La Mercé - Or, why Barcelonians are either the coolest or most insane people ever.

"Many are the visitors who come to Barcelona and quite a few, on a repeat visit, have even succeeded in discovering the most hidden corners of the city. However, only those who have been here during La Mercé can claim to know the city inside-out. This is when the soul of the city is shown in the clearest way. The festival mixes the latest street events, music and dance with deep-rooted traditions, including gunpowder and Mediterranean fireworks. Do you really want to get to know Barcelona? We are waiting for you at La Mercé."

               - La Mercé 2010

La Mercé is a festival held annually in Barcelona to celebrate Catalonian (not Spanish) life and culture, and to mark the end of summer. After this past weekend, I would have to say the soul of Barcelona is definitely awesome, a little crazy, and certainly loves fireworks. The festival lasts 5 days (Thursday night through Sunday), and is a weekend filled with parades, concerts, and light shows in every corner of the city. Canada, France, and Valencia all compete in a fireworks festival on the beach over the course of three nights, followed by the spectacular "Piromusical" finale presented by Barcelona Sunday night. Perhaps the most eccentric tradition of the festival, invented with the restoration of democracy, is the Correfoc, or Fire Run.

As the program describes, it is the "great festival of fire, which starts with the opening of the gates of Hell, from which all kinds of male and female devils and fire beasts pour out, throwing bangers and fireworks, filling the city's central street with the smell of gunpowder and chasing even the boldest participants." Before the Correfoc, the street is filled on one side with spectators, and on the other with the members of the parade and groups of drummers to keep the spirit alive. Since we walked down the backside of the parade to arrive to the "gates of hell," we got to experience of the "backstage" action before the parade.

A dragon getting prepped for the parade

Betsy and I with some of the "correfoc"ers

Drummers performing before the opening

 One of the drumming groups waiting in the lineup... see you if you can spot the tourist, or "guiri":

More drummers... there were sooo many

One of the demons outfitted with fireworks - to be shot at the spectators later. No joke.

They also advise: "As there will be dragons, flames, and explosions, it's best to remain on the sidelines as a spectator, unless you know the festival well." It continues to recommend that you wear long sleeves, a cap, scarf, and avoid shorts to AVOID BEING BURNED. And they're not even joking. I realized the seriousness of this (perhaps a little too late) when I was standing near the "gates of hell" and noticed people around me wearing safety goggles, bandanas over their mouths, and hoodies. Let's just say they are a little more lax about fire safety than we are in the states. They start the Correfoc with gunshots (yes, next to kids) and then open the gates where the "devils" begin running out and shooting sparklers and fireworks at everyone. And that's basically the whole concept of the parade... which lasts for a couple of hours. Here's the vid I edited for a few snippets of the parade - It's a little long (4 minutes) but worth watching, especially if you want to see the look of terror on our faces.

The crazy part of it all was that some people would actually RUN through the fireworks and dance around in the sparks. These people are a little nuts! After miraculously surviving this crazy tradition, we started walking towards the beach to try to catch the Valencia fireworks. On our way, we found ourselves in the Parc de la Ciutadella (the park with the Arc de Triomf in one of my earlier posts) where they had lots of food and light exhibitions set up throughout the park. We noticed a group of people standing over by a laser show.

Laser show in the park near our house

We couldn't figure out what they were all gawking over until we got a little closer. There were fog machines creating a smokey atmosphere for the lasers to bounce off of and create an effect where it looked like you could touch the light. As the lasers went overhead, it created the appearance of a cloudy ceiling over the crowd. Very cool! (I had a video of this on my own camera, but accidentally deleted it. Skip to 1:00 to get to the part I'm talking about.)

 

We were so busy enjoying the laser show that we ended up watching the fireworks from the park instead of the beach. Not complaining though :)

Sunday night was the Piromusical, or the finale of the entire weekend. It took place in Plaça d'Espanya, in front of the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc (click on the links for more info on those two places).

The fountain, which has a show with music every weekend... still have yet to see!

The fireworks were absolutely spectacular. It is estimated that around 200,000 people attend the show, and of course, I was standing right in the middle of it. I have so few words to describe how amazing it was to be surrounded by all of those people and watching such an incredible display. The theme this year was well-known music through the decades, which was pretty funny because most of the music was American or at least in English (The Beatles, Stones, even a little Gangsta's Paradise...). One very cool moment was when they played Imagine by John Lennon, followed by covers of the song in different languages by different artists. I guess I missed the distribution, but everyone had sparklers that they lit during the song. Here's a video I found of the fireworks - again, it's a long one, so a couple of highlights: heart fireworks! (5:30) "Imagine" (7:20) "Gangsta's Paradise" (9:00) and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (10:35).
If nothing else, at least watch the last couple of minutes for the finale to get a glimpse of those show (12:30)! I think "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (11:30) near the end was very appropriate for our trip :)

And that was only a THIRD of the show. The entire thing was around 30 minutes long. And they do this. Every. Year. What a city! No wonder their economy sucks, right?

On a related note, there's a general strike this Wednesday, which means everything will be closed and the public transportation will not be working. (They're supposed to work for at least 25%... but... let's be honest...). As my new professor put it, "the best place for you to be is either a la casa, o la playa" (home, or the beach). Guess where I'll be? But besides suggesting going to the beach, my professor seemed very cool and I think I'm really going to like the class (Literature and Cinema of Barcelona/Madrid). We're starting with the philosophy of how to "read" cities like a text of overlapping voices (metáfora de palimpsesto), and learn the subjective nature of the human experience in a city (psicogeografía). Basically, it's right up my alley. Tomorrow I start Español: Técnicas de Expresión Oral (Oral Expressions) and El Quijote y el Pensamiento Filosófico Español del S.XX. (Quijote and Philosophical Thought of 20th Century Spain). Hopefully those go well!

p.s. I think I chose the right city.
p.p.s. Anyone know of any job listings in Barcelona? I don't think I'm leaving.

Los Pirineos

So in case you didn't guess from my last post, I took an overnight trip with my group to the Pyrenees - the mountains that create the border between France and Spain. It took us a five hour bus ride to get there, which was pretty uneventful considering it was raining and I was sleeping most of the time. So that's all I'm going to say about that. Once there, we found ourselves in the cutest little mountain town, called Taüll.

Doesn't it just look like the perfect ski town?

View from our hotel room

 It was pretty cold and rainy (especially compared to the beach weather of Barcelona... yeah, we're spoiled), so we just wandered around the (very small) town and visited the Sant Climent de Taüll, a church famous for its Romanesque architecture. The church was consecrated December 10th, 1123 - I can barely wrap my head around the fact that I was standing in a building that old!

Betsy outside of the church with the resident geese

The outside of the church - when it was in use, the outside would have been maintained and painted white

Art inside the church

Another church within the town square

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon staying warm in a cute café near the church.

My roommate Lindsey, and a friend AK in front of the café

The next day, we went for a hike up into the mountains. We took jeeps up to the base of the trail, and then walked along a pretty relaxed trail up to a pasture and a mountain lake. It was beautiful! The park we were in was known for its picturesque water features, so there were lots of waterfalls and lakes.

Roommates before the hike: Me, Lindsey, Betsy, and Megan

Jeeps we took to the hike

Aftermath of an avalanche

Rest stop

The first lake we went to - the water was so clear!

There were SO many cows

Cows loungin' around in the pasture

This was about as close as I wanted to get...

Betsy and I at the first lake

Part of our group continued up a little more rigorous hike to another mountain lake that had a fabulous view. Our guide was pretty much a mountain goat and not a big fan of using the trails - we kept taking "shortcuts" - so it was not the easiest hike! The extra effort was definitely worth it, as we could see more of the gorgeous landscape at the top.

The second lake we went to

View from the top

Our lunch spot

Betsy borrowed our guide's hat and jacket... she probably has lice now.

After enjoying our lunch at the top, we hiked back down to get back on the jeeps to our bus. We got really lucky with the weather, because although it was cold and cloudy while we were hiking, it didn't start raining until we got back on the bus! It was nice to change into some nice warm sweats on the bus, and we all pretty much fell asleep immediately for most of the ride back. A quick trip, but very fun! I was really happy I got to do a hike with my group because it probably would not have planned something like that on my own.

In other news, I started my intensive Spanish class this past week. My professor is really fun, and I know I'm going to enjoy taking class with her this semester. She really wants us to become more fluid in our speaking, so we do a lot of debates and talking in class. With class and daily conversations in taxis, at the market, and in stores, my Spanish is already improving! It's very cool to be an exchange student at the University here sitting along with local Spanish students in the library. Next Monday I start my other classes - literature & cinema, Quijote philosophy, and oral expressions (all in Spanish) - so I'm excited to see what those will be like!

I also applied this week to volunteer at a local children's hospital. Our program coordinator said it was a great way to connect with the community (instead of feeling like an outsider) so I'm really hoping I can do it for a few hours every week. There seems to be a pretty intense application and interview (you have to speak decent Spanish to communicate with the families and nurses),  so I will keep you posted on how that goes! In the meantime, I have an essay to write tonight and my first test on Thursday. Looking forward to the Mercé festival this weekend!

Where to?

Still haven't quite figured out how to work the showers here... these cold showers are going to be the death of me! Anywho, off to another place for an overnight. Updates to come, but here's a preview: heading to the border for some good outdoorsy fun. Forecast for the weekend: temp between 45-60, and rainy. Should be interesting!

Is this real life?

Our route from Barcelona and through Pamplona to San Sebastian!

It is 7:00 am. Imagine the sleepy streets of Barcelona, still dreaming, the sun not yet rising over the rooftops. It is still dark, peaceful, and quiet. Now imagine you hear the loud clomping of heavy hurried feet, followed by the unmistakable sight of blond hair (not so common in Barcelona) racing through the crosswalks. Yes, that would be Betsy and I running through the streets to catch our bus to San Sebastian. After getting used to this lifestyle of staying up late, the early morning was quite the struggle! Nothing like a 7 am jog to get your blood pumping though, right?

Our second stop in Barcelona, before heading out to San Sebastian

After our rushed wake-up and barely making it on the bus, we settled into our seats for what we thought would be a five hour bus ride (but really turned out to be eight). Napping a little bit along the way, the beautiful scenery was more than enough to keep us entertained on our drive.

Sunrise in Spain

Our quick stop in Pamplona. This was about as much as we saw of the city.

It was a good time to reflect about my time in Spain so far, as I tried to really let it sink in that I will be living here for the semester (I still can't believe it!). There is such an interesting mix of old and new here - you will see an old villa with a satellite dish attached, for example.

A stop before San Sebastian

 Driving through the mountains was SO beautiful. Nearing San Sebastian we went through a series of tunnels, each one leading to a panoramic view more beautiful than the last. I could hardly wait to arrive to our destination!

When we finally arrived to San Sebastian, we only had the address to our hostel, Olga's Place. We took a quick look at the map and it didn't look too hard to find; we just had to walk along this waterway:

It didn't take us very long to find the hostel - San Sebastian is very small and everything is much closer together than it looks on a map! The hostel we stayed in was very nice. It had clean bathrooms, a common room, internet, free towels, and felt very safe. Since San Sebastian is a surf town, our hostel was filled with young Australian surfers who were all very friendly and laid back. Our room for the night:

Pretty nice, huh? We dropped our stuff off quickly because it was already the afternoon and we wanted to make the most out of this trip! We asked Olga where to grab a bite to eat and she pointed us in the direction of a place on "San Francisco" street, only we were surprised when it was spelled like this:

Once there, we had a DELICIOUS lunch at a place called Casa Senra. San Sebastian is famous for being one of the best food cities in the world, and, having more Michelin stars per capita than any other city (including Paris), we knew we were in for a treat. For under 20 euros a piece we enjoyed fish with salsa and pistachios, mushrooms stuffed with foie gras and covered in aioli, and a salad for two covered in fresh Basque crab meat. SO GOOD.

Full from our wonderful meal, we headed - where else? - to the beach, which was only three or four blocks from our hostel. The unbelievable view we had from the beach:

After a few hours in the sun, we returned to our hotel to clean up, rest, and get ready to go out for dinner. We went out a little early which ended up being a good decision because as we wandered around the streets of the old town, we became VERY overwhelmed trying to find a place to eat. Every restaurant is a tapas bar (except they call them pintxos, not tapas) so everyone orders from the bar and eats standing up. It is VERY chaotic! Not knowing any of the basque language (like Catalán in Barcelona, they speak a different language than Castilian Spanish), how to order, or where to eat, we wandered around aimlessly for around an hour. I'm sure the people in the streets thought we looked quite strange! In the end, we decided on Bar Zeruko.  It was worth the wait and all of the confusion because I had the BEST meal of my entire life. I wish I had brought my camera, because all of the food was culinary art - to see some examples, just click on the Bar Zeruko link above. We ordered the Tasting Menu - for 25 euro, including wine, our meal consisted of:

- Gel Canneloni stuffed with foie and mushrooms, topped with Pedro Ximenez wine sunflower seed bread and Idizabal cheese (#3 on the website)
- Crispy black pudding (sausage) rolled in crushed pistachio (#4 on the website)
- Bonfire of smoked cod "La Hoquera" (#2 on the website) - this was a three part dish, brought out on a hot iron grid, you grilled your own piece of fish for thirty seconds, followed by a cracker with aioli and a mini green shooter
- Rose of lobster - a tiny cup of lobster rested above a shot glass filled with foggy liquid nitrogen
- Squid hamburger with black wasabi sauce
- Pork wrist - the guy who brought our food described right away "most foreigners do not like this one..." we still ate it!
- Grilled steak with foie
- Lemon mousse dessert - This was designed to look like an egg, where you broke a small circular pouch of passion fruit syrup into the lemon mousse and then dipped a light sponge-like cake into the mousse. We called this one the nectar of the gods. I could have died happy right then!

To finish it all off, they gave us a tiny Szechuan flower called the "Sechuan button" that you ate to cleanse your palate... and they were not kidding! After we ate it our mouths became tingly and numb for about 5 minutes! Needless to say, we were seriously almost crying the food was so delicious. We asked the chef to sign a menu for us so now we have a little souvenir of our amazing meal! I'm not sure I will ever be able to top this one.

The next day we let ourselves sleep in for a little bit, said goodbye to our hostel, and then decided to explore the other side of San Sebastian, called Donostia. We made sure to sign the map in Olga's Place before we left:

We were planning to spend our day relaxing on another beautiful beach and later hiking up the side of Mont Igeldo, when we found ourselves in the middle of this:

Little did we know, we had stumbled upon the Bandera de La Concha, a rowing regatta held every year since 1879. Attracting crowds of around 100,000 people, it is the biggest sporting event in the Basque country. Very exciting! I didn't get any pictures of the race, but here are a few aerial photos I found online:

Pretty amazing! We managed to squeeze our way through the crowd just in time to catch the winning team pull their boat out of the water:

And a video:

A member of the winning team celebrating

As you can tell, there were people everywhere! After all of the excitement, we waited for the crowds to die down and then headed back to the beach for a quick siesta. Afterward, we decided to take the funicular up to Mount Igeldo.

The top of the mountain boasted a lighthouse with the "best view in the world." Although it was starting to cloud up, I could imagine how that could be true on a sunnier day:

After admiring the beautiful view, we hiked back down the mountain. We still had a couple of hours before our midnight bus ride home, and we were a little under-dressed for the cooler weather (we forgot not every place is as warm as Barcelona in September!) so we decided to stop at the Cine for a movie. We ended up watching a Spanish movie about Lope de Vega, one of Spain's most important playwrights during the Golden Age of theater (siglo XVI). Being completely in Spanish with no subtitles, it took some concentration to understand what was going on... but we would like to think we saw a good movie! Completely exhausted, we began our walk to the bus station. Our bus left at 11:45 and returned to Barcelona at 6:30, giving us just enough time to take a quick nap before class at noon. It was a good thing, I didn't get much sleep on the bus! What an amazing weekend.

I know this has been a long post, so if you've made it to the end I'm impressed! I'll leave you with a couple of notes I wrote down along the way:

"I am addicted to the foreignness here. I already can't imagine what it will be like to return to the States after this... This place is simply incredible. Maybe I'm still in the 'honeymoon phase,' but I already know my life is changing from being here..."