Took my first exam on Friday, and I think it went pretty well :) I have a paper, presentation and final exam this week so lots of work to do before I finish this intensive class and finally start semester classes.
Saturday was a break from schoolwork and studying for another group outing, this time up a mountain, Tibidabo. The day started out beautiful and only got better as we hiked, uphill, for about an hour and a half, to a little restaurant on the mountain. There we ate a typical Catalan meal, starting with calçots, charred leeks that you peel and dip in some mystery sauce before eating them above your head. needless to say it was quite the scene. The meal consisted of calçots, pa amb tomacat (bread with tomato), salads, potato tortilla, grilled potatoes, grilled veggies, some sort of meat, and a lemon custard cake for dessert. I then realized the point of the hour and a half walk prior to the meal was to make us hungry enough to be able to eat it all! luckily, we took the ferrocarriles back to the city center.
Sunday was another opportunity for cultural experience. Andrea and I got up early to go with her host mother to the CaixaForum, a social cultural center in Barcelona that, at the moment, has exhibitions of artwork by Picasso and Dali. I really liked the exhibit called Rutas de Arabia, which included at least 300 pieces of ancient art from Saudi Arabia. They also played some documentaries about Bolivia and Colombia, all very interesting stuff.
Today, we took a field trip with the program to Poble Sec, a barrio just south of my apartment. We had been talking about the Spanish civil war in class and got to watch a great movie called El Lengua de las Mariposas. But the point of the field trip was to see what the bomb shelters, bomberos, were like in Barcelona during the 30's. It was a really cool tour of one of the shelters that was constructed into the side of the other Barcelona mountain, Monjuic.
However, you will be surprised to know that I think I have been cured of the 'rebajas' disease. After shopping with Andrea and my host mother in the rain last night, and again today for a couple hours, although today in the sun, I have been frustrated with the shopping scene one too many times to actually enjoy it now. I'm guessing this is just a phase, and might not last long, but for now, i can't even look at another price tag or sale sign.
well that's the update for now, and since all that unsuccessful shopping made me exhausted, I think it's time for a siesta! :) love you and miss you all!
a deiu!
~Keri
Sounded wonderful until you got to ",some sort of meat,"
ReplyDeleteOh my!