Barcelona

Well, I think it's definitely time to update. Last weekend, the 23rd through 26th, I was in Barcelona, Spain! There's somewhere I never imagined I'd get to visit. It was a short trip, but definitely worth it. I was also excited by a layover in Switzerland, where I got to hear some fascinating German. It sounds like German with a Swedish accent and better attitude. They also gave us plenty of free Swiss chocolate (not to mention all the free alcoholic/regular beverage we want. Oh Europe : ) As we were landing in Barcelona, I sat back and listened to the announcements in German, English, and French, waiting for the Spanish. As the Spanish came on, I was mildly alarmed by the fact that it not only sounded like Italian, but was apparently neither language and I couldn't understand it. Only after being in Barcelona for an hour did it slowly dawn on me: oh that's right, they also speak Catalan in Spain! haha I was so confused for a while and even thought maybe I'd gotten on the wrong plane after all ("don't they speak Spanish in Spain??" I kept thinking). Catalan is fascinating and I wish someone would've taught me some.

I was very happy to spend time with my friend Mark again as well. It was his idea that we have a look at works by Antonio Gaudi, who designed a number of buildings, a church, and even a park there. The church was Sagrada Familia and incredibly fascinating. The front has very angular representations of biblical characters attached to the facade. The back facade is also littered with various biblical characters, but in a very different style. Everything seems to be melting, and on a massive scale. Inside the church there are giant pillars, starburst ceilings, and colorful glass windows. We waited in line for an hour just so we could take the elevator to the top and see the beautiful view from there. Several of the peaks in the church are covered with giant fruits. I thought it was a nice touch.

In the Gaudi park, you can find the world's longest bench. There is also a building he also designed that really looked like a gingerbread candy house to me, with an undulating roof. The next day we went to the Picasso museum. It's amazing to think I got to look around and look at original Picasso works. The museum is inside of 3 mansions that were connected to host the works, so some of the rooms are rather grand looking. What really got my attention was the fact that he had such a variety of styles throughout his life. His earlier paintings are very realistic, very faithful representations of real life in great detail. Then as you move on you can see them become more impressionistic, colorful, and then suddenly you see the Picasso we're more familiar with: colorful oddly proportioned figures with body parts in unusual places. The fact that he could have rendered the subjects realistically but didn't gives the whole thing a new sense of intent and depth.

I enjoyed the paella and sangria in Barcelona. The whole casual atmosphere and the fact that people in shops in cafes would automatically speak to me and stay in Spanish, rather than English, made me feel like I fit in more there. In Germany I'm still 'the foreigner', even though my German is much better than my Spanish. While I was sad to leave the beautiful weather, it was nice coming back to Germany. After 3 months, Germany has started to have a home-like feel for me. I was kinda happy when I went through passport control: I had to go through the Non-EU nationals line and hand over my American passport, which always makes me feel like a big outsider. But then when he asked where I was headed (to test my English I guess? I told him Wiesbaden), he flipped through the passport and saw my newly acquired residence permit and then, switching to German suddenly, said "Oh, you live there!" with a smile. It was just nice; it was like I was part of the club : ) I had another moment as I went down into the train station (there's a train station inside the Frankfurt airport) and saw these two, I think, Indian punching all the wrong button at the ticket machine trying to get a train ticket. I went over, said "kann ich Ihnen helfen?" and then "Can I help you?" in English and they looked relieved. So suddenly I was the one helping foreigners figure out the ticket machines, rather than the one asking random people to please help me.

So now I have a 3 week vacation to plan for. I'm thinking about seeing another country, possibly the Czech Republic to see Prague. I'd love to spend time in Switzerland, but it's apparently quite expensive.