Barcelona!

I'm back in the hostel, relaxing just a bit after a great first full day in Barcelona. Yesterday we came in, (after a 1 and a half hour delay on our flight due to protesting air traffic controllers in France!) and got settled in the hostel before setting out for a bit of food. It was about 2 in the morning, so not a lot was open near us, but we found some sandwiches and walked around a bit.

Then, today, Nick and I went to a little breakfast place on our way to La Sagrada Familia this morning, and then headed the rest of the way to the cathedral. It was AMAZING. I have honestly never seen anything like it. Unreal. It was so many different things all at once...religion, art, architecture, light, strength, height, weight, humor, reverence...wow. We also paid 2 extra Euros to take an elevator up one of the towers and got this amazing view of the city from up there. Kind of dizzying, but also completely worth it.

After that we hiked up to Park Guell, which was SO cool. We stopped for lunch along the way and I got this delicious fish simply drenched in herb butter. Mmmmm. Lovely. So, then on to Park Guell. I am all about La Modernisma, honestly. Gaudi is fabulous. The weather was great and we just walked around and took lots of pictures. The park is up above the city, so the view was amazing, we could see all the way to the sea! It's not a park in the traditional "open air and grass" sense of the word, but rather is a rambling series of pathways and staircases, half-covered and plazas, and lots of amazing architecture and sculpture. A lot of good people watching too. And many tourists. :) We also toured the Gaudi house/museum, which was nice.

Then, a quick metro down to La Placa Catalunya, where we hopped off and walked down La Rambla, a pedestrianized street, and a great farmers market next to it. Tons of strange pets for sale, some street performers, plenty of fruit and meat and cheese and chocolate. I treated myself to a little chocolate and it was lovely. Then we took the metro back to our hostel because our feet were aching after almost a full 9 hours walking around! In a few hours we'll go out to dinner and then to a club with the hostel; they organize night-out-events for the people staying here so that we can all be in a group and go to cool places. Yesterday our room was shared by a couple guys from China and Japan, today we have three college students from Texas. Nice to speak the same language! Adios for now!

Little things

Today has, so far, been a day of lovely little delights.

First, I went to go get a coffee at the shop right next to my dorm, and when I walked up to the counter, the barista started making my drink before I even ordered it. "Americano, right? Cream, no sugar?" Yes! Awesome. I think the day that a barista remembers your order by looking at you has got to be one of the better moments in a coffee lover's career. :)

Then I walked all the way across town to the library to return a book, and when I was walking back I came across a veritable gaggle of British school children (couldn't have been older than kindergarten or first grade) walking down the street in pairs, holding hands, all in matching blue jackets, with a bunch of teachers and aids around them. I died of cuteness overload.

I also stopped for a lovely lemon and sugar crepe from a street vendor, and had a nice little conversation with her about studying abroad.

And, of course, in an hour, I'll be off to the train station, and then the airport, and then Barcelona!

I'll be there 'til Saturday, but maybe I'll get a chance to update from the hostel. Wish me luck!

Photography

A photograph of mine is going to be in a Cambridge University photography exhibit!

I entered this contest on a whim, but one (or maybe two, actually, I'm not sure) of my photographs ended up being chosen, along with a group of about 25 others (including my friend Tanya, from school). The theme was "Journey" and I submitted two of my photos from a series of doors I did a while back. The photo uploader on Blogger isn't working, but I'll put up the photos when it is.

I'm really excited about this, as I haven't really done photography in a while, and I've been thinking about getting back into it when I'm back in California. The exhibit is March 6th. I'll be sure to take pictures to put here!

Traveling!

I'm getting ready to go to Barcelona tomorrow! Ahhh, I can't wait!

Got some Euros, figured out train schedules, printed my boarding pass...just have to pack in the morning and hopefully I'll be good to go! I'm going with my friend Nick and staying in a hostel for three nights. (The place got great reviews on my new favorite website, hostelworld.) My sister and mother went to Barcelona a couple of years ago, so they've given me some good advice on places to go and things to do. I promise to take lots of pictures to put up here when I get back!

Books

I got two new books from the library today: Seven Theories of Religion (Frazer, Freud, Durkheim, Marx, Eliade, Evans-Prichard, and Geertz, some of which I've read, some of which I haven't) edited by Daniel L. Pais, and The Batttle For God: Fundamentialism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong. I am suuuchhh a dork!

Dinner and a show

I have a pot (two, actually, none of my pots were big enough!) of homemade lentil soup sitting on the hob, simmering away, a nice cold beer, a sweet chocolate, and the Olympics (in English!) to watch. Life is good.

Olympics

Yes, it is 1:30 in the morning, but I am staying up late to watch the Olympic men's ice skating, because that's how I roll.

I realized recently that I'm never quite satisfied with ice skating, because, well, it's just not dance. I know the completely legitimate response to that is "well, duh, Lauren, they're different things" but they're close enough to warrant the comparison and this sport sometimes just leaves me feeling...disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond impressed with the jumps and spins, and I have no doubt that this sport takes incredible amounts of hard work and skill that I couldn't posses in a million years. But, for me, it leaves something to be desired in the artistry category. The skaters often seem to lack the musicality that contemporary and classical dancers emphasize so much....when the music is big, they're just gliding across the floor, when it's soft, they suddenly jump into the air! Not to mention they miss out on great moments for little--but still powerful--motions: a flick of the wrist, rolling the fingers, snapping the head... So, I hear this great music and just spend half the time choreographing contemporary dances in my head! (granted, I do that to most music...)

Yet, here I am up at 1:30 in the morning in order to watch this sport, so you can't say I don't enjoy it!

30 Days

I'm coming home in a month!!! Yayayayayayay! And, before that: Barcelona, a tour of London artsy things with my class, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Cork for St. Patricks day! It is so nice having things to look forward to.

Dinner

I made my salmon, mashed potato, and broccoli dinner tonight and it was delicious! Lots of butter on the broccoli, lots of lemon on the salmon, and well, butter again in the mashed potatoes. :) I have now officially cooked my first piece of fish for myself, and I even have enough for leftovers!

Yankee Doodle

Tonight was fabulous. First we went out to a satisfying Wagamama meal and then walked across town to this great little pub called the Maypole. It was exactly the kind I like...not too dark, not too light, a great atmosphere, friendly bartenders who call us "Yankee Doodle" and make fun of my drink choice but then help me choose a great local brew....lovely. We got to sit there and watch the Olympics and have a drink, which was just perfect, and then we stuck around to watch a mouth-watering food show about chocolate, which was kind of embarrassing, and kind of awesome, and then we called it a night. I know that may all sound quite un-cool, but honestly, I couldn't have asked for more.

Side note:
We wound up at this place because it was the only pub we could find that was showing the Olympics. Actually, they weren't even planning on showing it, but promised to switch the channel when we got there if we wanted. I asked the bartender why no one watches the Olympics here and he said, "Because we never win!" awww....sometimes it is really great being from the USA. :)

Food, glorious food

Meal planning is more difficult than previously expected! (Mom, I totally understand what you go through now. I'm sorry for any time I ever complained about dinner! You are an amazing cook and I am so lucky to have (begun to) learn from you!). I feel like I'm running out of ideas...luckily, the internet is a wonderful place and a couple of quick Google searches can give me some good inspiration. The main problem is that my fridge is tiny, so I can't buy much in advance. I'm pretty much grocery shopping every couple of days, which gets a little annoying, but its not that bad.

So, tonight I think I'm going to try my hand at pan-fried salmon, mashed potatoes, and broccoli, and make enough to have leftovers for tomorrow. The salmon I think I can handle, but I don't have a lid to my frying pan, which will maybe make it more difficult (?) to cook evenly without drying it out. I also don't have any fancy masher-thingies, so I'll be doing the potatoes with a fork and some elbow grease. As for the broccoli, I've got that down. :-) Wish me luck!

My family got a new pug!

My family just got a new pug two days ago! He is so cute and small, only 8 weeks old!, and his name will probably be Kung Pao. (Our other two are Won Ton and Mu Shu...sensing a theme, here?)

My mom found out about him a couple of months ago, when she was shopping at a small local pet shop and someone mentioned that an adult pug had just given birth to 5 babies, all of whom needed new homes.

My dad, mom, and brother went to visit them when they were only a few weeks old:

They chose one to be theirs a couple of weeks later, and then just the other day, once the puppies were old enough to be taken home, they went to go get him. Here he is, on his first car ride:
Then, lots of pictures of the pug at home! Sorry to bombard you with pug photos, but I am really excited about this little guy. I can't wait to see him in a month! (We have a massive 6-week break starting about 3 weeks from now, and I'll be spending 12 days of it back at home/school, visiting my family, friends, and boyfriend. I can't wait!)

Playing around in the kitchen with mom and dad.

And sleeping. A lot.

Ahhh! That face!! So silly and so cute!

Saturdays

Saturdays are so busy here! So many people out on the streets, shopping, walking around, in the coffee shops...whew!

So far today I've just been inside, catching up on a fair amount of reading I've been putting off (but distracting myself by watching the streams of people walking through the park below my window), but later today I will most definitely need to go to the University Library to pick up some books and then park myself in a good people-watching coffee shop for a little while!

Travel!

Eeps! Omg! gdfahefaoi4tnget! And other excited phrases as well!

I booked my first two hostels and Ryanair flight today! My grand European adventure--to take place over three and a half of the 5ish weeks I am on break--is now officially happening!

I am officially going to from Cambridge to Edinburgh by train, staying there for 3 days, then flying to Dublin and staying there for two days, and then taking a train to Cork to stay with friends for three days, including St. Patrick's day. Whoohoo!!

So excited. Also very nervous. But also excited.

Hey there, weather

Blue skies to blizzard to blue skies again in 15 minutes flat! Whoa there.

Hey there, blizzard. How you doing?

And, just as suddenly as it came, it was gone, and we're back to blue!

Woohoo!

IT'S SNOWING!!! I couldn't get a good picture of it out my window, so hopefully it will keep up for a bit and I'll have something better to show you than this...

(I swear, there's snow there!)

So much good stuff

I think I am going to die from tangerine, nutella, pasty, indian food, and tea overload. Oh my goodness...

On coffee shops and colds

Still sick! Go away, cold!

Speaking of cold, though, it was positively warm here yesterday!! And by warm, I mean like 45 degrees. It was lovely. I celebrated by wearing a jacket instead of a coat. Whoohoo!

I also found a great new coffee/tea/food spot yesterday. I'm silly and forgot to check what its name as, but it was on a great street called Kings Parade that is where the older, more pictureesque colleges are. I got an individual pot of tea (2 full cups worth) for just 1.50 pounds, which is great. Also, they had a full breakfast and lunch menu, and lots of pastries and other good stuff which I fully intend to go back and try. And, as always, great people watching. A problem I've been encountering with the coffee shops here is that they are SO small that I feel like I can't really stay for longer than 40 minutes or so before I start getting glares from the baristas to clear out and make room for another customer. This place, though, had enough space so that I didn't feel hustled out, so I was able to sit with my book for a while and just read. I've also worked out a system where I sit at one shop near my dorm for a while with a cup of coffee, and then sometimes walk over to another nearby shop for my second cup, thus doubling the time I can sit and read! Kind of silly, but it works.

Now, on to continuing my second Philosophy of Art essay. Wish me luck!

Dinner time

Mmmmmm. I just made some of my mother's delicious homemade macaroni and cheese and it is so good! I was actually pretty surprised, it came out almost as tasty as my mom's! I needed some home-cooked goodness today, because I'm feeling a bit under the weather (just a cold, nothing awful, but enough to wear me down a little), so mac-n-cheese definitely hit the spot. : ) Now I'm going to listen to a Wait Wait Don't Tell Me podcast and oggle some gorgeous (and some weird) Grammy dresses. Class tomorrow at 9 (ugh) so, hopefully an early night for me as well.

London

Two days ago I went to London with Andy for the afternoon. We took a 45 minute train from Cambridge to Kings Cross, and then got on the Underground to take us to the tourist-y area that included Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the river and the London Eye, and, a short walk away, Buckingham Palace.

Here is Westminster Abbey from the side, where you begin your tour:

We spent almost 2 hours in the Abbey, as there is simply SO much to see, but they don't allow photographs, so, unfortunately, all I have from inside is one illegally-snapped photo, taken before I saw the "No Photography, Please!" signs. I took this because it was a statue of Athena, my favorite of the Greek gods, and because it reminded me of the California Seal:

Once you round the three short arms of the cross that make up the Abbey, you are popped outside for a moment to walk down the Cloisters and see the Chapter House (featured in the Da Vinci Code, for those of you who care/remember). This is taken from under a covered walkway, looking back at the nave of the church and the backside of the westwork:

The westwork, or front of Westminster Abbey:

We crossed the river to check out the London Eye, but it was far too expensive, so we had lunch on the other bank and just people-watched instead:

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, back across the river:

Horse-riding policemen in front of Buckingham Palace!

Buckingham Palace. I was actually kind of underwhelmed...it is very one-note, and not an extremely architecturally-inspired kind of a building, but I had to pose in front of it nonetheless!

We ended our day with a late coffee and pastry at an adorable little French cafe in Soho, with promises to be back soon!