Week 34: Ramping up for finals

Wow, what a week. And unfortunately I don’t mean that in the best way… I had lots and lots of work to do. The good thing was, I had an exciting weekend trip to break up the stress a bit. Lots of papers and studying for exams and homework had me very busy this week, but in the end, I got through what I needed to at least.

On Monday I had my internship the whole day as usual. I arrived early again, so as to make up for some lost time, and taught Belén’s first hour class. That was fun - as she had told me before, they’re a good group of kids. We talked all about life in America, and I quizzed them on their knowledge of the U.S. Tuesday was a little bit more special; in the morning I went with my American friend Katarina to the market right by the Casco, and we browsed around for anything we might have wanted, but it ended up being a window shopping trip. I of course then met with Noelia for French conversation as usual. Later, since I had been going to mass with Mamen and Edith all semester on Sundays and meeting with the same youth group after mass, the priest and one of the other girls in the youth group wanted to say goodbye to me, so we had actually set up a lunch together at a Chinese buffet restaurant after my classes in the morning. Try as they might, they couldn’t make me eat more than two plates’ worth of food, and I was already stuffed after that, my goodness. Once I returned home, I had to concentrate very hard, because in the evening, I went to go play some soccer with some classmates from the Fundación. It was a great day altogether!

Wednesday was also a little bit extraordinary; in the morning, for my theology class, instead of having the normal lecture, we actually took a little field trip to a monastery inside the city walls that was an example of how Teresa and her sisters might have lived in their time. That was very interesting; we still got the lecture, but this time we actually got to see authentic artifacts and architecture to go with it. After that, I went to lunch, and then another staff member from the University of Minnesota was visiting that day, and so I had some free coffee with her and some other students, and we talked about the program and what attracted us to it. (For me, it was just my academic scheduling - I don’t know how it would have worked out if I hadn’t been able to complete the requirements I needed to in Toledo.) Then afternoon theology class was just as normal, and in the evening I had my conversation with Sara and her mother again, which was fabulous as usual. On Thursday, I was scrambling after classes to get everything done and packed up, because I once again had an overnight bus from Madrid to Barcelona - this time to meet up with Walker!

I still arrived in Barcelona just as early as the last time, and so I gradually made my way to the airport on the city bus to pick up Walker. I actually worked on my blog while I waited for him in the airport, which was nice to feel productive. After munching on some breakfast and enjoying a coffee, I was ready to go when Walker came through the arrival doors. We made our way out into the city to our hostel, checked in, dropped our things (after a quick stop at the ATM), and then set out to explore the city. First, we went straight toward the beach, as Walker had not been as fortunate with the weather in Lille as I’ve been in Toledo, and we grabbed some late lunch on the way. We sat right by the sand, just taking it all in and chatting, and then Walker wanted to explore more of the city, and so off we went to go see the Parliament building, the zoo (again for me), Gaudí’s fountain (not the magic one), and eventually over to the Arc de Triomf. After walking around so much and seeing all these sights, we grabbed dinner in a café, which had to be tapas of course, as I had not had the chance to order them when Walker had visited me in Toledo. We then called it a night, as we had a full schedule planned for the next day.

One of my first views in the morning as I worked my way through the city to get to the airport.

The Catalonian Parliament.

Walker was thrilled to have found the park!

Woolly Mammoth makes for fun pics ^^ 

Walker and the Arc of Triomf.

Saturday was my favorite day on this little trip, because we got to see lots of things that I hadn’t yet seen in Barcelona. Right away in the morning, we headed by city hall (which was the only sight that day that I had seen before) and up the hill to the famous castle, Montjüic, and on the way we also passed through the lovely Plaça d'Espanya. After making it up the hill on the funicular, we walked around, found the Olympic museum, and marveled at all the Olympic records and facts about the games of the past. We then made our way down the street to the old Olympic stadium, where the games themselves had taken place in 1992. That was a cool moment for me: the Olympics have always been very interesting to me, especially gymnastics and ice skating, and so it was really cool to see the stadium where the Summer Olympics for that year had taken place (or at least one of the many facilities). At that point, it was time to start making our way to Camp Nou, the famous football stadium in Barcelona, to see FC Barcelona play!

A traditional procession outside the cathedral. 

 Olympic Swmming pool.

The view of the city from the Fudació Joan Miró.

Living the dream!

Old Olympic stadium

Plaça d'Espanya from a different angle.

By the "Magic Fountain"

We hopped on the metro again, and every car of the train was absolutely packed; we certainly saw more than a few Barça jerseys. We made our way through the crowd and up to the press box, as Walker had actually received press accreditation due to his work with his dad on the latter’s radio station. We had a spectacular view of the game, and Walker was patient enough to answer the many questions I flung at him in the course of the game. I grew to appreciate the artistry present in the sport more than I ever had before; there’s definitely a reason why it’s the most popular sport in Europe, bar none. Barcelona ended up winning 2-0, with a last minute goal! Of course then everyone was in the streets celebrating, and we wearily but happily found our way back to our hostel to be able to rest and relax.

Camp Nou itself!

"Mes que un club" or, translated into English, "More than a club."

Sports commentators who had practically been giving advice it is.

Sunday was a very chill day, as I had to go right away in the morning to catch my 7+ hour bus back to Madrid. I said another temporary goodbye to Walker, bid him safe travels, as he will be staying in the beautiful city until Tuesday, and then got on my way to the bus station, and of course from Madrid back to Toledo. When I got back to my host family’s place, it was a struggle between still lots of papers to write and now also exams to study for, but I struck a happy medium and got a little bit done (far from all, I’m afraid). I was definitely happy to see my host family again, as they have come to provide a sense of home comfort for me through the course of the semester.

With this being my last week of actual classes, it was nice to get to both finish out classes well and then travel to one of my favorite European destinations, all in the same week. And of course, it’s always nice to be able to meet up with friends in cool places! Heading into finals week, I’m pretty confident with where I’m at academically speaking, and so hopefully it won’t test me too much (apart from all the stress I’m already feeling because of all these papers). Fortunately, I have a trip right after exams are over to look forward to, so I will be waiting impatiently for this next week to pass. Until then, ¡Hasta pronto!