazing. Like I wanted to sit there with a glass of wine just watching the sun set. It was breathtaking. We had some lemonade and sat out after a defeating climb up the most stairs iI have ever experienced in my life. This museum is like 1 mile above street level, and its a combination of stairs and escalators to get up to the top. Totally worth it though. After the boring stuff we got to see some more modern stuff, like Picasso, which was really cool. Then we walked over to the Olympic village, which also had a great view of the city. After that, we came back here and took a nap, because it was like 8P and we were planning on going out. Eventually, Maria Jesus returned from work and we ate dinner around 10:30. I thought, after ham spam and cookies for breakfast, she wasn’t going to deliver, but oh man did she come through. She had arroz con pollo, which was perfectly spiced and the chicken was so tender. In addition to that (she really likes us to eat a lot) she had salad, pan con tomate, fried chicken, and flan with really yummy ice cream. It was a good, home cooked meal after a long day. Throughout dinner though, the damn dog kept barking for food. I wanted to strangle the bitch. I don’t care how old you are, you are a mean dog who doesn’t want to cuddle, how rude. Yuli is the dog…she’s like 14 and constantly wants food and hates me and Sylvia. After dinner, we got ready in a pinch since it was already 11P and headed over to Las Ramblas for some time on the town.

On the way there, we walked through Placa España (I think…these are everywhere but this one is near the really big El Core Ingles…which is a department store) where strangers were trying to sell you beer from a six pack for 1 euro. This crazy kid from our group was trying to talk to the locals who kept asking him if he had pot, and two girls took off with some guys that were eyeing them. All in all, our group makes tourist fools out of themselves on a regular basis (me included). So we headed down Las Ramblas to the Oreja Negra which is a bar. Inside we ordered one liter of sangria (it’s like a pitcher that you would fill with soda at a pizza shop) which we split between 3 people. We managed to sit next to some Americans who are studying here (we were actively avoiding our group since one of them had just been kicked out for something) who told about some places to try (which I cannot remember…oh well). Eventually the Americans left and I ended up making eyes with a guy at the table over, who came over to introduce himself as Rufens. He was really fun so we moved over to his group who turned out to be mostly Brazilian. They guy who made eyes at me wasn’t messing around, he ended up flirting profusely (kissing on the lips, according to him, is necessary and must happen often in Spain…but he didn’t do that with the other girls…hmmm) with me and gave me his number. He already has big plans. We drank a lot more sangria, which was yummy, and got a little drunk, and headed home. The bar was a lot of fun and we totally have plans to go back, and I can’t wait.

Good news! Maria Jesus has the internet, she just has to plug it in, which Sylvia told her I should do since I work with computers. I work with computers in English and its usually pretty touch and go then, I’m pretty sure trying to get her internet up in Spanish would be a disaster; but she’s going to get it running on Saturday so I won’t have to use the internet café anymore. Tomorrow we are going on an excursion and I have to wake up in like 2 hours, so I should get some sleep. Hopefully my pictures will be up soon, I have lots I promise!