Trip to Tarragona

Hello! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend!

Valentine's Day is not really celebrated here. It was even hard to remember what day it was, no one dressed in red and there were hardly any decorations or anything. In this region of Spain, Catalunya, the celebrate el Dia de San Jordi in the 23rd of April. It is like Valentine's day, people walk around in the streets and men give roses to women, women give books to men. Apparently it is very beautiful, especially when there is nice weather, so I'm looking forward to that.

I seem to be about a week behind on my posts...last Saturday my roommates, some friends and I spent the day in Tarragona. Tarragona is a city about 1 hour down the coast from Barcelona. It holds some of the most well preserved Roman ruins in Spain and at one time was the capital city of the Roman Empire. The trip was great! We got up early and headed to the train station, my first time on a train!

We arrived in Tarragona around 10:30 and went to a small cafe for some coffee while we waited for our friends to arrive. The city was a lot different than Barcelona, a lot smaller and slower paced. Once everyone arrived we headed toward a famous cathedral. On the way we stopped inside a beautiful Catholic church. The woman working in the church was very friendly and excited to show us all of the altars dedicated to different saints. We continued into the city, the streets were really neat. They were all very narrow and the apartment buildings were all different and very interesting.

We finally made it to the cathedral. It was under construction, so a lot was covered by scaffolding. The inside was remarkable. All around the main church area were big private altars dedicated to different saints. At the front was the main altar that we were able to walk on and behind. The architecture was amazing. It was one of those places where once you enter, you feel as if you cannot break the silence. Everyone just walked around on their own, it was a very impressive atmosphere.

After the cathedral, we headed toward the Roman ruins, which were all very centrally located, and took a tour. It was really neat so see remnants of columns and tombs and towers. We climbed to the top and went onto the roof.

It was another VERY windy day. From the top, we were able to see the whole city. The sun came out and it was a great view.

To one side, we saw the city, the cathedral and the mountains and to the other was the beach and the ruins of an amphitheater. Just below us we saw more ruins of some tunnels that we were later able to walk through.

After exploring the rest of the ruins we headed to lunch in a restaurant called Les Vaultes. The cafe was actually built into the ruins of the Roman Circus. We were seated inside a Roman vault, it was very cool. The restaurant offered a DELICIOUS menu del dia. Quite possibly the best meal that I've had so far here. We started with a plate of olives (which are grown here) and bread. We had bottles of water and very good white wine and red wine to share at the table. Our first plate was ensalada de pescado. It was a salad with fresh cod, salmon, shrimp and some other types of seafood. Next, I had veal with a creamy garlic sauce, mushrooms and patatas fritas (french fries.) It was very very very good. We finished with crema de Catalunya, a traditional Catalan dessert very similar to creme brulee.

Needless to say, the meal was well worth it!

After lunch, we headed toward the coast to see the amphitheater. We also watched the beach for awhile until it was time to head back to the station to catch the train. The coast was beautiful as the sun was starting to set. I think I'm going to have to come back to Spain during the summer when it is warm enough to layout on the beaches!

It was such a long, eventful day that we all fell asleep on the train ride home (and I'm sure the wine didn't help!) We had a really wonderful time!

On Friday we had the day off from classes so Val and I went on an adventure to el Parc del Labering...(it's a big park with some monuments and a labyrinth in the middle) It was a kind of crappy day weather wise, but we still had a fun time...










Hurricane Damage:
A lot of the park was closed off because of wind damage from two weekends ago. It turned out that it was classified as a hurricane here. There were a lot of huge trees down like this one.






So we didn't have to pay to get in, but we also didn't get to see everything.


Maze Entrance:

We explored what we could of the park, which was very pretty and then decided to try our luck in the maze. We started it at 1:30 and found the first dead end right away and then ended up back at the beginning.









Try number two was a lot more successful. We made it to the middle of the maze, which was an open area with a statue of Eros, the Greek god of love. Then we had to choose from 7 identical pathways to find our way out. It took a while to decide, but we made it on our second try. It took us until just about 2:00...not bad... It was easy to see how people could go insane in those mazes though! It wasn't as easy as it looked.





The whole park was dedicated to Greek gods and goddesses, there were a lot of statues and stuff all around. Val, who is a history major, filled me in on a lot of the stories behind the different sculptures.





This is me in the middle of the labyrinth, with Eros, son of Aphrodite and Aries. I think in Roman mythology he is the same thing as cupid.



After the park we found a cute cafe to have lunch, then did some shopping and headed home.


On Saturday it was really rainy so we decided to spend the day at the Picasso Museum. It was very very cool. There was a special exhibit and then a very extensive permanent collection. It was cool to see his early work, which is a lot different than what you think of when you hear "Picasso." Each gallery was dedicated to a different movement or time period and they all began with a description of where Picasso was at that point in his life and his motivations and such. I thought it was very interesting. Most of the work was contributed by Picasso himself right before he died.



During the day on Sunday I walked around one of the neighborhoods of the old city, called el Borne. It's my favorite part of the city. There are very narrow, cobblestone streets, beautiful cathedrals, and a bunch of cute little shops and restaurants.



We stopped at cafe called Sagardi for some really good tapas, which are like small individual appetizers that are common to eat in the late afternoon, since dinner is typically very late. They were the best I've had so far. They are all set out on a bar area and you pick as many as you want and put them on your own plate. Then, to pay, the waiter counts the toothpicks (that are holding the food together) to see how many you've eaten. It was a neat atmosphere.


And I also had some amazing gelato. It's definitely going to become an addiction once the weather warms up a little bit!



I was able to go to an Irish Pub on Sunday night to watch the Superbowl. The bar had game-time specials, projected the game on a big screen and decorated with the colors of both teams. It was packed!
The Cardinals fans definitely out-numbered Steelers fans which surprised me. A large group of my friends reserved a great table so we were able to sit down and had a great time. Because of the time difference, it didn't even start here until 12:30am. I was too tired to watch the whole thing, so we stayed until Bruce performed and then headed home.



The weather is FINALLY looking better. I was so happy to see the sun this week. On a nice day the city is brilliant, I cannot even explain it. I walk around with a huge smile on my face all day. Tomorrow we'll be getting up early to go on a day trip to Tarragona, a city with supposedly some of the best Roman ruins is Spain. I believe it was the capital of the Roman Empire at one point. Everyone from around here says it is absolutely beautiful, so I just hope that the weather holds out! I'll post pictures and updates after the weekend!


I hope all is well with everyone and you're all warming up!! As always, I love to hear from you, so keep the emails coming! :)

BARCA! BARCA!

I've had a pretty exciting past few days, starting on Thursay afternoon in my Sports and Society class...

We had guest speakers come in to teach us about building Castells, a Catalan tradition. Castells are human castles (people form a base and then others climb up standing on each others shoulders as high, as 10 levels, and then a small child climbs all the way to the top and must raise his hand to signal the completed tower) that are built in town squares to celebrate special events.
We got to try ourselves in class. We only formed the base and one level of climbers.

I was picked to be in the center of the base, supporting the knees of the climber. It was a really tight squeeze but it was a lot of fun... It's really crazy that these people do this regularly as a hobby.

Then on Thursday night some friends and I went to an FC Barcelona soccer game. It was an amazing experience! They played Espanyol, who is not as good of a team, but also from Barcelona, so it is a big rivalry. The stadium was packed and the crowd was really into it. The soccer hooligans created a pretty different aptmosphere from the student section at Penn State.

I went to buy a jersey during the afternoon before the game and met some British students in the store. They were just here for the weekend but they were really cool. We walked around and I showed them some of the city. It was really interesting to talk to them about things like sports and shopping and see all of the differences....

FC Barcelona plays in Camp Nou. It's a very impressive stadium. I I went with my friends Juliet, Danny and Tom, our seats were very high but it's SO steep that we still had a great view.

Messi, one of the FC Barcelona players, is considered the best in futbol right now and he's only 21 years old. It was really cool to see him play. We're going to try to get to another game as the season continues, maybe one that is home for Espanyol because they play in the stadium that was built for the 1992 Olympic games.

It's about time for some updates!

It's very nice to hear that you guys are enjoying the blog :)

I started my classes this week and enjoyed them all for the most part. I'll be going on a lot of field trips throughout the semester and learning a lot more about the history of Spain and Barcelona...and hopefully I'll come home fluent in Spanish! That's my goal anyway.

I didn't do much other than go to class this week because the weather was not that great, but I had a really fun and eventful weekend...

After Spanish class on Friday, Danny and I walked around the city and got some gelato (which was delicious!) We walked through a park that's close to my house. I also live really close to Zoo de Barcelona and Spain's mini Arc de Triompf. It was a beautiful afternoon and I really love wandering around the city.

Last weekend we made it down to the marina and I saw the Christopher Columbus statue. Apparently, when it was erected he was supposed to be pointing toward the Americas, but they've realized that he actually points towards Italy...

Another great thing about Barcelona is that within walking distance or a short metro ride you can hit mountains, parks, shopping districts and the sea. It has everything!

Friday night I met some friends and we went to a bar called The Black Sheep. It is known for having some of the best sangria in Barcelona. It was delicious and lots of fun. There were a lot of locals in the bar so it was a cool aptmosphere.

On Saturday some friends and I took a nice hike up through Parc Guinardo. When we finally reached the top we had an amazing view of the whole city. It was unbelievable how windy it was though, especially at the top of the park. It was pretty cloudy too so we'll definitely spend more time there on a sunnier day.

I'm being very adventurous when it comes to trying food here. So far, I've really liked everything that I've tried. Today I had a cultural favorite called Paella de marisco. It's a rice dish with shellfish like mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp (with the head and all!) and I ate something that had tentacles but I didn't ask what exactly it was..haha

We ate outside at a cute restaurant a block away from the water, the whole meal was wonderful.

Well, hopefully you all will enjoy this update. I should have another soon. I'm looking forward to sun and temperatures around 60 all week! If you get the chance I'd love to hear how everyone is doing through an email or something!! ( las5126@psu.edu )

I miss you all tons!

Adios

Address!

For everyone who has been asking, I finally figured out my address...

Lindsay Smith
IES Center I
Ronda Sant Pere, 5
Barcelona, Spain 08002

Hopefully that works :)
So this weekend was a lot of fun. I went to some discotecas with new friends that I've been meeting. The clubs we go to are mostly all Americans, so you see a lot of the same faces from classes and stuff, which is nice...

These are some new friends we went out with on Friday. They live in and apartment close to ours...

and my two friends from PSU, Danny&Rob, and I at the discotec called Catwalk.


Some more new friends, waiting for the metro on Saturday night...

And today we toured the inside of la segrada familia. I cannot begin to explain how amazing it was. We took an elevator to the top of one tower and wound our way back down on very narrow spiral stair cases. It was scary, but an amazing veiw of the architecture of the church and the entire city.

This is just part of the church, impossible to get a picture of the whole thing from the ground. I think we were up in the farthest right tower...

Val and I at the top of the tower. I think the Mediterranean is in the background...

A view out one of the windows...it was a really beautiful day,

Two of the towers and some of the construction, and a great view of the city

La Vida Nocturna

Last night I got my first taste of the famous vida nocturna de Barcelona...it was a lot of fun.

These are my roomates...

Val and Sandy

the club we went to was right on the sea, really close to the Olympic Village. I really want to go back down during the day so I can actually see everything.

I took this on my way to class today...I'm really excited about all the palm trees around the city :)

Un dia bonita!

The weather has finally cleared up. This is what I was expecting. Its bright and sunny all day, still a little chilly, but not too bad at all...

This is my apartment building from the street. Below is a picture of my bedroom, it was hard to get a good angle since it is pretty small...

Over the weekend I went on a trip to Vic and Besalu, both medival cities outside of Barcelona. Besalu was great, we entered the city over a bridge that was built around the mid 1000's. I also visited La Segrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished church, which is only about 3 blocks from where I live. The pictures cannot do it any justice, it was beautiful.

This week I started my spanish class and have been able to explore the city...hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures up on this thing. I really love the city now, it's hard to explain, but it's very different from the cities I've been to in the US...

The architecture is AMAZING for one thing. And right now all of the stores are having huge sales, so that is pretty exciting too...

This is the family puppy, Nous. Esta loco, but I love him :)

I'll try to add more pictures soon.

Hasta Luego