Tag Archives: Spain

Montserrat: The Serrated Mountain

I had thought that at some point this semester, I would start to have some free time here in Barcelona, but if this week was anything like the upcoming weeks, I will be constantly exploring, studying, and experiencing new things.

I’ll start with my exciting classes this week.  While some classes are extremely boring and nearly impossible to keep my eyes open, others are very interesting and nearly impossible not to pay attention.  For example, in my Sport and Society in Spain class, some castellers visited our class.  These are the people who build giant human towers in the streets of Spain.  They told us about the history of the “sport” and even showed us how to properly build a castell, or tower.  After they showed us the correct way to climb a tower, they had us build a tower ourselves.  I really learned to appreciate the skill and strength that is required to build one of these.  It took our whole class to get one person safely into a second level and I was exhausted after it.  The castellers are able to get 10 layers of 3 people into the air.  It truly is incredible.  See for yourself how intense and dangerous this cultural event is.  The person on top of the tower is almost always a child.  Those are some brave ni�os!

In my Sustainability class, we went on a field trip to an energy conservation office.  Here is home to the first residential solar panel in Spain and a lot of other inventive ways to be more energy efficient such as solar cookers, worm composting boxes, and urban gardens.  I thought it was very motivating to see people care so much about the environment and the ways they are trying to help others have the same opinion.  They really push the “full circle of life” idea that waste can be made into food.  In my opinion, this is a great idea but it takes way too long to come full circle; from vegetable, to food, to compost, to soil for more vegetables and fruits.

In my Spanish film class we watched The Spirit of the Beehive, a 1973 “masterpiece of Spanish cinema” due to its extreme use of symbolism to subtly criticize the Franco regime.  Then we talked about the symbolism in the movie for an hour and a half.  My teacher was guilty of what I like to call “The Old Man and the Sea Complex”.  According to my theory, the symbolism in a piece of art is over-analyzed and broken down piece by piece to find the depth in such a superficial and ordinary plot (i.e. The Old Man and the Sea is simply about a man going fishing).  While the film definitely had a lot of symbolism and did a good job of criticizing Spanish life under the Franco dictatorship, not every single scene has a hidden meaning.  It was so frustrating to hear the students try to sound deep and observant as they attempted to make every single thing in the movie a symbol for something else.  Even though the film can be found on any “Best of World Cinema” list, I was not a fan.

On Saturday, IES sponsored a bus trip to Montserrat (“serrated mountain”) which is a mountain that seems to just shoot out of the Catalonian landscape about an hour outside of Barcelona.  Montserrat is home to a Benedictine monastery that is built into the rock and was a place of shelter for hermits and monks for hundreds of years.  The road up the mountain was very small and very winding. I felt like I was back in Costa Rica; every time I looked out of the window of the tour bus, it felt like we were going to fall off the edge of a cliff.  Looking out at the landscape featuring bald rock faces and lush green ferns, I thought was on the planet Pandora from Avatar.   The rock formations are very odd and seem to come from another planet.  The peaks rise out of the clouds and offer fantastic views oMonterrat panoramaf Catalonia.

At 65 degrees Farenheidt and sunny, we had absolutely beautiful weather.  Due to the nearly perfect weather, there was a clear view of the snow capped Pyrenees rising out of the horizon.  It was exciting, beautiful, and serene. I couldn’t imagine being able to live on top of the mountain like the hermits did, and being able to see the stunning landscape every morning.  The tour group I was with was very slow and kept stopping every 20 minutes or so for no apparent reason, so my roommate, another friend, and I broke off from the group and did some adventuring on our own.  We hiked to the peak of one of the rocks and sat there and ate lunch over looking hills, mountains, rivers, and Barcelona in the distance.

Meditating on Monsterrat

There was also a monument that looked like a giant’s staircase that seemed to hang out over the edge of the mountain.  After seeing some kids climbing it, I knew I had to give it a try.  I got my adrenaline fix that day climbing up the giant’s staircase, sitting on top, and lookingGiant's Staircase down below me.  It was scary and awesome at the same time.  Plus, it made for some pretty cool pictures.

Then we got a tour of the art museum/archaeological history museum.  In my opinion, the art museum was a waste of time.  There were a few lesser known works by Picasso, el Greco, Renoir, Dali, and Monet, but other than that all of the artists were Catalonian painters and the paintings were forgettable.  I was much more interested in the archaeological exhibit which had a real mummy, a mummified alligator, circumcision instruments, ancient weapons, and other interesting pieces of history.  While the group got a painfully in depth guided tour of the paintings, I spent my time learning about the artifacts of the past.

After the museum, we were rushed through the main basilica of the monastery, which is home to La Virgen Negra or “The Black Virgin”.  This is a statue that is surrounded by mystery.  There is a very big back-story that I will not get into, but it is a statue of Mary holding Jesus in her lap.  Originally Mary was painted with white lead paint, but the paint tarnished and gave the statue a black color.Black Virgin  So when the statue was restored hundreds of years ago, they painted it black not knowing that it was originally painted white.  Anyways, the church is beautiful and has a very creepy crypt inside of it.  The shrine of the Black Virgin is amazing.  The walls and ceilings are covered in a gold mosaic.  People go on pilgrimages from all throughout Spain to see this statue.  Unfortunately, the statue is protected by a glass case, but the public is still allowed to touch the ball that the young Jesus is holding in his hand, which is supposed to represent the universe.Montserrat Monaster

I wish I could put into words the feelings of elation and awe that I experienced at the top of Montserrat.  It was absolutely breathtaking and I wish we had more time on the mountain so I could have hiked a lot more.  Hopefully you will understand my feelings from the pictures.  You can view the whole album here: Montserrat Photo Album

Sunday night I had the fortunate opportunity to watch the Super Bowl in a foreign city.  We found the best deal in town for the game at a bar where they locked us in the bar for the night and gave us great drink specials and cheap food.  Unfortunately, my hometown Pittsburgh Steelers lost, but I had a great time making friends with kids from all over the United States who joined together to root not exactly for the Green Bay Packers, but against the Steelers.  After the game, I went to congratulate the Packers fans and one of the fans, a 250 pound football player from Dartmouth was so happy he was crying his eyes out.  I got a good laugh at the sight of a true, diehard football fan.  The game did not end until 4:30 a.m, but the metro didn’t open until 5 a.m, so we went and got some empanadas (a delicious meat and cheese calzone-like thing).  I didn’t get back to my homestay until 6 a.m.  It was a long, ultimately disappointing night, but I still had a blast.

Last night, I booked a bus trip to the French Riviera from February 17-20.  It is the first weekend of Carnival and we will be staying in the heart of the Riviera in Nice, France.  I can’t wait!  This will be my first travel outside of Barcelona that is not sponsored by IES and I was a little bit hesitant to confirm the payment, but now that I have actually confirmed my reservation, it feels really good.

Hasta luego,

~Sean


Location: Montserrat, Spain

The Beginning of a New Adventure

So it has been a week since I arrived in Barcelona, Spain and I am just getting a chance to write.  I apologize for the delay in an entry, but literally all of my free time has been consumed by an exploration of the beautiful city.  In this past week, I think have walked (and ran) more than I have in my entire life.  What a great way to get exercise! Instead of staring at a plain white wall and running in place on a treadmill, I get to run along a beach on the Mediterranean under a full moon and through the streets of the marvelous Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. But before I get ahead of myself, let me back up and explain my pre-departure anxiety and my first impressions of Barcelona.

Pre-Departure Problems

I had scheduled my flight months in advance of my arrival date.  I was to fly from Pittsburgh, Pa to Atlanta, GA to Barcelona, Span.  I chose to fly through Atlanta because I thought the weather in mid-January would be much more desirable for flying in Atlanta than in Pittsburgh.  Unfortunately Atlanta was scheduled to encounter a large snowstorm on the date of my departure (Jan 10th) so they cancelled my flight.  I did not find this out until 8 o clock the night before I was supposed to leave. The night continued to be a rollercoaster of emotion.  After having my flight cancelled, I was able to get a seat on a flight through Newark to Barcelona leaving on the 11th, a day later than I was supposed to depart.  Just as I had mentally processed the fact that I was going to have another day of anxiety, walking around the house with my stomach in knots hoping I didn’t forget to pack anything, my dad was able to get me a last minute seat on a flight on the 10th, the day I was originally supposed to leave.  At that point it hit me that in 12 short hours I would be on another continent, miles and miles away from everyone I know and love and light years away from my comfort zone.

On the morning of the 10th, I couldn’t even concentrate on the way to the airport.  So many things were running through my head, and looking back on it, I guess I was more nervous than I should have been.  I didn’t know exactly what I was nervous about, it was more the unknown that troubled me.  When I got to the ticket office at the airport, the lady at the desk told me I had no flights booked.  I looked at her like she was crazy as I held the ticket confirmation in my hand.  After some time and confusion on the part of the inept airline employee (at one point she had me flying into some city I had never heard of before), I walked away holding the tickets that I had booked the night before.  Holding those tickets was both a huge sigh of relief and a shocking reality that departure time was near.

My dad, my mom, and my girlfriend Megan stayed with me as far as they could which was to the security checkpoint.  My younger brother decided skiing was more important than going to the airport with us.  It was tough saying goodbye.  I waved goodbye for a final time and stepped onto a tram.  It was the bittersweet beginning of a new adventure.

Flights

The flight to Newark was very relaxing.  I really like flying.  The take-off and landing are my favorite parts, even though I get nervous each time.  On the flight I had a window seat in an aisle all to myself, so I could stretch my legs out.  The flight to Barcelona was a completely different story.  I was lucky enough to get a window seat, but unfortunately it was in an emergency exit aisle, so by airline regulation, my seat was restricted from reclining at all.  To make matters worse, the overhead compartments were full, so people were forced to stuff carry-on luggage under other peoples’ seats. So I had no room to move my legs and no room to recline.  It was the most uncomfortable ride of my life, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be because the flight had over 50 On Demand movies to choose from on a touch screen on the back of every seat.

Barcelona!

After the 7 hour flight, I got my bags, made my first steps on European ground, and took in my first breath of the Mediterranean air.  I caught a taxi to my homestay and was greeted at the door by Bernardo, el papa.  I decided to live in a homestay with a local Spanish family for many reasons. I wanted to experience the culture first hand and actually live like a normal Spanish person would.  I have no idea how to cook in general, so cooking genuine Spanish food was completely out of the question.  I also wanted to learn the language, and I thought that living with a family was the best way to do that.  I was hoping to ease into the language and that the family I was living with could be good teachers.  However, neither of the parents knows any English, and Travis and I hardly know any Spanish, so conversation is a bit of a struggle and often consists of many hand gestures and “Spanglish”.   However, they have a 27 year old daughter, Ana, who has the lucky job of translating both sides of the conversation.  Their 30 year old son does not live with them, but when he visits, he speaks English with my roommate and me.

My roommate Travis arrived a few hours later and Adela, la mama, took us on the metro down to the city.  My first impression of the city was how big it is.  The streets near the metro station were so wide and the buildings were huge.  The buildings weren’t as tall as the buildings in NYC or even Pittsburgh, but there were so wide and looked gargantuan!  I also realized that there weren’t many cars on the streets, but there were a TON of taxis and motor scooters.  We walked down the famous pedestrian street called Las Ramblas, which has tons of shops, or “tiendas” on each side of the road.  It was so cool to walk down this street and see all the different types of people walking around me.  There were even street performers!

Then came time for the part of the Barcelona experience that I was most nervous about, the food.  For those of you don’t know me, I am a terribly picky eater.  However, I told myself I was going to try any new food that is placed in front of me.  Adela made a delicious soup and bikinis (the Barcelona term for a ham and cheese on toasted bread).  I find it easier to eat the foods if I don’t know what I’m eating.  The thing that surprised me the most about the food is that although we have bread as an appetizer for every meal, we never use butter on the bread.  Adela always rubs tomato over the bread to make a type of bruschetta, which I am going to have to get used to.

After my first day, things started to become easier.  I picked up the language pretty quickly.  I had taken up to Spanish 3 at Penn State, but I had taken that class first semester of freshman year.  Needless to say, I was a little rusty.  My favorite part about the first week was being in an area that was completely unfamiliar to me and venturing around the city.  The city is marvelous!  Every street has something new and interesting on it, and the Barri Gotic (the Gothic Quarter) has fascinating architecture and extremely narrow streets with buildings that loom high above.  Its eerie even in the daytime.

Barri Gotic

Many of you have probably heard about the lively nightlife scene in Barcelona, and let me tell you everything you have heard is probably true.  Barcelona has literally hundreds of bars, each offering something unique and interesting.  The nightclubs are top-notch, to say the least.  It is quite an experience with the flashing lights, techno music so loud it could explode the ear-drums, and thousands, yes thousands of people dancing and having a good time.  Its like the clubs in the United States only bigger, better, classier, and more exclusive.  Another interesting thing about the nightlife at Barcelona is that it literally lasts until dawn.  I don’t think the city ever sleeps.  However, most people don’t leave to a bar until around midnight because the clubs do not start to get crowded until around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.

My favorite place to visit so far is Parc Guell, Atoni Gaudi’s beautiful and trippy garden landscape that was originally designed to be a garden town.  The designs are so interesting, it is like something completely original.  I had seen pictures of it before, but it is completely different to actually sit on the snake-like bench and feel the cold, colorful tiles and my hands as I look out to the Mediterranean.  Luckily, Parc Guell is only a 15 minute walk from the apartment where I am living so I will definitely be making return visits to take pictures or people watch.

Parc Guell

I will be more prompt with my blog posts in the future.  Now that classes have started, I don’t have nearly as much free time to spend experience everything the city has to offer.

Hasta luego!

~Sean


Location: Barcelona, Spain