Last Excursions!!(click)

Thanksgiving dinner!

love this pic!

favorite seafood of all times:P

Oh the richness of the soup!

Love the way my host mom prepared the soup of the day...
She boils the onions, garlic, peppers, perhaps some mushrooms, perhaps some beans....and many other unidentifiable ingredients....then the most important part...she BLENDS everything together...and the creamy aromatic soup is served!
It comes in different colors and portions...sometimes with a little rice, sometimes with fine spaghetti, and most of the time...just soup with bread...

Second course, the salad, love the way she cuts the veges and decorates them into a colorful plate of salad. Her best plate of salad yet: cabbage with black olives, avocados, sweet papayas, tomatoes and finally sprinkle the olive oil and vinegar on top of it. I actually fell in love with vinegar here in Barcelona...hahaha..sounds funny in Chinese-- 喜欢吃醋了！ (likes to be jealous:P)

Last but not least the desert. My host mom said the last course must always be sweet.
she does not like it when i mix everything up , such as eating the deserts then going back to the salad or the meat. So you could either choose a type of fruit or Flan ( spanish sweet pudding) with ice-cream. Weirdest contrast to my typical way of eating fruits, instead of eating the fruit ripe and crunchy (pears, peach, apples), we eat it overripe and soft....the taste is extraordinary sweet~~!!
So I learned how to eat soft overripe pears, peaches and also apples which are heated in the oven after 2 minutes.. Try it and tell me how it tastes~!!!:P

Universitat de Barcelona( UB)

Since Dartmouth Study Abroad Program has been so well run in the past few decades, few of us rarely have to worry about anything at all. The excursions are well planned, we have Dartmouth students studying together with us, which means we do not really have the need to go out to the 'wild'.

However, after attending the UB international Orientation, I realized I have been inside the Dartmouth bubble even though I'm studying in UB! It was a very formal ceremony, where we were seated in the Para-nymph Hall of UB oldest historical building, well decorated with big murals and glorious marks of history. The first speech is actually about the hall itself, where the speaker introduce the meaning of every painting, the latin words on the wall, and the names and portraits in the hall( including king Alfonso, and the first female doctorate). Its a formal invitation for the international student, announcing the identity and purpose of this long standing institution for more than 500 years. I felt like I was sitting in a Basilica Cathedral because the wooden benches are just like the ones I have seen in the Cathedral. The speaker spoke in a special balcony so everyone could see him, giving him some sort of authority and poise.

I am not surprise when they said that the majority of the students are from Europe and Italy have the most students here. I looked around and see all new faces, who probably are just starting to adjust their life in Barcelona, when mine is almost ending. If I were to be just another student attending this University, these international students would have been my friends, some even best friends, family. But because I am with Dartmouth, I do not need to reach out. Even if I want to, there's really few rooms to float around. Everything is arranged.

I left early,right before their group picture....somehow I do not feel like I supposed to be in that group photo....

Watching FC Barcelona in the "Nosebleed" section

Yeah the sensation is wonderful....a stadium that can fit 110,000 people
Imagine one horn, one curse, one scream multiply by 110,000

Anyways, so me and Ana came up with all these funky rules when watching a Barca match:

1) Bring warmer cloths!!! especially if you are in a nose-bleed section (aka the highest level of the stadium where you can barely see the players:P )

2) embrace/ learn the cursing when the other team scores..

3) Sing along with the fans by reading the lyrics of the Barca song on screen "Barca,Barca, Baaaaaaarca"

4) Bring a Bocadillo (sandwich) to munch !

5) Apparently the top of the bottle can be a weapon (many throw them towards the field), so if you are bringing a bottle of water....avoid inspection or give the inspector your top (oops that doesn't sound right)

6) hide between the stairs during half-time to avoid the strong wind...

7) take pictures before the match ( cause then you can see the letters of "FC Barcelona" from the seats)

8) Shout your lungs out!!

Even though I was distracted by the cold and the crowd most of the time, and did not even recognize 'Henry' on the field, ( coz i dunno his number) I enjoyed this game very much!!!!

Back to Work....

The aftermath of traveling and having awesome time with friends:

You realized how much money you have spent over the holidays and decide to stay home as much as possible....( maybe for a couple of days)

You realized how little you have practice the language you are supposed to master over the vacation and start panicking

The wave of homework and assignment starts coming in and you realize the term is ending soon!

You have to start worrying about Winter term: housing, winter itself and...the 'cityless' life...

You have to Skype everybody you know just to share the vacation that is now over!!

Madrid (click)

Pictures from London!(click)