Last week of school.

As my time in Oviedo draws to a close, my time thinking about Barcelona and Madrid increases. Right now, I have some rough ideas of what I would like to do during my short time there.

In Barcelona, where I will be from 27/6/09 to 30/6/09, I plan to see Gaudí´s architectural masterpieces - Papau Guell, la Sagrada Familia, and Parc Guell. Ideally I´ll take a day to see all of these, and Sagrada is 8€ but the others are free. There´s also a light and sound show somewhere in Barcelona late at night that I would like to attend. It´s probably full of tourists but it sounds like a nice alternative to sitting at a smoky bar, throwing back Mahous, Guiness, and (gag) San Miguel. I think it´s free, too, actually.

Las Ramblas is going to take another full day to get through, I´m sure. It´s a giant street in Barcelona with shops, cafés, performers, et cetera. Free to look, but I´m sure I´ll find some souvenirs to bring back home.

La Boqueria is a giant market from Monday-Saturday, formally known as the Mercat Sant Josep. I keep hoping for a fresh outdoor food market like the farmers market, but so far my experience with Spanish markets has consisted of bootlegged DVDs in Spanish, purses, flowers, anything but food. For me, market is synonymous with the feeling of a full belly, so it´s been a little disappointing... hopefully the Mercat in Barcelona won´t be a bust.

La Seu, Barcelona´s cathedral, is allegedly magnificent. It´s open daily before and after mediodia (ie. Spanish naptime) and I can pay around 2€ for a tour of the cloisters, or just go inside for free. I might just do the free unguided tour.

Museo Picasso is here! This is something I´m super excited about. It´s 9€ and it´s supposed to be in a location with a lot of fabulous architecture and beauty.

We should also have time to hit the beach. Our hostel is supposed to between Las Ramblas and the beach, so we may spend some time in the hot hot heat of la playa.

In Madrid, where I will be from 30/6/09 to 4/7/09, there´s tons of stuff to do as well:

Two museums that I absolutely MUST go to are called the Reina Sofia and the Museo del Prado. We can catch the Prado for free between 6-8pm, so we may do that, and the Reina Sofia is 6€. The Reina Sofia is where Picasso´s famous ¨Guernica¨ is located.

Those are the biggest things I´m interested in. Other than that, there are a couple of parks I want to check out. One, the Parque del Retiro, includes 330 acres, and the Casa de Campo is a giant park with - according to my tour guide book - PANDAS. I´m not missing a panda. There´s also a Campo del Moro. Stuff goes on there. Yeah.

We might also take a bus to Toledo if we have time on a random day before we leave. I´m all about wandering aimlessly around the city. (Fun sidenote: in Spanish, the verb for ¨wander¨ is ¨vagar¨- sounds like vagabond, yeah? That´s because the etymology of the word is from VAGARI. To wander, roam, be unsettled, spread abroad. That´s totally my game on vacation, yo.)

So there´s some things. What else...

Last week we canoed down the river Sella. It was amazing. My rotator cuffs were a little sore the next day, but it was really fun. The downside is that the life vests we were renting smelled like sour sweat. Once I get my own life vest, I spy a future hobby. Anyway, we only went about 7km, so the trip was only a couple of hours. We stopped halfway through to eat bocadillos on the bank of the Sella, and then we finished the trip. It wasn´t like white water rafting or anything dangerous. The worst that happened was that Nathan and Tommy pushed our canoe into a tree. Saboteurs! Then later, I was responsible for getting us stuck in another tree. Note: When heading for a tree with low branches, instead of shouting ¨DUCK!¨, put a little bit of effort into steering away from the tree. It was hilarious and a little bit painful all at the same time. :) The fun thing about canoeing is using your oar to push other boats when they´re in your way. That, or ram into them. Leave it to Americans to turn canoeing into a contact sport.

I didn´t get any photos of canoeing down the Sella, because of course it´s always a terrible idea to bring a camera into a wet environment, even if you have a waterproof bucket. Somehow I would manage to damage it. But I can google a picture of the Sella. Here:


See? Not so scary.

Last night I went with Nicole to ZARZUELA, the opera in town. I´m a little sketchy on the details, but opera is always in a different language, so it was nothing new. There were beautiful costumes and beautiful voices and attractive Spaniards in old timey gear. Me encanta. It lasted three hours and then I went home, ate two apricots, and went to bed.

Our last test is Thursday, we receive our certificates of completion on Friday, have a tiny espicha, and then I´m done with school.