La Mercé

So La Mercé is a 4 day fiesta in Barcelona that takes place each September. It consists of a bunch of street parties and at many of the main plazas have concerts of all sorts – Rock, Reggae, Flamenco, American, etc . All the concerts are free and so the city shuts down on Thursday (first full day of the parties) and then continues on through the weekend. It ends on Sunday at Plaza España which is near my house. Whichever stage has the biggest concert of the night ends their show with fireworks. Needless to say, basically you party for 4 days straight. I had Thursday off from school, it was sorta like having 4th of July in the middle of the week as I had to go school on Friday. Thursday is Barcelona Day (I’d say it’s like Labor Day). So of course since Freeman was in town on Wednesday night we headed OUT. We went to a bunch of local bars and a shot bar – fear not they were fake shots with very little alcohol (Freeman can confirm this) and then to a local bar we gathered was like Cain and Ables in Austin without music called Black Sheep but cheap drinks. Friday I headed out with friends from school to a great tapas restaurant and then to Port Olymipico.
On Sunday I went to the final festivities since it was a 2 minute walk from my house for the ending fireworks show. Now, I appreciate the Wilkirson/Tally/Baker 4th of July extravaganza however, Spain has got fireworks down a whole hecka lot better than we do. My little band nerd heart was so content watching the fireworks staged to all sorts of music, the booms were in the right place and the shapes used. Only thing missing was a little Sousa but maybe next year I’ll get to add the music choreography to our festivities…… anyway here are some pics from the weekend.

Scotland....London Baby!

Well Kristen and I just got back from the UK. Good news, we only managed to freeze for a day before finding proper clothing attire. The rain jacket I bought has turned out to be a good purchase for BCN this week as it is raining. I officially got dressed today without sweating!!! Okay…back to Scotland. We started in Edinburgh and joined a tour group for 5 days. Edinburgh was pretty cool; it is broken down into two sections – old and new. The architecture between the two is very different so it is easy to tell the difference. We shopped some in new town looking for a shoe I could actually walk in, let’s just say my limping had Kristen annoyed in about 20 minutes. But we were successful, had a hamburger and then headed back for the city tour. On Sunday we spent most of our day in old town; we walked up a hill to get to Edinburgh Castle, toured it until we were icicles and then came on down the street. We had lunch in a pub and started the many many plates of fish and chips (which comes with mushy peas – so gross even Kristen doesn’t eat em). We also had a traditional Scottish dinner and I am proud to say both Kristen and I tried Haggis (won’t describe because you may not ever try it yourself but look at the pic) and it was good. It tasted like spicy taco meat (sigh how I miss tacos). Fom there we got to here a piper, I have a video but have yet to be successful in uploading so it will wait to Dec. Here is what I have to say about pipers – I enjoy them a lot more when it is not right outside my window at the crack of dawn (family shall remember the pink house). From Edinburgh we moved on to the Highlands, basically country mountain/hills. Rather than looking for deer we looked for sheep and low and behold found tons of em. We waited for them to cross the street enough said. We ended this part of the trip in Glasglow and had a very fun night (discussed in another blog).
LONDON BABY!!
By London we were very tired of pub food so we hunted other types of food and found Chinese (yay) and steak. Now the steak not as great as a Texas steak but quite satisfying compared to the bistec in Spain J We saw Oxford, the campuses are beautiful and then did some sightseeing in London – Westminster Abby, Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and saw Chicago. All in all it was a fun trip with my sister.

Its the most wonderful time of the year....

It is the most wonderful time of the year. Yes I have decided that Labor Day weekend beats Christmas because this weekend kicks off Football season. Finally after months of nothing to read but a few articles about spring practice we hit July and let the debates begin! And now FINALLY after 8 long months, we get to see the start of a new season and what controversies it may bring. I’m not as eloquent in my writing but for once the Daily Texan hits it right on…please read:
1.1864614 http://www.dailytexanonline.com/sports/ncaa-football-boise-state-oregon-highlight-beginning-of-the-best-season-of-the-year-1.1864614

Dear Football Gods,
Ah excitement I can feel it in the air, the glorious 3 day weekend arrives with 3 days of football. Thank you! This year I have just a few simple requests from you.

May the Horns and Tigers remain healthy and strong as some have already suffered enough injuries during practice.
May the Tigers not give my sister a heart attack each week and win their games.
May the Tigers take down Florida and Tebow because I’m beginning to get as sick of that name as I am of the USC dynasty. (Which I don’t get how you have a dynasty and when you go to the Natl Championship 2 years in a row and win once but whatever and just play the Rose Bowl each year).

Plus a Natl Champ game between the Tigers and Horns Round 2 would be so fun!!
May the Sooners continue to choke in all important games.
May everyone remember that it is September 3, 2009 and OU still sucks!

May everyone eat tons of pink dip and have some for me too!!
Please allow Colt an amazing year and a Heisman Trophy.
Please allow the Aggies to have a better season than last year, let them win their first home game and beat the Bears.
Please let Leach have some big hissie fits to entertain me in Spain.
May all the Longhorns – Come Early, Be Loud, and Stay Late!
May I find a bar or bares to watch some football games this year.
May Moms enjoy every second of football watching of the weekend ;)
May I return to the states in order to see the Horns once again in Pasadena!
Hook Em!!

Okay a few notes from this week....

Well there hasn’t been much to say this past week due to the fact I have limited mobility. I did make it to Tarragona on Saturday. This is a nearby beach town that is beautiful. Not nearly as many people so the beach is more similar to what we see in the Caribbean. There’s also a great town to explore but the sites were all uphill so I will be returning to see that once my foot is better. The sea though is my new best friend; I got in the water and managed to take out half of the swelling. All of a sudden I had an ankle again! Yipee, so now 4 days later I am really doing well. I can pretty much walk on it without crutches however; I’m still using them so that I will be good to go by the time I leave for London on Friday. Check out my bruises though!! Aren’t they awesome? Ankle Debacle 2009….

This week I have done some shopping, I went on a search for Birkenstocks with no luck. I need a warmer shoe than flip flops for London and Scotland but one my ankle and brace can fit in. No such luck here, so hopefully I will find some when I get to London. Other than that, we did the beach again today in Barcelona; it has been raining the last 3 days so this is the first pretty day in a while. Friday I’m headed to London and Scotland – London baby!! I believe Kristen and I will have some fun and find a few things to do…..
Tomorrow is test day again and dinner is ready so I need to head out. Look at the pictures hope you enjoy.

Well here's some good news...

I had 4 new people move into the house this weekend. 3 are from Mexico and one from Norway. Two of the guys from Mexico are studying at the University and will be here all semester. They have told me they will help me with my pronounciation and show me the differences in European Spanish and Mexico Spanish. So now hopefully I will get everything I need. The girl from Norway will be studying law at a university here so while she won't be living with me the whole time she will be in the city. Yay. Long term friends are exciting!

Ok there have been some requests for pictures of the beach. Not much to say, hopefully this weekend I'll have some new ones of different beaches but it will depend on my ankle. I really want to go to some other beach cities to see the sites. Not much else to say right now as I'm pretty limited in my mobility.

My trip to the ER........

Well Friday started out nicely. Went to school, passed my Spanish test so I’m moving up a level, did some shopping then took a nap. We had plans to go out and have a fun night before Hristol left in the morning for Bulgaria. So we had a nice dinner over Port Olympic and tried Sangria de Vino and Sangria de Cava (Champagne). Sangria de Vino is better. After that we head down stairs to go to the different clubs as Hristol hadn’t made it to this part of town in his 3 weeks. We were dragged into an Australian themed club and started dancing. We were having a good time and then head to the next bar. The music was a mix of 80s and country (hilarious) so we ducked in. Made some new friends while dancing and were having a blast…..until the Cotton Eyed Joe came on. Well let me just say, I may have no rhythm and cannot dance but the Europeans were running the Cotton Eyed Joe. Their version of a line dance was sad, pathetic. So I get the genius idea, I should show them how to properly line dance. I have a new thought, anytime I get some genius idea I should run far far away. Anyway, I’m going along just fine for a while but then head over to a new group of people to show and wham all of a sudden I’m on the floor! Everyone is staring as I just sit there for a minute, look down at my ankle and realized it is not in good shape. I try to stand and make it up but I cannot put much pressure on my ankle. Of course at this time Kristelle has come over to see if I’m okay and I say not I need to get outside and get some ice. On top of that the security people from the club come over to tell us they have called an ambulance. Now by this time I have ice and am checking out my ankle, I can move my toes and stand but it’s painful. I tell the security guards that I really don’t need an ambulance, my ankle is just sprained and I’ll be okay. The look on their faces says – She’s an American who’s going to sue the pants off us no chances being taken. So I obligingly wait for the EMT guys. When they show up (so cute by the way) they inspect my ankle, I tell them it’s just a sprain and am told they cannot diagnose it and I need to go to the ER it could be broken. My reply of I can move my toes so my ankle isn’t broken was not acceptable. Once they found out I would be here for another 7 weeks, they really became insistent that I go to the ER. So I cave, wasn’t much choice at this point. I think ask if I can just hobble into the ambulance but no, I am placed on a gurney. At this point I’m just laughing my head off. How many people have said I need to be careful and that I was going to seriously hurt myself sometime in my heels and shoes and falling all the time. For the record, I was in flats but it is the same ankle that spent 6 weeks in a boot. I think it is cursed. So I’m not headed for the Barcelona ER where I met a nice guy from NY whose my admit person and English translator. Of course Kristelle whose not family isn’t allowed up even though her Spanish is much better than mine. Stupid HIPPA laws are over here too and my response of I’ll sign whatever waiver to allow her up didn’t work either. So now I have my foot elevated because its begun to hurt and have been placed in the wheel chair. No one understands why I have my foot elevated and I can’t really explain in Spanish so I just get a ton of odd stares. Anyway, 2 xrays later I am told my ankle has a minor sprain, not broken and to stay off it for 5-6 days and take Ibuprofen. My ankle was wrapped in an ace and I was set on my way. However, I can’t really walk at this point more like hop on one foot. We manage a cap and to hop into the house so that the next morning we can go to the pharmacy to get some crutches and hopefully find the ankle casts that are plastic to give it more support. The walk to the pharmacy took forever. Kristelle has been a saint helping me get ice and carrying my stuff for me as we go

do things. I owe her big time. Anyway, spent today at the beach as we are supposed to be out of the house for most of each day, enjoy the pictures of my adventure from Friday. My foot is slowly starting to feel better hopefully I can find the right type of support tomorrow and be off the crutches in a few days. I will never dance the Cotton Eyed Joe again.

Random Things about Spain....

Ok, many people want more blogs. Its hard people, some days I have plans that start right after school and then in the evenings homework. Other days it’s just hot and I’m tired with no wit to write. But in response to the request, I’m entering 2 blogs today and will try to be more diligent. By the way, I’ll have you know I’m already beginning to write half words in Spanish because I’m starting to think in Spanish. So if some words look weird it’s probably just the Spanish version that I mentally missed correcting. But hey that was the whole goal of being here. Okay, here are a few differences from the states that I have seen so far.
1. Beaches – Bananahamics are everywhere and normal. I have to keep reminding myself of this as when I go to the beach with people, I can tap them and go look at that! Also the Europeans are much more open as in all beaches have woman topless and mind you they will get up and go order a drink topless or whatever. Also kids run around naked or topless as well. They have showers to get the salt water off and you can easily walk by and see a 6 or 7 year old naked showering. I automatically think – crap what if there are perverted adults around and you are just parading your kids around naked. But it is incredibly normal.
2. Air Conditioning – please appreciate all the nice wonderful cold air you are sitting in. I miss it so much. It’s in the high 80s/low 90s here and where there is AC it is a sorry excuse. While if you stay in the shade it’s pretty tolerable, heading down into the metro is like walking into a sauna.
3. Water – I think what I miss the most is a hot shower with strong water pressure. There are notes up all over the house requesting that you only take one shower and that it be fairly quick. There are threats that if you take many showers or long showers the owners are allowed to time your showers. The reason for this is because how quickly the water pressure goes out. We have 5 students at the house now and we must take showers at least 30 minutes apart. If 2 of us accidently shower at the same time there is literally a tiny dribble of water. When that happens to me with my thick hair with shampoo in it, what a mess. I had my first hot shower with great water pressure today in a week and half. Turns out the German guy (not a fan) has been taking about 4 showers a day which is why we’ve had no water pressure. I believe that was fixed yesterday.
4. Fanny Packs are apparently fashionable here. They have all missed the memo that the style has left. I can’t tell you how many groups I see with every person in a fanny pack. From the gaudy sequin ones, to LV, to whatever you can imagine.

My Spanish is improving day by day. I can understand a lot more of the conversations around me. I have a test tomorrow to see if I’m ready to promote to the next Spanish level. I really hope so because right now I can only speak in the present tense and that’s incredibly limiting. Okay I’m heading to the Picasso Museum today, I hope it’s more enjoyable than Mirό…….