One year later.

It's been one year since I embarked on my memorable journeys in my other home. Like I said, I miss Sevilla so much. Soooooo much. I want to go back. I would do anything to go back. To botellon. To get big-ass Cruzcampos from Robotica. Espinacas con garbanzos. Vips. OpenCor. Maruja. Maria del Mar. Feria. Jordi. Semana Santa. I even miss the obras, and the stupid Starbucks music. Random bus trips. Mudejar. Arabic architecture. Gothic architecture. Carboneria. Agua de Sevilla...

Little did I know 365 days ago what an amazing experience I was in for. I remember my crazy flight drama, getting sick upon arrival, the weird food at the hotel (I can't believe I don't remember the name!). First meeting everyone. Sharing my Swiss chocolate. Not understanding Luisa. First trip to Corte Ingles. Confusion with homestays. Meeting Maruja, Maria del Mar, and Marta. Rooming with Stacey in the hotel. Oh man! I remember the first Sevilla getting to know you party Julia threw that December! How little we knew! We were in store for so much! Honestly, study abroad was one of the greatest times of my life, hands down. I just realized that I'm wearing my Universidad de Sevilla shirt right now!

I remember starting this blog! How easy it seemed at the time and what a pain in the ass it became! Ha. I definitely need to print these off and make a book.

I remember my first tapas, first botellon, first time realizing that the party doesn't start until about 2am (thanks, Antique)...

Oh and what great times ensued. I loved every second of it. I really cannot believe how much I miss it...it's unexpected how much I miss it. I wanna go back! I did not expect to fall in love with Sevilla. Not at all.

One year since I first embarked on the greatest experience of my life. Thank god I did it. Thank god. Little did I know a year ago that the best time of my life was about to begin. I was one lucky girl.

Sevilla, te amo, te echo de menos...te veo pronto!

Casi un ano despues, ya echo de menos sevilla

So I believe that it was about a year ago that I made my first entry in this legendary blog. Wow, how time flies. My friend from high school is getting ready to take her second semester excursion to the lovely southern comfort of the Iberian Peninsula. Sigh. What a crazy/exciting/scary time that was! Little did I know the amazing adventure that I was in for. All the memorable times and friendships and experiences. I have literally been talking about Sevilla CONSTANTLY for the past few days. Melissa and I are neighbors and we cry about missing Sevilla, um, all the time. We had a class together and she would write poems for her thesis about Spain and show them to me all the time. Stacey and I, in those rare times our schedules match and we can meet up, cry about Sevilla all the time. I miss that place so damn much I cannot even tell you. I guess I'll get into more detail about it on an entry I will make on the anniversary of my first day of study abroad.
What provoked this entry was something very coincidental that happened this morning; my new favorite tv show is on the Travel Channel, it's called "Passport to Europe." In each episode the host, Samantha Brown, visits a different European city. Well, it just so happens that this morning she went to Seville. I was freaking out! She went to the Cathedral, the Alcazar, Garlochi (that terrible yet fun Semana Santa bar), stayed at the Dona Maria, ate jamon serrano and queso manchego...sigh. It was so funny to see her walk down my streets...my beloved Sevilla streets. Honestly, I get choked up when I think about that place. I have been looking at random U of M kids' facebook photos who are on academic year there. I can't wait till Marissa, my friend from hs, puts up pictures. I will stalk her. I will talk about this more in due time, but all in all, I cannot BELIEVE how much I miss Sevilla...and Europe at that! I was not expecting to miss it this much. I would give ANYTHING to go back. When I left Spain I was ready to leave, and during the summer and the first half of last semester I was okay with being home. I guess I was caught up in the novelty and excitement of being back. Now that it's been almost a year I am so present to how amazing that experience was. And I miss it. I'm taking a theatre class for which I have to write plays sometimes, and today I wrote a play based off of the Velazquez painting, "Las Meninas." I even named characters after Sevillanos that I knew/met. Sigh. I MISS IT! ECHO DE MENOS SEVILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reflections

So here I am sitting in front of my laptop getting ready to finally turn it off, pack it up, and head off to school. Yup, Summer has passed and it's time for me to start my senior year. Honestly, I couldn't be more excited and more sad; it's really going to be a bittersweet year. However, I am so excited to go back. You see, going abroad really helped me to gain a new appreciation for Ann Arbor. My first semester junior year was by far one of the lowest points in my life. I wasn't depressed or anything, don't get me wrong, but I was under and overwhelming amount of stress that just really took its toll. But that's a whole other story. By the end of first semester I was more than grateful to be out of Ann Arbor. Going abroad caused me to reminisce and henceforth dearly miss my second home. So to me, this Summer went by a bit too slowly for my taste since alls I wanna do is go back to school! I am so stoked about this year, it's going to be amazing.
So let me re-cap my Summer and the reverse culture shock. Well, needless to say I didn't really experience any culture shock. To me, Spain felt like this fantasy dreamland--everything and everybody was so new and exciting. Home, being the U.S., always seemed like reality. Like, going home would be like waking up from an awesome dream. And that's exactly how it was. I got home, all was the same, how I remembered it, etc. I had no problem remembering how to drive, how to get places, where people live, knowing stores and neighborhoods, adjusting to the new mealtimes (well, I still ate dinner pretty late out of habit, but that soon adjusted itself back to normal meal time). Adjusting to the time zone was surprisingly easy since I took my program director's advice and forced myself to adjust to the time change right away. My first morning I set my alarm for 10am...I was groggy in the morning, but my circadian rhythms quickly came back as they responded to the natural sunlight. That's another thing: my first month home the weather was gorgeous! That was a pleasant surprise. One cultural shocker (although not cultural) was seeing the temperature go below 80 degrees! Haha. My first day back I went to a Cubs game and was wearing a sweatshirt. That was great. My first day back was pretty great and only had a bit of culture shock: Nicole and I snagged front row tickets to the Cubs game from Evan. We took the EL which was surprisingly easy...I had become such a public transportation pro abroad that the typically challenging EL was a cynch. The only real culture shockish thing that occurred for me was at that Cubs game. The crowd mentality in the States is completely different than in Spain. People don't meander about like they would at the bull ring in Sevilla, everyone walks briskly with a purpose, pushing to get where they have to be (whether it be food, bathroom, or their seats) as fast as possible. It definitely took me by surprise. So that was interesting. After the game we met up with Evan for hookah at Samah, and I then noticed that it was set up/decorated just like the teterias I had frequented in Sevilla and Granada. How funny! I even drank Arabic tea. That night, while walking back to the EL, I realized the bad effect that Spain had had over me: my fear of bums. Yeah, I've developed a fear which I am really working on conquering right now because it's ridiculous. Before going to Spain I had no fear of bums...I mean, I grew up in Chicago and go to school in Ann Arbor. But after my incidents with the bums in Spain and my growing defensive comportment while walking the streets, I now walk around with a constant feeling of being a victim when I am downtown. It's terrible and I need to get over it. We encountered many bums that night and, out of instinct, I would walk away at a good distance to avoid any run-ins. Whenever a homeless person asks me to spare change my heart immediately starts racing. I have just been conditioned to be on the defense when a bum actually approaches me. Sigh. Don't worry, I'll beat this one. Speaking of bums, I wonder how my favorite bum from Sevilla is doing (the one that is on a hunger strike for his dogs). Hmmmmm.
Anyways, let's briefly go over my summer. It was a pretty standard Highland Park summer, I guess. But then again, what is a standard HP summer? It was boring at times, but in hindsight I really had a good time. It was very low-keyed and a good relax after a crazy semester in Spain. You'll be happy to know that I seldom drank this summer, despite my being legal. If I did drink it was only a drink or two at dinner. Alcohol is just so much more expensive here! Plus, I just don't really party here. My friends at home aren't big partiers. We're chill. Oh, that reminds me, at the Cubs game my first day back I had my first official legal drink! A Bud Light. It was great. And expensive. Oh well; I found it very appropriate for a first legal drink here. Anyways, my Summer. Well, Nicole left the Tuesday after I came back, and I pretty much bummed around for two weeks. I hung out with Evan, Jason, and Leah a lot. I had relied on my babysitting jobs taking me back for the third summer in a row, but that all fell through. So I was unemployed and in dire need of money. I mean, who would hire me for a month and a half? Luckily Evan's dad pulled through and I became a full-time employee at the Smalley Steel Ring Co. I had my own cubicle and that was exciting. It was a real 5-day-a-week, 8-hour-a-day job (7:30am-4:30pm with a lunch break and a 40 min. commute both ways). I really got into morning talk radio. Looooove Drex morning show on 103.5. The first week of work was exciting, I felt like an adult and whatnot, but after awhile it became pretty mundane, and eventually kind of depressing. My project was to scan all of their large automotive files onto their new electronic filing system. So I was in front of a computer alllllll day. My eyes started to grow really irritated and I felt alienated. I don't know how people work cubicle jobs for a living--it's a very depressing environment. It's just so...impersonal and automatic. Blech. Whatever, I made $2,000 this summer, so no complaints. And I learned a lot about the Greenhill's company and about the business world. Honestly interesting stuff.
So that took up most of my summer. There were some highlights such as getting Pink Eye. That was fun. But no, I took some really great trips around the midwest. I went with Evan and his dad on their gorgeous yacht across Lake Michigan to the state of Michigan. That was really awesome--it was my first time in Michigan since January! The east side of the lake is so pretty. We first stopped in Whitehall where I surprised Stacey. You see, I would have called her and told her that I was coming, but I never got her U.S. phone number! So I just showed up at her work, a little restaurant called Pekadill's (Whitehall is a small town, so it wasn't hard to find) because I knew that she was working all summer. So I just showed up and surprised her. You should have seen the look on her face! It was priceless. I got to see Stacey's 'hood, which is really cute and a lot nicer than how she had described it to me. I met her friends, and she got to meet Evan, it was all really nice. The next day we went to Grand Haven where we met up with Nicole. Grand Haven is really nice. We got to see the largest musical fountain in the world there. Pretty neat. It was nice to catch up with Nicole since we didn't really have much time to catch up when I got back from Spain. The trip was really awesome, I had a great time.
Two weeks later I went back to Michigan on a trip that I had actually been planning for months. I called it the "Whirlwind Michigan Tour". I pretty much travelled across the state of Michigan in five days. And it was SO FUN! I started out visiting Nicole in Grand Haven. We went to the Coast Guard festival, met up with Axel, ate great food, played with her animals (which are awesome), watched movies, it was great. I love Nicole's family, animals, and her house is adorable and pretty. We then both went up to Muskegan to her dad's house. He lives on this huge property on Twin Lake (adjacent to Muskegan) right on a gorgeous river. Every year he has a river party where people come and camp out on his lawn for the weekend and party and such. I got to catch the beginnings of it. Nicole and I took a tube ride (not a boat tow tube, but like a lazy river tube) down the river. We brought a cooler with two bottles of Boones Farm (which I had never had before) and went to town. We got pretty drunk and met some nice, drunk middle-aged men and their 16-year-old son kayaking down the river. They gave us beers so we got really drunk. To make a long story short, our 2 hour tube ride turned into a 5-hour tube ride full of many obstacles (branches...one of which caused me to tip over), and cold weather (the sun had gone down...we didn't get back until 9:30). When we got back we met up with Joe who had driven up from Ann Arbor to hang out with us for the night. That was awesome because I hadn't seen him since January. We ate pizza, drank beer, and watched Family Guy and Pee-Wee. The next morning we hung out on the trampoline on the river and drank and sunbathed. Then that afternoon I said my goodbyes and drove from the west side of the state to the central part to Mount Pleasant for my friends Randy and Beth's wedding. It was my first real wedding and I had so much fun. I got to go to the rehearsal dinner and everything. It was at the Soaring Eagle Resort and Casino which was really nice. I gambled for the first time! I hated it, by the way. But it was exciting, nonetheless. The best part about that weekend was that I got to hang out with a lot of my friends from freshman year in East Quad who I hadn't seen in ages. I mean, we hadn't hung out probably since 2004. A lot of them had graduated this past Spring, so it was really good to hang out with them for one last time and say my goodbyes for real. The wedding ceremony was beautiful, and brief. The reception was so much fun! Weddings are like bar mitzvahs but better...cuz you get to drink. I like the open bar thing, I must say. The food was really good, and the music was great. I got really drunk...the drunkest I had been all summer. It was so fun! One of the major highlights of my summer. That and tubing with Nicole win as best summer memories, I must say. On Sunday morning I drove to the east side of the state to Ann Arbor...my first time in Ann Arbor since January! I fucking love Ann Arbor, and despite a hangover and 3 hours of sleep, I was overjoyed to be there. I was only there for a few hours--I went to my first semester apartment to pick up a couch and a shelving unit that I couldn't fit in my car back in December. I then went to Zingermans for lunch, of course. It was packed and it took forever (most crowded I've ever seen it), but it was worth it. My sandwich was heavenly. Best food in Ann Arbor, hands down. I then drove home. And that was the Whirlwind Michigan Tour.
I would like to talk about one major highlight of my summer. "24". Evan moved into a new mansion this summer, and he took me on a tour my first day back. In his parents' absurdly large walk-in closet I spotted the DVD collection of "24". I had heard such hype about it that Evan and I decided to grab the first season and start watching it. After Nicole left at the beginning of the summer, Evan and I immediately popped in disc 1 of season 1. It was love at first sight. We became addicted, and in our first sitting we watched 8 episodes--that's 6 1/2 hours of viewing...with no breaks. We didn't even notice. We became obsessed. It is honestly the best tv show that I have ever seen. Hands down. It trumps all other tv shows ever made. I cannot believe how amazing that show is. And Kiefer Sutherland is a sexy bitch and amazing actor. That is all. Oh, and it one an Emmy...best drama series...and best lead actor. Fuck yeah. Anyways, so Evan and I would spent countless days camping out in front of the tv watching "24" on DVD. There are 5 seasons so far and we got all the way through season 3. Ugh, not good enough. So we still have some catching up to do before season 6 starts in January. I love "24". Evan and I would talk about it all summer. We still talk about it. I even dream about it. It's pretty sick. And I love it.
The last trip that I took was recently. Mom and I drove with Shana to Bloomington, IN to drop her off at college. My little sister...going to college! Craziness. It was exciting because I had never seen the IU campus. It's so nice and so pretty. IU reminds me so much of UofM that it just made me jealous of everyone there...I just wanted to go back to school!! I miss college! It was really cool being there because both of my cousins on my mom's side were going to Indiana, too. My mom and both of her siblings went to IU, and now Lindsey, my mom's sister's daughter will be a senior, Shana will be a freshman, and David, my mom's brother's son, will also be a freshman (living in the same dorm as Shana, coincidentally). So that was really exciting...although I kind of felt like the non-Indiana outcast. Well, Shana chose the Milgram school, and I chose the Fetman school. So what can I say. The first night there Lindsey took me out and I saw all of these Highland Park kids who I haven't seen in ages. So weird. I drank keg beer for the first time since January which was so nice. Sigh, the simple things in college that we so easily take advantage of. While in Bloomington I ran into a good amount of Highland Parkers which was so strange. It made me feel like I was going to school there more than Shana. The coolest part about our trip to Bloomington was the last night my mom got a tattoo! She's been wanting one for awhile to represent Shana and me, and it seemed appropriate to do it her last night with both daughters...sending the last daughter out of the nest. So she got 3 hearts: one big purple one to represent her, and two little ones to represent Shana and me. It's on her ankle and it looks awesome. That was pretty sweet. We then drove home on my half birthday. Yep, happy 21.5 to me! Hey, remember when I turned 21? Wow, time flies.
Since returning I've been packing and shopping like a mad woman getting ready for a kick-ass year in Ann Arbor. Words cannot describe how excited I am. It's going to be the best year ever, I can feel it. My living situation is perfect, my schedule is perfect, my football seats are perfect (3rd row, baby!), my friends are perfect (and I have all of these new friends from abroad!), everything is just perfect. I cannot wait.
Studying abroad was one of the best things that I have ever done with my life for so many reasons. I learned so much in so many ways. It sounds cliche, but it's made me a stronger person and allowed me to see life in a completely new, exciting way. I miss Sevilla and can't wait to go back one day. But for now, I am looking toward my next destination: Michigan. It at first seems mundane, but Spain has given me a new zest for life and caused me to see anything as an adventure. Life is an adventure. Senior year will be an adventure and I cannot wait to see what it has in store for me.
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read my blog (you know who you are). This thing has been the bane of my existence (hence why I've been updating it so slowly this summer), and yet a really good thing. I've always been terrible about keeping journals and have therefore missed out on documenting key moments in my life. I'm very proud of my dilligence and motivation to keep updating this thing, it's truly impressive for me. I hope that you have enjoyed it. I enjoyed it, and I know that I will enjoy it when I re-read it 20 years from now, and so forth. Love to all. All I wish for everyone is love.

Life, here I come.


Love,
Lisa 8/31/2006

PICTURES

Hey, while I'm on my blog, I should let you know that

ALL OF MY PICTURES ARE POSTED!!!!!

Yep, every single Spanish picture is on the web. Now. That includes my family trip to Sevilla, Granada, AND Barcelona. So take a look...because I plan on terminating my Webshots account soon...

http://community.webshots.com/user/leesuh223

The Fetmans Take London, and LISA TAKES AMERICA

Yes! I know! Finally, a new post! I want to thank all of the Lisa devotees for continuing to check up on this, and I want to apologize for the delay. You see, I could give the excuse for my lack of blogging of being too busy, but the truth is, I'm not too busy to write my last few blogs. The real truth is that I'm not ready to end it. I've been avoiding writing the last few posts because I know that soon it will be over. I have to end it. I just don't know how to end it. This blog, as you know, is like a novel, and I feel like it's become my baby. I know how it ends, but I want it to end perfectly when I write it out. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to be done with this--it's been a responsibility hanging over my head for almost 8 months now. But it must come to a close. I'm almost there and almost ready. I promise that it will be done soon. I just have to mentally prepare myself to finish. Once I finish the blog I will be completely done with compiling all of my Spain memories (all of my pictures are printed now). So, without further ado, here is the tale of my journey home...

Sunday, June 25

Woke up to my alarm at around 10ish to go downstairs for the hotel continental breakfast. Woo woooooo. I went with Shana and Daddy (who didn’t eat, just came along for free coffee). Man, that was a weird breakfast because it was the closest I had come to an American breakfast. It had eggs, sausage, cereal, all that stuff. The best part was the roasted tomatoes and fruit salad. It also had some weird black sausage thing that kind of looked like morcilla but wasn’t. I tasted it, and it was strange. Serves me right, because my Spanish meaty diet would soon come to the close. Yeah, well, I had made the decision to not go back to being a vegetarian like before, but still cut out red meat. So turkey and chicken would be a go. So that would be that. The breakfast was nice, we ate slowly. Check-out wasn’t until 2 so I went back upstairs to try to work my computer. Turns out that the outlet that it was plugged into—being that it was intended for razors—didn’t have enough power to charge my computer. Dammit! So I gave in and went down to the reception to ask for a U.K. power adapter. I shared the elevator back up to my room with a really friendly British guy who struck up a quick conversation with me. He asked me if I was from the U.S., and I said yes, and he said, “Yep, I could tell from your accent.” So weird! To me he has the accent. It’s so strange to try to think of an American accent. Nope, can’t really do it. Call me ethno-centric, but I just can’t. So that was funny. I got back to the room and then plugged in my computer, but it turned out that it would cost money to go online…even with a USB cord. Dammit dammit. However would I post my blogs? However would I check my facebook? What a dilemma, I tell ya. So I discussed it with Daddy and we decided to fork over the pounds to buy an hour on the internet. We went down to the WiFi area by the bar and I posted some blogs and whatnot. Felt gooooood. I then went back upstairs while Daddy and Shana took over the internet, and I packed and watched some crappy British TV. The only decent thing on TV was “Big Brother” and it was the same episode that I had watched the night before…except with some censorship. At 1:45 all of us were packed up. We brought our stuff downstairs and waited for the airport shuttle. While waiting I used some coupon Daddy got for a free drink at the bar, so Mom and I both got free Diet Pepsi’s (no more Pepsi Light!) of which we only drank about half since the shuttle came to get us. It was a cool, cloudy English morning…European morning. My last glimpses of Europe. Surreal, I tell ya, surreal.
We got to Heathrow Airport in about 20 min. We unloaded and were greeted by pandemonium. I mean, absolute chaos. We flew Air India and the organization was just awful there. Lines and lines with no order to them, cramped, noisy, by far the messiest airport experience I had ever had. We were stuck in this pre-check-in line for a little over an hour which started to get us worried about not making our flight. The only redeeming thing about waiting so long was the cultural experience: everyone, except my family and a few others, was Indian. Everyone was wearing their saris and bindis and it was amazing. So colorful and vibrant…it was all so aesthetically pleasing. It’s the closest to immersion I have achieved in terms of Indian culture, and I’ve always been very intrigued by Indian culture. So that was pretty nifty. Anyways, in the knick of time we got to check-in which also took some time because they were scrutinizing our passports for some reason. Weird. Then we were in. The Heathrow Airport is nothing special and I honestly don’t remember it too well. We had to move fast since our flight would be boarding quite soon. Luckily the security line, although long, was moving fairly swiftly. This was the most diverse gathering of people that I have ever seen. You see, Heathrow is one of the most traveled airports—it’s basically an international crossroads. So there was such an eclectic variety of cultures and such. The most intriguing was an orthodox Jewish family behind us in full-out Jew garb. Craziness. We got through security, walked awhile to our gate, and once there our plane was boarding. I planned on buying a magazine and a copy of Harry Potter 3, but we had to get on the plane right away. Oh well. Guess I wouldn’t really get a peaceful last few moments with Europe. Meh. So it was a huuuuge double-decker plane. Unfortunately we were on the first level. Damn. We sat all the way in the back. Daddy and Mom sat one row in front of us. And, of course, like my flight to Europe back in January, I was stuck in the middle section. The upside was that the flight wasn’t completely full, so some old man who was supposed to sit next to us moved (I guess he don’t like Americans? Or teenagers? Or 20-somethings? Whatever, more room for us). Also, the dude sitting to my left was so nice and so friendly. The airplane magazine was really interesting and had a lot of interesting articles on world cultures and travel, but particularly Indian culture and travel. There were so many cool pictures and the nice guy next to us told me about all of the traditions and festivals depicted in the photos and articles. So nice! I learned so much about Indian culture from the magazine and him. There was a great article about David Beckham and how he’s the most famous person in the world, and one about traveling around Spain (there was a photo of people in Sevilla watching a football match). Coolness. The downsides: they wouldn’t let me keep my laptop/carry-on under my seat, so I had to put it above. I felt uncomfortable putting my laptop in the overhead compartments so I had to take it out of the case and carefully place it under the seat in front of me. That sucked. The other thing that sucked: the back area of the plane just happened to have a broken movie screen. SOOOO we couldn’t watch the movies they’d play during the 8-hour flight, but would be able to hear the sound. How pleasant. Our flight left pretty much on time (4pm-ish). It was an easy flight all-in-all. I read my US Weekly cover-to-cover, learned a good amount about pop culture, listened to my iPod. Yep. The best part, I must say, about the flight was the meal. Best airplane food ever. Ya know why? It was Indian food. I love Indian food! We got menus at first and the guy sitting next to us explained what the names of the foods meant, because I guess that they were common Indian dishes that we just did not recognize at all. I got some chicken curry thing, Shana got the same thing but with tofu. It was so good! It was tomato-ey with a basmati rice and some veggies and spices…well, a lot of spices. Lots of curry. It was so spicy I had to keep putting yogurt in it. Although the dish was awesome I just couldn’t finish it because the spice just got too intense. Nevertheless, I still stand by my statement: best airplane meal EVER. For dessert it came with rice pudding with some jasmine which was sooooo good! Wow, what a treat that meal was. Thanks, Air India! Ya know, I swear, my flights to and from Europe have been so random. For example, I was the only person on my program to fly Air Swiss to Europe. I mean, Switzerland was my first stop and it’s completely out of the way. People got a kick out of my random rendezvous in Zurich. And while most of my friends took Air France, Iberia, or British Airways home, here I was on Air India. Gotta love my frugal father and his airline choices. Both Air Swiss and Air India turned out to be very pleasant flying experiences. So props to them. After eating I read some more and then napped for a couple of hours (a.k.a. rested my eyes and listened to my iPod). Surprisingly, the flight went much faster than expected. Perhaps it’s because by then I was used to long trips. Before I knew it the captain was announcing that we were flying over the States and ready to make our descent into Chicago. I suddenly started freaking out. My heart began to pound and I was trembling. I had major butterflies. It had suddenly hit me: I was in America. I had talked about America for so long like it was this far away land from my past. And here I was, about to land on American soil. It had been since January. Six whole months. One half of a year. The feeling I had during that last half hour in the air is inexplicable. I think Shana kept getting annoyed with me because I kept saying, “What the fuck??” to myself. I was literally confused and didn’t know what to feel. I felt like laughing and crying; I was excited and pained. I just…didn’t…know.
At 7pm Central Standard Time our wheels touched the runway. There I was. In America. I was floored. Speechless. I did the whole deer in a headlights thing…and I was still in the plane! I just, couldn’t believe it. Again, inexplicable. We de-planed. To walk through O’Hare Airport was very surreal. The signs looked different. The people looked different. The people walked differently. I felt like an alien. I walked through the airport wide-eyed like I was Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future II. We got to baggage claim which was crowded. We waited a good while for our bags. They all made it in one piece. My memory is very simple at that point. I just kept saying to myself, and thinking, “What the fuck? What the fuck is going on?? Am I really here???” It was unreal. Once our bags were collected we walked toward the exit to be surprised by Hillary, Shana’s girlfriend. They all hugged for awhile. I was just too caught up in the American experience to get present to seeing people…American people. Ahhh. We walked outside. The air felt so different! So much more dense, so much more…damp? I don’t know how to describe it, but America definitely has completely different air than Europe. What first shocked me, oddly enough, were the license plates. They’re so small! And…square. I couldn’t believe it. The “What the fuck?”’s started again. It’s very convenient that in order to get home from O’Hare one must drive through the city of Chicago. It was a heaping dose of Americana for the 30-minute drive. Also, my dad was driving. How weird, my dad driving! America is so weird. We passed all of these churches and cathedrals that in the past I perceived as gorgeous, and, above all, old. After what I’d seen in Europe the churches, buildings, architecture was all so…bane. Also, America is so modern, it’s weird. I always thought that these buildings built in the 19th century were ancient. To me that’s modern. However, let me digress and say that since Spain I have come to appreciate America and its modernity. For example, I’d become angered upon seeing these monstrous modern buildings and houses being erected, but now I see it as beautiful because it fits here. That’s the American style because we just don’t have the antiquities of Europe. So I like the modern American style now. It’s unique. Europe can be old all it wants, but we got our new stuff that we can call our own. Cool. Aaaaaanyways, this was all going through my head during that surreal car ride home.
We soon pulled into good ole 725 Washington Ct. I couldn’t believe I was home. I was overwhelmed by being back home, and add to that my gradual mounting stress with unpacking (oy), I just didn’t know what to do. My plan was to unpack ASAP so as to start the reverse culture shock as soon as possible. Entering the house was, well, anti-climactic. I mean, everything back home was just like how I’d left it…and it was weird how it all just felt so normal and routine. That shocked me—that it didn’t shock me. Ya know? It was so hard for me to transition to Spanish life, but with a snap of the fingers I was back to my old ways. I remembered our garage code, where we kept everything in the house, etc. I was extremely excited to see my dogs, but they were not as excited. They hadn’t seen the rest of my family in awhile and they were more excited to see them. I guess that they had kind of forgotten that I was gone for as long as I was, and they were just as happy to see me as the rest of the family. When we walked in Hillary had decked out the house in USA balloons and streamers which was silly and cute, but made me feel kind of awkward. I’d rather ease into it, not have it thrown back at me and shoved down my throat. But whatever. It’s a kind gesture. We unloaded the car. I brought my big suitcases upstairs. Everything was the same! Wow. I got ready to enter my room. This would be a big deal. I switched on the light and…NICOLE????
That’s right, Nicole was there! She surprised me! Omigod. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never been more surprised in my life (and that’s not an exaggeration). I was so surprised I started crying…and Nicole started crying…and I couldn’t stop hugging her. I had missed her so much! I couldn’t believe she was here! That bitch! I love her! She had been planning forever to take the train in that morning to surprise me…and my family had known about it all along! OMIGOD!!! Reflecting on it right now even causes me to get all choked up. It was an incredible moment. I soon returned to my confused state. “What are you doing here????” I kept asking her. I mean, I was just so overwhelmed with being back, having to unpack, and then, my best friend from Michigan, right there, in my room…in Chicago! Whaaaaaat??!! I didn’t know what to do with myself. Ask Nicole, I mean, I kept saying “Ahh, I don’t know what to do with myself!” Haha. I was a wreck. Not to mention still stuck in Spain’s time zone. Oh well, it wasn’t effecting me too badly. So, completely breathless and blown away I went downstairs with Nicole where we all sat around the kitchen table and at a veggie pizza from Homemade Pizza Co. which was good. Not my first pick for a first meal back in America (being that it’s served in Europe just as much), but it was quite good. Due to the sudden euphoria, and the fact that I wanted to spend time with Nicole (she’d be leaving in a day and a half) I was not motivated to go to bed (although it was 5am in Spain). Soon Evan and Jason came over and since all of my emotions and surprises had run overboard, seeing them felt like back in the day. Which was a good thing—I mean, it didn’t have the big freak-out element to it, it just felt like old times. Like I had been home since May and it was just another night that they were coming over to chill. I think that that reflects our friendship because we’re just so close-knit that you could separate us for years, and we’d come back together and it’d be like old times. It was so good to see them, I missed them so so so so so much! We all visited for a long time visiting, catching up, etc. I was still very overwhelmed by everything so I wasn’t able to really talk as much as I would after such a journey…add onto that the time difference. At around 10 we turned on the TV which was weird for me. American TV…what would it be like now…how would it have changed?? Ironically, “Destinos” was on channel 20, so of course we had to watch it. It just happened to be an episode that took place in Spain! For those who don’t know, “Destinos” is a Spanish educational soap opera video collection that I used to watch in high school Spanish and is aired on channel 20 occasionally. So, my first time watching American TV it was in Spanish. I never realized how slowly and overly-clear they spoke on “Destinos”. I felt like an adult feels when watching “Sesame Street”. How funny. Sevilla, you taught me well.
At around 11ish Evan and Jason left and the rest of us (except the parents) went downstairs and watched High School Musical which I had been dying to read since I had read it in Amanda’s People Magazine back at the program center in April. Hillary just happened to own it, so it was my lucky night. Although I was tired and should have gone to bed, I wanted to force my body back into the American time zone. I remember them telling us before Study Abroad that the best way to adjust to the time change is to force yourself into it. So I stayed up until 2am! Can ya believe it? That means that I was awake for 24 hours! Yeah, I mean, we only got halfway through the movie, but that’s because I was nodding off. So we all called it a night. I went upstairs to my bedroom which, by the way, was a mess. Ugh. I had forgotten that before I went abroad I made a mess of clothes while stressing out about packing (remember that post back in January about how stressed I was while packing?? Wow.). So there were piles of clothes on my floor and also an empty birdcage (while I was gone our birds died so they put the empty cage in my room…wonderful). The pillows were missing from my bed because Hillary had been sleeping with them in Shana’s room while I was gone. That kind of ticked me off. I couldn’t help but get the sense that she served as a surrogate Lisa while I was abroad, and things like that just helped support that. I was home and wanted to re-claim my territory. But that’s a whole other issue.
I washed up and put on my pajamas. Upon opening my closet I was blown away…I forgot how many clothes I have! I didn’t bring that many clothes to Spain, so this was a surprise. I forgot! I own a lot of clothing! Haha. I tucked myself under my covers (my first time sleeping in my own room!!!!), set my alarm for 10am (no way I’m giving into the time change…I’m waking up at a decent hour!), turned on my fan (I miss having my own little fan!), turned on the TV (omigod, American TV (yeah, I watched Mtv)! Watching TV before bed! Ah!), and drifted off to sleep in America. At home. Unbelievable.

The Fetmans Take Barcelona Day 3, and then London: Leaving Spain...So Surreal...

Saturday, June 24

Woke up for the last time in Spain. Wow, I just could not believe it. Ironically I didn’t sleep too well due to the incessant firecrackers set off in the streets that night. I assumed that it was because of the World Cup or something. I got ready and we all headed out to eat and then planned on checking out the Miró museum and the Parc Güell. Once downstairs I asked the receptionist about directions and he told me that it was a Barcelona holiday so the museums might not be open. Damn! We hoped for the best. We went to a little tapas bar for breakfast…Spanish tortillas all around! I ate a lot because I was so hungry. The food was not bad. I had a pretty good ensaladilla rusa which I knew that I would miss so much once I left the Iberian Peninsula. Sigh. We then walked down las Ramblas in hopes of finding a cab to the museum. First we wanted to call and see if it was open. So I rudely cut a in a line of a bunch of tourists at an info counter (the men behind the counter kept refusing my service without waiting in line but I insisted…the line was way too long for the brief question that I had). I asked for the number of the Miró museum for which the dude actually spent a lot of time searching. I felt badly for holding everyone up, but then again, I didn’t really care that much. Soooooo many tourists were out since it was Saturday, and a holiday (so no natives were really out). I got the number, called the museum, and to our luck it was open. Yessssss.
The museum was far away so we grabbed a cab (which was a struggle due to the holiday) and took it up a mountain to the modern, architecturally cubist museum with a gorgeous view overlooking Barcelona. We entered, locked up our bags, and looked around. We started in the first room which was some random Miró multimedia—the coolest was the big Miró rug. Very neat. My family looooves Miró so this was going to be exciting. We then headed downstairs to an exhibit by some new artist (they have exhibitions for new artists there). It was so cool! Let me see if I can describe this exhibit: a circle of wires releasing drops of water onto different services (such as pots, bowls, strings, etc.) and on the objects were microphones attached to speakers which amplified the sound of the water drops hitting the objects. The water fell randomly, but changed which object it would hit every few minutes. The piece was huuuuge and basically took up the entire room. It was really peaceful and dark down there, and the music was so soothing…and natural! It was so cool, innovative, and fascinating—I had never seen anything like it. I reeeeeally enjoyed that exhibit. So smart. Natural music. I tell ya. Modern art is friggin sweet. Then we walked around the many areas which held work from his early stages onto right before his death. There were also works donated by artist friends of his (such as Henri Moore and Rauschenberg which were all really amazing to see). My favorite works were from the middle of his life when he was using the most color. Shana and I found some pieces that we really loved due to the immensely bold, overstated colors contrasting the simple, black figures. Sigh, I love Miró. We also checked out the outdoor exhibit on the patio overlooking Barcelona (amazing view) which held many interesting Miró statues and sculptures. Interesting. Oh man, it was also so hot out…definitely the hottest it had been since we arrived in Barcelona. Yeah, it was a scorcher. We headed back into the museum and looked around some more. We were probably in there for a little bit under two hours. We looked around the crappy gift shops (that was disappointing) and then headed out.
We thought about taking a cab down, but finding a cab all the way up there was pretty difficult. So we thought about taking the cable cars down. While walking towards them we stumbled upon a Metro stop. I asked the man working the ticket booth about how to get to Parc Güell, and he told me what lines to take. Perfect. We bought tickets, hopped onto some sort of indoor gondola thing that took us onto more level ground so we could board the Metro. We took a couple lines and ended up by Parc Güell, the infamous Gaudí-designed park located atop a foothill. Well, little did we know how treacherous of a walk it would be. It was so hot out and we had a long ascent…primarily by foot…in the sun. Sigh, needless to say it wasn’t too pretty. We walked up a steep paved street until we got to an outdoor escalator which was a bit of a relief, although we were already dying of heat and sweat. We walked up a bit more, took another escalator, and this process continued until we had ascended 3 or 4 outdoor escalators. Then we were dead tired and at the entrance. Damn you, Gaudí, for making your park so hard to reach! We then walked up an uphill dirt path (although not as steep, just as hot) and walked around. We were so exhausted and didn’t quite no where to go. We wanted to find the famous huge mosaic bench and the Gaudí lizard statue, but were at a loss. We used our best instincts and walked. We found the highest peak of the park on which sat a Gaudí-inspired crucifix. Shana and I did not have the will nor energy to walk up the steep rock hill to get to the top, so Mom and Daddy did it and took some pictures while Shana and I caught our breath. We were dead. Ugh. We walked around some more, descended a bit, and then found it! It was huuuuuuge. There’s a huge area held up by columns and enclosed by a wavy mosaic bench which, so I’ve learned, is the largest park bench in the world. It was so cool. Around the park were some brown, more natural-looking pillars with flowers atop. The mosaic bench was amazing. Each section of the bench had a different design and color scheme. Mom spent a lot of time taking pictures…she reeeeally loved it being that she’s a huge mosaic fan. We all ended up splitting up and looking around. Standing at the edge of the park one could see Gaudí’s old house (now his official museum) and two little Gaudí houses below that didn’t look real…they looked like gingerbread houses! So amazing! I headed down the windy staircase and ran into Mom. We found the famous Gaudí mosaic lizard which was pretty cool…and crowded…impossible to get a picture! And there was also a little fountain with what I believe was a mosaic dog head which spit out the water. Pretty neat. We then got all the way down and stood underneath the park where the pillars stand. Above were different circular emblems with their own unique mosaic designs. So cool! We then went inside one of the two little houses (the only one that was open…it’s a gift shop). We didn’t really see anything good, but it was cool to be inside. Mom bought a couple Gaudí photo books which are really nice. Yeah, we were lovin’ on the Gaudí. We then found Shana and Daddy and went into a man-made Gaudí cave which was pretty cool. Mom took some more pictures while the rest of us sat and rested. We were beat. It was so hot and we had walked so much. As great as it all was, we were about ready to go. As sad as I was to leave Spain, I was ready. I felt like I had finally done all that I needed and wanted to do and was ready to go back to the United States with my family. The Parc Güell was our final stop in Spain. Next stop: Barcelona International. I couldn’t believe it. But like I said, I was ready. It was time.
We walked out of the Parc Güell, walked down the road a bit, checked out some cool little shops (a lot of all-mosaic products shops…Mom was in heaven) and then grabbed a cab back to the hotel. Well, I couldn’t remember the address, so I had the driver drop us off on the corner of las Ramblas Catalunya and Diagonal (a few blocks from the hotel). We got out and took a nice stroll back to the hotel on a beautiful early evening (the heat had dissipated and it turned into a nice evening). Nobody was on las Ramblas, not even tourists! Talk about holidays. It was a perfect, peaceful, final stroll on the streets of Spain. We stopped in a little health food place since we were hungry, and got some sandwiches. Then we got back to the hotel where I had the reception call us a mini-van taxi for our intense pile of luggage. The taxi would take about 20 minutes, so we sat in the lobby with our pile of luggage and relaxed. This was it. My last minutes in Spain. I couldn’t believe it. But it was time. It really was. The driver showed up in a huge van and helped us load up. And we were off. The taxi driver was super friendly, and my parents pointed out that this would be my last true opportunity to have a Spanish conversation for a very long time. So we talked the whole way. The driver was so overwhelmingly nice; he told me all about the holiday that was being celebrated (turns out it’s the biggest celebration in Barcelona next to New Years. It celebrates the first official day of Summer…hence why nobody was around—they all went to the beach. This also explained the firecrackers I heard the night before. He told me all about the history and the myths behind it…it was great! A perfect final real Spanish conversation. Sigh, I’ll miss them dearly.
We arrived at the Barcelona airport a few hours early. I mean, we had nothing else to do, and we had no idea what traffic would be like. We checked all of our bags and sat around. We tried hooking up to the Wi-Fi in the many zones they had, but it cost money and my computer was on low battery. So out of boredom we took many walks around the shopping areas and duty free stores. Woooot. I went to a bunch of bookstores and newsstands to find Harry Potter 3 to replace the one I left on the train, but they were all in Spanish. Boo. There goes that entertainment for the long plane ride ahead of me the next day. Oh, I should explain. We were taking a night flight to London, sleeping in London, then flying directly to Chicago from London the next evening. So our flight that night would only be a couple of hours; plus, we’d gain an hour (it’s an hour earlier in London). I was kind of excited—I’d never been to London! Just like I can say I’ve been to Switzerland (my flight to Spain), I can now say that I’d been to London. Anyways, I was feeling a bit perturbed that I wouldn’t have a book to read on the plane when I stumbled upon…dun dun dunnnn…Us Weekly! In English! Yesss!!!! Perfect. Shana also bought Cosmo in English. My reading entertainment had been restored. I was so happy because I needed some major briefing on celebrity gossip before I would return to the States. Niiiiice. We then went to a waiting area to sit around for an hour. We played the Movie Game very unsuccessfully for awhile just doing what we could to pass the time. Then we migrated to our gate. We were delayed about twenty minutes which was kind of annoying. Then we boarded and were off. Goodbye, Spain. So weird. At the time it didn’t feel like I was leaving yet. It felt like I was just taking a little trip to London. It hadn’t hit me yet. The flight was quick and easy. We didn’t get food (Iberia is a shitty airline…last Iberia flight I’ll be on for awhile, woohoo!), but whatever—we had eaten some (gross) sandwiches at the airport. We then landed at Gatwick (or was it Heathrow? I can’t remember) Airport. We were all so exhausted. Although it was only 11pm, we were just dead from traveling and all the walking in the heat from that day. There was some confusion about waiting for baggage. You have to stand in front of a TV monitor and wait for them to call your flight to get your bags. It took for-ev-er for us to be called. It sucked. Then it took forever to get a cab. They didn’t have mini-vans, so there was worry about fitting our luggage. We had a back-up plan of Daddy renting a car for the night to take the luggage which made me nervous…Daddy driving stick on the left side of the road?? Don’t even think about it. Luckily we got a station wagon that was able to stuff all of our luggage. The ride was long and grueling…about an hour (we were staying at a Holiday Inn next to the Heathrow Airport since we’d be flying out of that one the next day). It was still very silly to see my dad sitting up front on what would be the driver’s side…I can’t get used to this United Kingdom left side driving thing, I tell ya. The weird and yet great thing about being in London was that my dad could take over. When we were in Spain I was in charge because I was the only person who knows the language. But in London my dad could sit up front, talk to the cab driver, the hotel reception, the people at the airport, etc. It was nice to be able to sit back and relax and purge myself of the responsibility for once. Sigh. We arrived at the lovely, circular Holiday Inn. It was weird getting out of the cab and feeling cold for once…it was probably around 60 degrees there. Omigod, an American place! And they speak English! So weird. That was so crazy for me at first. We checked in and got our rooms. We didn’t have air conditioning which was kind of annoying, but not terrible since it wasn’t too hot out. I was gross, so I showered. I tried to charge my computer, but I forgot that they have different outlets in the U.K. Dammit! We were able to fit one of my adapters into the razor outlet to try to charge my computer overnight. Before passing out I watched some very fascinating, uncensored British “Big Brother”. Funny people, them Brits. I fell asleep at around 1am. I was well on my way home. No longer a Spaniard. I was so tired that it didn’t even phase me. I was very aware of, however, the fact that this would be my last night in Europe…as a quasi-European citizen. Wow. So strange. I couldn’t believe how fast the past 5 ½ months had flown by…

FINALLY some new pics!

Okay, I posted my pictures from the end of study abroad. Be aware that there are no photos from traveling with my family. Just a handful from the end of my study abroad experience. Soon enough there will be pictures from my Fetman Family adventures. But for now, check out the end of study abroad pics at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/leesuh223


DISFRUTA!

The Fetmans Take Barcelona Day 2: Food, Glorious Fooooood/LAST FULL DAY IN SPAIN

Yes, I know, I've been terrible about updating lately. I cannot believe that it's almost August, I'm home, and I still haven't completed my Spain blog. However, I'm in the homestretch. I'm just not motivated anymore since coming back home. Well, I'm making baby steps, and I'll finish it soon. I promise. So here's my post about my last full day in Spain...


Friday, June 23

I couldn’t believe my Spanish days were coming to a close so soon. Friday would be my last full day in Spain. I just could not believe it. We woke up, got ready, headed out for a bite to eat on another hot Barcelona morning. We walked down las Ramblas. We stopped at Starbucks for a quick pick-me-up (as much as I hate on Starbucks, I’ll miss the Spanish Starbucks…particularly for their fresh-squeezed orange juice). We got food at a tapas place where we feasted on some yummy Spanish tortilla and such. After brunch we planned on going to the Picasso museum…the main attraction for me that I’d been dying to see since my favorite UM professor told me about it. I figured it was close by according to my map, so we walked. The travel books told us that las Ramblas was worth exploring…we had no idea how worth it it actually was until that afternoon! We saw dozens and dozens of street performers (all of which were quite entertaining and very creative), kiosks of all sorts, and cafes. The best part was the abundance of pet kiosks. Yes, pet kiosks…in fact, there were at least two on every block. They held pets of all sorts: fish, birds, and rodents. The cutest pets were the miniature hamsters. The weirdest were the ducks, turkeys, pigeons, and doves. I mean, who wants a pet pigeon?? Kind of sad, nonetheless. The absolute strangest thing was the chipmunks. I’ve never seen chipmunks caged! Little do I forget that chipmunks don’t really run wild over on the Iberian Peninsula like they do back in the U.S. So strange. We looked at all of the pets, kiosks, and street performers for awhile. I mean, we spent a looooong time on las Ramblas that afternoon. Then we stumbled upon the market…the main Barcelona market. I had read about it back at the hotel and didn’t plan on checking it out, but just our luck, there it was. Again, that’s what I loved about Barcelona: there was so much to do and somehow we were able to do it all inadvertently. The market turned out to be one of the highlights from Barcelona. It’s huuuuuge! Full of so many awesome, colorful stands selling anything from food to pharmaceuticals (but mostly food). Stands of fruit, vegetables, fish, shellfish, ham, white meat, red meat, eggs, there was even an organic food stand, and a stand that just sold bananas, and one that just sold candied and dried fruit. So crazy! I saw so many gutted animals, such as turkeys, chickens, rabbits…oy. There were live shellfish crawling around, and even tripes! Ugh, tripes. This market literally had everything. We bought fruit there (it was so cheap, and good) and some dried fruit and chocolate nuts (which ended up melting in the heat right away…oh well). This market was inexplicable. It was so visually appealing, it was like a museum in and of its own. You’ll just have to check out the pictures when I post them. We spent about an hour or two in the phenomenal market and then headed the rest of the way down las Ramblas. We stopped at some artisan stands, watched some more performers, and looked at more pet kiosks.
We finally got to the main walkway along the Mediterranean which would lead us to the Picasso Museum. It was so hot and sunny it was nuts. But it was a good walk, nonetheless. We inadvertently found the famous original Warhol sculpture on the way. That was really exciting! I love Barcelona and its many surprises. Yeah, that is what I love about Barcelona: there’s so much to see and look at. It’s definitely one of the most visually appealing metropolises that I’ve ever visited. It’s like a Chicago…but a bit better because, well, it’s Spain…and instead of a lake they got the Mediterranean. So yeah, Barcelona wins. It took us an hour to finally find the Picasso Museum. I was nervous about getting lost so we kind of took a roundabout route. Oh well, we got there. The museum was in a neo-gothic building. We entered, and wandered. The museum was smaller than I had expected, and not very impressive. In fact, the Picasso Museum in Málaga was much better. This museum mostly held his earlier work (which isn’t that interesting) and a lot of his later work (even less interesting than his early stuff). All of Picasso’s really amazing pieces are in the major museums (Reina Sofía in Madrid, Art Institute, MOMA, etc.). So it was a tad disappointing, which was sad due to my immense love of Picasso and my desire to go to the museum so badly (one of my main reasons for wanting to go to Barcelona). The best part, however, was the Picasso variations of Velázquez’s Las Meninas. Cindy Sowers, my favorite UM professor, told me before going to Spain to go to Barcelona and see the variations. She’s the professor who introduced me to the true wonders of cubism and the avant-garde (she’s a Picasso scholar) and told me that those variations are her favorite Picasso works. Interesting. I really liked them and found them fascinating, but not nearly as fascinating as his other works from earlier in his life. Oh well. Picasso, I still love ya.
After about an hour or so in the museum our feet were killing us, but we kept on truckin’. On the way back we cashed some traveler’s checks and passed by the Gothic district. That was on our list of places to visit for sure but still hadn’t gotten there (due to sore feet we thought that we’d check it out the next day). But lo and behold, there it was. We didn’t necessarily go in, but we got some pictures from the outside; we were just way too tired to walk around it. Funny, we never returned to the Gothic District—very funny since it was at the top of our list to things to do, and we ended up doing things that weren’t originally on our list. I was happy with the way that our Barcelona vacation worked out, though. Nice and spontaneous.
We walked back to the hotel for a quick rest, then headed back out (despite our aching feet…the whole trip was starting to catch up with us) to go to the Gaudí apartment building, La Pedrera, before it closed. We walked the 15 minutes to get there and headed up. We started on one floor which was very similar to the skydeck of the John Hancock Building (you know, modern, museum-ish, history, etc.). So that was nothing worth mentioning. Then we took an elevator up to the famous roof. It was so cool! Rolling meadow-like walkways dipping and curving around every Gaudí-esque corner. Lots of sculptures and moldings that are extremely difficult to describe without having an image. Don’t worry, I’ll post pictures soon enough. But yeah, so unique. I freaking love Gaudí. He’s definitely my favorite architect. Hands down. From the top we got a fantastic aerial view of the city. It was perfect. And a gorgeous evening. After spending a good amount of time on the roof we went down to see an interior of an apartment. The apartment was more like a penthouse. It was set-up in a museum sort of way to look like how it would have appeared back during the turn of the 20th century. Really neat. The apartment was effing huge, I couldn’t believe it. It would have been amazing to live there. Despite the modernist quality of the building itself, the interior of the apartment was very normal. Ya know, some of the furniture was Gaudí modernist-inspired, but besides that, it was just normal. Nevertheless, fascinating. At around 8:15 we headed down and left to go out to dinner.
For dinner I wanted to take the family out for tapas typical of the northernmost provinces of Spain. I had read all about these kinds of tapas: they’re served at the bar on toothpicks, you pick out what you want, save the toothpicks, and pay by how many toothpicks you have accumulated. I really wanted to give this a try. I read about a northern tapas restaurant in the book in the hotel, and we headed over. It wasn’t too far of a walk. We got there at around 8:45 and the place was pretty much empty. But on the bar sat an enormously long line of platters with breads and meats and fish all on toothpicks. They looked like hors d’oeveurs one would eat at a fancy cocktail party. I was a bit baffled by the system, so I talked to the really nice, attentive waiter and he explained it. He offered to give us a sample platter, but we decided that it’d be easier to just serve ourselves and eat at a table. He looked pretty baffled. Later a group of people came in and drank at the bar and munched on some of the tapas. I later learned that this must have been a local place, and that the whole concept is you sit, have a drink, and munch on the tapas as you are mingling and drinking. I see. So our eating just tapas at a table must have come off as pretty strange. I mean, as we were eating he kept offering to give us a menu to order entrees. We just thought that it was like a buffet, I mean, all we wanted were the tapas! Yeah, it was pretty confusing. But anyways, the tapas were AMAZING. I kid you not, THIS was the best tapas…the best Spanish food that I had eaten. Hands down. Northern Spanish cuisine is fresher (not all of it is fried like down south) and they use more veggies and fresh ingredients. We all ate so much. All different toasted breads with hams, fish spreads, cheeses, croquetas of all sorts, fried vegetables, etc. It was kind of like going to sushi buffet…but better. Oh man, I still crave it. Best Spanish food EVER. Barcelona, you win. Our waiter was so attentive that we all felt a bit guilty that we were only eating tapas. He kept insisting that we order something off the menu. He suggested their homemade leche frita (fried milk) off of the menu—that it’s one of their few homemade desserts. A few weeks earlier I was discussing Spanish cuisine with María del Mar and Maruja and they suggested that before I leave Spain I try leche frita. That it’s delicious. So we figured why not. Even though we weren’t really wanting dessert from their, we felt guilty. And I wanted to try leche frita. So we only ordered one for all of us to split (which also baffled him…we were being such Americans, hehe). The leche frita was good, like a thick custard or flan. Not bad, but nothing too special. Creamy, thick, cinnamony, but not too sweet. A good little treat. We then paid (we had sooooo many toothpicks, yet it wasn’t too expensive thankfully), and headed out. Shana had been wanting to try this chocolate porcupine thing that we had seen in many bakery windows (it’s a chocolate cake shaped like a porcupine). We couldn’t find one on the way home, but stumbled upon this awesome dessert café. It was decorated really nicely, very modern. We had a waiter that spoke really good English, which gave me a break from speaking constantly for the family (it’s exhausting!). We sat at a nice little table under nice lighting with nice décor (they had a chandelier made of wire whisks!). Shana got a chocolate raspberry cake and milk, I got a chocolate mango cake, and Daddy got some cheesecake-ish pudding cup thing with strawberries. Shana’s and my cakes were alright, but Daddy’s pudding thing was AWESOME. Yeah, his dessert won. He even said that it was one of the best desserts that he had ever had…and Daddy’s a tough food critic! Barcelona, you were definitely winning.
After those amazing culinary experiences we walked back to the hotel which wasn’t too far away. We were all in very good spirits. It was a great day. A great last full day in Spain. The next day would be it…I would be leaving Spain for good the next evening and couldn’t believe it. Nevertheless, I had an amazing last full day and couldn’t have asked for better…and we still had much to do the next day. Once back at the hotel I blogged a bit, watched some more music video countdowns, then passed out. My body was exhausted. All of these months of constant walking were finally beginning to catch up with me. Last night sleeping in Spain. There is one coincidence about my last night in Spain: I watched "South Park" on the German channel. I watched "South Park" in German at a four-star hotel. I also did that my very first night in Spain, back in the Becquer. Yup, if you recall, I watched "South Park" in German at the Becquer, a four-star hotel, my very first night in Spain. Did the same my last night. How funny. Not intentional at all. Anyways, very strange that this would be my final night in Spain...my third home. Sigh.

The Fetmans Take Barceolona Day 1: Gaudi Mad

Thursday, June 22

Woke up at around 8:15am to a knock at our cabin door; it was the conductor returning the tickets that he had collected the night before. Once awake I opened the curtains that did an impeccable job at blocking out any sort of natural light. We were riding into Barcelona! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been wanting to come to Barcelona ever since I arrived in Spain—Barcelona: the other heart of European avant-garde and modernist art (next to Paris). So exciting! Despite the fair amount of sleep I had received, I was still exhausted. So after getting dressed and ready and packing up my things, Shana and I passed out on the bunk beds for another half an hour before Daddy came into our cabin to wake us up to tell us that we were there. We de-trained and grabbed two cabs to our four-star hotel (the only nice hotel we stayed in the entire trip): the NH Calderón. Upon arriving I was immediately taken aback by the language difference displayed on the signs everywhere. In Cataluña, the northernmost province of Spain, they don’t speak castellano Spanish (the Spanish we know), but they speak what is called Catalán, which is a variation of Spanish that looks/sounds like an amalgamation of French and Spanish (which makes sense since Barcelona almost touches the southwest tip of France). So that was new. Although it is the official language, I was able to communicate in castellano without a problem. It was weird not hearing the Andalucian accent anymore.
So we rode for about 15 minutes to our hotel. Barcelona seemed pretty modern and urban, yet pretty—kind of like Chicago. Our hotel was right on the most popular, central street: las Ramblas, which is a really well structured, populated street. In the middle runs a large, thick island on which street performers and café seating reside. On either side of the island runs the street traffic, and also various stores and restaurants with an attached sidewalk. At one end of las Ramblas (it’s quite long) lies the Mediterranean Sea, and at the other, the mountains. Water run-off from the mountains flowed down las Ramblas to the Sea before the streets were constructed in the 18th century. Clever city planning, I must say. Anyways, we checked into the NH which was extremely nice. The staff was overly friendly and the lobby was spacious and gorgeous with an art deco theme. They took our luggage to hold right away. It was obvious that this was a swanky place…I, for one, felt pretty out of place. Hehe. We wouldn’t be able to check into our rooms for another hour and a half, so we decided to walk around and check out our surroundings and subsequently grab some brunch. According to weather.com the weather would be mild and in the 70’s, but ohhh was it wrong. It was hot. Well, not quite as hot as it would be down south, but still pretty damned hot. So we walked around, sweat a bit, were cranky from lack of sleep, until we found a little breakfast buffet place. We all got some Spanish tortillas (which were pretty good) and some little sandwiches. We then wandered around some more and finally returned to the hotel where we bummed around on the couches waiting for our rooms to be ready. We just weren’t in the mood to wander anymore until we were all settled in.
We finally were able to enter our rooms at noon. The rooms were so nice. Very modern with a mahogany, black, white, and red theme. Our rooms were equipped with desk, desk table, nice beds (although Shana’s and mine were on wheels and constantly shifted), comfy pillows, and a flat screen TV with cable…which could only mean one thing…Mtv! Yesssss. Everyone napped a bit, but I stayed up and studied this “what to do in Barcelona” book provided by the hotel. It was huuuuge and I literally studied that thing. There is so much to do in Barcelona! It was overwhelming. I figured out some main attractions. Soon Shana woke up and we watched a buttload of “My Super Sweet 16” which I have missed oh so much…despite the annoying German subtitles…and the commercials in German. Oh well. After a good hour and a half the parents came to the room and we planned our next moves for the day. We decided to walk to the street called Diagonal (which literally runs diagonally with the end of las Ramblas) and walk towards Sagrada Familia, the infamous Gaudí church. The main thing that I wanted to check out in Barcelona was all of the famous Gaudí architecture. He’s so unique and I’ve always wanted to see his work in person. It’s so interesting—his architecture is art nouveau and is all from the 19th-20th century—a huge change from the old, 12th century architecture I’m used to down in Andalucía. Supposedly there was a lot of Gaudí architecture in that area that we could check out on the way to one of Gaudí’s most renowned masterpieces.
On the way we passed a lot of really neat architecture—so modern and unique and different from anything that I had ever seen. We caught a couple Gaudí buildings, but nothing too impressive. We passed a famous building (not Gaudí) that I had read about in the book the hotel gave us, so we entered. It’s called The Asia House, and the interior is a neo-Asian modernist architectural fusion. It’s pretty awesome. We went to all of the levels, saw a cool photo exhibit about the people of the Philippines, a cool slideshow, and such. It was a good introduction to what Barcelona would be all about: the modernist influence. We then walked some more (we walked for awhile, man). We passed la Pedrera, one of Gaudí’s most famous apartment buildings, but decided to see it on the way back. We were hungry, so we stopped for some quick sandwiches after spotting the tips of la Sagrada Familia. After eating and exiting the little café, we couldn’t find the church. We had seen it, then it suddenly disappeared. It was frustrating. We consulted the map a bunch of times, wandered around, and after a good fifteen minutes finally spotted it again and walked towards it. We were there in another ten minutes.
Next to la Sagrada Familia sits a large park where stupid kids were setting off loud firecrackers. Ugh. That was annoying. We got to the line and found out that with my International Student ID card I could get in for a really reduced rate…too bad I brought my USevilla ID and not my other ID…I mean, I never use my ISICard. Ugh. So entrance to the church was really pricey. It was okay, though, because the church itself is pretty damned impressive. The sucky part is that it’s still under construction (it’s still incomplete, even since construction began on it in the early 20th century!). However, it’s impressive. Gaudí is so awesome because he incorporates influences of nature in his architecture, so there’s a resonant likeness of the limbs, roots, and branches of leafless trees which make up the main structure of the church. It’s a neo-gothic-turned modernist cathedral. Really impressive. It cost money to ride the elevator to the top, so figuring that it wasn’t too high up, we decided to walk the spiral staircase all the way to the top. Well, it was a long, rough journey, especially in such a narrow space. It was hell, actually, and coincidentally. We had to take periodic breaks. By the time we reached the top I was dripping in sweat. It was disgusting. But the view was awesome! Not only did we get a great view of Barcelona, but also of the details of the cathedral: the fruit-topped columns, the little mosaiqued towers, the hymns inscribed on the structure, the modernist statue depictions of Jesus and the Holy Family, etc. It was great. Actually, the walk down was the worse. I stayed behind with Mom while she took pictures, so we got caught behind this really slow kid who was little and walked one step at a time. Walking down in such a hot, closed space in a constant spiral was making me dizzy and claustrophobic. The walk down was now the most difficult because I started feeling like I was going to suffocate. It was terrible. I’ve never had such an intense feeling of claustrophobia…and I’m not really claustrophobic! I mean, I don’t really enjoy crowds, but it never affects me too badly. Now it did. And this kid would not speed up. I just wanted out. Now. I was moving with such haste against his slow pace that I accidentally kicked him a couple times. Oops. Finally we got out and I needed air. I kind of felt like I was having a hard time breathing. I had to sit outside and breath deeply for a bit and drink some water. After about fifteen minutes I was calm, cool, and my sweat had all dried (I was gross). So we went downstairs to the Gaudí museum which was pretty large and extremely fascinating. That’s where I learned all about how he takes direct influence from nature in his work. So amazing. I respect his work. A lot. My mom, particularly, fell in love with his work. Yeah, he’s pretty awesome. At around 7pm we finally headed out. We walked to la Pedrera, which took about 15-20 minutes. Our legs were killing us, we were so exhausted from all of the walking. The past week was finally catching up with us. Once we got to the famous apartment building it was about 7:30, and they wouldn’t let us in. Although it closed at 8, the last elevator went up at 7:30 and we had just missed it. We were a bit disappointed, but no big deal because we had two more days…and it was so close to our hotel.
So we walked back to the NH, washed up a bit, settled, rested, then headed out to dinner. We decided to go to the Port Olympic for dinner which is a strip of bars, clubs, and restaurants along the Mediterranean. Mom had read about it before coming to Spain and was all about going. I was excited. We decided to try out the Metro system of Barcelona. Sigh, the Metro…so many European memories. We went to the Metro stop near our hotel on Gran Vía. Across from the stop were 2 famous Gaudí apartments that I had wanted to see, so this was a treat. We got to snap a few photos. That’s what was so nice about Barcelona: at first I was pretty intimidated by all that there was to see, and afraid that we wouldn’t get to see everything that there was to see. Nevertheless, all of the main sights are close to each other, and somehow we ended up seeing most of them without even meaning to intentionally. Pretty nice. Anyways, at the Metro stop we ended up having to walk around a lot underground to get to the line we wanted to take. It was hot and stuffy and kind of irritating, but no biggy. After a 20 minute fun-filled Metro experience we got off at our stop. Once out in the open air we had no idea which way to go. We followed our instincts and walked in one direction hoping that it was the way to the beach. We were unsure, so I asked some cops walking by; turns out we were going in the opposite direction. Luckily we hadn’t walked too far, so we turned around and walked back over 2 parking structures and past a casino. Woooohooo. It was a nice walk, though, because on the way to the beach we saw a bunch of buildings and statues that were in the book the hotel gave me, so I got to inadvertently see some more sights. After about 15 minutes we were at the beach. As I had expected, it was nothing special. All of the beaches in Spain that I have seen are alright, nothing too impressive, and this was just another one of those. The cool part was that it was on the Mediterranean, and there was a really nice, swanky strip of bars and restaurants. One of the bars was filled with yelling people watching the World Cup (of course). After walking up and down the strip a bunch of times to find a restaurant (some of them had beds and couches on which one could eat!) we finally settled on a cute place that wasn’t full and gave us a good outdoor view of the Sea. For some reason I was in the mood for just some simple pasta that night (me with my exotic Spanish palette) and ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce. That’s it. We all got an appetizer platter of Iberian meats and cheeses. Our waiter was new and kept messing up and forgetting us, especially with Shana’s food. He was very apologetic about it. While eating a bunch of men kept approaching us from the street and urged us to buy roses. The first time we said no politely, but by the 5th guy it was quite out-of-hand and we started giving them attitude and laughing in their faces. They didn’t seem quite pleased about our snootiness, but whatever. Enough is enough, leave us alone! Once the sun had gone down it had gotten cold out. After the meal we thought about going to the shore to feel the water (Mom had never touched the Mediterranean and wanted to say that she had), but it was cold and dark, so we just walked back to the Metro. We were all so exhausted, and my feet were killing my from a week’s worth of walking all around Spain in flip-flops. Oh well, c’est la vie. We grabbed the Metro back and walked back to the hotel. Shana and I discovered a top 40 channel that played the BEST music videos. I’m talking, almost up to Málaga’s standards. They played new music, like Shakira, then really old Christina Aguilera (“What a Girl Wants”), Whitney Houston, and also music from the 70’s and 80’s. It was AMAAAAZING. I stayed up blogging (at the nice desk the room supplied) and watching the music videos. Oh yeah, and I also took a shower. Which was amazing. BEST hotel shower. I was in there for so long. Gotta live it up. And that’s about it. Barcelona was really impressing me so far. Couldn’t wait to see what else it would have to offer!