29M Barcelona is on Fire

Today is a general strike in Spain. Everyone is granted the day off, many shops/stores, all public services are shut down and the people are taking to the streets. Tonight it broke out in riots, the city is filled with smoke and the dumpsters are all on fire throughout the entire core it seems. The police are everywhere trying to scare off people lighting more fires, glass is shattered and broken completely on bus stops, phone booths and spray paint on windows. It's a mess out there. I have my own opinions about this kind of "protesting" but they are a country in crisis. 50% unemployment in age under 25 and unemployment around 30% as a whole, only getting worse. Where are they going to get the 250bn Euros needed? I'm not sure. I don't think they are either. I'm safe, it's not violent. Just messy.

Changes

Hi everyone, thanks for not giving up on my sporadic posting. It's been a trying week around here since last Friday. I received a letter from the government re: the renewal of my student visa and they want some different papers and such and it's proving to be quite the task to get those for them so I've been on the phone with banks, schools, governments and all that for days now. And today I was informed that my thesis advisor won't be returning to my program this year (not by his choice).... needless to say I'm not happy about this as it was a really great match of expertise and interests. Hopefully they change the decision in the next month before classes start again.

Tomorrow is a national protest day which means that across the country in every city, people are allowed to not go to work (although they won't be paid for the day, but they cannot be penalized) and they can go protest in the streets. It's going to be basically a full shutdown I expect. Coincidentally, it's supposed to be an absolutely gorgeous day - 22 degrees at least, which means that there will likely be a lot of people just taking the day off to go the beach. Not sure what I will do yet. I might hop on a train, take my kindle and go hang out on a beach up North on the Costa Brava. I broke out the sundresses this week and I'm not looking back! I'll try and get some good photos of the demonstrations as well because it's always quite a scene!

So that's the majority of the news this week! I can't believe that it's already Easter next week. I found a shop which has Cadbury cream eggs (mmmm!) for 1.25E, but I treat myself at least once a week because it's the only place I've seen in spain that you can buy them! And for everyone who is going on vacation (ahem, papa) have a great time and I'll try to send you some sun!

More tomorrow!

<3

Tossa de Mar

Hi Everyone!

So the rain has finally come! After months and months it's pouring rain today and likely tomorrow as well. It's good because it means that I have no desire to go outside, and on Friday the air, sidewalks and everything will be so much more clean!

This weekend was pretty busy. It was St. Patricks day so I went with Nima, Maricela and some other friends to a local bar (La Farianna) which is quite nice to have a few drinks. The next day I got up and took a little road trip outside the city to Tossa de Mar, here is the wiki history about it

"There is ample evidence of settlements dating back to the Neolithic period, and it is believed that the area has been continuously populated since that time. Between the 4th century BC and the 1st century BC appeared the first settlementsof the Iberians, followed shortly after by the Romans in the 1st century.

In 966 Tossa was ceded by Count Miró of Barcelona to the Abbey of Ripoll. Some two centuries later, in 1187 Tossa was granted its charter by the Abbot of Ripoll, coinciding with the building of a church atop Mount Guardí, the remnants of which can still be seen today.

Sometime in the 12th century the mediaeval town was walled off and a castle was built on the highest point of Mt. Guardí, this castle was to be subsequently replaced by a wind mill, and this in turn by a lighthousewhich is still operational.

By the year 1500 the first houses were built extra-murs to accommodate population growth. This process was greatly accelerated during the 17th and 18th centuries, shaping an urban configuration which was to remain practically unchanged until the arrival of mass tourism in the 1950s.

In 1989 Tossa de Mar was the first place in the world to the declare itself an Anti-Bullfighting City.

The "Vila Vella enceinte" is the only example of a fortified medieval town still standing on the Catalan coast. Its present appearance dates back to the end of the 14th century. It still has the entire original perimeter withbattlemented stone walls, four turrets and three cylindrical towers with parapets. At the highest point, where the lighthouse stands today, was, until the beginning of the 19th century, the castle of the Abbot of the MonasterySanta Maria de Ripoll, the territorial Lord of the town. The site has been declared a national historic monument in 1931."

Anyhow, it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was almost warm enough to be walking around in just a tank top and jeans if it weren't for the wind! It's definitely a place I want to go back to once summer is here and spend some more time at the beaches. Here are a few photos for you :)

As for the rest of the week, well I was asked to help do some more work for the company so I have committed to that, but we'll see how it goes. Seems to be an ongoing issue, being a Canadian citizen. Fingers crossed that I hear back good news this week about my NIE renewal!

In other great news! I got a scholarship for a portion of my tuition for this term! I'm so excited!

What else? Not sure at the moment, but I'll keep you posted!

Working in Spain

Dear Family, I have not been ignoring you. Just neglecting you. Not intentionally of course! However I have to get back into the habit of doing this, not just for you but myself as well! It's a bit like therapy I suppose having you all to listen to my whining and such ;)

Anyhow! I got back on Tuesday night from working an "event" with the CEO company that has given me some part time work. It was interesting! There were about 80 CEO's, owners, board members etc (important people) from all over the world. My job was basically B#$% work, but it was okay. It paid decently, the paid all accomodation and fed me pretty well :) The chocolate croissants were amazing and I think I ate about 5 a day during each break haha! Also, it was a really great networking opportunity and interesting to hear some of the problems that these people were presenting about their companies, even if it didn't relate to architecture. The group I was working with were mostly young, all native english speakers and quite friendly so that also made it quite nice! We were staying in San Cugat which is about 20 mins outside of the city and it's really nice there. Apparently, it's like the wealth neighbourhood, but unfortunately we were so busy 24/7 that I really had no time to look around and didn't even take one photo! (Shame on me) so now that is my mission - to go back and take photos! So yes, I was there for 3 days and running around like a North American in Spain!

Now I'm back and getting done my thesis. One page at a time! I had a really great meeting with my advisor the other week but he suggested that I should be writing this thesis in 1st person point of view which seems very unconventional to me and a bit scary, but apparently this is not so out of the norm these days, so I'm going to try it anyhow.

I heard that fantastic news yesterday that the plebiscite in Cochrane for transit has been cancelled! That's so great! I hope that now they can just move up and onwards, but most importantly forwards with the plan to implement transit sometime in the relatively near future. It's about time that the town councillors got there shit together. That's all I have to say about that.

The weather is amazing! It's in the low 20's and I should be out taking advantage of the days but am struggling to balance it all at the moment so until I have some more foundation work done for this thesis I don't think I'll be hititng the beach all that often! The trees are starting to blossom in some areas though so it's about to become really beautiful and I promise to be out taking photos soon!

As for the NIE renewal? Well... the process is started but still no news on how well it's going. Hopefully I don't hear anything in the next few week which will mean that it's all going through as it should. Fingers crossed!

Alright, love to everyone. Sorry it took so long to write. Won't happen again!

<3

I'm Back!

And finally getting kind of on the right time schedule, although, I have to say that I didn't do all that much the last few days though! So anyhow I thought I should write a few things about home and the journey back and what it's like now.

So I had a crazy, busy, fun, exciting, nuts, great month at home in Canada with everyone. I got to see so many people, friends, family y mas. I got in so many "menu requests" including hamburger soup, pancakes, ham and shwartzies, tims, and more! I had a lot of really productive meetings with the people at the Town of Cochrane, the historical society, the environmental groups and even a few old coworkers. So now I am ready to sit down and start WRITING my thesis! Easier said than done, but I really am going to start now. Luckily, it was a warm Februrary so I survived a bit of winter and I had to bring an extra suitcase home with me because after a bit of shopping, some Canadian coffee, fudge and a shopping in my packed up clothes at home I had a lot more stuff to bring! So! Thank you to everyone for the dinners, outings and I'm sorry I didn't have more time with you all - it really does fly!

And then, I started to head back on Tuesday and arrived in Barcelona after 16 hours around 3pm local time. I took the usual "Aerobus" that I get from the airport and when I got on they told us that the bus could ONLY go to Pl. Espanya, because of the manifestations (protests) happening downtown. Turns out, it couldn't even go that far - we had to stop and I had to carry all my extra luggage (about 80lbs worth haha!) for about 2-3km to my house because the streets were COMPLETELY shut down, no bus, no taxi, no nothing! When I got home, Nuno told me that there had actually been a lot of crazy protesting going on in Pl. Universitat - cars burning and riot police everywhere. By the time I got home it was winding down and haven't seen anything since.

The next morning I got up and went to a job interview! And I'm very happy to tell you that I got the job as a typist in an international company called CEO CF. It's actually a really interesting company that I think my former employers should use them! So I had my first training shift yesterday and it was quite easy, no complaints! I go again on Monday and I will tell you more about the job after :)

For now? Another dinner party - today at my house, an international potluck of all Nuno's school friends, better go find some good music.

Love to all!