Manresa

Happy Monday! Last day of February... bring on March!

During my free-time (aka when I'm bored) I check out the Barcelona group on CouchSurfing to see what's going on.... people are getting together to go to museums, have movie night, hiking, running... all kinds of things.

I found one post about people going to this thing called Fira de l'Aixada... I looked it up... and decided I wanted to go too! It's a medieval market in a town about 40 minutes outside of Barcelona. I invited Alexia (Paul's sister) because I know she loves medieval things, and she was more than excited to come with me and Toni.

We got up early on Saturday morning and were in the town Manresa around 11am. After a sausage sandwich for breakfast.. I was ready to go.

The whole city center was decorated to look medieval... there were 7 different squares to visit with different shows and activities going on all day.

There were so many booths to look at, and we saw them all. Alexia got her name written in a medieval calligraphy and it came out really nice.... and right afte that, it was time for the King and Queen to arrive!

There were towns people and nobles walking around, drunks and gypsies... there was even a town retard on a leash... and they gave him to Alexia haha... everyone loved Alexia all day. The people who participated in this fair were really great and were always in character.

Of course I loved the human castle... because I had only seen it on TV. It's a typical Catalan... activity? Sport? Hobby? I don't know what it is... but people compete and work harddd and the castles can be really huge. There's always little kids at the top so it is really dangerous... but really cool to watch.

We also went inside an old medieval... place. Toni and Alexia said it used to be the street of the town... and then it got covered up and kind of lost, now it's being restored and turned into something... I dunno... I don't speak Catalan and Toni doesn't pay attention.

The best thing about the festival for me was that Alexia was in heaven! She always said she wishes she could live in medieval times and see what it was like.. and this was pretty close! We both felt like we weren't even in Spain... or at least not in the 21st century... it was so well done... it smelled like medieval times (I guess)... It was really nice to spend the day with her :)

We took a break from the market and went to a chuch right down the road...

In 1512 Ignasi of Loyola visited Manresa after visiting Montserrat. He lived there for almost a year, and while he was there he spent time in a cave and wrote a book about religious practice... he carved some crosses in the cave........ He created the Jesuit demonination and later he became a saint. So... this cave has become a shrine, and you can still see the crosses that he carved 500 years ago.

Toni went to the school called Saint Ignasi... so he knew all about it; his school used to go spend the night in the hotel and have religious retreats and stuff...

It was a nice little break before heading back to the market... Toni was exhausted by this time (4pm) so we hung out a little more and bought some goodies - cheese and cake. Everything we bought during the day started with the letter C... Corn, Candy apple, Cheese, Cake... so good.

By the time we reached Barcelona we were all exhausted... it was a long day and lots of fun.

2-23

Wellll my show is taking way too long to load so I decided to make a post. It's the last week of February and I'm ready for March... But let me recap the last month.

In the beginning of the month it was the Chinese New Year, so Toni & I went to look around.

It was actually a lot cooler than we expected and we felt like we spent time in Little China.

Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year, so we had a party the Saturday before. I made a bunch of heart-shaped cookies with different [naughty] pictures on them and some words, loving and also naughty. I had a huge sangria mix with cava, strawberry juice, and some rum... and we were ready to party.

It was a total cock-fest. There were way too many boys and not enough girls, and although I was feeling bad about it, no one seemed to care.

Jhuvi, Denys, Isabel, Me, Tom, Kym

ALSO! New Americans came... so I made some new friends for the semester. And the party was quite successful... after the 1st round of sangria-mix I made some insane mixture that got everyone wasted... it had red wine, white wine, orange juice, vodka... Lord knows what. And we all drank it out of this typical Catalan contraption that is really fun and really messy... if you don't know what you're doing it gets all over you. We all know from experience.

We were all wasted... Toni & I didn't even go out and I woke up with my clothes on... One boy fell asleep on a bench in the middle of no where and got pickpocketed, 1 guy ended up at the police station after getting in a fight, 2 people hooked up that we never expected, and one car got broken into and the people stole 3 boys jackets... so basically... we're glad we passed out early.

This past weekend our friend Tiago had 2 friend's in town from Portugal. We had a nice Portuguese dinner and played some drinking games that got us all way too full of sangria. We walked to some Chinese bar where I got to meet all of Toni's friends from his major - geography. So that was nice to finally meet the people he talks about and that I see in pictures.

Portuguese boys & Emma

And after a bunch of us went to Nick Havanna's for a while to dance. Lots and lots of fun... but a little too much Spanish music for me... everyone gets so excited and I have no idea what's going on haha... at least I had the Portuguese boys there who were also clueless.

Pinky, Me, Tiago, Toni

So it's been a good month... we have some fun plans this weekend.... so STAY TUNED!

Montserrat

Hellooo February!

Yesterday, after waking up around 1PM, Toni & I decided to spend a few hours at Montserrat before I had to babysit. His mom, who has been there many times, suggested otherwise...... going at 9AM. So this morning I woke up at 730 and left at 8 to go spend the morning at Montserrat.

Montserrat is a mountain about 35 minutes outside of Barcelona, and I've wanted to go since this summer. It's been a sacred area since the 12th century when the Black Madonna was found there... it's a statue of the Virgen Mary holding baby Jesus, and they have black faces. She's the patron saint of Barcelona and very important to the Catalans.

On top of the mountain is a monastery where a bunch of monks live and pray for the world. There's also different religious points throughout the mountain that you can walk to, and a handful of hiking trails to spend the day on. (I sound like such a tour guide)

After months of pestering Toni... we finally made it there.

Beautiful blue day with no clouds in the sky... and freezing cold temperatures. I didn't expect it to be so cold... because I didn't use my brain to think about how this is a mountain. There was snow in some places.....

Of course, being fat people, we were starving and spent a small fortune on a small breakfast. I got the traditional cheese that can only be bought in this area... I forget what it's called... but it's like cottage cheese I guess. I've never had cottage cheese. But I added honey to it, and the tasteless blobs of cheese became sweet and delicious and Toni reminisced about his childhood.

It almost looks like eggs and cheese in this picture... but it's not :P I even bought some cheese for tonight and tomorrow! And some honey to go with it :)

We started our freezing day by getting into the sun... Now.. Toni hardly ever curses (in English)... but today he was throwing out the F-bomb like it was candy at a parade... I kept reminding him (through my punches) that we were at a SACRED mountain... but he kept forgetting.

We headed to the church but we couldn't go in unless we wanted to hear the church services.. and since it was over an hour long in a different language I passed. We walked all around and he explained all the religious meanings of everything... he acts like he doesn't know a lot about these kind of things.. but he's a religious and Spanish history genious compared to me.

We stuck some coins in a bin and grabbed a red candle before heading over to the walk with a million candles all lit for personal, important reasons.

Toni read the prayers to me and we finally picked our candle's final resting place. Unfortunatly, I burned the sides of the red plastic and our candle looked quite black... but our ugly, deformed candle was still perfect for our prayers (that his mom made sure we remembered to say).

We still had some time to spare before checking out the church, so we went on quick walk that I can never say right so I know I won't type it right... but it's the walk that goes through the 12 stages of Jesus's death and resurrection. It was too quick - and next time we will go on a LONG walk, but it had a nice view of the monastery.

When it was finally time to go inside the church... we were greeted by the scent of incense and a surprisingly small group of people. I've read that when it's busy you have to wait in line for everything, and we had basically no lines. But it was beautiful. Stained glass, incense holders every 2 feet, it seemed magical.

We went through the small rooms with a breeze that I'm sure have had long lines twisting through them, walked under the Arc of Angels, up the Stairway of Saints, and went right to her....

THE BLACK MADONNNAAA!!!

In all her splendid glory. I read that she was found in that exact place and the monks weren't able to move here so they built the santuary around her... I don't know about that... but she really had a lot of decorations around her. And her ball (that represents the universe) is meant to be touched or kissed... but I didn't believe Toni so I didn't do it... but it's true.

After walking through the backways of the church, we reentered and got our seats for the boys choir.

This choir is the oldest boy's choir in Europe... having been around since the 13th Century, and it's become one of the most famous and renound choirs in Europe. I did some research on them, and the ages range from 10-14 and the boys live on the mountain during this time. I swear when they started singing I almost cried... it was so light and singular and so beautiful.. made me miss being in choir!

It was a wonderful morning... we left by 2 and were back in Barcelona for lunch and work. When it gets warmer I want to spend more time there and explore more of the mysteries of Montserrat.