December 16, 2009
-
I haven’t written on the internet. Because all 5 of my readers were here in Spain with me. But now they are gone and I will be leaving soon too.
November 24, 2009
-
Little Eiffel stands in the archway
A place is more than the sum of its parts.. the lovely parts + the ugly, busy parts= not falling for Paris.
Maybe it’s because Sevilla already has my heart….
November 18, 2009
-
sister sport
I have a lot of homework today. That is why I am writing on the internet. I also just finished the most delicious coffeee ever. Un Cafe bonbon at my lil styler cafe down the street. Thick layer of condensed milk, thicker layer of espresso, topped with whipped cream.. this discovery could prove to be trouble. The girl making the coffee even invited me to their special party on sat! ” gracias, pero, vamos a Paris!”
Did I tell you how much I loved Barcelona? A lot. And watching the black lips in BCN was beyond lovely. Or beyond hilarious, considering the general appearance and inebriation of the band.
Today, I wait for the return of lil mac and go to the Museo des Bellas Artes.
November 16, 2009
November 10, 2009
-
People take pictures of each other
I don’t write. I don’t feel like I’m away any more. I feel like I’m here. Maybe when I get back to Calgary I’ll feel like that’s away and I’ll write about all my strange Calgary experiences. Probably not though. In Calgary I don`t have the experience of walking home from school and seeing the enormous Catedral or the fat men drinking beer and roasting chestnuts on a table. Or the plump frizzy haired lady playing the accordion, day in day out. Same song, same fluffy hair and fluffy little dog at her feet. You`d think that she`d learn a new song, clearly all she`s got is time..
October 31, 2009
-
bougie soho
I wanted to write ‘boo’ in the title cause it’s halloween, but this keyboard is all switched up and I don’t know how to make a hyphen. My computer literacy skills really leave something to be desired.
We are in beautfiul Granada, a town by the Sierra Nevada mountain range that is cold compared to Sevilla. Compared to Calgary its warm, but I am freezing. Also, remarkably, am the first one up and as I have already had a cafe con leche and wandered the empty streets this morning, I decided why not sit down and write a lil something? Only what? I picked up Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie and let me tell you, its and important book for a reason… these first 8 pages have been LIFE CHANGING.
This is the town where you order a drink and the tapas are free. This is also the town where your hostel plays Taylor Swift at 10am in the bar.. The bar where the drinks are written on the wall in chalk.. such drinks as a ‘juicy pussy’. I kid you not, unfortunately. Perhaps I will attempt a further foray into this book.. This ‘boo’k, happy halloween!
October 21, 2009
-
No one
I’ll admit it.. I skipped two classes yesterday. In fact, I got up so late that I ran out of my house without checking the weather. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, because every single other day has been sunny, clear skies and at least 30 degrees. Outside it was windy and gray. I got to school and sat down in my art history class. My prof handed out our exams. As I’m writing my name I can feel someone hovering over me. I look up. It’s my prof from my previous class. The class I skipped. “here” he said, pushing a study guide at me. He looked woefully at me, wondering why I was in this class, and hadn’t attended his. I thanked him and returned to my exam. As I was leaving class my other prof told me, “Enrique seemed upset that you missed his class..” Seriously? A guilt trip?
I left class and spent the rest of the day alternating between a horrible chick lit novel and studying. When I left my school at 7pm, it was raining. I mean, fucking raining! I walked home and within minutes I was soaked. I allowed myself a Starbucks latte.. just this once, you know? My hands were freezing! I bought an umbrella too. Usually, this kind of day.. a guilt trip a (potentially) failed exam and a rainstorm would put me in a kind of terrible mood. Guess what? Didn’t. I returned home gleeful… Who knows why?
This morning I woke up at the respectable hour of noon. I went immediately to the bar attached to my apt. building, run by my landlords. I drank two cafe con leches and ate a tortilla (cheese and potato omelette). I also conversed in my horrible spanish to some people in the bar. Then I went to the farmer’s market A STREET AWAY and bought some uvas, a pimiento, some plantanos and some tomates.
Homework? Say what?
October 17, 2009
-
you should shine a light on
On thursday night Lauren and I went out for dinner at 11:30. We were trying to find a cute bar we went to 2 months ago, and we ended up just walking around in a circle. Instead we ate at a place called La Giganta that served us crisp white wine and tangy olives. We were expecting a quiet night, possibly just dinner and a drink.
6.5 hours later, we found ourselves walking home in the dark early morning. For the first time (ever) the streets of Sevilla were empty. There was a cool mist in the air and we walked past the imposing Cathedral, so happy.
October 14, 2009
-
coeur mechante
I finally know what its like to go to an United States university. Everyone in my program at school is american, so I don’t know why I was suprised to find myself on a bus to Portugal with 40 americans. There are definitely some differences between americans and canadians, at least as far as 20yr old americans in university. I really don’t feel comfortable speaking for the rest of the country at this point.
The main difference is found in the way they drink.. actually.. maybe its just college kids in general, because I found this with the other boys we met from Calgary. There is something so unappetizing about planning to get ‘so hammered’ or ‘so liquored’. I can drink with the best of them…… but the best of them don’t drink that way. Instead of deciding to get as drunk as humanly possible, I prefer to drink casually until you are ‘accidentally’ drunk. The people that I spend time with tend to treat every new drunk night as some accident or surprise. They will drink (surreptitiously almost) until the time for that whispered claim.. “I think I’m drunk”.
The other consideration for these american kids is their lack of sarcasm. It is extremely difficult for me and tempting. On the bus ride home, there was this boy who attends Yale. They should possibly implement a sarcasm course as requirement there.. He was telling us about how there was a guy with tourette’s in his class and I tried to tell him there was no such thing.. then he said “No it’s a real disease” So I straightfaced, asked him if he thought it was funny to make fun of someone with a disease.. this type of conversation continued.. he asked if we have facebook in Canada, I asked if they have youtube in the states… the peak was when our tour leader asked us to guess the name of the Spanish artist we were listening to. I told the boy I was talking to, who takes all his courses in Spanish that the name of the artist was something that translates in english to Whore Shit. I told him I couldnt win the trip anyway so he should tell the tour leader… He did! It was so awful and so funny at the same time..
By the way Portugal was unbelievably pretty and Liz, Lauren and I had a great time going to the beach, swimming in the ocean and generally avoiding contact with any other members of our group.
October 4, 2009
-
Hemingway got nuthin on me
The last bullfight in Sevilla was today. At 430 after drinking two coffees with Katie and Chelsea, we saw the poster advertising the bullfight, and 45 minutes later, dripping in sweat, contraband vino in hand, I found myself 2nd row from the bullring.
The three bullfighters were respectively 19, 20, and 21. The 4th fight we saw the 20 year old get lifted about by the bleeding bull and thrown to the ground. The fighter was mashed up between the bull’s feet and he was holding on to the bull’s horns to avoid being smashed into the ground by the bull’s head. The audience was gasping and shouting. The bull was eventually distracted by the other fighters waving their capes and the injured fighter was carried off. We didn’t feel sad when that bull was stabbed in the brain.
Tonight their is a soccer (futbol) game between Madrid and Sevilla, but I think I may have seen enough conflict for today.
Adios
