L'Alt Pirineu

Field notes from day four:

From where we sit, I can easily see both walls of the valley. The left side looks like the high desert in California, just a little more green and moist. It is dotted with low brush but no trees. I was told that animals graze the area, and it is thus very difficult for trees to grow. On the right (East) side, the landscape is breathtaking. The uppermost level is covered in green oaks with the deepest evergreen color. Below the oaks the trees are more diverse and multicolored. I love the combination of crimson, vibrant green and golden yellow. The valley floor is a carpet of green grass. A small town is engulfed in the green sea.

Between Spain and France there is a granite and limestone border called the Pyrennes.  With terrestrial and biological diversity that rivals some of California's greatest ranges, the Pyrennes are an excellent place to study mountain geography.

I was fortunate enough to take part in a 5-day long excursion in the Pyrennes with my geography class.  The goal of the trip was to better understand the geographic, biological and societal factors that tend to define mountain communities.

I left the Pyrennes with a better understanding of mountain geography, more appreciation for Catalan culture and some new friends.  All in all it was a fantastic trip! Check out some photos below.

Three professors taught our class, and here you can see them holding up a map in a brisk wind. The profs specialize in Urban Geography, Botany, and Geology, and our lessons were as diverse.

Day 2: On the way up to our first hike, the three vans got stuck in the snow. Just before the sun had risen, we had about an hour to enjoy the scenery from the side of this snowy road.

All hands on deck as the team pushed out furgoneta # 1.

An hour later the hike began. The sun came out and it started getting warm.

A view of the valley we hiked through. Hard not to notice the snow – apparently it really came down in the days preceding our trip.

Cascada! Waterfall! We admired the waterfall for a bit and then hiked up right next to the cliff's edge where we held class. Here we learned about the chemically erosive properties of Limestone, one of the most present rocks in the Pyrennes. At this site, the water has a slightly low pH and had thus carved impressive valleys and underground rivers through the rock.

The waterfall's source.

Day 3: My favorite site. This valley is located in Vall d’Aran. Definitely one of the most scenic spots of the trip, but made so much better by the warm wind that was blowing early that morning.

Just having class on a mountain, NBD.

Epic prof shot.

Epic mountain shot.

A quick word about bars. On this trip, I realized how integral a part of the Spanish eating culture bars are. Less like a bar in the States, in Spain a bar is a place where people of all ages can go for a drink, a reliable cup of coffee, a bocadillo, or a tapa. They are pretty much Spain’s equivalent to a diner, and whether it was for a drink, a coffee, or a sandwich, it seemed like the group stopped at a bar at least once per day.

Curvy roads, man. A little too curvy for some stomachs…

Standing on a mountain and holding class while the Catalonian flag whips in the wind above our heads. Fairly epic shot, in my opinion.

The crew at one of many delicious dinners!

Day 4: At a National Park. The Profesors were sure to point out that the idea of National Parks came from the United States, even if Franco created this one.

Los Encantados – twin peaks with plenty of mythology. Pretty much the Half Dome of the Pyrennes.

Another bar...

Inside a hydroelectric dam. So dam cool, man.

Last photo before the drive back to Barcelona. What a trip!

Travel Bender

Good morning from Brussels!

I just wanted to post this up saying that I we be taking a break from blog-posting until after Halloween.  I - very fortunately - have been experiencing a huge month of traveling.  Last weekend I visited Mor in Paris. This weekend UCSB kids are reuniting in Brussels (the beer is as good as they say, no word yet on the waffles...)  And this coming Tuesday, I leave uber-early with my Geography class for a 5-day excursion to the Pyrennes mountains in northern Catalonia (near France).\

So, yeah, don't expect a post out of me for a little more than a week...and then expect many posts about the adventures...and more about Barcelona!!

Okay, time to wake up with a waffle, then a beer.

Ryan

A Day in the Life at la Autònoma

When pondering the idea of studying abroad, most students tend to forget about the studying part.  And I wouldn't blame them: it's hard to care about class when you have new experiences beckoning you at every corner.

I too may have thought this way at one point, but overcoming those feelings was just a matter of going to class the first week.  Now, as my 3rd week of class comes to a close, it's hard to digest everything I've learned so far.

The first couple weeks were hectic.  Finding classes and getting acquainted is no small task when you're linguistically handicapped.  My school, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), is a Catalan University, so everything - really, everything - is oriented to a language I barely understand and don't speak (yet?).

Language barrier aside, everything at UAB was dandy this week, and I'm darn happy to report that.  Between the 40,000 + students, a few new local friends, and a bilingual class schedule - I have classes in Catalan (!!!) and in Spanish - I'm waking up every morning wanting to get on the train to class. Check out what my day looks like!

The day starts. Jolted from my morning espresso, I walk down Carrer de Monseny and head to the closest station of the Ferrocarrils - the commuter train that takes you into the afueras (the suburbs).

It takes about 5 minutes to walk from my door to the station. But first, I duck into Mercat de la Llibertat for a breakfast snack.

Oh yeah! Gracia is both my stop and my neighborhood. Love!

Felt like a nerd taking it, but here's the obligatory train shot. Nice color combo, eh?

The train ride lasts about 30 minutes, covering 20 km through the green foothills above BCN. I arrive and walk out into Plaça Civica, the main quad at Autònoma.

The typical Spanish university does not have a campus. Autònoma, however, does, so my walk continues towards my Facultad.

The Facultad - or Facultat in Catalan - is a foreign concept to most American college students. It's kind of like a hybrid between a college or school and a department. Most of my classes are taught within the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras (Spanish).

Inside the Facultad. This building is an enormous maze: there are many classrooms and hallways and we have our own cafeteria.

Art

Inside my first class of the day.  A brisk wind came in through the window, and then I noticed this nice view.

Well, this is a classroom. I don't think the professors were down to have their pictures taken, otherwise there would be more pictures like this ;)

Time for lunch! I opt for the handsomely-priced cortado y bocadillo combo. A Cortado is a shot of espresso with some milk and the bocadillo is clearly a sandwich - this one is ham, and the bread is spread with tomato and olive oil. ¡Qué rico!

¡Qué suerte tener amigos con quien puedo almorzar! Jeremy eligió una cerveza y Maya bebió un cortado como mí.

Me and my cortado.

Humanities library.  I checked out a Cartography book from here!

And then I went home. This is the walk back down, past my Facultad, towards the Ferrocarils.

All things point to Barcelona.

¡Hasta mañana Autònoma!

Oktoberfest: Beer, Pretzels and RyanAir

Dear Readers,

It's been too long, but I'm back to blogging now after a beer-soaked weekend in Munich for Oktoberfest. 

After a pre-departure dinner last Wednesday night, we - Natasha, Kim, Justin, Nathalie, and myself - left Barcelona Thursday morning. 

The first thing to point out about this weekend is that we flew RyanAir, by which I mean we took an hour-and-a-half long bus ride to Reus, a 1-hour delayed (thanks French air-traffic controllers!) flight to Memmingen, another hour-and-a-half long bus ride to Munich, and a metro to a bus to our campsite. Whoa! It was quite the trip but we didn't miss a beat and made it Munich in good spirits – though I think we all now know why RyanAir is so cheap.

The travel behind, we arrived to our campsite Thursday night, changed our clothes and headed back into Munich to the famed beer hall, Hofbrau Haus.  There we ordered our first of many steins – the 1-liter beers that make Oktoberfest/Munich famous - and ate delicious roasted pork and potato dumplings.  It was a great opener to the weekend, especially when Kim decided to balance a beer-filled stein on her head.  Her feat got the attention of our section of the beer hall, which created an uproar of clapping, yelling, and cheers-ing – it was a true Oktoberfest moment, and the first of many to come.

Tired, we headed back to the campsite and fell asleep for our first – and last – night of dry and mild Munich weather.

We awoke Friday morning to cool weather and blue skies, ate a quick breakfast, and headed off to the fair grounds.  Going into the weekend I didn’t realize that Oktoberfest is actually a festival, but those thoughts quickly left my mind as we walked thru the fairground gates and entered the festival in a hoard of tourists and Bavarians alike.

At the fest, the tents are the main attraction.  Less like tents, the structures are actually giant beer halls, each one decked out with Bavarian decorations, bandstands, and hundreds (thousands?) of people.  Getting into a tent is a feat in itself, but getting spots at a table is even harder.

Over the course of the day we went to three tents and ordered our share of steins and pretzels.  Clearly, the main event was the beer, but the best memories were of raucous toasts (“Prost!”) and sing-alongs to drinking songs and big-band adaptations of songs like “Seven Nation Army” and “Sweet Caroline.”

The vibe was so positive at the festival that you could practically sit down at anyone’s table to hang out.  I personally loved the fact that you could cheers anyone while walking around the halls.  And with such an international crowd, it added to the fun of making friends.

Needless to say, a wave of drunkenness engulfed the entire crew by early afternoon, and by that evening we were back at the campsite to relax and reminisce about the day’s adventure.

The next day was more of the same: more steins, more saying “Prost,” more sing-alongs, and even more pretzels.  At one hall, we sat down at a table with a group of Japanese folks who turned out to be the most memorable drinking-buddies of the day.  The cultural exchanges made for even more fun as the day (read: drinking) continued.

And then the rain came.  It wasn’t much of a bother at the festival, but when we got back to the campground, the proverbial shit had hit the fan.  Once neat and orderly rows of tents were now covered in mud and water.  Our last night in Munich was cold and wet, but surely just a footnote to the epic weekend.

By Sunday, we were dirty and tired, and happy to catch the bus to our RyanAir flight.

In all, for our group, Oktoberfest consisted of at least a hundred random, classic, and priceless moments – I even saw a guy fumble his digital camera into a full stein of beer, ouch. 

So there you have it.  Oktoberfest.  Will I ever go back? Maybe, but I’m glad I had the luck of sharing the weekend with so many awesome people.

Prost!

The grand entrance to the Oktoberfest fairgrounds

Inside zee festival

Hofbrau tent at the festival, rowdy place it is

Prost!

Sitges ("See->Chess")

Today, I moved into my apartment, and I'm pumped to be out of the dorms and in Gracia! Ready to stop speaking English too.  I finally feel like I'm living in Barcelona.

Thanks to my neighbor, who's letting us bum his WIFI, I can continue to update the blog...beginning with an epic journey to Sitges - a popular beach destination about 45 mins south of Barcelona by train.

There were two groups of us heading to Sitges that day, and I was happy to be with the first group - our toes were in the sand before 1 pm.  The beach (and bordering neighborhood) in Sitges reminded me a lot of Venice.  Narrow streets led us to the packed midday beaches which were divided every 500 meters by concrete and rock jetties. 

We found a plot and parked our stuff, took in a little sun, and then went for a swim in the salty Mediterranean.  The water was really nice but we were hungry.  The search for lunch began.

After a quick stroll away from the touristy beach-side we found ourselves at a decent looking spot with a seafood menu del día to soothe our hunger.  We sat, drank and ate, all the meanwhile chatting up our waiter who asked the seemingly obligatory question, "So..you all Americans?"  Yes.

He must have liked us because moments after clearing our table he returned with a plate of six ice-chilled shot glasses and three frozen-looking mystery bottles.  Madness ensued.

After tasting the bottle he called, "sin nombre" - "without a name," some potent homemade stuff from Galicia - I went went with the sweeter melecoton (melon).  By 4 we had left the restaurant and were back at the beach.

We then rented a paddle boat outfitted with a slide for more shenanigans in the ocean.  So fun.  After a couple of hours in the water and on the beach, we decided to head back.  As if that were all Sitges had to throw at us...

On the walk back to the train station we crossed paths with a parade of giant fake animals and bagpipers.  After watching the giant squirrel dance around a crowd of dead-pan serious Spanish folk, there was no turning back a laugh attack: one of the funniest things I've seen since landing.

All in all, it was a great day.  Just great enough to yield a much-needed nap on the train ride home.

The summery beach vibe is all over Sitges.  I had some fun with photoshop on this one.

 

 

Our waiter stands proudly with the post-lunch drinks.  Left to right: sin nombre, melocoton, and crema catalan.

The most ridiculous parade I've seen in Spain. The combo of a giant dancing squirrel and bagpipe music was priceless.

El menú del día, the nap-maker

Felipe told me that the Spanish use meals to control their sleeping patterns.  A light breakfast with coffee is supposed to make for a productive morning at work.  But by the time 2pm rolls around and your stomach is grumbling, ya es hora para almorzar (it's time to eat lunch).  For this, the Spanish created the menú del día, a popular pre-siesta lunch for businessmen and students alike that could never leave you hungry.

Lunch is definitely the most important - and heftiest - meal of the day here in Spain.  The menú is a fixed-price deal that many restaurants offer.  For about 8-12 € you get two courses, a drink - bottled water, soda, beer, or wine - and coffee or postre (dessert).  It's definitely a deal for a hearty lunch of well-prepared Spanish standards, like paella, gazpatxo, pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato) and jamón ibérico (super-delicious Iberian ham).

Today we rode the bus back to our dorm with Mar, our highly-Catalonian Spanish conversation teacher.  I asked her - in Spanish, of course - if she could suggest a good restaurant near our dorm for a menú.  She told me about Cinc Torres, and 15 minutes later I found myself there.

The meal was heavy and carb-centric but still very tasty, nevertheless a perfect nap-inducing afternoon lunch!  Can't wait to try different menus around town as each restaurant does the menú their own way :)

GREASE: This place served up the whole menu on one large plate.  I had the choice of different pastas - I went with baked ragu - and then today's menú came with calamari rings and potatoes.  Definitely delicious but didn't knock my socks off, until of course I passed out for a 2 hour siesta, lol.

BOMB FLAN: This was super good and the caramelized sugar had a potent burnt flavor. Yum!

Tapa Tuesdays

Though tapas have their roots in Andalusia and the Basque Country, they have clearly become a cultural symbol of Spain's late-night eating and drinking culture.  Considered the original 'small bites' food, tapas are intended to promote conversation, and are perfectly accompanied by a glass of sangria. Check out these pics from a successful tapas mission at Cerveseria Catalana!

FLAUTA: A little sandwich with eggplant, pepper and anchoivies.

GAMBAS: Skewered shrimp, a la plancha.

YUM: Grilled baby squid with lemon.

STACKED: Eggplant, Pepper and goat cheese...so dank.

CALIMOCHA KALIMOTXO: An epic thirst quencher, it's made with red wine and cola...so good. 

TAPAS: Not a native Barcelona food, they actually hail from Andalusia and Basque Country (pinxtos).  Either way, Cerveseria Catalana does them justice.

BAR: Most of the cold or room temp tapas are served right at the bar.

SANGRIA: We ordered Cava Sangria which is made with cava, orange and lemon juice and other unknown alcohol. So bomb.

Molt be i bon nit!