Merced.. a Pyro´s dream come true

My apologies to our faithful readers for the belated entry- im trying to do at least one post a week, but inevitably i will be a bit late on some occasions. My only hope is that the quality will somehow make up for the lack of quantity.

First, Ibiza. Wow. They call it the party capital of the world, and deservedly so. From the moment we stepped foot on the island, we were immersed in a place where the only relevant subject was which world-renowned DJs are playing at which famous clubs that night. Everything, from massive billboards to the island´s mcdonalds, was involved in party promotion. I admit I felt a little inadequate in terms of my DJ/electronic music knowledge, because when purchasing tickets to the clubs, we were asked which type of electronic music we enjoy the most (options including trance, house, funkyhouse, basshouse, big house, little house, your house, my house), our only response was "uh.. fiesta?".

We decided to base our club choice on name brand alone, so naturally our first stop was world-renowned Pacha. It was incredible, but in my opinion it was dwarfed by the following night´s selection- Privilege. Privilege also happens to be the biggest club in world- we were constantly reminded of this fact, too, when Will would yell it out intermittently during the festivities. Privilege appeared more like a small town than a club- i wouldnt be surprised if it has its own area code. It had everything from food vendors, outside and inside, to memorabilia shops (at least 5). I naturally assumed that Privilege consisted of many different dance rooms, but was quickly disproven when we walked into the club and were greeted with a space the size of a large airplane hangar- and 10,000 people dancing to the pounding bass from the DJ booth, which, by the way, was suspended above a pool. It truly needs to be seen to be believed- pictures and videos will be provided upon request.

After our return on Saturday, we were looking forward to several night´s rest. We were rudely awoken from our naps, however, when we heard what we thought were gunshots from the nearby pedestrian avenue. Upon our arrival we discovered they were not gunshots, but small fireworks, carried by people in devil costumes through the streets. Turns out it was the start of Barcelona´s biggest annual festival- La Merce, right outside our doorstep. We would not be granted peace and quiet anytime soon, but sleep is for the weak anyway I suppose.

The details on what exactly is being celebrated are still somewhat vague, but that didn´t stop us from participating like true locals in the festivities. The custom is for groups of people, outfitted in hoodies and bandanas despite the immense heat, to surround the "demons" carrying the fireworks and jump around, as that is the only way to avoid the spray from the sparklers. Dressed only in shorts, tshirts and sandals, we thought the devils would take it easy on us if we danced in the background. Not so. True to form, the demons preyed on the weak (in this case the underdressed), and they had no hesitations about exposing our vulnerablities and spraying us on the skin from point blank range. Bobby´s lasting neck burn is a constant reminder of our poor decision.

Thus we smartly chose to run back to our apartment, change into sparkle-resistant apparel, and head back out. We danced with the devils (and gargoyle and dragon floats as well, each outfitted with 3-5 sparklers apiece) until the parade was over. We then sprinted to the pier to catch the end of the fireworks, which rivaled anything ive seen on the 4th of july.



The next day was equally as entertaining- in the square 2 blocks from our apartment, teams of castellers (look on wikipedia if youre interested) build human castles, approximately 8 people high. They start with burly, juiced up men on the bottom, followed by girls towards the top. The only one to make it to the very top of the castle, however, is a small child, no more than 7 or 8 years old. I couldn´t help but feel slightly emasculated, watching these children, who probably have more cojones than I will ever have, risk life and limb climbing to the top of a human tower to entertain us all. And the towers did fall- we witnessed 2 enormous collapses- amazingly no one was hurt. In fact, a team´s response to failure was to get up and try it again- incredible persistence.

Perhaps the most relevant part of La Merce, though, is our time off from school- after a grueling week of classes (monday and tuesday), we were free for the weekend. Of course we had to take advantage of our time off, so on somewhat of a whim, we trained it all the way across the country to San Sebastian on the Atlantic coast, where we are now. It is famous for having the prettiest beach in the country, and this is perhaps the last taste of beach weather we will experience this fall. On that note, the beach is beckoning- more to come later.

Also I noticed a request from one of our readers, the mightyarmenian (by the way if you were trying to disguise your identity with that name you failed miserably) that we sign our names with our posts.

Hasta Luego,
Pitch

P.S. pictures to be posted upon our return to Barcelona

The More the Merrier

Since the last entry our little group has grown significantly, if only for a week or so. We had the pleasure of hosting several friends, some from Stanford and some not, and the apartment was always abuzz with activity. And like any polite houseguests, they trashed the place into oblivion.

No, if anything our Stanford ladies, Britt and Haley, only motivated us more to get out and see the sights, since they were not going to have several months to see Barcelona's attractions. And what better place to start their sightseeing then at a packed DJ Tiesto concert? Not to mention the very reasonable hours of his set- from 2 am to sunrise. It was a great time though, and the girls were troopers considering they were battling their heavy jetlag all night.

We saw the normal tourist attractions as well though, don't worry. Highlights included La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's enormous, unfortunately unfinished cathedral (check back in 10 years), as well as Park Guell, a Gaudi-designed park that offered awesome views of the whole city. As you can see, the Catalonians make quite a big deal of this Gaudi fellow. Me, I think he's a hack. But anyway, thanks to Britt's insistence, we also saw the great free light show offered at the fountains of Plaza Espanya most nights, which was really cool. No Disney music like Britt was hoping for, but the classical orchestra soundtrack did just fine.

And let us not forget without a doubt the highlight of the week, our first (of many, hopefully) FC Barcelona game last night. We saw Barca dominate against an inferior Portuguese team in a Champions League match, and of course, we were all decked out in the home squad colors of blue and dark red. We sang along with the crowd for the Barca anthem, but our crooning would noticeably turn to inaudible mumbling for the lyrics that we didn't know, which happened to be most of them. We also established an agreement that if any player scores a goal and someone from our group has on his jersey, we all pay for his beer. Will donned the jersey of the Spanish phenom midfielder Xavi, and wouldn't you know it, he had a beautiful sliding goal in the final minutes of the game. We made good on our pact, despite Will's incessant boasting. I'm not discouraged yet though, it's a long season. We hope to return to the stadium Camp Nou as soon as we can.

Other than that, not too much else to report. School is moving along, and all of us are benefiting from our daily Spanish classes. We were even recently moved to make a "Spanish hour" every day in which we babble incoherently to each other with our newly learned grammar and vocabulary, no doubt butchering the language beyond belief. Gabe cringes the entire time.

This weekend we go to Ibiza, sure to provide us with some excellent stories. Until then, Ciao.

Barca! Barca! Baaaaarrrrca!

First week of class is over- apparently Spaniards prefer to attend fiestas rather than school. A wise choice.

The city is unbelievable. Our apartment is within a block of the subway station, which makes getting anywhere convenient- class is only a 20 minute journey. Even so, it is very tempting to just play hooky every day and explore. We have hit the beach a few times (can't quite muster the courage to purchase a speedo yet), the clubs more than a few times, and even managed to take advantage of the free admission to the Picasso museum the first Sunday of every month. The museum is also 50 feet from our apartment- we're planning our painting heist as we speak. We're about 2 blocks from a huge medieval church, and a 5 minute walk from Las Ramblas, the main pedestrian avenue which is an adventure in itself.

Other than exploring, we have been taking a few (sometimes frustrating) shopping trips while we are trying to settle down- getting milk, sour cream and ranch dressing has proven difficult. Will and I scored a minor victory, though, when we found one of the only bagel stores in Barcelona- again, a 5 minute walk. That and some philly cream cheese has been a little slice of home.

Not to say we haven't been trying our hand at the local cuisine though- Bobby has so far served up a tasty batch of his unique brand of sangria, as well as a very Spanish potato and cheese pie. All of us contributed on our epic fajita night last night, which certainly rivaled that of world renowned chef Helge in Kappa Sig. We might not be cooking up feasts every night- but Pizza Hut delivery-by-scooter is only a phone call away.

The nightlife has most certainly been worthy of mention as well- we have found some awesome themed bars in all corners of the town- some too crowded for their own good, some very chill and relaxed spots. Highlights have included a forest-themed bar, a bar where Hemingway used to spend time, and a bar called Dow Jones where the prices of drinks rise and fall with purchases like stocks, and the market suffers an epic collapse every hour. I wanted to make a new drink and put it on the market with an IPO, but no luck. Annoying club promoters are also relentless in their pursuit of abroad American partygoers, but we are shifting away from that trend.

Trip planning has also been a time commitment. We are hoping to go to an FC Barcelona game in the near future, and with our new official '08 jerseys with the names of our favorite players, we are sure to be among the most stylish fans. We have even tried our hand at learning the club's official anthem, which apparently is the first song any decent Catalan couple teaches their kids. Gabe and I have not forgotten about football (and baseball) back at home though- we are in the process of searching for an American place where we can hopefully catch a few games throughout the season. Go Giants and Mets.

Ok, that's all for now.

Home Sweet Home... away from home

The past 5 days have been a complete whirlwind, to say the least.

Despite a nearly missed flight to Madrid, we made it there safely and met up with the ISA crew. Petty bureaucratic meetings aside (which Gabe is still seething about I believe), the program is a good one. Our fellow students are nice, and we will no doubt be getting to know them better over the coming months. It also was a pleasant surprise that the girls appear to outnumber the guys by about a 2 to 1 ratio. Lucky us.

Onto Madrid, though. Although we didn't get enough time as we might have liked to explore the city due to the ISA schedule, we did see some great sights. Possibly the highlight was the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos, where Francisco Franco is buried. Everything about the mountainside church is impressive, most notably the enormous monk statues- their bulging muscles, dark hooded cloaks and swords combine to form quite an imposing image. It was all we could do to resist from acting out some sort of epic Lord-of-the-Rings-esque sword fight in the church, but more on that later. Other Madrid sights included the King's palace and the museum that hosts Picasso's Guernica, also very impressive. The museum also had adequate bench space, always a plus.



Food here has been somewhat of an adventure. On night 1, we adopted the "leave it to chance" method with local tapas, and after attempting a cold anchovy sandwich (which the waiter found a curious order, now we know why), we found ourselves basking in the familiar glow of the golden arches. Forgive me, Mom and Dad. On night 2, we did considerably better, but the portions were just too small. Back to Mickey D's it was. Don't worry, from then on we stuck to our guns: cheese croquettes have quickly become a group favorite.

After Madrid we spent a couple of nights in Toledo, which was a blast. It's hard not to enjoy the scenery when you're surrounded by a medieval castle, even though our tour guide was less than inspired: he took his "bathroom break" to sit in the corner of a cafe and sip on some red wine. At 11:00 am. Will and I, however, were so taken in by the mood that we convinced ourselves to purchase real combat swords. Soon afterwards, we knighted each other and dueled to the death. No fair maidens yet, though. Another night worthy of mention was our somewhat sacrilegious time at a monastery bar- only in Toledo, I suppose.

After a rude awakening the next morning at 9 am, we headed to Barcelona, where we arrived shortly after 8 p.m. Cramped legs and all, we hauled our stuff to our home for the next few months But our spirits were quickly lifted; the apartment is great, and we have settled in very nicely. After the inaugural grocery run today, the place is feeling like home already. We also hope to meet up with Tunji shortly, who has had a couple of days to settle in before our arrival.

That's all for now, time to practice our espanol. Buenas noches.