The whole reason why I was in Barcelona solo-dolo is because my good friend Jon was gonna come visit but was forced to cancel last minute. Not only did that leave me with little time to make new plans, but I already had a round trip ticket to Barça for a week so I said ok I'll go and see what happens. I decided I couldn't spend the whole week there so I said F-it and cashed out on a trip to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, somewhere I had always wanted to visit and had friends on vacation. It was last minute so the only affordable ticket was on the Tuesday and it turned out everyone there was leaving Thursday at the crack of dawn, so I essentially had a day and a half with them and another day and a half solo, as I left on Friday. I still had a lot of fun though.
The place blew me away with its beauty and definitely exceeded expectations. We had a huge house in the south of the island with a pool and a great view. Everyone was super nice (especially considering I was the outsider who randomly showed up at the end of their trip) and I really appreciated them taking me in! A bomb fajita dinner, fun night at the bars, and a full day at the beach where I got my first sun of 2010 (and a nice lil' top coat burn). Then, early Thurs. I headed to Santa Cruz, the capital, to do more exploring.
The city (and everywhere on the Island) felt more like the Caribbean than Spain. The people were so nice and the city is quite clean and has a ton of foliage, trees, plazas, and parks to keep it green, not to mention the verdant mountains that form the gorgeous backdrop of nearly any view. On the bus ride the landscape is just peak after peak of velvety green mountains and it blows my mind trying to imagine how they must have first started to build on the island. It appears to be well taken care of and not necessarily overly populated or built-up. It was great getting to know somewhere new and take some pictures!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Things I'm missing right now
1. bowling
2. burritos
3. Giants baseball
4. basketball playoffs
5. 527 Glenrock Ave.
6. Zachary's Pizza
7. driving
8. my other clothes
9. Jack's spicy chicken sandwich
10. my knees from when I was 18
11. 106 KMEL
12. showers over 3 minutes long
to be continued...
2. burritos
3. Giants baseball
4. basketball playoffs
5. 527 Glenrock Ave.
6. Zachary's Pizza
7. driving
8. my other clothes
9. Jack's spicy chicken sandwich
10. my knees from when I was 18
11. 106 KMEL
12. showers over 3 minutes long
to be continued...
Monday, April 12, 2010
Barcelona round 4
I also have holy week off and did some traveling. I was in Barcelona for 5 days, which was a lot especially on my own. I have a friend I met up with one night, and some friends from Malaga were also in the city for part of the time, but for all accounts this was the first time I had really traveled by myself. Now, I absolutely love Barcelona. It’s my favorite city in Spain, and possibly the only one where I could really imagine myself living. However, I know it pretty well by now and I’d been to most of the big sites already, essentially eliminating a lot of the activities for a solo traveler in a foreign city. What I ended up doing the majority of the time was hang out on “La Rambla” street and many of the parks to people watch. Back at UCLA I would do this almost every day at Bruin Plaza for an hour or two while I ate, and I thoroughly enjoyed it in Barcelona, a city full of variety and unique (friki) tastes.
It’s almost not fair to call it Spain because it’s so much different than every other Spanish city I have been to. There’s something about it; something about observing daily life and wandering the various neighborhoods. It’s so cosmopolitan and seemingly modern & progressive while steeped in rich history and a well-preserved culture. Navigating the twists & turns of the medieval Barrio Gotico, I wouldn’t be surprised to run into a group of pre-teen skaters wearing the latest in American gear. Or strolling along the Barceloneta beach, one of the newest and seemingly prime touristy spots, which is actually a very typical lower-middle class Barcelona neighborhood where the men gather in the park to play chess and the multi-colored apartments are lined with laundry hanging out to dry.
The city is huge, yet somehow retains its own unique identity. This sense of identity is not felt in Madrid, and the one found in Sevilla is similar to other Spanish cities. What Barcelona has is a personality all its own, and something about it makes me feel at home. Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a chance to call it that one day.
It’s almost not fair to call it Spain because it’s so much different than every other Spanish city I have been to. There’s something about it; something about observing daily life and wandering the various neighborhoods. It’s so cosmopolitan and seemingly modern & progressive while steeped in rich history and a well-preserved culture. Navigating the twists & turns of the medieval Barrio Gotico, I wouldn’t be surprised to run into a group of pre-teen skaters wearing the latest in American gear. Or strolling along the Barceloneta beach, one of the newest and seemingly prime touristy spots, which is actually a very typical lower-middle class Barcelona neighborhood where the men gather in the park to play chess and the multi-colored apartments are lined with laundry hanging out to dry.
The city is huge, yet somehow retains its own unique identity. This sense of identity is not felt in Madrid, and the one found in Sevilla is similar to other Spanish cities. What Barcelona has is a personality all its own, and something about it makes me feel at home. Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a chance to call it that one day.
Just as I was saying about February being a difficult month for me psychologically, it wasn’t easy on the other members of the teaching staff. On February 14 we found out that a teacher from the year before who I knew well passed away suddenly in his sleep. It was eight years to the day that Mr. Calegari, a teacher at my high school when I was a sophomore passed away in an eerily similar way. There were no warning signs, he just didn’t wake up. Both were married with families. Needless to say it sent a bit of a shock through the teaching staff.
No more than 10 days later, right as our “Semana Blanca” break began, I received news that an old student of my high school’s, Salva, who graduated the year before I arrived, was murdered in a park by school. Piecing the story together from various sources (mainly students), a boy who he owed money to confronted him in a park to intimidate him about it, Salva retaliated, and the boy stabbed him. “17 year old stabbed to death in park over debt” may sound like a typical headline in California, but in Spain it’s rare. This made national news and shook the community a bit. Salva’s little brother is a student of mine, and the murderer had two little brothers at my school, though the family basically fled from town right afterwards. Growing up in the Bay Area this is page 5 news that has little affect on those outside the family and friends. We’ve become numb to the violence and a boy like Salva becomes merely a statistic. But after almost 2 years here, I realize I’ve gotten used to the general security I feel in Spain. It’s not the safest country around, but most of the crime is small-scale, petty things and I’ve been able to walk alone at night whenever and wherever I want without second thoughts. I almost forgot that things like this happen, that young people get their lives taken daily at home over trivial violence that can so easily be prevented. It’s so sad to me, and I feel guilty for not feeling worse about these kinds of crimes at home. Something about it was so much more disheartening for it to have happened here. No one should have their child taken from them, especially at such a young age. To imagine even my short life from 17-24 makes me grateful simply for having the opportunity to live.
No more than 10 days later, right as our “Semana Blanca” break began, I received news that an old student of my high school’s, Salva, who graduated the year before I arrived, was murdered in a park by school. Piecing the story together from various sources (mainly students), a boy who he owed money to confronted him in a park to intimidate him about it, Salva retaliated, and the boy stabbed him. “17 year old stabbed to death in park over debt” may sound like a typical headline in California, but in Spain it’s rare. This made national news and shook the community a bit. Salva’s little brother is a student of mine, and the murderer had two little brothers at my school, though the family basically fled from town right afterwards. Growing up in the Bay Area this is page 5 news that has little affect on those outside the family and friends. We’ve become numb to the violence and a boy like Salva becomes merely a statistic. But after almost 2 years here, I realize I’ve gotten used to the general security I feel in Spain. It’s not the safest country around, but most of the crime is small-scale, petty things and I’ve been able to walk alone at night whenever and wherever I want without second thoughts. I almost forgot that things like this happen, that young people get their lives taken daily at home over trivial violence that can so easily be prevented. It’s so sad to me, and I feel guilty for not feeling worse about these kinds of crimes at home. Something about it was so much more disheartening for it to have happened here. No one should have their child taken from them, especially at such a young age. To imagine even my short life from 17-24 makes me grateful simply for having the opportunity to live.
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