10/21/10 Tibidabo and Fiestas!

I left for Clase de Literatura around 9:30, but when I got there, I found out that we had a substitute.  It turns out that our professor was still sick.  The substitute really didn’t know what to talk about, since we had finished our book Lazarillo de Tormes (a famous “picaresco” Golden Age novel).  She kind of wasted time by reading us the last chapter outloud and trying to connect the themes of the book with the ideas of Erasmus de Rotterdam.  After that class, I killed time by just talking with Diana and Emily.  Emily and I then went to the computer lab.  Guerra Civil was alright.  It is always a struggle to pay attention in that class, because our professor moves painfully slow.  As the last class of the week, it is even more difficult to pay attention.

            I rushed home to eat and actually made it home in good time… 25 minutes!  I scarfed down a plate of pasta, which is always delicious.  My second plate was French fries and fried pork.  As I ate lunch, Pepita and I watched another episode of this ridiculous show.  I’m not exactly sure what it is called, but it is a show where two people argue about something that happened to them and who’s fault it is or who is responsible.  The audience also has a chance to argue who they think is right and in the end a judge decides.  Today’s episode was focused on “balconing”.  I had never heard of this concept until I got here, but it is this new trend where teens and young kids jump from balconies at hotels and into the pool.  Apparently, it is quite popular in Spain and there have been many accidents involving the “sport”.  The two people arguing on the show were a mom who’s 17 year old son broke his leg and arm trying to jump and the hotel pool and the hotel owner.  It was absolutely ridiculous watching the two sides argue and yell at each other.  It is almost hilarious how stupid the show is (almost like a Jerry Springer type show), but I can only listen to Spaniards yell at each other for so long.

            After lunch, I packed up my things really quickly and met Miriam at the metro station.  From there, we met Daven and two of his friends who were visiting from Rome (one goes to Bowdoin) and took a train to a town that is on the mountain.  From that train, we hopped onto the funicular and at the top of the funicular we got on a bus.  The bus took us to the top of Tibidabo.  I was excited that I could get to the top of Tibidabo (the mountain that surrounds Barcelona) without having to pay any extra money.  At the top of the mountain is a giant church and an amusement park.  The amusement park is really small and not worth the money, although there was a ferris wheel that overlooked the entire city.  The view from the top of the mountain was fantastic.  I think that would be the only reason to go up there.  There is a religious legend about Tibidabo.  The people of Barcelona claim that Tibidabo is where the devil tempted Jesus with Barcelona.  I’m not really sure actually what happened, but that is why they built a church on top.  We only stayed up there until the next bus came, because it was kind of cold and windy.

From there we went to Daven’s neighborhood, Gracia, the nicest neighborhood in the city in terms of architecture and an outgoing community.  We hung out in a bar and just talked for a few hours.  Miriam got a tea and I got a café con leche (my first coffee in Spain).  After a few hours of chatting, we went to La Sagrada Familia to meet up with the rest of group and go out to eat for Miriam’s 21^st Birthday.  Larry had decided on a Japanese Buffet that he had been to before, so we all waited for him to show us how to get there.  Dinner was amazing and I ate way too much.  They had all sorts of fresh vegetables that you could pick and they would cook for you, along with different fishes, sushi, and already cooked dishes.  The dessert selection was had all different types of gelato and cake.  My favorite part was a whole table with different bowls of gummies.  I was pretty much in a sugar coma when I left.  A few other people went out after we finished our dinners, but I don’t think that I could have fit anything else in my stomach without exploding.  I headed back with Chris around 10:45.