Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan

Los Dirty Projectors primero captaron mi atención con su álbum Bitte Orca, el cual recibió mucha atención por presentar su estilo avant garde de una manera más clara y acesible.  El próximo, Swing Lo Magellan, también recibió mucha crítica positiva, pero por alguna razón u otra, no me interesó mucho en el año en el que salió.  Pero recientemente, volví a escuchar una canción antigua de ellos que me dio la idea de volver a escuchar su álbum más reciente, y creo que esta vez empecé a entenderlo.

Swing Lo Magellan tiene mucha variedad, incluso momentos cómicos como cuando las cantantes Amber Coffman y Haley Dekle se burlan de la letra del líder de la banda (David Longstreth) en  «Unto Caesar,» pero la canción que no puedo dejar de escuchar es la que comparte su nombre con el álbum entero.  Algunos comentarios que he leído comparan este tema con The Velvet Underground (en particular, me recuerda de «Sunday Morning»), y creo que es porque combina instrumentación muy sencilla con una letra compleja.  A pesar de sonar muy ligera y apropiada para el verano, la canciön es una crítica de nuestra dependencia de la tecnología y la manera en que los aparatos (como el GPS al que Longstreth hace referencia en el título) han llegado a reemplacer nuestra intuición innata.  El título viene de una canción de escalvos que se llama «Swing Low Sweet Chariot,» pero en lugar de invocar un carruaje divino, Longstreth sustituye el nombre de un GPS para subrayar el control que la teconología tiene sobre nuestras vidas.  Escoge una marca de GPS interesante porque es nombrado de un explorador famoso, pero usa la imagen del aparato para subrayar que hemos perdido la habilidad de explorar orgánicamente.  Longstreth examina la banalidad de la existencia moderna en varias de sus cancionces, y este tema sencillo y sutil añade una perspectiva nueva a sus comentarios sobre la sociedad.  Escúchalo abajo:

(Gracias a los usuarios de SongMeanings.net por explicar unos aspectos de esta canción)

Joni Mitchell – People’s Parties

Por una razón u otra, el único álbum de Joni Mitchell que la mayoría de mi generación conoce es Blue (y hay muchos que no conocen ninguno).  Sin duda, Blue merece la atención que ha recibido, ya que contiene algunas de las canciones mejor escritas que Mitchell ha producido en su carrera, pero también existen varios otros álbumes en su catálogo que son de la misma calidad de Blue.  Uno de éstos es Court and Spark, el cual ha captado mi atención recientemente por sus letras poéticas y sus arreglos bellísimos.  Aunque «Calfornia» y «Carey» permanecen mis canciones favoritas de Mitchell, creo que Court and Spark se ha convertido en mi álbum favorito de la cantante legendaria.

«Help Me» fue el sencillo principal del álbum y todavía es la única canción suya que ha llegado al número uno en la lista de éxitos de Billboard, pero la primera canción de Court and Spark que realmente se destacó para mí fue «People’s Parties.»  En ella, Mitchell describe varios arquetipos de las personas que se ven en una fiesta y lamenta su propia inhabilidad de olvidarse de todo y disfrutarse del momento.  La producción se parece bastante a la de Blue porque consiste en poco más que una guitarra y su voz, lo cual llama la atención a la letra bien escrita.  Entre descripciones de todas las personalidades que observa, inserta versos muy profundos como «Laughing and crying, you know it’s the same release» y expresa su deseo de ser capaz de «laughing it all away» en lugar de preocuparse de todo.  Repite esa última frase varias veces, apoyada por un coro de voces, y la canción pasa suavemente a la próxima («Same Situation»), la cual casi parece un epílogo.  Las dos forman un momento muy especial sónica y líricamente, y sólo son una parte de la tapecería compleja del álbum entero.

Destroyer – Dream Lover

Después de Kaputt, el álbum fenomenal de Destroyer que salió en 2011, era difícil imaginar lo que Dan Bejar haría en su próximo álbum (él ni siquiera estaba seguro de que habría otro).  Como todas las obras de Destroyer, Kaputt parece representar el monólogo interior de Bejar y los personajes que pueblan el mundo de su imaginación, pero explora un estilo musical completamente distinto: saxófanos y otros elementos del pop de los años 80 se mezclan con un tono melancólico y onírico de una manera sorprendemente harmónica.  La combinación de estos elementos disparates le da un sentido muy único al álbum que lo ha hecho uno de los mejores de la década.

 

El saxófono aparece orta vez en «Dream Lover,» el nuevo sencillo de Destroyer, pero cumple un papel muy diferente en este contexto – produce uno de los ritmos más alegres y exultantes que Bejar ha creado en su carrera.  En un instante, entendemos que Poison Season (el nuevo álbum que se estrena en agosto) no va a parecerse a Kaputt en absoluto.  Es muy impresionante ver la habilidad de Bejar de cambiar de estilo radicalmente y seguir haciendo música fantástica, ya que ya nos ha dado un tema que seguramente va a ser una de mis favoritas del año.

 

Le Tigre – Deceptacon

De vez en cuando, se oye una canción tan adictiva y tan única que no se puede escuchar nada más – la única opción es volver a escucharla de nuevo, ya que no existe nada que se parezca a ella.  «Deceptacon» de Le Tigre es una de esas canciones, y he pasado los últimos días bailando a ella.

El accesibilidad fue una de las metas centrales de Kathleen Hanna cuando formó Le Tigre con Johanna Fateman y Sadie Benning.  Hanna se conoce principalmente por se la cantante de la banda Bikini Kill, la cual fue uno de los primeros grupos del movimiento de «Riot Grrrl.»  Este género se caracteriza por la agresión de la música punk y pugna por romper todos los estereotipos de la mujer.

El problema que los Riot Grrrls empezaron a enfrentar era que su comunidad no recebía mucha recognición por parte del resto de la sociedad; su mensaje no alcanzaba a muchas personas fuera del movimiento propio.  Es por eso que Le Tigre, cuya música consiste en las mismas ideas políticas envueltas en un exterior más accesible, es un proyecto muy ingenio.  «Deceptacon» es un ejemplo perfecto de esta síntetis de estilos: bajo un ritmo irresistible, Hanna esconde versos muy críticos como «Let me hear you depoliticize my rhyme.»  Con canciones como ésta, Le Tigre asegura que la gente va a oír su mensaje, aunque sea en la pista de baile.  Mira el video abajo:

Kath Bloom – Come Here

Aparte de ser un director fenomenal, Richard Linklater también merece ser reconcido por su uso impecable de música en sus películas. Boyhood está llena de canciones muy buenas que sirven tanto para marcar el contexto temporal como para crear una atmósfera particular, y la trilogía «Before» también utiliza música muy distinta. La canción que me tiene obsesionado últimamente viene de la primera de estas películas, Before Sunrise, la cual ha hecho un papel bastante importante en la carrera de la cantante.

Durante los años 70 y 80, Kath Bloom colaboró con el guitarrista Loren Connors, pero dejó de hacer música cuando terminó su colaboración. La recepción positiva de «Come Here» en Before Sunrise una década despúes y el apoyo de Linklater le dieron la inspiración para volver a crear música nueva, y sigue escribiendo y tocando en vivo hoy.

«Come Here» se oye durante una escena en la que la pareja principal entra en una tienda de discos y decide probar un albúm de bloom. Mientras escuchan en silencio, se miran esporádicamente de una manera a la vez torpe y dulce, y la canción apoya perfectamente el tono de intimacía que caracteriza la escena. La voz de Bloom es frágil y un poco aguda, y comunica frases como «I have never wanted you so much» con una sinceridad absoluta.  La sencillez de la guitarra crea un tono que suena casi melancólico pero expresa perfectamente la vulnerabilidad de la cantante. Es el tipo de canción que puede hacer que aún el oyente más cínico crea en el amor.

Mira la escena de Before Sunrise abajo – recomiendo fuertemente que veas la trilogía entera.

Nico – These Days

Por la tercera vez, este blog cambia de nuevo: se convierte ahora en un blog de música escrito en Español.  Los motivos son éstos: porque me gusta mucho hablar de la música y no quiero molestarles demasiado a mis amigos (a quienes les envío recomendaciones con mucha frequencia), y porque siempre estoy buscando maneras de practicar el español. Vamos a ver si mantengo el ánimo necesario para seguir escribiendo, pero por lo menos voy a intentar.

La primera entrada de este tipo trata de una canción bastante vieja (casi 50 años) que me ha gustado por varios años, y esta noche me encuentro pensando en ella otra vez.  A pesar de ser un poco deprimente, la letra es un reflejo bellísimo de la melancolía que resulta cuando uno está decepcionado con el estado presente de su vida.  No sé exactamente cómo la descubrí inicialmente, pero recuerdo que la escuchaba mucho durante la secundaria cuando estaba frustrado con mi entrenadora de voleibol, quien siempre me reprendía por mis errores cuando ya estaba muy consciente de ellos.  Por eso, el verso «Please don’t confront me with my failures; I had not forgotten them» resonaba mucho conmigo porque expresaba muy sencillamente lo que estaba sintiendo:  que ya estaba deprimido por no haber jugado bien y no necesitaba que alguien me recordara de todo lo que había hecho mal.

La letra entera está llena de versos como ése que usan palabras bastante sencillas para comunicar verdades muy fundamentales de la vida, como la tristeza que resulta de la observación que la vida ya no es tan emocionante como era una vez.  Nico ha dicho que odia el albúm entero (que se llama Chelsea Girl y me parece muy bueno, aunque sólo lo he escuchado una vez) porque quería que tuviera un tono más oscuro, pero como los demás fans, yo creo que el uso de cuerdas y flutas complementa muy bien su voz baja y fría.  Si te gusta esta canción, no sólo recomiendo las otras que ella ha grabado sola, sino también el albúm muy famoso que hizo con The Velvet Underground, en el que ella sirve como la cantante principal en tres canciones.  Por favor, ¡envíame un mensaje o deja un comentario si tienes algún opinión o si hay otra cosa que quieres que discute en este blog! ¡Ciao!

Final Weeks in Palma

I like to think that I’m fluent in volleyball.  I’m no professional player of course, but I love to see that even though several weeks may pass in between the times I get to play, I still have the basic sensibilities of a volleyball player.  Though my skills get rusty, I know I’ll never get to the point of someone who’s never played – I’ve spent too much time learning the plays, doing the drills,  and using the lingo for it to ever go away completely.

I’m hoping that Spanish will be the same way.  The fact is, unless I decide to devote my career to it completely, I’m going to have long stretches of time where I don’t get to speak it everyday, and the times when I don’t will probably be longer than the times when I do.  And just as I’ve come to accept that I won’t be a professional volleyball player, I think I’m alright with the idea that I’ll never sound quite like a native speaker as long as I can count on it that basic competency to always be there.  That’s not to say I won’t be practicing at all – I really do hope that I’ll have chances to use it throughout life, and I know it’s necessary to keep using it if I don’t want to forget, but even in the few days I’ve been home, I’ve realized just how hard it is to find chances to use it when your whole world revolves around English.  Still, I’m hoping that, like volleyball, it’s something I’ve put enough time into that I’ll never really forget it.

Anyway, before I get to my last thoughts on my time in Spain, I do have a couple things to report.  Unfortunately, I had to spend the majority of my time over the last few weeks writing papers and studying for finals, so they weren’t quite as eventful as the rest.  Still, I found some time to have some last adventures with all the people I met in Mallorca.

This chunk of time started with a trip to Germany:

Alright, not really – we actually just want to S’Arenal, a beach in Mallorca that’s extremely popular among Germans.  Since I didn’t get the chance to make it to Germany on this trip, I joked that this was the next best thing.  The beach was full of people, and it was hard to blame them with the beautiful weather and the incredibly clear water.  The Germans who come to Mallorca even have their own song about coming on vacation there, and we heard it several times that afternoon.

On the way back home from the beach, we saw some dancers on Paseo Born doing a traditional dance – something that seemed to happen every now and then as we’d pass by.  It’s nice that these little reminders of the island’s culture would just pop up without warning.

At some point in these three weeks, I also went to a typical Mallorcan restaurant called Los Rafaeles with my friends Jake and Julian.  It was great to have good, typical Mallorcan food one more time, although Julian ordered us some snails to try, and I can’t say that was my favorite part… that texture is something I’ll never get used to.  At least I can add it to the list of things I’ve tried now.

My friend Vranici and I also made it to the island’s Ikea one day, since both of us love the food there and were curious to see how the store changed from one country to another.  I was glad to have finally made it over there after seeing it when I first got to Palma.

The three of us who tried the snails also went paddleboarding one day.  The water was super choppy and none of us stayed up very long, but it was still fun and brand new to all of us.

The last week was filled with some intense studying, but I made time on my last day in Palma to get a lot done.  I got one more afternoon of volleyball in before saying a difficult goodbye to the nice people I played with.  It was really great having this routine way to get some Spanish in and meet the locals, and I’m sure as I play back here all the Spanish terms I’ve learned for the game will come to mind.

I took the bus back to Palma to get ice cream with two of my friends from our linguistics class: María and Mónica.  They were incredibly nice to reach out to us Americans when they saw us in their class, and all of us really appreciated getting to know some Mallorcans.  We had a great afternoon sitting and chatting at Can Joan de S’Aigo, one of the best places for ice cream and ensaimadas on the island, and we were sad to say goodbye but thankful for the time we got to spend together.

I had some souvenir shopping to finish up after, so I took one last walk around town.  This included going to the beach for a while to get some shells to bring back home, but even though it had a practical purpose, I took my time with the walk and just tried to take everything in as much as possible.  It was relaxing and kind of surreal to take one last look at the Mediterranean and the Cathedral.

 

The nice park outside of the Cathedral reminded me of our first big walk around town when we explored all that the city has to offer and felt so excited about living in such a cool place.  It definitely feels like it went by fast, but when I think back to how long ago that actually was and realize that I hadn’t had all of the experiences I had in Palma yet at that point, I realize just how full of an adventure it was, and I think that makes it easier to go back knowing I really lived it to the fullest.

Flying back was a long, tiring process that included a 2 hour flight to Dusseldorf, Germany, followed by a 12 hour flight to Los Angeles, but lots of music and 3 movies managed to get me through it.  I was able to get one last shot of the island from the window of the plane:

And with that, my study abroad experience was over.  On the one hand, it was hard to believe it had already come to an end, but I really do feel like a got a ton out of it, and as hard as leaving any place is, I was able to accept that it was time to go.

I really wanted to add a song into this last post to describe my time in Palma, and thinking about it now, it would’ve been nice to share all of the music that soundtracked my journey.  I considered several different ones that talk about things coming to an end, or going back home, or California specifically, but I settled on one that captures in two words the wealth of new experiences I had abroad and my philosophy towards all the adventures that will come my way in the future: Stay open.

Here’s hoping I have the occasion to revive this blog again for another experience abroad.  Until then, I’ll leave off with the way Spaniards normally say goodbye – a phrase that more accurately means «see you later»:

¡Hasta luego!

Weeks 15-17

Once again, even though I said I wouldn’t, I find myself covering a period of 3 weeks at once (and an eventful one at that).  Let’s get to it.

The start of this period was unfortunately marked by one of the most frustrating illnesses I’ve ever encountered.  I’ve definitely been sicker than I was during that time, but this one just wouldn’t seem to go away.

I used to think that being sick was, at least to some extent, a mind-over-matter type deal.  Sure, I would come down with something and have to spend a few days in bed recovering, but there was always a certain point at which I wasn’t necessarily better, but I just had to decide to return to my normal activities and eventually the cold would work itself out.

I thought I had reached that point a few times with this cold.  I was wrong.  Finding myself feeling pretty well, I would try going back to the gym or spending the day out, only to end the day feeling absolutely wiped and spend the next few days recovering.

This reached its peak two weekends ago when my friend M.E. came to visit me.  Since she came by herself, I was the only person here she had to hang out with, so I tried to work up the energy to show her around.  The first day, we toured the center of Palma and saw things like the cathedral and the royal palace.

Cool textured ceiling in the palace.

I also took her to a concert from a Canadian group at the same record store we’ve been going to: Xocolat.  It was the first time I had seen an English-speaking band try to address a crowd that speaks a different language, and they didn’t know much Spanish, so they basically just said what they had to say in English and hoped they got the message across.  They were good live though, and it was nice to see music that was a little more in line with the style we’re used to back home.

That night, we went to dinner at a Thai place.  Although it was after 8, apparently anything before 9 is just like the Early-Bird Special to Spaniards, because we were literally the only table in the restaurant.  I was craving spicy food, so I got some Singapore noodles, and enjoyed the fancy presentation.

Coming back, I was exhausted that night, even though we hadn’t really done anything besides walking around town.  You know something’s wrong when you want to go to sleep but can’t muster up the energy to walk to the bathroom and brush your teeth.  Still, I had a bit of my energy back when I got up the next morning and wanted to make sure my friend got to see the best parts of Palma, so we headed to the beach in the morning.  After a quick lunch, we took a cab to the closest system of caves – Las Cuevas de Genova.  They’re actually a privately owned cave that almost looks like it’s in someone’s backyard, but once inside, they’re pretty spectacular.  After a frustratingly long wait for the owner to give up hope that more people would show up and finally decide to take just the two of us on a tour, he took us in and showed us around.

We took a bus back to Palma after the caves, but at that point I had to go lie down.  I had to make the difficult decision after then to spend the next day in bed because I just couldn’t stand to be out another day and get even worse, so I gave my friend some recommendations and told her I’d meet her for meals.  I was bummed that I didn’t get to spend more time with her and show her everything the island has to offer, but she took advantage of the time to do some of the touristy things that I had already seen.

I was pretty worried at that point, though, because in just a few days I had a trip to Barcelona coming up with my friends Jake and Sarah from my Palma program.  With a normal cold, I wouldn’t be too worried about being too sick to travel five days later, but by then I knew that cold’s capacity to just hang on forever.  Short of going to class, I didn’t do anything the rest of the week in order to save up enough energy to make it through the trip, but honestly, I wasn’t sure by the time I left whether or not I’d really make it through the weekend.

Fortunately enough, I did make it through okay, and even though I was tired by the end of each day, it wasn’t the same exhaustion that took days to recover from like before.  The first day, we decided to check a major sight off the list by going to Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia cathedral.

Between this semester and the Camino, I’ve seen quite a few European cathedrals, and while they’re all huge works of art, they do all start to look the same after a while.  This one really was different though, especially on the inside. When we first stepped in, we were struck by the strange geometric shapes that made up the walls and ceiling.  Reading the information that was posted around revealed that the cathedral was built to look like a forest, with the ceiling resembling a canopy and the columns looking like tree trunks.  Once we understood the concept, we all agreed that it worked really well, and started to see it less as a Disney-goes-Catholic type place and more as a viable place of worship.

Like many other cathedrals, it had some excellent stained glass that provided really cool lighting at the time we were there.

The cathedral still isn’t finished, so for the time being these cranes are a permanent fixture.

That night, we met up with my friend Katelyn, who’s doing a quarter abroad in Barcelona.  She took us to a cool seafood place where all the proteins are presented raw, and then you order the amount you want and tell them how to cook it.  We all got a ton of food for a decent price considering it was seafood, and it was cool to try a unique local place.

The next day, we had X Games tickets for the afternoon, so we decided to explore a bit in the morning.  We walked up and down La Rambla, which is a wide street with lots of restaurants (we actually have a smaller version in Palma).  We had been warned about pickpockets there in particular, and I must’ve taken the advice to heart because it looks like I took zero pictures that whole time.  I did get some shots of the Plaza Real and the old cathedral, which has since been upstaged by the Sagrada Familia.

One great thing about the X Games was that they took place at the site of the 1992 Summer Olympics, so we got to tour those grounds as well as seeing the event.  There was an incredibly nice art museum on the way up to the stadium that looked more like a royal palace than a museum.

We saw the qualifiers for the Street Skateboarding event, which basically involved tricks off ramps, staircases, and benches.  I liked seeing that the majority of the skaters were from California – one was even from Northridge, and another from Simi Valley.  We also got to see Ryan Sheckler, who’s become pretty famous by now after his reality show on MTV.  He skated really well but fell badly on one trick and didn’t qualify for the finals, so it ended up being a good thing we saw the qualifiers.

The Olympic torch:

After the X Games, we took an elevator to the top of the old bullfighting stadium (which is now a mall) and saw some nice views of the city.  This view is over the Plaza de Espana.

That night, we decided to check out this cool cafe we had heard about.  It’s actually owned by the wax museum and located right next to it, and called El Bosc de les Fades (Catalan for the Forest of the Fairies).  It did look like a forest inside, with tables meant to look like trees and a little walkway past a river.  These trees looked pretty scary lit up with flash:

On Saturday, we split up, with Jake checking out the monastery at Monserratt, and Sarah and I taking a train to Girona.  When we first got there, we were shocked that the «river» we had seen in photos was basically empty (it was about as much of a river as the LA River).

Once we crossed a certain bridge, though, we must have passed by a dam or some tributaries because the river was suddenly up to its normal levels.  This was the Girona we saw in pictures.

Our timing ended up being great because Girona was having a festival called Temps de Flors, so the whole town was decked out in flower decorations and all the museums had free entrance.

The reason we came to Girona was to check out this Jewish history museum, since the town has a fairly big Jewish quarter.  Our confusing train schedule only allowed us a little over 3 hours in Girona, but we saw all of the museum and quite a bit of the town in that time.

This was probably my favorite decoration of them all – ladybugs made from flowers on a giant leaf made of grass.

It was really cool the way the covered the staircases with grass. This one was leading up to the cathedral.

Some of the decorations were a bit strange, like cauliflower that had been painted and plants coming out of hanging shoes.  It all looked pretty cool put together though.

Right before leaving, we climbed up a big staircase to see views of the whole town.  We realized that this path went quite a bit further, but we just didn’t have time to explore it all.

That night, we took another friend’s recommendation and tried a local sandwich place called Bo de B.  Apparently, there are lines out the door every night, and after tasting their food, I can see why.  They had tons of fresh vegetables and meats that they cook for you and assemble in delicious bread, before covering it in sauces and heating it up to serve to you.  It was absolutely delicious, and less than 4 euros for a huge sandwich.  We seriously considered going back the next day.

On our last day in Barcelona, we knew we were in for a marathon – we had a concert starting at midnight and a flight at 8 AM, so we didn’t book a hostel for the night and planned to stay up for almost the next 24 hours.  We tried to take the day easy in an effort to conserve energy for that night, but still ended up doing quite a bit.

We had one last major sight to see that we had saved for that day: Gaudi’s Parc Guell.  On the way there, we stored our luggage at the train station and passed by Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf (or however it’s spelled in Catalan) – apparently Paris is not alone in having one, especially because we saw one in Rome too.

Parc Guell was at the top of a tall hill on the edge of town, but luckily the metro took us pretty close, and there were escalators to get us most of the rest of the way (there was one steep stretch that had us seriously considering crawling though).  From the top, we saw some great views of the city, and Gaudi’s installments in the park were also really cool to see.  They all had his distinct mosaic style, and we took pictures on the bench that everyone who visits Barcelona seems to stop by.

This lizard was insanely popular – getting a picture without a smiling, posing person in front of it was basically impossible.  The columns and ceilings you see to the right are the underside of the bench area, and we all thought it was really cool how Gaudi made each part of the park into a work of art, even the underside of a terrace.

For lunch. we took another friend’s recommendation and stopped by a place called 100 Montaditos for lunch.  It’s basically a place that serves little sandwiches (100 different kinds to choose from), and we were lucky enough to come by on a day where everything on the menu was 1 euro.  I tried a chicken and crispy onion sandwich and a smoked salmon one, and both were pretty good, although nothing could match the greatness that was Bo de B.

After lunch, we stopped by some other Gaudi buildings in the area.  The tickets to go inside them were really overpriced, so we just decided to see from the outside.

Right about then, rainclouds started to come in, and the rest of the afternoon was filled with scattered showers.  We finally decided to seek refuge in a Starbucks, and it actually was a great way to rest up before the big show.

Before the concert, we had dinner at a good local pasta place and then went to a bar my friend had showed us to watch the final soccer game of the season.  We got to the venue (Sala Razzmatazz) a little after 12, but the band we were there to see – iamamiwhoami – didn’t go on until 2:30.  Although the performance was hard to appreciate if you’re not already a fan of this band’s music (which was the case with my friends), I really loved it, and since the band is still relatively unknown, it was cool to be in a place where there were so many fans all gathered together.  We got really exhausted by about 4:30 and decided to begin our trek back to the airport then, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Razz.

After a very long morning of flying back and a nap that ran longer than it was supposed to, we made it to class the next day.  Although we were thoroughly exhausted, we were more or less back to normal after a few days of taking it easy.

This past weekend, we had a group excursion to a small island called Cabrera.  We had to take an hour-long boat ride over there, and even though I had taken Dramamine, I got very seasick on the way over.  I did manage to get a shot from the bow though:

Once on the island, I was feeling alright and ready to explore.  The island is a national park, and has an old castle that has some great views of the area.

The water at Cabrera was extremely clear, and it’s usually a nice place to go swimming, but  we had the bad luck of going on a day when hundreds of jellyfish were floating right by the shore.  Some other people there were either daring or ignorant enough to go in, but none of us were willing to risk a jellyfish sting.

I brought along my sister’s underwater camera this semester, but I still hadn’t gotten a chance to use it.  I was looking forward to taking some pictures in the water at Cabrera, but the jellyfish thought otherwise it seemed.  Still, we found some water right by the dock that looked pretty jellyfish-free, so we got to play around with it a bit.  You can see how clear the water is in this shot:

The next day, I took the tourist train with my friends Sarah and Erin to Soller.  I had been to Soller before with my parents, but I had never taken this train ride and had heard it was very scenic.  We saw some great views out the windows of the island’s mountains, and the train even stopped at a lookout point over the town of Soller for everyone to get out and take pictures.

Once in Soller, we took the tram straight to Port de Soller, which is really what everyone comes to that part of the island for.  The water there is beautiful, and we had a good time walking around the port and getting pictures of the boats in the harbor.

 

 

Someone was working on a very elaborate sandcastle on the beach there, complete with a tree-lined walkway.

We walked all around the port and took a little path up the side of some bluffs nearby.  The rocks were creating some huge spray as the waves crashed on them, and we spent forever trying to get the perfect photo of it.  I set my camera to non-stop shutter mode and had to go through and delete about 100 extra pictures I took just trying to get the spray to come out.  In the end, some of the pictures show it, but it just doesn’t capture what it was like to see it in person.

Now that we’re heading into the last three weeks here, it’s going to be tough to fit everything in that we want to do.  We’ve got a series of essays to complete for our classes (which is what I spent most of yesterday doing), so between that and studying for exams, school is demanding our attention more than ever.  At the same time though, these are our last few days of studying abroad, and we also want to fit in trips to our favorite places and things we haven’t seen before.  It’s going to be a busy homestretch, but I’m looking forward to the rest of it!

Weeks 13 and 14

It’s hard to to believe, but I’m now more than 2/3 of the way done with the semester, and this time 6 weeks from now, I’ll be back home in California! We’re definitely coming up on the home stretch, and although I’m looking forward to another summer at home, I’m starting to realize just how much I’ll miss it here.

I actually don’t have a ton of photos from these last 2 weeks because instead of going to any other places, we’ve just been doing different things around Palma.  One nice discovery has been this local record store/cafe called Xocolat, which has free acoustic concerts almost every day during the week as well as film screenings.  I haven’t watched any of the movies yet. but we went to two concerts in the same week after discovering them, and it’s a really nice place to watch some live music.  The concerts always take place at 7 PM, so it works out perfectly to go to see them and still be home in time for dinner.

The first group we saw was a pair called Duo Soulnova, and except for one or two songs, it was all covers of famous English songs.  It was a bit strange to see someone sing covers of Amy Winehouse and then address the crowd in Spanish, but it’s been consistent with what we’ve noticed here: American pop culture really resonates even in countries that don’t speak the language.

The second concert was a group called Nua, and they actually performed original material, all of which was in Catalan.  They also spoke Catalan between their songs, but we were able to get the gist of what they were saying even though we’re far from fluent in that language.  Arguably the best part was watching them play slide guitar, which added a really cool sound to the two songs they used it for.

Naturally, a place called Xocolat had to serve chocolate in some form, and the one they chose was chocolate a la taza.  It’s really different from our hot chocolate in that it’s very rich (basically like melted chocolate), so I only made it halfway through the glass I ordered.  To me, it’s the kind of thing that works better for dipping things into than for drinking straight, but either way it was still good.

That weekend we tagged along at a party for the Erasmus students, which went super late as usual.  I spent the rest of the weekend working on an essay due this past week, but I also had the chance to play in a volleyball tournament on Sunday.  We used to have a huge group going for volleyball, but we’ve had issues getting the court reserved and haven’t been able to get a full six-on-six game in a while.  The tournament had 6 full teams though, and it we played all morning.  We followed a rule I had never used before: instead of playing to 25, we played for 30 minutes non-stop, and whoever had more points at the end was the winner.  This made each of the five games we played last much longer, so I was pretty exhausted by the end.  It was still a great way to spend a Sunday morning though, especially since it had been so long since I had played in a tournament (and our 3-2 record wasn’t too bad).

Unfortunately, this past week I’ve been sick with a small cold – not really all that bad a cold actually, but just bad enough to keep my energy levels down and annoying in that it won’t seem to go away! So this weekend was mostly spent relaxing and trying to get ahead on work, although I did go out for 2 dinners.  The first was with some of the Spanish students we’ve met in our classes, and it was a lot of fun to meet more of them and see them outside of school.  We went to a place called Skalop where the specialty is basically giant pieces of super flat fried meat (pork is the standard one).  I got a «normal» size and it barely fit on the plate, but one person at our table ordered a «grande» and it was unbelievably big (you can see it on the left towards the middle of the second photo).  Even though the meat was thin, it was still a ton of food and left us very full.  Afterwards, we went out by the coast and our Spanish friends showed us some of their favorite dance clubs.  It was definitely a fun night, and it’s always nice to try some local favorites.

The following night, we were also invited to a dinner, but this time it was an international dinner with the Erasmus students in which each person was required to bring something from their home country for the others to try.  One of the other Americans and I decided to collaborate on two dishes, although it was actually pretty difficult to choose purely American food to cook – we’re so used to things like pizza and tacos that it’s easy to forget those come from other cultures.  We decided on chili and apple pie, and although we spent a while preparing them, both turned out really good.  We had to improvise with some of the Spanish ingredients that don’t quite match up to the American recipes (vanilla sugar instead of vanilla extract and hot paprika instead of chili powder), but in the end the difference was negligible.  It was also my first time making the lattice on a pie, but in both cases the dishes went over well.  After waiting for the pie to bake and dealing with a cab that probably took us further away from the bar where the dinner was than where we started, we made it about an hour late.  Several people we’re even later though, but I filled up on the food that was there so quickly that I didn’t get to try their food.  Everything I did taste was good though, and overall it was another successful dinner!

Now I’m just hoping to get over this cold, especially because I’ve got some exciting plans coming up that I want to be able to enjoy fully: this weekend, my friend will be coming to town, and next weekend, we’re taking what will most likely be our last trip of the semester – to Barcelona.  I’m sure I’ll have plenty to talk about the next time I post, so until then!

Weeks 9-12

Now I find myself with the almost impossible task of describing about a month’s worth of time here – and it was not an uneventful month by any means.  Having traveled for Spring Break and spent time with my family afterwards, I’ve been too busy during most of that time to update this blog, but luckily it’s given me a lot to talk about!  There’s no way I’ll be able to recount everything in as much detail as I’d like, but I think just the overview I’ll give will suffice.

So at the beginning of this past month was our Spring Break and my first trip during my time here.  We decided to go to Italy as a group (5 of us here from Palma and one friend of mine from high school), which allowed us to rent apartments together in Rome and Florence instead of staying in hostels.  For just a little more than a bed in a hostel, we got to stay in some really nice apartments, complete with kitchens, bathrooms, and a living room all to ourselves.  Definitely the way to go if you’re traveling in a group.

Anyway, our first stop in Italy was Rome.  On the first day, three of us from our group decided to check out the Roman Forum and the Coliseum (which, if you’re ever there, is the right order to do them in because you buy tickets for both at the Forum and the line is WAY shorter there).

On the way to that area from our apartment, we got to check out some ruins and chapels that we passed by.  Rome really is nothing like an American city in that ancient ruins are just sitting in the middle of city blocks, and you never know where you’ll see something that can be considered artwork.

The Forum itself was very much in line with that principle – old ruins everywhere from centuries ago.  It was fun to explore all the different areas and imagine how it looked back in its day.  Some buildings held up pretty well, while others just had a broken column to mark that they were ever there.

 

We couldn’t resist getting a photo impersonating a statue… Unfortunately the guards weren’t too happy about it.

I was also having fun with a feature I discovered on my camera that blurs the top and bottom of a photo kind of like an Instagram picture, and as a Windows Phone user who still doesn’t have Instagram, it was nice to at least know what I’ve been missing.

We probably saw about 90% of the Forum, but because we wanted to make sure we were leaving enough time for the Coliseum too, we decided to head over there next.  It’s a really spectacular building, and even though part of it was taken down, it’s impressive that the rest has held up so well.  From the inside, it was a little hard to imagine it in its day because it didn’t have the floor or the seats, but just thinking that that very spot was where all those gladiator battles took place was unbelievable.

 

Outside the Coliseum, I got lunch from one of the street vendors.  It turned out to be my first pizza in Italy, although I didn’t realize that’s what it was because it looked more like a sandwich.  Turns out a lot of places serve pizza that way when it’s meant to be eaten on the go, and some even roll it like a burrito. While it wasn’t the best one I had all trip, it was nice and simple with mozzarella and tomato sauce, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For dinner that night, we met up with a friend from high school who happened to be in Rome when we were and saw us posting pictures from there.  It was nice to have a mini high school reunion there, and it was actually the only sit-down restaurant I went to the whole time I was in Italy.  I tried the penne alla arrabiatta, which is a spicy tomato sauce, and I really liked it a lot.  Spain doesn’t seem to have much spicy food, so getting to have that flavor again after a long time was nice.

The next day we all went to a market together in the morning, and it was really cool to see all the local produce.  The booth in the photo below had the most exotic stuff (by Italian standards at least), since it seemed to be the only one with things like pomegranates, plantains, and dragonfruit.  At the rest of them, artichokes, fennel, and plenty of spices and pastas were abundant, including a chocolate pasta that I kind of wish I had tried.  Since we were planning on cooking dinner in our apartment that night, we picked up some garlic to season the pasta dish we’d be making and went on our way.

 

We then went to see the Pantheon, although it actually wasn’t the first time we had seen it.  The first time we saw it was the night we arrived, but we were so confused after getting off our bus at the wrong stop and being very late to meet our apartment’s owner that we didn’t really get to appreciate it fully.  The front is iconic, but the inside was surprisingly big, and the whole thing was clearly very popular with tourists because it was packed.

 

 

We then grabbed lunch and headed on to see some other things.  I picked up a sandwich from a little store, and it was delicious – crispy bread filled with speck, mozzarella, arugula, and some other vegetables.  Street food in Italy was definitely the way to go, as everything was pretty cheap and delicious.

 

We also stopped to watch a painter create some art, which  a couple of us bought.  It was amazing to watch how she applied the paint in seemingly really imprecise ways, but by spreading it around and scraping it off managed to create really detailed works of art.  She also spoke really good English, and after realizing that our Spanish skills weren’t going to get us very far in Italy, it was nice to be able to communicate well with someone.

The next three things we saw are all pretty well known – the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.  They were all nice to see, and yes, we did throw coins into the fountain to guarantee that we’d return to Rome.

 

We then stopped at what was supposedly the best gelato place in Rome (although everyone has their favorite I’m sure): San Crispino.  We each got 2 flavors, and mine was orange/mandarin and ginger/cinnamon.  It was really good, but I actually think my favorite flavor was the taste I had of my friend’s pistachio.

That night, we went back to the Coliseum area because a special Easter event was going on – the Pope was leading the Stations of the Cross, a ritual I’m only vaguely familiar with from seeing it once in high school.  We couldn’t actually see the Pope during it, but there were thousands and thousands of people there, so just seeing everyone gathered in the same place and seeing the Coliseum lit up at night was pretty special.

 

The following day we spent at the Vatican, which was pretty crowded, but not too bad considering it was the day before Easter Sunday.  Most of the museum consisted of these long hallways with different themes, such as old maps of what people thought the world looked like and giant tapestries.  The things on the wall were beautiful, but I think the best part was looking up at the ornate ceilings.

We also snuck a quick picture in the Sistine Chapel… The guards we’re not on their game that day clearly, because we managed to get several without anyone saying anything.

We got out too late to see Saint Peter’s Basilica, but to be honest, I don’t know much about it aside from the name, so I was alright with having to miss it.  There was a giant line of people waiting in the rain to be let into mass though:

The next day we woke up early, cleaned the apartment, and hopped on a train to Florence.  We made sure to get there by 11 because every year on Easter they have a special fireworks show outside the Duomo.  It basically ended up being this big car laced with tons of explosives, and it just kept going.  The whole thing lasted at least 15 minutes, and alternated between fireworks flying up in the air and explosions closer to the ground. It got a bit to smoky to capture towards the end, but it was really cool to be there.

 

 

 

 

Right across from the Duomo were the Golden Doors, which I hear are important too…

Another nice courtyard with a merry-go-round:

 

We checked into our apartment that afternoon and had a nice view of the Duomo from the balcony.

 

That night, we ate at Gusta Pizza, a local favorite that supposedly has the best pizza in town.  I don’t have much of a basis for comparison, but it was pretty delicious, so that claim may very well be true.

We also walked by the Ponte Vecchio around sunset, giving us some nice views of the buildings and the river.

 

 

The next day we went to the Academy to see the most famous piece of art in Florence – the David.  No pictures were allowed of him either, so the best I could get was this far away shot.

Although the sculpture was certainly impressive, my friend Chris and I agreed that the best part of the Academy was definitely this metal bowl located in the museum of instruments section.  It was a Chinese instrument that requires you to wet your hands and rub the two handles to create friction, which then produces deep, loud sounds similar to a gong or the kind of noises used for meditation.  It was actually pretty challenging to play, and Chris figured it out before I could.  After hanging around it for a while though, we both got really good at it, and were making noises so loud that people in the other rooms were coming in just to see what it was.  We tried to teach them how to play also, but it’s the kind of thing you need to spend some time playing around with just to get the feel for it.  After becoming experts in our new favorite instrument for about half an hour, we decided it was time to move on.

At that point, we stopped back at the apartment to plan the next leg of the trip.  Chris had to get to France within the next 2 days, so she decided to head up to Milan and I decided to go to Venice.  We went to the train station to buy our tickets ahead of time, and were hoping to walk to the Piazza Michaelangelo afterwards.  We got a little lost though, so instead of seeing that, we stopped and bought some delicious clementines and walked along the river as the sun set.  It was a nice way to see a good portion of the city.

We also stopped by the apartment of my friend who lived in Florence for a whole year.  I thought it’d be cool to see the place she called home for so long, and it ended up being right near the place where we had dinner, so it was perfect.  For dinner, we did a typical Italian thing: aperativo.  It’s basically a free buffet that you get if you buy one drink, so we had it in both Rome and Florence.  We got to have some delicious breads, cheeses, meats, and pastas, and it was all pretty cheap.

The next morning, everyone in the apartment had to head out early, so I started the first of 2 days I’d be spending alone on the trip.  It was strange to travel alone in that I didn’t have anyone to comment on things with, but it was also nice to do everything at my pace, and it gave me a lot of chances to take pictures.  I had some time until my train to Venice, so I decided to see the Piazza Michaelangelo before I left.  It had some great views of the whole city as well as a replica of the David, so it was definitely worth seeing.

After a short train ride, I made it to Venice, and I was immediately glad I had gone.  The city was beautiful, and as someone whose closest experience to Venice was the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, it was cool to see that a place like this actually existed.  I arrived without hotel reservations, and finding a place to stay was a bit stressful, but once I got settled in I had a great time walking around and taking pictures.

Try as I might, my dog will never be this well trained:

 

Even the small side-streets presented great photo-ops.  It’s interesting how owning a boat in Venice is like having a car in normal cities, since beyond the entrance you won’t see any cars.

 

 

I stumbled upon some military fortress situated right at the end of one of the canals.

One cool thing about Venice was how brightly everything was colored.  Isolating the red in this photo lets you appreciate the paint job on these stakes.

I finally wandered into San Marco’s Square without really knowing what it was, but I was really impressed by the nice looking buildings.  I noticed that a good portion of it had puddles of water, and I wasn’t sure if it was just due to rainfall or if those stories I’ve heard of Venice sinking had to do with more and more water flooding the streets.

This bridge is in the Rialto area, which is very touristy but very nice.  It was one of only 2 bridges to cross the main canal, so navigating was a bit difficult.  The maps on my phone (which somehow work without data) made all the difference.

For dinner, I grabbed what I called a «pizza burrito,» but it was really just some rolled up pizza.  Like the others, it was delicious, and I probably could’ve finished two.  I then sat down by a canal after it got dark and watched the boats go by while listening to music.  Sitting in one spot for so long made me try many times to get the perfect shot of this bar along the canals,  but I finally got one I was happy with.

The next morning, I had a few hours before my train left, so I went back to San Marco’s and went inside the Basilica.  Pictures weren’t allowed here either, but nobody seemed to care since everyone was taking them, and I was glad that I could get some shots of the beautiful gold ceiling – definitely the highlight of the whole thing.  Outside, I also got a shot of this bridge that I heard was important, but I’m not sure why.  To be honest, I didn’t really do my research before coming to Venice, but luckily it’s a city that can fully enjoyed at face value.

 

 

 

 

 

That afternoon I took a 5.5 hour train back to Rome, but it was a nice ride through the Italian countryside, and with my iPod and the snacks I had bought, I was comfortable the whole time.  After struggling a bit at the Termini station in Rome to find a train to Ciampino (where the airport and my hotel were), I finally got one, only to miss my stop.  There were no more trains that night and no cabs in sight, so I had to wander along a dark rural road until I made it to Ciampino.  That was probably one of the scarier moments I’ve had here, but I made it to my hotel just fine and had a nice night there.  In the daylight, Ciampino turned out to be a charming little town, so before my flight I spent some time reading in a park before enjoying the cheapest and tastiest pizza I had in Italy.

The day after I got back to Spain, my parents and sister came into town for a visit.  Of the three of them, my sister was the only one who had learned some Spanish, but even she hadn’t practiced it for about 8 years, so I had to serve as the translator most of the time.  I was glad to see how well I could communicate with the Spaniards we encountered, since it’s hard to see your progress on a day-to-day basis.  I saw that compared to someone who doesn’t know Spanish at all, I’m definitely capable of expressing pretty much everything I need to here.

Since my parents rented a car, we spent a good amount of time exploring the island.  One of the first places we went was the Coves del Drach, which are known as the best caves on the island.  The formations inside really were spectacular, and we got to hear classical music played by people on boats on top of an underground lake, which we later got to cross on boat before exiting.  While I liked those over caves we hiked to before, these definitely were the most spectacular.

We then drove along the island’s east coast and saw a bunch of little villages.  We loved seeing how clear the water was, and were pretty entertained by this cat on a vespa and the dozens of birds that swarmed around our car for a few minutes before all deciding to head somewhere else together.

The next day we decided to go north, seeing Valldemossa, Soller, and Sa Calobra.  We enjoyed all three, but I was especially surprised at how beautiful Soller was since I had never been there before.

While Sa Calobra was great, the road down there was terrifying – it was so windy and narrow that one car on it would be tight, but having to pass other people while bicyclists were also taking up part of the road was nearly impossible.  I was glad to not be driving, especially when we realized the only way back was the same road back up the mountain…  Still, seeing the little outlet of the Torrent de Pareis was really pretty, and while it’s debatable whether or not it was worth the drive, it at least might have been.

The last day my parents were here I spent showing them around Palma itself, which included going inside the Seu Cathedral for the first time.  You wouldn’t know from the outside, but the windows are actually beautiful works of stained glass, and are really impressive to see illuminated.

Since my parents left, I’ve been settling back into my lifestyle here in Palma.  I had to spend most of last week conducting interviews for my radio staff next year, but now that that’s all settled, I’ve been using my free time to go to the beach and explore the city.  This weekend, I took care of a milestone that should’ve happened when I was about 5 years old: learning to ride a bike.  I don’t know why, but I just never learned when I was little, so two of my friends helped prop me up until I learned to balance on my own.  After my first day of riding, I was a bit shaky, but I could at least stay on the bike without falling.  However, I knew I was still way behind the level of my friends, so today I decided to rent a bike again and get some more practice in.  I rode all around the city and along the coast for a little bit, and although I still have trouble staying straight in tight places, especially when passing other cyclists, I know I’ve already gotten a lot better, and I think I’m almost ready to keep up on a group ride.  I may have started late, but I think I’ve found myself a new hobby.

Well that’s all for now, see you next time for a shorter post that will cover much less time!