Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Strangest Museum I've Seen

I am not sure where time goes in Barcelona.  Montserrat seems like weeks ago. Before I post about my free Tuesdays, let's catch up.

Friday:  We had an ESADE Exchange Intro Session + Mixer.  Good to see all of the exchange students in one place, as well as learn about the full time program.  It seems most ESADE second years are on their own exchange or have graduated - thus there are only about 50 or so students here.  Definitely a good international mix amongst exchange and local students.  After the mixer, Jen and I came back to Barcelona and went to La Boqueria to buy fruits, veggies, and fish for dinner.  It as a bit crazy to buy a full fish and watch the lady clean it... and even then Jen had some issues once she was cooking. We're figuring it out, though.  (I did not cook, but I did contribute the wine!)  I also went to officialy join a gym. I'm so local! Anyway, here is the delicious feast of fish tacos.


After dinner, our friend Melissa came over and we booked our trip to Marrakesh, Morocco. And then we went to a club about 10 minutes away and hung out with the ESADE crowd. I made it until 1:30 - and I was pretty proud of that - until I heard that others stayed out until 6am. Not sure I'm ever going to achieve that while I'm here! (Or ever?!)

Saturday: Somehow I managed to get up at 8:30am! I spent the whole morning working on my Life Philosophy presentation, then went to the gym for Body Combat. What a trip! I was a bit intimidated, but I stayed and thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish instructor and the English background music. As I left the gym, I noticed the cafe was full of wine and beer, and has a giant espresso machine as well. Might be time for Gold's Gym to step things up!  That afternoon, Jen and I wandered around and then went to dinner at Mosquito for some dumplings. Delicious! Afterwards, I *may* have gone to sleep by 10pm.

Sunday: Woke up early again and headed to the gym. I may not be getting in shape, but I am countering at least 2 of the glasses of wine I consume on a daily basis.  I spent the rest of the morning working on my Geopolitics presentation, and then Jen and I decided to take advantage of free Sunday afternoons at the museums. We opted to check out one close to us called the Museu Frederic Mares.  I have been thinking how I could possibly describe this museum, and I came across this blog which does a much finer job than I could do. I am not sure I would call it the best museum in BCN, but I would definitely call it the weirdest! In summary: The bottom two floors were full of life sized crucifixes and statues of Madonna and Child.  The top two floors were filled with the most insane collection of STUFF I could never even imagine. Eye glasses, keys, bicycles, tiaras, combs, candle holders, stamps, drawings, pipes, toys... if you can think of it, it was there.  Check out the above blog for some pictures. I only wound up with the two below, taken in the courtyard.
Here is a quick view of the old city from a few streets over. It's so cool to contrast this with the modern side of Barcelona.

After the museum, Jen and I were hungry!! So we went to a recommended tapas bar in Born and tried to determine what we were eating. We both liked the place a lot, and found the tapas very yummy. Tapas are hard - they don't exactly make a meal, and it's hard to stop when they all look so yummy!

Later that night, we headed back out to watch the Barcelona soccer game at the Black Sheep bar, and then watched part of the Patriots/Texans game at the George Payne Irish Pub. I couldn't believe Joe wasn't there - it was all of the things he loved in one place. (Patriots fans + Irish Pub + Guiness + BCN!)  I think it was close to 1:00am again by the time we left. Maybe I am adjusting?!

So there's the catching up! Monday was school... and next post will be all about Tuesday #2.

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