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Some of my facebook notifications lately... :p.
David Voges lädt dich ein seiner Bande in Bandenkrieg beizutreten. Klicken Sie hier um David Vogess Einladung anzunehmen.
Anne-Joëlle a accepté votre invitation sur Facebook.
Lluìs Sarquella Casellas te ha confirmado como amigo/a en Facebook
Adi Ben Betzalel tagged a photo of you.
That's German, French, Spanish, and English... Facebook is international.
I was waiting at the bus stop the other day when I spotted a poster for a Vonda Shepard concert. If you've ever watched the show Ally McBeal, Vonda Shepard is the piano player that sings in the bar that Ally and the other lawyers always go to. I had bought one of Vonda's CDs (called Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally Mcbeal) back in middle school and she has been one of my all-time favorite artists ever since! To me her music is a mix of soul, soft rock, r&b, and maybe even country. She sings some oldies too and though I don't really listen to this genre so much, her songs have always been comfort-music to me :). So I was super excited to find out that she was on tour here!
I normally don't pay much attention to these ads but I'm glad I caught this one! I couldn't believe it... I didn't realize that she was still singing :p and I didn't think most people even knew who she was. I had to google it to make sure to myself that it was actually her :p.
Camilla (a friend from church and small group!) and I after having just arrived at "Bikini" - the name of the club where the concert was held. "Bikini" here means toast (as in bread) haha.
She opened the show with a song called "From the Sun", from her brand new album. I really liked this concert because there wasn't much waiting time. She just came right out and started playing!
During the first half of the show she played a lot of new songs which I didn't know so well (yet). Then towards the end, she started playing songs from Ally Mcbeal and it kind of felt like you were in the Ally McBeal show :p.
The band was great too. At first they didn't seem too special but then Vonda introduced them and it was really quite impressive. Her guitarists had played with Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, and Johnny Cash to name a few. And the drummer used to play for Smash Mouth!
She ended the show with the Ally McBeal theme song! This was great because everyone knew it and sang along :D. Then she got encored (twice!) and came back to sing a few more songs, including Ally's "song"... You know, the one she would always have in her head because her therapist told her to pick a song to cheer herself up with :p.
Vonda came out in the end for autographs and pictures!
I was a little hesitant to go to this concert at first because it cost 30 euros, which seemed a little pricey to me - considering that I had gone to a Beethoven symphony orchestra concert in the fancy Palau de la Musica Catalana for just 12 euros. But in the end it was definitely one of the better concerts that I've been to in a while! Vonda is so good live and if you haven't yet heard her music, I would highly recommend it :)!
Camilla and I at church yesterday where they were cooking a HUUUGE paella. I couldn't believe how big it was!! And this was one of two giant paellas...
I went on a daytrip to Sitges on Saturday with Natasha, a fellow exchange student friend. Sitges is a small seaside town just 40 minutes from Barcelona by train. We left at 9am and stayed until 10pm at night! Since it's Carnaval, there were tons of festivities going on all day. Almost everyone was dressed up too. I've never seen so many people dressed up in one place. It was like spirit week in high school, except this was throughout the whole town!
We arrived just in time to catch the beginning of the Carnaval's "Dressed up Bed Race", aka soapbox car race. The race was accompanied by this percussion band called Markatu. There was a real festive mood in the air!
They zoomed by so fast I could only catch a picture from behind! This could be the cover of a Carnaval 2009 brochure haha :p.
Even this cute dog was enjoying the race
People were lined up down the street to watch the race! I think this was after a soapbox car had just gone by. After a car came down the street, everyone would crowd into the street to get a better view. Then the police men would blow their whistles, letting everyone know to move aside in order for the next car to come down!
One of the teams. There were at least 20 different teams, each with a different theme. I have more photos of each team but there are just too many to post!
After the race, everyone crowded into a town square to wait for the results. Here we are with a contestant who's team dressed up as nurses.
There were tons of these people dressed up in cool costumes!
Us with Marge Simpson. See Lisa Simpson in the background?
Then we stopped by a cafe to get some breakfast in the sun :).
The beautiful ocean...
Walking up to la esglesia, the church.
El Museu Maricel. See the dressed up family?
We met a Chinese tourist who took this photo for us :).
Inside el Museu Maricel
Being in Sitges felt a bit like being in Greece!
Roasting chickens! It got colder in the evening so it was nice to walk by this place and get blasted by a wave of heat :).
Pretty narrow streets!
We did a lot of children's activities that day. The first was getting ice cream... yum!
The beach!
Walking next to the beach...
Then we went to this Plaza Adjuntament because our brochure said that there would be jumpy castles and free hot chocolate (for children)! But when we got there, the castles were still being blown up and there was no hot chocolate :(.
Imagine being here in the summer...
La Esglesia
We met up later with some more exchange student friends. Here we are with the Sitges Carnaval King!
Here's the Markatu percussion band again, drumming in the streets!
We ended the day by getting some dessert! Here we are eating chocolate waffles with some children :).
It's Carnaval here in Barcelona!! Carnaval is a weeklong festival celebrated every year in this region. I still haven't quite figured out the history of the festival but it seems like they just have huge celebrations, parties, and parades everywhere for a week. It's also a bit like halloween. My ballet teacher this morning was dressed up as an angel and several of my dance classmates had their faces painted! I also noticed children on the streets dressed up in costumes and balloons floating in the lobby of my school. So I'll be going on a day trip tomorrow to a city called Sitges, which is just outside of Barcelona. Apparently that is the place to be for Carnaval. Will post more about that trip later!
Anyway, today I was sitting on the bus on my way to school when I received a phone call from a number that I didn't recognize. I thought this was strange and then I picked up and was surprised to hear a man greet me in Chinese. Turns out it was a friend of my parents' who was here in Barcelona on a business trip! His daughter is a good friend of my sister's too so this was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.
We ended up meeting for dinner at a place called Los Caracoles (which means snails). We had a delicious and extremely filling meal consisting of bread, salad, mussels, cured ham, a big seafood paella, and of course, wine. I felt kind of bad because the place is famous for its snails dish (it's a place that has been open since 1835) but we didn't end up ordering it because I told our family friend that I didn't dare eat snails... :p. But hey I ate the cured ham in the end which was a first for me! I normally don't eat sashimi or steak that isn't cooked well done. So cured ham was a big step for me.
Here are some pictures!
We sat in a little nook full of pictures of famous actors that had visited the restaurant in the past. They must have come sometime during the 1800s cuz I didn't recognize any of them!
I cool medieval looking private room. Go to the next picture to see the ceiling of this room...
It's all ham!! I imagine that meat lovers would drool over this. I didn't notice until now but there are little cups under each ham... to catch the grease I suppose. Ew... haha.
Bed time for me. Hasta luego!
To make a long story short, I really started stressing out this week about my Portfolio final. The reason is because I just haven't been able to come up with a concept that I'm happy with. I spent many hours working in different places: at home, at my school library, at my neighborhood library, in the student work room at school... But I wasn't very productive in any of these locations. I don't know if anyone can relate, but once I have an unproductive experience working somewhere, I don't like to work there again because I've already associated it with being unproductive :p.
Anyway, so I just wasn't moving forward with this project and it got to the point where my last thoughts before going to bed and first thoughts after waking up were all about this project. And then I had a frustrating Typography class this morning. I just felt like it was a waste of time because the teacher was correcting people's work individually while everyone else just waited on him. I felt like I could have been using that time to work on this other project! I was also getting annoyed because people around me were all on facebook and youtube and just being loud!!
So after two and a half long hours, I was not in a very good mood. I knew that I had to crack down and do some hardcore work but I really wasn't in the right state of mind. I thought about going to the library but decided against it because the last time I was there it just wasn't the right kind of working environment. I thought about going to the student work room but that didn't have the right atmosphere either. Then I remembered seeing a public library at La Rambla closeby so I walked there only to find that it was closed and wouldn't be opening for another hour. And I knew going back home was not a good option for getting work done.
I was getting really frustrated, and feeling like the clock was ticking. I really had to work but I didn't know where or how! I didn't know what to do or where to go so I just walked to the port to sit down and take a breath. And then I prayed. I prayed for encouragement and motivation to move forward with my final. I prayed that I might be able to find a place to work. But mostly I just prayed for some peace in my heart so that I might be able to be productive and ease some of my stress. After sitting for awhile I decided to walk into the Maremagnum, which is the name of a mall at the port. I remembered seeing some open cafe tables there and I thought that even though it was kind of loud, I'd look around for a place to work. But instead of walking in where I normally enter, I decided to take the escalator on the side. I rode up and found a Starbucks which I hadn't seen before. Then when I went in, I discovered that it had a second floor filled with couches and tables... the perfect and exact type of working environment I was looking for and needed so desperately :). And what's more, there was a whole wall of windows overlooking the ocean.
I ended up having a very productive afternoon. I stayed in that Starbucks from around 3:30-9:30pm and I'm relieved to say that I finally have a concept to move forward with. What can I say - God is good!! I had been to the Maremagnum several times before but I had never seen this Starbucks before. Ever since I discovered the port, I've loved going there. It is just so beautiful. I'm hoping that this will be my new study-spot for the next 3 weeks. It's close enough to school but far enough so that I can be removed from the sometimes stressful school environment.
I wish I had some pictures of the port/Maremagnum during the day time, but the ones at night are beautiful too :).
Last Saturday I met an American person who shook my hand... and I thought it was so weird. So I guess I'm used to the whole kissing-each-other-on-both-cheeks-as-a-greeting thing :)! It's too bad we don't do that in America. I'm going to come back and start kissing everyone. Jajaja!
Well I can't believe it's already mid-February. I only have 4 weeks of school left! Can you believe it? I'm starting to stress because I don't know how I will be able to accomplish all of my work in so little time!
So... who's coming to Barcelona for Spring break??! :D
On Saturday I went on a short day trip to the mountains just outside of Barcelona! I have to say that this week has been really great - my favorite week so far. I am feeling much more settled in and have been playing a lot :). I think I will put up an album soon on facebook..!
Janina and I on the top of the world!
Yes, I searched far and wide and alas... I found the miracle known as the Swiffer! My house has plenty of brooms and mops to clean with but when I use them I feel like I'm in the stone age. Seriously, I think the Swiffer is such a well-designed product (props to IDEO - I think it was them who designed it). When you use a broom or a mop, your cleaning tool essentially gets dirtier and dirtier as you clean. But not so with the Swiffer! With a Swiffer, you get to throw away the dirtiness. And the whole thing is compact and easy to use. Anyway, so I ended up finding a Swiffer at El Corte Ingles, which is the biggest department store here. I knew that they had to sell Swiffers somewhere because I had spotted the Swiffer refill towels in a supermarket near my house. I still haven't been able to find the wet Swiffer refill wipes though (in the US I use Swiffer wet, Swiffer dry, and the Swiffer carpet flick!). Oh I also am a big fan of Clorox products. I really miss my Clorox wipes! You forget how useful these things are until you go abroad and don't have them anymore :p.
In other news... I got sick earlier last week. It was so terrible. I had fevers for two days and then a cold which I'm just getting over now. I don't know how it happened because I haven't been that sick in a long time, and I don't usually get very sick in general. The worst part was that I didn't go to school for two days so I fell really behind with my work and it just threw off my whole routine. So I'm very happy that I'm better now. I dropped my Design Management class and I've committed to (meaning I've put down the money!) taking dance classes every morning at the ballet school near my house. I feel like I'm getting back on track! I can't believe it's already February. I've been thinking of staying here longer after my school trimester ends, because 3 months just seems too short! But it all depends on how much it will cost and if the Consulate here will let me...
Ooh yesterday I had lunch with some classmates by the port, just across the street from our school. Then we walked over a bridge to this area they call "Maremagnum". I can't believe it's taken me more than a month to discover this place! It is so beautiful and just steps away from my school. It's just a really nice public space where you can sit by the water, eat, chat etc. And then there's a mall, a movie theater, an IMAX theater, and an aquarium too. It reminds me a lot of the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, only nicer :).
Alright, it's back to work for me now. I'm going to try to be a better blogger... Really I am! I think the key lies in shorter, but more frequent posts ;).
