My friend, Annie, has submitted a video she created for a scholarship contest where she has a chance to win a scholarship of $2,000. The video is on YouTube - the more people who watch her video, the better her chances are of winning the scholarship.
Annie's video is very well done and is really short (less than 2 minutes) so please, if you have a moment, watch her video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIjlUUpg8A .
Thank you!
Despite my lack of blog updates from Barcelona, I started to enjoy posting. I had originally decided to start a new, separate blog after I returned from Spain. I was deterred, however, by the fact that every blog name that I could think up (for example, this one is "darcyclaire.blogspot.com") was already taken. Seriously, I went through dozens of names and they were all assigned. You can see for yourself; type whatever word or phrase first comes to mind and ".blogspot.com" after it and a blog will most likely pop up. After my searching I decided to stick with this blog and to reformat it for my current interests.
What I am really hoping this blog will be is a learning tool for me - since I have been out of school I have been thinking about and questioning a lot less things. Here's to changing that around.
I got back to California last night and yes, I know I was not very devoted to updating my blog toward the end of my trip. I had an incredible time in Barcelona, though. Before my trip I really did not know much about Spain, Barcelona or Catalonia. I wanted a relaxing vacation but had no other expectations. I ended up having an unforgettable month in a beautiful city rich with culture, art and history. Being in Barcelona made me excited again about learning, experiencing other cultures, seeing different parts of the world and meeting a diverse group of people. I strongly recommend it to anyone taking a trip to Europe and I hope I will have the opportunity to visit it again in the future.
To make up for my lack of updates I am posting many, many photos with descriptions. Enjoy!
First, I wanted to say that I have enjoyed reading the comments and messages from everyone. It makes me happy to be kept up-to-date on what is going on with everyone, even when I cannot see you in person or talk to you on the phone.
Now, on to the photos. I apologize that they are out of order; this is how they uploaded and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get them back in order. I will do my best to explain them, though. Here we go!
Hello, everyone! I'm being dutiful and updating the blog, just as I said I would. The pictures will have to come a little bit later, but for now I can tell you a little bit of what I've been up to.
The apartment where we are staying is close to the beach in Barcelona. It's off a major street and is on the third floor. There is a beautiful view from the patio of the Barcelona zoo & park to the left and Montjuic, another huge park & hill, to the right. I will be here the entire month with Jen, and right now Jen's friend, Pauline, is visiting with us from Paris.
It has been very hot here since I arrived and we've been doing a lot of walking, but it has been a great way to see the city. Thankfully, Barcelona isn't quite as big as Paris was, so I am able to walk to most places. I am enjoying the atmosphere here; everyone is very casual with their clothing (flip flops, tank tops, etc.) and the afternoon siesta is very nice. Well, actually, we've tended to get a late start to our days, usually heading out at around 4 pm and coming back later at night. The city doesn't sleep at night, either, so on many of the streets there are just as much people out as there would be during the day.
I've gotten to see a few of the tourist-y places, especially Gaudi's works like the Sagrada Familia and the Park Guell. I really liked the Park Guell because I remembered seeing the mosaic bench in the film L'Auberge Espagnole and falling in love with it then.
One night we went out to a jazz cafe to listen to a live band and on the night of the Fourth of July we went to watch a showing of the film Once in a field on the side of a castle. It sounds ridiculous and fabulous when I say it like that, and it was.
I'll be updating more soon; I hope everyone is doing well, be sure to email me with what you are up to!
As I am gearing up for my trip to Barcelona with Jen I decided to experiment with a travel blog (inspired by Anna's beautiful Barcelona blog: http://barcelonass.blogspot.com/). My former blog is a bit dusty and on lock down for various reasons (http://www.xanga.com/PaleDahlia), and besides, a fresh start sounds great right about now.
I leave in exactly nine days and it seems so surreal. A month in Barcelona - no work or school or major obligations of any sort. I'm feeling a little guilty for taking such a huge departure from "life as usual", but really, I think it is needed at this point. I've become so caught up in work lately that I have lost sight of what is most important - my family, my friends and myself. I think this will definitely help me get back on track (I'm suddenly compelled to compare it to How Stella Got Her Groove Back, minus Taye Diggs).
Luckily I'm slowly starting to resurface in my social network of friends (I seriously miss you guys!). I got to see Jane, Phoebe and Rebecca (from Paris days) last night for dinner. Phoebe took us to this incredible place called The Boiling Crab. And really, I don't think her description did it justice... "seafood finger food" did not fit the setting of butcher paper-covered tables, bibs, no plates, no utensils and giant plastic bags full of shrimp, crawfish, sausage, corn on the cob and super-garlicky sauce (which served as everyone's meal). Yes, the shrimp were still whole animals (eyes and legs and everything); yes, you're supposed to suck the guts out of the crawfish (I shied away from that part); yes, you eat EVERYTHING with your hands and nonchalantly leave your trash on the table. It was completely unexpected and entirely DELICIOUS. I'm still salivating and still full from the fantastic (and incredibly cheap) meal. Well, I still reek of garlic, too, but it's a price I'm willing to pay...
Some pictures of our culinary adventure:
The aftermath of my meal... and I wonder why Kundai never wants to take me to nice places...
Jane attempting to clean her hands after dinner.