Barcelona Briefing

OOOoooo Kay! It's about my third week here, I've started classes, my program is cool, blablabla.... let's get down to the nitty gritty:

Things I've noticed about Barcelona thus far:
*People don't really look at you as you walk past them, which I think is true for all cities... but what may be unique to Barcelona is that instead of this, they look at your shoes... seriously, shoes seem to be a big thing here-- or rather, boots. Everyone is wearing boots, or at least all of the women are. And when I wear anything else, especially my all-recycled and hemp slip-on Mary-Janes, people seem quite bewildered.
*I don't understand why I don't hear an ambulance zipping past me every minute, because people drive SO FAST. They're flying by at 60 miles an hour on a well-walked pedestrian strip... and I mean everyone is doing this, even the abuelas.
*The Menu Al Día is awesome: it's a four-course lunch for usually around ten euro, and since lunch is the big meal here, everyone is out having their fancy wine and big entrees and postre at around 2:00. It's really fun.
*I loooovvvve the Spanish/Mediterranean diet of lots of olive oil, bread, cheese, wine, and meat.... but every once in a while you have to have your hot sauce.. you know? And there is nothing spicy here at all. No tapatio in the stores. I think saffron is the closest taste to being spicy, and it's usually only in one type of paella dish (please tell me you've had paella... It is tan delicioso!)
*Everything is in the Catalan lengua, which is a mix of French, Italian, and is the closest language to Latin existing today. But everyone does speak Castellano (the Spanish most used around the world), also, and will talk to you in it, usually without bad attitude.
*I wore a bright pink dress today, and people actually looked at me instead of my feet, yet still in a state of bewilderment, because seeing bright colors, or colors at all, in people's wear is very rare. There are lots of black and brown. And the dress is conservative-- turtlenecks, and overall staying very covered.
*The city is super safe: there are almost never violent crimes, and even the worst barrio is pretty secure compared to a US city. I've realized too, that this is really important to feeling at home wherever I am at. In Barcelona I can leave my apartment at any time and head out to wherever I want without feeling nervous, and that extent of freedom really makes a difference in your state of mind.
*Everything is closed on Sundays. Everything. No supermarkets, department stores, gas stations, gyms, restaurants, are open. I've found a select few scattered around the city that happen to be open, and they're usually owned by Pakistani immigrants who are not accustomed to this traditional Spanish schedule.

I also want to give a quick overview of my general opinion on the city, so here goes:
Me encanta esta ciudad. Es increíble. It's like all the cool cities I've been to in the U.S., improved a million times over. It has everything a city could offer you, but with a lifestyle that makes so much more sense to me-- people live at a slower pace and are more relaxed, taking three hour siestas or lunch breaks and not being so dependent on exact times and dates. There are less big name brands and essentially less monopoly in business, and you see a lot more of artisan and boutique shops and family-owned restaurants and small businesses. There seem to be a lot more jobs in areas of work that have long been taken over by machines in the United States-- for example, today while in Park Ciutadella, I saw a bunch of park care-takers watering and tending to the plants; so that there isn't a single sprinkler in this huge public park.
Every inch of the city is picturesque and most of it really, really old with a lot of history. It's funny to me that the lamest statue in a park or on the corner of some seedy street, that no one takes notice of, would be the marvel of the town in Santa Cruz and likely most towns in the U.S. And then, of course, the great sites in Barcelona are just unimaginable and almost overload for your eyes (like the chapel Sagrada Familia... I'll try to post pictures soon).
Anyway, I could go on for days but what I'm trying to say is that this place is IT, and you've got to come check it out if you can. I've got space on my floor for you!

Now for some photos....

These are just some photos I took around the city....

These are some street performers on "La Rambla," the main tourist strip...

Below is Casa Pedrera, or "House of a Stone Quarry," nicknamed so by local Barcelonians who witnessed its being built by Gaudí in 1905. It was built to be a mansion for some rich bourgeoisie man, but now it's a spectacle for going up to the top and taking pictures and drinking wine after sunset. I know absolutely nothing about architecture, but I've firmly decided that Gaudí is my favorite architect... everything he designs is so fantastical and trippy... the latter word is the best I can think of to sum up all of his works I've seen, and what makes him the coolest of all the architects.
I'll take some pictures of his most famous work, Sagrada Familia, soon... it is INSANE! If you're going to go to Europe, go to Barcelona if only to see that structure. Trust me.

The balconies are wrough-iron seaweed.

I think things would only get boring-er if I was to continue on with this entry.... so tell me what you think! I'll try to become increasingly more interesting with my choice of pictures and topics of discussion, but I hope my blog is not too lame as of now. I'm really paranoid about that, as you can see...

Ciao, y un abrazo amigos!
Emilia

P.S. To see more pictures, go to http://flickr.com/photos/charm_quark Ok?!