Milan! and catching up on posts.

Here is the famed Duomo of Milan. Isn't it cool?
A very typical scene in Milan. The trolly passing through an intersection.
This is the canal. Its a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Day 38 – October 5th – Sunday
Teresa made another paella today for lunch! And it was delicious. I'm afraid that anything they would make State-side would only disappoint, though the Barcelona restaurant probably has the best shot. After lunch today, I took a little nap and then went with Nicolas to Montjuïc Park, which is up on one of the mountains. There is a castle up there and it offers one of the best views of the city, as well as a view of the third busiest port in the world on the other side. It was very beautiful and I was very upset that I had forgotten my camera. It just means I'll have to go back! Afterwards, I passed out again, but only for a few minutes before dinner. Now I suppose I'll do my homework before I go to bed. Another week of school starts tomorrow, but then I will be in Milan for the weekend!!

Day 39 – October 6th – Monday
Someone asked me the date today and acted dumbfounded when i told her it was the 6th. I feel like I might be one of the only people that doesn't feel like its going very fast, but i feel like i've had a pretty full trip and see a lot of awesome stuff. Some people end up traveling almost every weekend, but not only did I not bring enough money for that, but I find myself in a city worth exploring already. I enjoy just walking around, trying to hit a different street each time and just go a little farther. I can't imagine the things I'll see once I am not only mobile, but autonomous. The metro makes everything close, but you can't really choose where you stop and its also underground, so you don't see what you pass. Once I have my bike, which my parents have so graciously agreed to ship to me, nothing will stop me. Who knows what I pass on my way to school? While it is a city much larger than Columbus as far as population, it is much smaller in area. i could probably walk across it, from mountain to mountain, in three hours at the most. I'm sure my bike will give me an even better feel for this already great city.

Day 40 – October 7th – Tuesday
Today I had to wake up extra early because I had to meet with my group to prepare for a presentation latter today. It was hard to get up two hours earlier, but I did get a siesta before lunch, thanks to my four and a half hour break. We presented on Gaudí's Modéjar style, which includes my favorite of his works, El Capricho. If you don't know a lot about Gaudí, you need only to do a Google images search, but I will tell you a little bit. Born in 1852, he was a contemporary of Karl Marx, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Write. While his work was not truly appreciated until after his tragic death in 1926, he has risen to a spot of prominence in the world of architecture today. He was dedicated to his work and also to the church. In the last sixteen of his years, he was totally dedicated to the Sangrada Familia, his life's work. He even lived there. He often said that his las client could be no one other than God. He died a pauper and was actually taken to a hospital for the poor due to his appearance and it was almost a day before he was found. He only left the small, temporary structure he had built for himself twice a week; once for mass, and once to go and muse on the sea. His other source of inspiration was nature. “There is a book that all the world must read. It is the most important and most beautiful book ever written. It is written by God and it is called 'nature.'” It was on a trip to the nearby cathedral that he was hit by a trolley and killed. After class, I started writing a paper for my Spanish class, but was rudely interrupted when my computer insisted that I restart it. Yep, just as I was finishing the paper, it was all gone. So now I must stay up late and rewrite it, all because I am trying to get my work done before I go to Milan. Now its bed time.

Day 41 – October 8th – Wednesday
I had a very full day today. I left the house around 10:30 am and didn't get back until dinner time, around 9 pm. First, I had Spanish class, as always and then Catalán. I now know four verbs! After class I went to the ISA office to finish the paper that I wrote twice yesterday and print a few things. From there, it was pack to school to watch a movie in class of Cine Español. The movie we watched today was called “Belle Epoque” directed by Fernando Trueba. It also starred a very young Penelope Cruz. It was a comedy and it actually made me laugh a few times. After class, I met with my Spanish conversation partner for the first time. Her name is Mar and she is from a Barcelona suburb and graduated from Pompeu Fabra University last June. She was very nice and her English was not that bad. She has studied in England before, so she was comparing my English to “true” English. We actually spoke Spanish most of the time, but she kept trying to get me to speak English so she could listen. We chatted for about an hour and then both headed to the metro. We'll meet up again after I get back from Milan. We go there tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited, but I think it will probably be a pretty stressful trip. We're flying out on RyanAir, which is the European version of SkyBus, and almost everything I hear about it is bad. Aside from the cheap fares, they charge you for everything else. To check in, to check bags, to use the bathroom, to eat food. I just hope they don't charge me for my carry on. We'll see, but I bout a ticket, so I better get there.

Days 42 thru 45 – October 9th thru 12th – Thursday thru Sunday
I'm going to group these days together because it was my trip to Milan, Italy and it is easier for me to remember the trip as a whole rather than day by day. We left Thursday evening after classes and flew with RyanAir, the European equivalent to SkyBus. I have mixed feelings about the airline. Yes, the flight was cheap, only 60€ round trip, but we had to go to Girona, which is a 21€ round trip bus ticket, and we flew into Orio al Serio airport, outside of Milan, so we had another 14€ bus trip to and from Milan. Its quite possible that we could have gotten a direct flight for less money and definitely less hassle. I can use my Metro card for Barcelona to get to the main airport. Also, during the hour and ten minute flight, the flight attendants were pretty much selling things the whole time, which was a little annoying and kept me from sleeping. But the transportation is probably the least important thing about the trip. Once there, we found our hotel quite easily thanks to the directions given us by the website. It was a one-star hotel, but it was actually pretty nice. We had a private room for the three of us, our own bathroom, and fresh sheets every night. The same cannot be said for any hostel. We were also pretty close, only about 800 meters, from the Stazione Centrale and the metro, so transportation within the city was easy. The first day, we wandered around taking in Italy, which looks a lot like Spain, until we found a restaurant that suited out tastes and wasn't too expensive. The menu of the day included a pasta dish, salad, a meat dish and wine for only 10€. A deal. And of course, the food was delicious. From there, we headed to the closest gelatería (ice cream store) for some famous Italian gelatto. It was also fantastic. They do it a little different, but they've been doing it forever. Its a lot creamier and they would never think of mixing in candy or nuts or anything of that sort. After this tasty treat, we walked around and window shopped. There was no way we could buy much of anything. I saw a pair of Prada shoes for 330€ (almost $500) and I'm sure they weren't the most expensive. We did find a place with some deals though: the flee market. Not only did they have almost any kind of fruit, vegetable, seafood, or meat you could ever want, but they also had deals on clothing and other small gifts. This is where I did almost all of my purchasing. That night, we went to where we thought would be a big night life spot, but I guess 9:00pm was too early. We had a bottle of wine at a nice little wine bar and listened to some music. They played all American hits from the 70s and 80s mixed in with a few Soul classics. I didn't hear any Italian out of the speakers. The Italians were pretty nice and the ones who didn't speak very good English were able to understand our Spanish well enough. Italian and Spanish are very similar. We headed home from there for a good nights sleep before a day of sight seeing. The first thing we did the next day was go to the Duomo, which was probably one of the most impressive things I've seem, not only in Italy, but in Europe. It is the third largest cathedral in Europe, which I kind of consider the world, as I don't really think many other places were big into the cathedrals. It was absolutely gigantic and extremely ornate. Sculptures and gargoyles and crosses covered pretty much the whole building. It was also free to get in, which was a plus. From here, we took a little walk down the fashion strip of Milan. It is the fashion capital of the world, so there were all kinds of name brand stores, from Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Armani, Luis Brunel, Chanel, and a bunch of other names I can't spell. Basically, there were like two stores that I could afford anything inside, but it was still kinda fun too look. It turns out that the most fashionable color right now is purple. At least one in four, men and women alike, were wearing it, so i had to buy myself a purple shirt. We ended up back at the same restaurant for lunch as the day before. This time we all got calzones, which turned out to be huge and delicious. After a trip back to the hotel to drop off a few things and clean up, we went to another church that our guide book had told us was arguably the most beautiful in Milan. After seeing the Duomo, we had to check out its competition. Of course, this church was not nearly as big, but it was quite pretty. There was actually a wedding ceremony taking place as we entered, so we stayed and watched it for a while. I didn't understand a word, but it looked like a nice ceremony and both the bride and groom said “I do.” That night, we went to the canal district for dinner. It was very picturesque, though there were probably only about six inches of water in the canal. We got there right at sunset which made for some good pictures. Most of the restaurants on the canal were either too expensive or too crowded, but as soon as we turned the corner, there was a perfect place. The wine was cheap and good and they had about thirty different kinds of pizza. Also, the pizzas were huge. I could barely finish, but of course I did. We headed back to the hotel after this and went to bed. We were all pretty tired from walking around all day. In the morning, we checked out and walked down to the bus station. there was another flee market there so we poked around for a while and then went to McDonald's for lunch. It was actually cheaper than in Spain and they had a 1€ menu! You could even get a hamburger for 50€ cents. Still pretty much the same quality as the States though. Once again, we had a bus ride, plane ride, and another bus ride ahead of us. We were all ready to go back to Spain. Italy is nice, but its not the same. It actually felt almost like going home when we arrived back in Barcelona, just in time for dinner.

Day 46 – October 13th – Monday
Back to class today after an adventurous weekend. Last Thursday I had turned in a paper for my Spanish class that I had put a lot of work into. In fact, I had to write it twice. The first time, just as I was about to finish, my computer decided that I should restart it. Now. No choice. And of course, I had neglected to save. So it was back to the drawing board. I did still have my ideas, but I had though I was doing a good job. Well, it turned out not to matter too much. I got an eight out of ten with the chance to revise and gain another point, so I'm happy with that. Also, the Spanish grading scale is a little different. An eight is actually a low A and tens are very rarely given out. Also, a seven is a solid B. Catalán class was hectic today. We're learning more and more every class. Today was all about family. It is difficult to learn the words in Catalán when they do not always have a direct translation to Spanish or English, but I still feel accomplished when I leave the class. Once you learn a second language, it definitely becomes easier to learn a third. Also, I have started to interject Catalán phrases into the conversation at the dinner table, much to the delight of my Señora. During my two hour break today, I got a little taste of home with Burger King for lunch. The menu is a little different and the restaurant itself is a lot more classy. They have a few flat-screen TVs incorporated into the menu display and they could probably seat a hundred people inside. Though it is a little comical to see the word “chicken” all over the place in there. In film class, we watch “El Espíritu de la Colmena” directed by Victor Erice, which translates to “The Spirit of the Beehive.” It was a very good movie that really makes you think. It is a metaphor, of course, but for what I haven't really decided. I thoroughly enjoyed it. After class, I headed to Corte Ingles, which is the major department store here to buy a razor. The one closest to me is the main on in Barcelona and is six stories high with a restaurant at the top. I went in a different entrance and immediately got lost. I enjoyed wandering around for a little while, but my bag was heavy of my back, full of books and my computer, so I found another entrance and went outside to find the way in that I knew. I got what I needed within a few minutes and headed home. It turned out to be a good thing that I had had a big lunch at Burger King, as we had two fried eggs and french fries for dinner. but Teresa did make “manzanas al horno” (baked apples) for desert, which are always delicious. As the rooms in this house are never empty, the woman from Canada who had been staying with us for a few weeks left yesterday morning and last night, two Norwegian girls arrived for a week. I don't understand why they come for a week, as there is really no hope to learn much Spanish in such a short time, but Matt and I helped them to learn a bit about Barcelona by taking them to see a few of Gaudí's houses nearby that are all lit up at night. It was a nice little walk up the highest class street in Barcelona on a clear, warm, night.