Montserrat

This weekend was my first one here without anything to do, so we figured it was a good time to venture to Montserrat, a monastery about an hour and a 1/2 from Barcelona.  Montserrat in particular is nestled very high up in the mountains and has been in active use for the past 1000 years! I still can't believe that things that old really exist here… so unlike US history!

Madeline, Katie, Frannie, and I left about 10am to take the train to Montserrat.  This was the first time we had actually left the city, and it made me remember how much I love been out in the mountains and being in nature.  After the train we took this cool railcar up the side of the mountain about 4000ft (the gondola that goes the same route was broken) and arrived at the beautiful monastery! We spent the first few minutes gawking at the amazing view and then joined in the very long line to see the Virgin Mary statue that many people travel very far to see.  After passing through many small rooms on the side of the cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows, we finally arrived at the virgin.  The room, or shrine more so, was absolutely beautiful.  The small wooden statue was in a room covered floor to ceiling in golden mosaic tiles.  We took photos with the famous carved statue and rubbed the hand of the child in the statue for good luck! We continued on to a small prayer room of reflection behing the virgin that was beautiful, as well.

(San Clemente!)

After leaving the statue area we came upon candle offerings to the virgin.  We all purchased colored candles, placed them in the altar, and lit them.  Each of us read the traditional prayer offering to the virgin in Castellano (Español) and continued on into the basilica where we saw a traditional Catalan mass.  We were able to participate in the mass and even take communion from the monks… such an incredible experience!  I still can’t believe I attended a service at a church that’s been active for the last 1000 years.  We received blessing of holy water and left the church after the service to hike around the mountain.  We enjoyed the beautiful views, and I remembered how much I absolutely love being hiking in the mountains!

After our hike we decided we would stop by the small farmers market before catching the train back to the city.  We tasted the most delicious fresh, home-made cheeses I’ve ever had, along with delicious cheesecakes, fig pies, and honey.  My favorite was definitely goat cheese with rosemary.  We each purchased mató, a sort of yogurt type of cheese dish covered in fresh honey.  (Side note: mató is the past tense of the verb “to kill”, but I’m hoping it had nothing to do with the yogurt.)  We chatted with the Catalan woman who sold us the treats (who even complimented us on our Spanish!) and took our food to head back on the train.  After the 20 minute rail ride, and hour train through the countryside, we arrived back at the Plaza Espanya station in Barcelona, just a few blocks from our homestay.

The day was absolutely beautiful, and it was so nice to escape from the big city for a bit!  This week marks the start of one of my classes (the others start in 2 weeks), a spontaneous trip to the south of Spain on Thursday morning (we currently only have a one-way plane ticket and are working out the other details), and moving into our very own apartment when we return on Sunday!  

First 10 Days in Barça

I've officially been gone from the US for 10 days now, and I can't believe how much I've squeezed into my first days here! In just the first few days I've seen most of Gaudí's famous works, started school, settled into the Spanish lifestyle, and even went to a Barça fútbol game!  Here are some of the fun things I've been up to in the past week.

La Universitat de Barcelona

On Tuesday all of the UC students in the program had an orientation and tour of the beautiful Facultud de Filología (the study of language/literature/linguistics) campus we're I'll be taking my classes!  The university was founded in 1450 and the amazing building was constructed in the 1500s.  The building reminded me most similarly of Hogwarts, and we saw a great hall were graduations used to be held, the libraries, and the rest of the buildings.

The great all formerly used for graduations

This is where doctoral candidates stand to argue there thesis! Their professor stand on the other side in the same structure

Field Trips to El Museo de la Historia de Barcelona y La Pedrera

We also visited both the Museo de la Historia de Barcelona on Tuesday, and Gaudí's famous house/building La Pedrera.  The museum is underground, and it's all of these preserved structures from when Barcelona was a Roman city a loooong time ago.  While it did just look like a lots of rocks to us, it was cool to see that this old city is still preserved today directly under present-day Barcelona.  The museum is also located in a neighborhood called La Cuidtat Vella, the Old City, which is full of absolutely beautiful streets and buildings.

La Pedrera is another one of Gaudí's amazing pieces in Barcelona... can't believe I've seen three of his works in a week!  La Pedrera was constructed in the early 1900s and was an apartment building for Barcelona socialites.  We were able to tour the building, including an apartment and a really cool rooftop deck view.  

El Partido del Barça!

Last but not least, I went to my first (of hopefully many!) Barça fútbol games! The game was at 9:30 on a Wednesday night, and wasn't packed because it was against Malaga, a city in the south of España.  Our friend Jesus found tickets for only 10 euros, so about 20 of us from the program went! We took the metro from the university to the stadium and had such a fun night! Decked out in our Barça scarves we cheered for our amazing new home team.  I'm definitely a fan of fútbol, as the games move fast, and the fans are just as entertaining to watch.  Hopefully we'll be able to see many more games during the semester!

¡Vamos Barça!

More later this week! Today we're enjoying a lazy (very Spanish) morning, and heading off to an art museum this afternoon.  Adeu! (Catalán for goodbye!)

Parc Guell y La Sagrada Familia

The last couple of days in Barcelona have been lots of exploring and adjusting to this beautiful, wonderful new city.  This was out first weekend here in Barcelona so we decided it was a good time to see some sights.  Highlights of the weekend were seeing Parc Guell and La Sagrada Familia, both works by Gaudí.  I’m sure that this was only my first of many trips to both of these incredible places!

On Saturday morning we met up with other students from the program and visited Gaudí’s Parc Guell, located up on a hill that overlooks the city.  Unlike our first few days here it was really sunny and warm and we had a beautiful view of the city from the top! The whole park is framed in this beautiful white bench covered in amazing mosaic tiles that all overlooks the city.  Underneath the main overlook on the par is this amazing room of columns that has mosaic sea creatures on the ceiling.  All of the columns are different heights, but Gaudí made them to look the same like an optical illusion.  The park also has the really cool open tunnels covered in by arches.  In the front of the park is Gaudí’s home, created in a very similar style to much of his work.  Everything is so creative, and there are so many incredible details in his work! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

The other big highlight of the weekend was a trip to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí’s most famous church, and one of Barcelona’s largest attractions, this afternoon.  (This was the first time we had failed to check the weather in the morning, and we were unfortunately stuck in the rain looking very clueless.)  La Sagrada Familia was absolutely breathtaking.  Like at Parc Guell, you could see Gaudí’s creativity all over the church.  We learned that Gaudí got a lot of his inspiration from the structures and shapes of plants and flowers.  The amazing columns that hold up the church are designed to bear weight like flower stems, and unlike traditional columns, get more narrow at the top.  The church is also filled with beautiful stained glass windows that Gaudí designed to let in light to the massive church, and each one is very colorful.  One of my favorite parts of the church were the bronze doors on the front and sides of the church that had been cast to read different words.  The front doors had the story of the crucifixion of Jesus from the gospel of John in Catalán, and the side door of the church had the phrase “give us our day this daily bread” in 45 world languages (even Peruvian Quechua!).  The church was so impressive, and I am already excited to return again for a trip up the towers on a sunny day!  Our day of sight seeing, and apartment hunting, ended with some well-deserved churros and chocolate at the famous Dulcinea restaurant, supposedly the oldest in Barcelona to serve the famous dish.  The chocolate (called drinking chocolate) is like thick, melted chocolate used to dip the churros... so good!