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I am still here even though i haven't ...
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I am still here, even though I haven't written in a couple of weeks. I have been busy getting settled so that I can unsettle myself. The apartment hunt is a lengthy process, but I think it may finally be resolved, and I will hopefully be out of rez by the end of the week. It really is ironic that I managed to avoid rez through all of university until my final three months!
My spanish is certainly improving and I have now learned past tense, so I can talk about things other than what is happening right now or what might happen in the future. I still don't have the language mastered and have encountered a few strange looks as I provide answers that are in no way related to the question asked. In fact, my so-so spanish got me invited to act as a research assistant for a professor at ESADE on a project that is to be published. He approached me after class and said that I am always listening so intently and am always so focussed on what is happening in class (a class in spanish). He liked my enthusiasm and thought I would be a good candidate to participate in his project. I didn't tell him that I am concentrating so hard just so that I can understand 75% of what is being said and my attention has nothing to do with my interest in the course! It would be an interesting opportunity, so we are working out some details with timing and I will hopefully see my name in print in some marketing publication one day.
But I am not really here to study, so I will write about my travel adventures of the past weekend. On Friday afternoon, a friend, Alejandro from Mexico, and I headed off to Girona. It is about an hour and a half by train north of Barcelona. We arrived, found a hotell (which we defintiely paid too much for) and made our way to dinner. After dinner, we went to the one and only bar in town, conveniently located two stores over from our restaurant. We ended up sharing a table with a couple from Ireland/Spain...he moved here over twenty years ago and his spanish was hard to understand because it still carries an Irish accent. They were thoroughly entertaining, as he continued to tell the same type of joke all night..."a _____ (brain, penguin...) walks into the bar and says" and divulged to us the secrets of growing marijuana in your back yard (he knows because he does).
The next day we headed off to Cadaques...northern Catalunya, only about an hour from the French border on the Sea. Beautiful...very small (less than 2000 people) and so cold! To compensate for overpaying the night before, we selected more budget accomodations, but soon discovered that our room had no heater. My poor Mexicano friend considers 10 to be longjohn weather, so he was more affected by the slightly below zero temperatures we were enjoying. He bought his first scarf before coming to Barcelona and he really came to understood how important winter accessories can be. After sitting in our room for 45 minutes with our coats, mitts, and scarves on while wrapped in blankets, we finally upgraded to a room with heat.
Cadaques' big claim to fame is being the home of Salvador Dali, and nearby in Port Lligat you can visit Dali's house. We wandered over to Port Lligat Sunday morning using the longest route possible...25 minutes up the mountain to get there and 3 minutes to get back...you can tell how many wrong turns we took on the way there! Obviously when we arrived at Dali's house it was closed - Spanish! A little disappointing, but we made up for it later that afternoon in Figueras where we visited the Teatre-Museu Dali. The museum in Figueras was fantastic. I think that Dali must have spent every minute painting because the collection was so extensive. The museum is about all Figueras has to offer, so we hopped on the train back to Barcelona to arrive home in time for dinner (Spanish dinner, so around 9).
I am looking into day trips to Montserrat and Sitges (San Francisco of Spain, known for beautiful beaches a a Carnaval at the end of February), and hopegully a longer trip to Valnecia and Andalucia a little later - my room mate is from Andalucia and in mid-march her town has a fiesta, so she has invited me to come home with her for the weekend.
Sorry this is so long, but I guess I have to make up for my hiatus the past couple of weeks. Thanks for all the emails and updates of home...keep them coming!
Hasta luego
kc
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