pattyyeah:

Good morning ladies

Cerveza beer coke hasheesh?

I am the boss man

I just returned from a brief tour of Andalusia! It was amazing. Spain is awesome, and it’s really striking the difference between north and south. I shouldn’t be surprised given my background, but it was definitely refreshing to have a change of pace.

In Málaga we spent a lot of time napping on the beach and hanging out with cool people in our hostel. I learned a new paella recipe and i really want one of these big gas powered cooking rings, they’re awesome!

Córdoba was one of my favorite parts. We arrived on Sunday in the midst of Holy Week festivities… I saw probably about 6-7 processions in the span of a few days. The processions block the street and everybody brings their families out to see it… it’s a BIG deal. Catholics know how to do dramatic. It was also nice to be away from crowds of tourists for a bit. At the Holy Week processions, we were surrounded by Spaniards who were genuinely participating in a tradition for their own benefit… miles from the put-on shows and gimmicks made for tourists that i find myself constantly surrounded by.

Granada was a very brief stop. I did not successfully get in to see the Alhambra (which is one of the more famous palaces in Spain) but i DID get up at 5:20 a.m. to wait in line in the cold and damp, with the result that I spent most of the rest of the day developing an illness. Oh joy.

But it’s clearing up now. I got all my gifts for people back home and have almost finished packing up. My flight leaves for Heathrow Sunday morning, then to ATL. I am sad to be leaving Europe but also ready to return to something normal… I miss dumb weird boring things like chicken nuggets and the YMCA. Which i definitely need to use ASAP: think i’ve developed a baguette bump over here. Oops!

The time has passed so quickly… they all said it would fly by, but in the middle of it all it seemed SO LONG. Now I am of course wishing I could have gone more places, seen more, learned more… but in those moments i remind myself how TOTALLY overstimulated I have been all semester, and exhausted trying to absorb all the newness! It’s been a fantastic experience. There is only so much one person with so many euros at her disposal can do, even in 4 months. Now I will be able to develop more intelligent goals for my next Europe trip. ;)

Hasta la vista!

Ran into a noisy protest against the privatization of healthcare today.

Leave early (this) morning for Malága till Sunday, followed by Cordoba and Granada. Returning to Barcelona April 21. Flying out to U.S.A. on the 24th.

Excited for this last round of travels, but can’t wait to be home.

Every night I listen for the sound of crickets chirping across the sea in South Carolina.

India wins the ICC World Cup and the Raval neighborhood ERUPTS! 

(Not to mention my Facebook newsfeed.)

I should really follow sports. Every time something important happens in the realm of Soccer or Cricket it sounds like the Apocalypse is starting in the streets.

Homesick Round #2. It’s April now which means only about 3 weeks left in Europe. It’s been an amazing experience and my brain is TOTALLY OVERLOADED with new things… in a good way.

But I am very tired of people. In general. And I miss trees and grass and clean air… the poor Spaniards are deprived of nature. Their idea of a park is compacted dirt and scrawny trees choked up with pavers. Easy to maintain, I guess.

I saw some of the countryside from a train today, gorgeous farms with oversaturated green fields. Amazing little assemblies of shacks and towns all tumbling off hills. But even there they don’t have trees like dear ol’ Appalachia. The wild places are scrub brush and rocks. In the distance the Pyrenees are still snowcapped. Man, those mountains are amazing. The way they skew your perspective. Like the world is curling up at the edges.

 Doing a lot of work now for project finals, which is a nice change of pace. At first starting a lot of work after so few academic demands was unfamiliar and stressful. But I’m getting back into the rhythm of things and enjoying seeing my work resolve.

Independent travels in 2 weeks! Going to South Spain: Granada, Cordoba, Malaga.

I miss home. I know as soon as I go back I’ll miss Barcelona. The compacted dirt is always greener on the other side, I suppose.

I found a beer i like, it’s called Berliner Weiss and it was invented by the French because they thought Germany’s beer was Le Gross. It tastes like fruit syrup with a hint of beer. Just my style… Last night Kenner found us on Museum Island and we went to the East Gallery and sat in a restaurant talking all evening.

We got to meet a local artist this morning and she showed off her work and it was really inspirational.

We went to a restaurant for dinner where there was free dance lessons and I saw people SWING DANCING (!!So random!!) and learned a little salsa and danced with a really cute (!!AND TALL!!) German boy named Max.

It’s been a good day. :)

My brain hurts. Germany is really neat and I’m so glad we got to come and I’m having a really good time here… but that good time includes a lot of very rushed meals and early mornings in congruence with Prof. Katrin’s “We don’t have much time, let’s not waste any” mantra. Truth be told most of the time is wasted by the inertia of hauling 21 people through downtown and onto metro’s and trains and tours. I’ve clocked a lot of nap hours on public transportation. The startled feeling of waking up and jumping off a metro car is distinctly unpleasant, but something i’ve had to get used to here in Europe.

Today we toured the Bauhaus which is pretty special for an architecture student, although from outside appearances it looks like a big boring white boxy building in the middle of the weirdly empty suburb of Dessau. It’s the place where Walter Gropius started his movement for the gesamtkunstwerk, the “total work of art” inclusive of painting, sculpture, architecture, dance, music, etc. It was a big deal in the early 1900’s and changed a lot about art and architecture. The Bauhaus building, which housed studios and a technical school, was radical for its time and exhibited Gropius’ vision. There. Free history lesson, y’all, don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya.

To finish off a long week of traveling, we visited the Holocaust Memorial in downtown Berlin. I guess I won’t say much about that because there’s too much to say. Not something anyone wants to think about, but we must.

I tried German beer and… it’s still gross beer-tasting beer. Sorry, I am just not cultured enough to tell the difference between a good and bad beer. Perhaps I could measure it by the amount of ounces I am able to consume before giving the rest to someone else. So I am not planning on going to a beer garden (biergarten?) while i’m here. Just not my thing.

My favorite things so far have been the memorial chapel at Bernauer Straße, the Berlin Wall monuments, Libeskind’s Jewish Museum, and the Düttmann Hansa Library in Berlin; The Einsteinturm (Einstein Tower) and Telegraph Hill in Potsdam; the Speicherstadt (warehouse) district in Hamburg; and the Bauhaus tour in Dessau.

———

Two more days and we’ll be back in Barcelona, hitting crunch-time for final deadlines. Simultaneously I’m applying for internship positions for the summer. This whole organization-and-self-promotion phase is not my favorite thing. But I am hopeful of finding some good work experience for the near future. I think I have finally figured out what kind of architecture I want to work on and what kinds I usually hate. All this traveling has been good for that; I’m just seeing and learning tons of things until my head is about to explode. I need some time to fix my projects from the last 3 semesters… they all ended in pretty rough shape.

Spending every moment with the same 21 people is also changing my perspective on how much social interaction I actually want in my life. I have been in a pretty people-needy phase the last couple of years. Right now, I’m fantasizing about living by myself. On a farm. In the middle of nowhere. You’re not invited.

Haha. But seriously, it’s easy to cop out and just say, people are annoying, I’m not going to deal with them. That’s cowardly and not particularly realistic. I do, however, look forward to transitioning back to a lifestyle that includes a lot more working and resting alone.

So I am basically way behind on blogging. I have pretty much Sparknoted Paris and I regret very much not having more time to write about Toledo and Madrid (since February). Then Carnival happened and we all went to Sitges (read: enormous party that destroys an entire town once a year) and it was amazing but I haven’t even mentioned it. In my defense I will say that Tumbr has a tendency to drop photos and captions out of my posts. Fail, Tumblr. But obviously I just have not been that on-top-of-it.

My roommate from Clemson who is studying in Italy (through the same architecture program I’m in) Lauren Kenner came to Barcelona this weekend and we had a fabulous time. She was really worn out from lots of traveling so a big item on the agenda was sleeping late (my kind of girl!). We went to Sagrada Familia again and went inside this time — it’s fantastic — and Parc Guell. But mostly we just took her around our favorite haunts and relaxed. Woki on the beach, La Rambla, Queen Vic, Parc Ciutadella, JK Store, shopping, Tot Bontissiere, Casa Sergi. We played cards, she taught us a new game called Rook which is really fun! And she and I went out dancing one night at Razzmatazz. The perfect weekend. I <3 my roomie. (Ellis I <3 you too!)

That’s the latest 411.

I’ll have to skip over the rest. No time. Tomorrow we leave for Berlin for our second class travels.. I am SO EXCITED. Germany is a place I wouldn’t go without knowledgeable guidance. When you’re a rich retiree you go to Italy or France or something. I just… don’t ever… think about Germany. But now I will be able to build on my existing context for Germany: Nazis and Sauerkraut.

Hmm. Not a lot to go on.

3, 2, 1, ready or not, here I come!

Nathan: Met in line to board my flight to Paris in the Barcelona airport. I asked the couple standing behind us in (broken) Spanish if we were boarding by rows and if I was in the correct group. When he heard me speaking English we started talking about Barcelona and Paris… he’s from Chicago, going to school in Colorado, and studying abroad in Paris, heading back from a week’s vacation to Barcelona. Friendly and unassuming, lanky, a narrow face, awkward-college-guy posture, messy hair and a piercing somewhere, maybe a gauged ear, I don’t remember. When we disembarked in Paris ORLY he waited for me to help me find the bus. I spotted the sign for the bus right out of the terminal… but I let him be manly and take me the wrong direction for a bit. On the bus we talked about sights to see in Paris, learning new languages and our study abroad experiences. Nathan loves Paris. He stuck around to see Caroline and I through the first metro transition. “I have no plans, I can hang around a bit longer…” He laughed at Caroline and I bumbling around and giggling in exhaustion and sisterly affection… but he had to hop a turnstyle, too, so he had no room for gloating. Suddenly we parted. I never asked Nathan for help.  I think he just needed someone to be with for a while.

On the plane: I sat between one man who mumbled to himself, fidgeted nervously and stared out the window the whole ride. The gentleman on the aisle was perfectly still, reading a book written in Spanish… I had the impression they knew each other but they didn’t speak during the flight so I’m not sure. When we landed, the man on the aisle let out a huge sigh of relief and crossed himself. I laughed and said something to the effect of, “we made it,” in Spanish. We shared a brief exchange. He would rather stay on the ground.

Adam: Adam was also staying at the Three Ducks hostel, where Caroline and I landed my first night to relax a while before bed. We were on the patio and he was, I think, pretty stoned. Originally from the States (Texas?). What brings you to Paris, Adam? “I just got pissed at life. So I said, fuck that. And i’ve been traveling around Europe…” Do you think this journey has helped you gain some insight? “Not really. Well, I guess I’m about ready to go home, get a job… stay in one place for a while.” He asked if Caroline and I wanted any of the baguette and brie he was eating. We politely declined. He then began tearing off hunks, putting cheese on them and handing them to us while we talked. He alternated French and English between Caroline and I… It was good cheese. I enjoyed sitting in the corner of a bench watching foreigners smoke and converse in French after Caroline left. I don’t speak French, and I don’t smoke, and I was exhausted from the day’s explorations. It was peaceful to be isolated there.

Carlos: It seemed that Carlos slept through the entire flight back to Barcelona: head back, mouth open. When we landed and he awoke and looked around, smiled, I asked him in Spanish if he had slept well. He’s originally from Barcelona, and told me with great animation and suspense the story of traveling with his friend in France and Italy, nearly missing trains, dashing after buses. “We woke up and he says, ‘Aw, we missed it, too bad, you know, maybe some other time,’ but I said, ‘No. Never surrender!’ We looked at each other… here we go again!” Carlos was a marvelous talker. Upon learning that I was studying architecture, he launched into Gaudí, the city, the wonders of it all. Carlos loves Barcelona. He accompanied me to the baggage claim. “I never worry about flying. I think, if we crash, and I die, so be it. If I somehow caused the plane to crash, that might be a cause for stress. But I have no control over it. My father says, Death is the last great adventure.” Did he know, as he slept over the snowy Pyrenees, that I had speculated about how long it would take to hike from the wreckage to civilization? Or perhaps he saw my distress on the plane and misattributed it to the altitude. I am not afraid of flying, but I ache from a succession of arrivals and departures; Carlos, sunny, comical and empathetic, comforted me. He disappeared with a smile and a wave.

I met so many interesting people in the span of one weekend. I can’t possibly begin to explain how fantastic the whole trip to Paris was, the amazing places I saw, and the way the experience stands ensconced in some sort of mystical significance in my mind. I keep coming back to these encounters, the stories all piled up on planes, crammed into busses and crummy hostels. Such characters, all of them. They are part of something I am living in right now, through the looking glass.

For one of my classes we had to show some examples of the basic principles of photographic composition.

I’ve been in design school for four years. This stuff is OLD NEWS. Nevertheless, the resulting blog post has some of my best photographs from study abroad so far. Check it out.

Photography experiment inside the Academie Nationale de Musique opera house in Paris.

On the High-Speed Train! 300 km/hr that’s 217 mph through Spanish countryside.

BONUS FEATURE: Sagacious, penetrating interviews into the secret lives of eight travel companions.  Enjoy being recorded for all posterity, World.