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Amanda in Barcelona

a travel blog by achavero


Basically, this was the realization of lots of things that seemed like good ideas...
Participate in a study abroad progam, paid for by the college? (Great idea.)
Go somewhere far, far away from home? (Sure, why not?)
How about Spain? (I´ve never been to Europe, and Barcelona... excellent, I kind of speak Spanish, so that should work out nicely.)

...thus, here I am.
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Hot pink nail polish doesn´t fix anything

Barcelona, Spain


On a whim, I painted my nails hot pink. Like, Barbie pink. I´m really entertained by it, partly because of the color and partly because I would never describe myself as a hot-pink-kind-of-girl. I only meant to keep the color for a day or two, but it´s nearly been a week and I can still look down at the keyboard and see little flashes of pink as I type this. It hasn´t fixed a single thing in my life, but it´s fun to break the mold I make for myself. I´ve admittedly been stuck in this sort of "emo" monotony lately, and keeping a positive attitude about anything has been difficult. I´m tired, stressed, impulsive, broke and I miss my mom. I will be home in a month, so now is the final crunch to get everything done and it makes my mood all the worse for it. As a result, hot pink nail polish has unintentionally become the symbol of everything I´m not feeling right now.

The weather is no longer "sunny and 60," by the way. More like grey, humid and 40. It wants to rain but its too lazy. My brain feels dilated... thoughts take longer to develop. I don´t want to do anything except bum around in sweatpants and eat chocolate. Unfortunately, that is not an option because I have final exams next Monday-Thursday, then I have to pack for "el gran viaje" on Friday, and on Saturday morning, the two week trip around southern Spain commences. So hot pink nails haven´t made the weather better, but they have been serving as a reminder that I won´t have these neutral, uninteresting days for much longer. It also makes for a great contrast in my wardrobe. I´ve been wearing a lot of black and brown and grey lately... you have to understand though, it´s very "euro".
I would say that my euro-makeover must be nearly complete. I´ve learned the trick: ignore the idea that black clothes and brown accessories don´t really "go" together and just see any neutral, dark color as a base from which you accessorize with whatever obnoxiously bright thing you can get your hands on. And wear layers. And look haughty and disinterested (thus, chic) about it.

Funny europeans.

And hot pink nails haven´t made the papers easier to write, it hasn´t improved the dollar-euro exchange rate, and my use of the subjunctive tense of Spanish verbs is still nonexistent, but its a happy color, and for the moments that I take to notice how ridiculously bright and cheery they are amidst all the grey and grime of the city, I´m entertained.



permalink written by  achavero on November 23, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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What is life without fútbol?

Barcelona, Spain


What is known:
- Soccer (fútbol) is THE sport of Europe, and thus, Spain.
- The Barca fútbol team is the darling of Barcelona sports.
- Not everyone has to actually love the soccer team. You just really shouldn´t openly dislike them.
What I thought I knew:
- That my host family isn´t really into sports.
What I know now:
- That my host family´s silverware is engraved with the Barca logo.


permalink written by  achavero on November 25, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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Tying up loose ends...

Barcelona, Spain


1. First, "finals week" here is really something more like "finals day." I had three exams on Wednesday. Were they difficult? Well, I emerged from them all with my sanity intact (the same cannot be said about finals at Knox). So that was okay. Yes, they were all in Spanish. So that... that passed. I "celebrated" by going to the bar across the street and getting a beer with three other girls from this program before going home for dinner. It was really very tranquil. Nothing at all like Knox -- where you spend 3 to 6 days addressing only the most basic needs of survival (except sleep) and furiously writing papers while everything else in your life is put on hold. Then, once you are liberated from the mental and emotional stranglehold that is finals, you spend half the day in a dazed stupor and that night in an aggressive (and for many, a drunken) attempt to make up for all that fun you are sure you missed out on over the last few days. At some point in time, there is a massive sigh of relief and while I can´t speak for everyone, I always feel a little better about myself in that look-at-what-I-just-survived kind of way. Here, I missed that sense of accomplishment, even though I realize that as I admit that I sound like a sucker for punishment. I just... I don´t know. I didn´t know what to expect, so I´m not disappointed. I just didn´t feel closure. It was like this whole finals thing was an afterthought... maybe a consequence of the differences between American and Spanish education systems?
2. As I write this, the countdown to the beginning of the grand adventure around Spain starts in about 19 hours. Where is this wandering two weeks going to take me? Here:

Barcelona – Peñíscola – Valencia – Guadix – Granada – Ronda –Arcos de la Frontera - Jerez de la Frontera – Sevilla – Córdoba – Cáceres – Toledo – Madrid – Segovia – Zaragoza – Barcelona

Fun fact? We change hotels 9 (NINE!) times in 14 days.

I´m going to be so sick of everyone on this trip. I´m not even being mean about it. Its just... group dynamics. This trip is organized by the Knox Program as a part of the study abroad experience. Yes, that is amazingly cool. While I´m both excited about this trip and happy about the group of people that I´m traveling with, I can´t lie about the trepidation I have over spending countless hours on a bus with these same people... or eating meal after meal with all of them... or being herded around the city from one photo op to the next. I just can´t get excited about that. Sorry. But it will be worth it. I know it will. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

3. Today is me doing all the little things I needed to do a week ago but didn´t get around to it. This blog post, returning books to the library, cleaning off pictures on my camera, replying to emails, etc. Then I need to pack, clean my room and go to bed early because my tomorrow starts at 5:30AM.

I feel like I should apologize for not being very perky lately. Since my hair has reached "long-ish" status, I feel like I´ve been a more serious person. No minimal-effort, messy ponytails for Amanda, oh no. European women wear their hair down and are to be taken seriously so of course, I do the same.
And when I´m on the bus, I have the tendency to zone out. I picked this up from fellow bus-riders, and rather quickly at that. While there are advantages to this habit, it also means that I catch myself frowning. Not a very happy, perky thing to do. Then I look around me and see all the old women wearing the same expression and I smile in an attempt to counteract the wrinkles I´m getting a head start on, if their own countless wrinkles are statements to the same fact. What are the advantages, then? First, there is no better way to get over the simple fact that you are hemmed in by too many people. Secondly, and more importantly, by zoning out you can be unconcious of the fact that the bus driver has narrowly avoided at least a dozen accidents in the 20 minutes you´ve been a passenger. I paid attention to how the drivers navigate the streets only twice and both times I exited the moving box of near-death experiences I could feel my heart beating in my throat.
All that aside, I´m not really in a bad mood... I´m just... not happy. I guess I´m not unhappy either, though. I don´t really know for sure. I just don´t feel like I have anything to get really excited about. I say I´m all about this upcoming trip, but even as I say that and really feel it, I can´t summon up a convincing smile to go along with it. I´m just... serious. And I don´t really like it.

permalink written by  achavero on November 30, 2007 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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El Gran Viaje, part 1

Sevilla, Spain


Well, I know I’ve been talking about it an awful lot, but el gran viaje has finally (!) begun. I’m writing this on day 6 of 15, lounging on the floor of Polly and Krystal’s hotel room while Krystal and Zac are napping on the beds and Polly is catching up on email-replying. This update is courtesy of Zac, who kindly let me swipe his ibook computer and internet access to write this. (Thanks, Zac.)

The last six days have certainly been a whirlwind... I’ve been in at least one new city every day. Today I am in Sevilla. I’ve also been spotted in Valencia, Guadix, Peniscola, Ronda, Granada, Arcos de la Frontera, Jerez de la Frontera. I feel like a Where’s Waldo character. Wait, no, more like Carmen Sandiego. You know... “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?” Yeah... a continent-hopping woman of mystery and intrigue, dressed in red, and with an inappropriately sultry voice for a children’s show... well... maybe I’m not cut out to be Carmen either, but at least she’s better dressed than Waldo.

And, just as I suspected, I’m quickly tiring of this trip. I am just tourist-ed out. Really. The “walking tours” of the various sights are starting to feel more like death marches. I can’t even tell you how many palaces, cathedrals, parks, government buildings, curiosities and other oddities I’ve seen. I am just disillusioned. Jaded. And I’m not alone. Yes, this is a GREAT opportunity, I know. I know. Don’t tell me. Because if you tell me, I’m going to lecture you on the differences between 14th, 15th and 16th century cupolas in cathedrals. Trust me, you don’t want that.

permalink written by  achavero on December 6, 2007 from Sevilla, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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el Gran Viaje, part 2

Madrid, Spain


Ah, day 13 of 15. Wow. It's been rough. "Death march" is an amazingly appropriate term for these guided city tours. Aside from that, I'm out of clean socks, my favorite sweatshirt is starting to look the part, I reek of that stale, hotel smell, and I've discovered a few new pet peeves. But things are going great!

No, really. I've done some really cool things and I am going to be doing some laundry after this, so all's well. Let's see, what happened after Sevilla... Cordoba, Toledo, and a few random stops for lunch: Merida and Caceres. Checked out the Mezquita... I refer to it as the Muslim Vatican. Other than that, I really don't have a lot to say. I mean, I've done a lot, I just don't know how to talk about it. I guess the other major things I've done included a 3.5 hour session of forcing fine art upon myself in the Prado Museum and thanks to those three hour death marches, I've walked the halls of the Royal Palace in Madrid, numerous other cathedrals, a couple of synagogues and El Escorial, where I hung out in the crypt that holds most of the Spanish royal family.

Honestly, I'm done. I've been done. But now I'm really, really done. Tomorrow, we are trooping out to Segovia to see the Roman aqueduct, then on Saturday, we have an 8 hour bus ride to Barcelona. Thankfully, we will be stopping in Zaragoza to eat lunch and "stretch our legs," which is code for "walk around yet another cathedral." We should be rolling into Barcelona around 9 pm, give or take an hour. THEN, I get to unpack my suitcase, eat, shower, repack my suitcase, catch a few hours of sleep and then leave in the wee hours for the airport to travel back in time.

The plan is to go from Barcelona to Atlanta, then from ATL to Chicago. Where does the time travel come in? Well, I leave BCN at 10:40 am, and should be in ATL by 3 pm-ish even though I'm definitely going to be stuck on that plane for 10 hours. Since the extent of my math whiz abilities stops at balancing my checkbook and splitting the bill at lunch, I'm not going to think about it too much and just take Delta Airlines at their word. If everything goes as planned, I should be in Chicago by 8 pm on Saturday. However, I keep hearing about ice storms happening in Chicago and at home, so I'm really pulling for some good luck to get me to the States again, in one piece and on time.



permalink written by  achavero on December 13, 2007 from Madrid, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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Amanda shows up in Barcelona, take two.

Barcelona, Spain


Well, it´s been three days since I´ve arrived even though I´ve only been concious for two of them. My latest method of dealing with jetlag/extreme exhaustion was to go to bed at 1030 on Monday morning (intending to take a short nap before lunch) but the next thing I knew, it was 9 am on Tuesday. Oops. So, the jetlag is pretty much taken care of.

Where was I if I wasn´t in Barcelona, then? In the United States. I went home for Christmas. Most of you already know this. It was a great time -- Christmas with the family was fantastic, the food was comforting, my friends were happy to see me, and the wastefulness of American society was disturbing. So everything was exactly as I expected it to be. :)

Today was the first day of classes, but I didn´t have any. Not today. I ran a few errands and caught up with people I haven´t seen in a really long time instead. Now, I´m just gearing myself up to buy a metro card and go home. I´m exhausted. The price of the metro went up, much to my dismay. I just filled out an application to be a babysitter... we´ll see how this turns out. Best case scenario, it will help my financial situation, which is truly dismal at this point.

Crap.

permalink written by  achavero on January 9, 2008 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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it had to happen sometime

Barcelona, Spain


I'm sick! With what, who knows. I've got all kinds of complaints -- sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, chills, fever, etc etc etc. The good news is that I just got back from the doctor's office, armed with three prescriptions and two refills on my inhalers. The office visit and chest xray took me less than an hour (I didn't even go in with an appointment) and it only cost 120 US dollars.

Why doesn't the United States have nationalized health care???

permalink written by  achavero on January 11, 2008 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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listening to... Spanish Bombs - The Clash

Barcelona, Spain


I've been back for about two weeks now, and my life is starting to get back on track. I no longer live out of a suitcase, which officially happened from December 1, 2007 - January 7, 2008. I never want to do that again, actually. And from the looks of things, my suitcase couldn't do that again, even if it wanted to. But now I've got clothes that don't smell like hotels and I have places to put all my things, and they can stay there instead of setting things on whatever flat surface I have handy only to pack them up again.
Another improvement is that I have classes that challenge me Not to say that last term was a total wash, but it was considerably... less challenging... than previous experiences... man, I'm trying to be diplomatic about this but it's not really working. Basically, last term I had too little work and too much free time so that just panned out to mean that I had way to much time in which to work myself up into a neurotic mess. Which I did rather too successfully, I must say.

So I'm finally coming out that, aided by a whole new set of things to distract me and worry about. My classes look like they'll be amazing this term, for one thing. Here's what I'm taking (and why!):
1. Syntax and Composition 2: so maybe I'll learn how to use the evil subjunctive tense.
2. Don Quixote: its a literature class taught by my Contemporary Spain professor from last term, Professor Reyes. I haven't actually cracked the spine on my copy yet, but its high up on the to-do list. I'm pretty excited about this class but that's mostly just because the professor is. On the first day, he used an imaginary sword to lop off the heads of a 28-headed dragon to make a point. Point made. And how! :)
3. History of Spain 2: I don't need this class, but I adore the professor. I learned a lot from him, and I've always liked history. I've been lucky to have some really great history teachers -- in both high school and in college. Besides, his class gives me a context in which to place Spanish culture.
4. 20th Century Latin American Literature: This is the hardest class I'm taking, by far, because it is a) one of the key requirements for my as-yet-undeclared Spanish major and b) taught by Professor Tim Foster, the director of the Barcelona Program (the one I'm participating in). Tim is a really cool guy, but he isn't totally gung-ho about teaching this class and has thus made it almost as inconvenient and difficult as possible. Class is at 8:30 am on Mondays and 1 pm on Thursdays, and for the first day of class (which was yesterday) we had to have already read the first book and written a 3-5 page essay that analyzed some formal aspect of the story (ie, symbolism). Guh. But you know what, I sucked it up and did it because I really want to get this class out of the way.

So, as of right now, I have homework in three of those four classes. Grammar worksheets from Syntax, and 50 pages or so from both Don Quixote and Tim's lit class. It's good for me, I tell myself. At the very least, all my free time from last term is now filled with purpose -- I'm either purposefully doing my work or I'm purposely avoiding it.

What else... I am joining a gym as soon as my running shoes get here. :) When I was packing to come back to BCN, I had to decide between my running shoes and chocolate. It was an agonizing moment, but I went with the chocolate and Mom graciously agreed to ship my shoes to me (with more chocolate - heh). I figured I could get one last go at being a lazy, chocolate-binging bum and then by the time my running shoes turned up I would be ready to start working out again. As it turns out, I know myself pretty well. I've researched gyms in Barcelona, and I found a really nice one just 2.5 blocks away from my apartment.

Another new development since I've returned is my decision to commit to finding a job. I'm not legally allowed to work since I'm here on a student visa, but I can do things like babysit or "teach english," which is really just babysitting with more of a purpose. I have just barely enough saved up to get by not working, but I'd have to adhere to a bare-bones kind of budget, which just... sucks. It's what I've been doing, and I feel like there's a lot in Barcelona that I'm not doing because I dont want to pay that much money. This fact directly offends my philosophy that I don't need to spend a lot of money to have fun, but... it has proven itself to be valid. True, I don't have to spend a ton of money to have fun, but there are things I want to do here that involve spending more money than I can afford to. So... I get a job. Problem solved. :)

Alright, I guess that's it. Fortunately, I can get free wireless access from my apartment, so that's how I've been able to write this. It's made my life a lot more convenient. Now, I'm going to eat some lunch and then resort to my new favorite way to procrastinate: watching the Venture Brothers episodes. It's pure genius. Think like, Johnny Quest gone all wrong and thus, hilarity ensues.

And then maybe after that I'll do something about that undeclared double major.

permalink written by  achavero on January 18, 2008 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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Hello, stranger.

Barcelona, Spain


Eek, its been a while. Well, contrary to what I initially said, I am cutting out of BCN on March 23rd. Easter, if you prefer. I wish I had a long, intricate story full of dramatic twists and turns, but really, I just need to graduate on time. I want a double major, in Anthropology/Sociology (at Knox, this is treated as one major) and Spanish. Because of the way certain requirements are scheduled, if I don't come back this spring I'll have to pick one major and one minor, which I just don't want to do. Damn my ambition, eh?

In pure honesty, I'm not really sad about this. You'd expect me to be sad, right? Well, no. Maybe I'm just being a good little "trooper," but this realization wasn't a sad one. But since I can't see anyone describing me as a "good little trooper," and you probably know that, I should explain this point. :)

Some of you already know that I've had a really hard time here. Depression, illness, unhappiness, what have you. I took it pretty well, or as well as I could. I mean, I'm in Barcelona -- I'm not going to spend all of my time feeling sorry for myself! So as I leave, I'm glad to be going because I feel like I'm finally getting away from all the (for lack of a better word) crap that plagued me but I don't want anyone to think that I hate this place. No. I think Barcelona is a fantastic city. You should visit it, if you haven't already. And if you have, you should visit it again because I promise you its changed! It's a city I could never live in, but its definitely a place I'd like to come back and visit (like, when the Sagrada Familia is finished?)

So, I made the decision to come back in the beginning of February, and just in time too, as that was when classes were being chosen for spring term. Maybe you'll find this interesting, or maybe you won't, but the hardest part about getting everything sorted out to come home was convincing people that I was doing it for a reason others deemed "acceptable." I have been in the "all my byself" camp since I first became vocal, so you can imagine how much I appreciated being clotheslined by that nasty little surprise. The decision was hard enough, I don't need everyone else passing judgement on it and I'm not going to change my mind just because you said so... sigh... suffice it to say that I can talk for a long time about the expectations -- both acknowledged and assumed -- that are associated with studying abroad. (And I don't suggest you do this unless you really, really want to know.) Unfortunately, I have to admit that I would have rather experienced the nuances of being a study abroad student in a different way, but what can you do? Experience is experience, and I'm just hoping that I'm better off for it.

Being criticized for wanting to come home early made me wary of yelling my news from the rooftops, so to speak, so please don't be offended if I didn't tell you I was coming back. Very few people knew, and I would have kept it that way, but people talk and well, as one person told me, "the cat is out of the bag." Sums it up rather well, I think.

So, here I am, still in Barcelona. Its been cold here these last couple of days, but given that I was on the beach on Saturday and my family is probably still slogging through icy, grey slush, I'm not to the point of complaining. I have my final exams next week, (if you've read about my experience with last term's finals, you should know that these are looking much more daunting) on March 12th and 13th. I have until the 16th to get my fill of Barcelona, the people in it, and to purge my belongings of stuff I can't fit in my luggage because on the morning of the 17th, I fly to Paris! :) I have 5 days in the City of Lights and the sneaking suspicion that my experience there will give me reason to call it the City of Croissants. (I'm very excited about the prospect of unchecked overindulgence in French baked goods.) But don't worry, I'll do all the other touristy things that are basically required of a trip to Paris. I will crawl into BCN again on the 21st, very late at night and probably exhausted. But I'll only be able to sleep until noon (no later!) because I have three extremely important tasks:
1. unpack from Paris and re-pack for home
2. finish last-minute errands (gifts, things I wanted to take pictures of, etc)
3. say goodbye!

After all of that, I have to be ready to leave at 6am for the airport. I'll fly from BCN to Zurich, and then onto Chicago. Counting from the time I leave my apartment in BCN to the time I will probably arrive at home, I will have been traveling for 22 hours. Here's hoping I manage to sleep on the plane!

permalink written by  achavero on March 6, 2008 from Barcelona, Spain
from the travel blog: Amanda in Barcelona
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