Turning the page on Barca...

Alright, so this is my last posting!

My exchange at ESADE was an incredible and unforgettable experience and this can only be because of the terrific people I met; to the ESADE administration, the full-time and exchange students: THANK YOU! And I guess being located in Barcelona definitely didn't hurt!!

On that note, I would like to wish you all good health and great success in your current/future careers.

Adios amigos,

JP

The outside was inside, get it?

Went to a nice "chill" bar on the week-end called El Bosc de les Fades. It's very nice as the inside looks like outside; it would definitely make the guys from the movie "A night at the Roxbury" very envious. It's a dark, warm/humid forest with trees and waterfalls. I felt like at any time we would see hobbits popping up from this "Lord of the ring" like decor. Anyways, it's a very nice place and would definitely recommend it for some relaxing drinking.

Alright, it's now "show time"! From now on (actually since Monday) it's raining presentations, papers, take home mid-terms and finals, etc. Sleeping time has been brought down to a minimum. It's actually not that bad, but still...gotta go!

JP

JP at the Opera? What???

Last Thursday I went to the opera...yes yes, you heard right, I went to the opera! Basically I was given good tickets to the premier of Boulevard Solitude at the Liceu theater in Barcelona. All the singing was in German, a language I am very familiar with (not!) but there were subtitles in English and Catalan. Although the piece itself was visually incredible and driven by good music, I found the story quite flat (boring!). But then again, please don't rely on my critic because although I went open minded for the possibility of having my negative perception about opera changed, I left halfway through as it was just too damn boring! Yeah yeah...I don't get it...I can "appreciate" classical music and theater, but opera is just not my thing. However, I must say that the theater Liceu is quite nice!!!

Considering the week was light in terms of workload, I thought the lyrical content of this song might summarize best what I ALMOST went through (I must add it was well deserved, of course). After the first few seconds you'll get the point (very repetitive); I apologize for the visual content that might offend some.

SPANDOX - TO THE CLUB


Alright, gotta go write papers...Have a good week...

JP

Lisbon: Underrated

So we spent a few days in Lisbon (capital of Portugal)...what a beautiful city! People listing Prague as their favorite probably haven't seen Lisbon yet; the architecture and the colors are simply incredible. So much to see and do, that 3 full days are not enough if you include the surrounding villages as part of your visit. We pretty much saw most of the capital in the first 2 days, and then spent a day in Sintra which is one of the many villages about 45 minutes away from central Lisbon by train and mainly known for its numerous castles. You'll literally feel like in a Robin Hood movie. Lisbon also has 1 main castle (Castelo de Sao Jorge), a nice cathedral (La Cattedrale Sé Patriarcal) and a popular monastery (Mosteiro dos Jeronimos), among other touristic sites (i.e.Torre de Belem, etc.). The night life requires some use to, as it starts in a neighborhood called Bairro Alto filled with very small bars requiring most people to drink outside, on the narrow streets. So that was weird. And then they go to the various night clubs...

Transportation to the main touristic attractions is quite easy. I would recommend staying in a hotel not to far from the downtown area (neighborhood: Baixa). From there you can pretty much see all the surrounding sites in one day (castle, the Santa Justa elevator, the cathedral, etc.), and the next day you can go to Belem (neigborhood about 20 minutes away by tramway) to visit the monastery, museums, another castle, and the river side, etc. As for the restaurant selection, I did not experience bad food; they were all good. Just don't visit the ones in the touristic areas; if you go to Bairro Alto you'll find some very good ones for instance. Compared to the rest of Europe, Lisbon is cheap.

Portuguese are not necessarily the most social, somewhat similar to Catalans, when it comes to the service industry (tourism, restaurants, public transportation, etc.). However we did meet some very friendly people and unlike the Spanish, most Portuguese speak English. One interesting note is that for some awkward reason all the drug dealers were chasing me to sell some of their "stuff". I don't know if it's because of the long hair, or the fact that I hadn't shaved that day, or the puffy eyes (lack of sleep...I told you there was too much to see) but I have never been so harassed in my life...they'd actually cross the street with me and continue whispering in my ears. One even offered to educate me about the BENEFITS of drugs, for free!! Awkwardly these guys are quite knowledgeable when it comes to speaking languages; no matter what language I would switch to (to make it clear that I don't speak their language), they'd follow. I guess being a translator doesn't pay as much.

Basically, Lisbon is a great city to visit, and this trip really made me want to explore Portugal further. If you are wondering between Lisbon and Prague, this might be shocking, but I'd recommend Lisbon. I truly believe the city is underrated; but then again, I don't want to boost your expectations. However, I can say you will not be disappointed. In winter might be better as there are less tourists and the weather is very acceptable (around 15 celcius), however in the summer you'd be able to also enjoy the beach...

Here are some pictures.

JP

Elevator story

Here's yet another example of Spanish engineering nonsense...

I'm in a land where inaccuracies and inefficiencies are part of everyday life, with 10 minutes being 30, 2 miles being 4, lenience towards speeding limits, difficulties in forming a straight line at a bus stop, and the list goes on (trust me). BUT, do not try to exceed the suggested maximum number of people permitted in an elevator, as a max of 4 is really a max of 4 (not 6)!!! You see where I am going with this...Yes, I got stuck in an elevator between 2 floors...but looking on the bright side of things, I was with 5 girls...(apparently it's some people's death wish). However, nobody outside the elevator gave me a high survival rate as they expected me to be the first one to be eaten, if it came to that and anyways according to my friend men cannot last as long as women without food...so there you go. Happy it only lasted 15 minutes!

Typical elevator sizes are 1x1 meter, so fitting more than 3 people is nearly impossible. So I was very surprised when I saw this very big (by Spanish standards) box that could easily and unnoticeably fit 8 people. Granted there was a small sticker indicating a max of 4 people, and granted my friend advised us not to be more than 4 people...I thought you could multiply every rule by at least 1.5 in Spain (just like the Euro to Canadian currency)!! So we were 6. But there was no buzzer indicating the maximum weight capacity was exceeded. So in a land where everything is negotiable, I recommend you do not mess with the maximum elevator weight capacity! Which is a weird contrast with North America, where they allow a max of 12 people, but really you'll never be able to get more than 10 people in (I tried it once).

Alright, enough elevator talk. Last night was the Barcelona FC vs Liverpool game. Needless to say it was pretty crazy here...unfortunately we lost the game. Also, Tuesday night was THE carnival day in Sitges, so of course we had to go...it was pretty insane. American students compared it to the Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans...and Brazilians said it was 10 times smaller than their carnival. Does that give you an idea on the size? I'll try to post the latest pictures soon...

That's it for now, going to Lisbon (or Lisboa) for the week-end.

Ciao ciao,

JP

OK, so I lied...

I promised I would spend the week-end in Barcelona and I didn't. Let me explain...

In the spirit of self-development and quick decision making (a crucial element in management) we decided to be spontaneous, make a decision and go ahead with it. So we went to Sitges Saturday night! Sitges is a small village about 30 minutes away from Barcelona by train, and very popular in the summer as it is on the beach, but also in February because of its very famous carnival (15-21 February). The big day for the carnival parade is Tuesday (the 20th), but all week long it's like a big Halloween party (with alcohol and no candies, no kids at night, and no decorated houses...but aside of that, it's exactly like Halloween) in the whole village. At night the place becomes one giant nightclub...with some of the weirdest costumes you've seen, loud music everywhere, and animated by a somewhat large gay community, relatively speaking.

Sitges pictures: click here
Andorra pictures: click here (more to be added)

Andorra is...small!

Finally have some time to write!

Andorra
I got back from Andorra late Sunday night. There’s really not much to see there (sorry to all the Andorrans out there); it’s mainly for shopping (tax free) and/or skiing. The town itself is not so big and surrounded by mountains, so that’s nice. Andorra is a very small Principality (not a country!) between Spain and France with about 70,000 habitants. Skiing (or snowboarding in my case) conditions were great; not too cold and not too icy. As it was an activity organized by the MBA group, needless to say we had quite a party on Saturday night. It’s always easier to socialize and meet other students when everyone is drinking (water). The only problem is that you don’t necessarily remember all their names the next day and just refer to them as “yo” and “hey”. No but in all seriousness, we had a great time...and the snow and cold was a good way to remember what I was missing out on in Montreal (cough cough) :-)

Barcelona
Barcelona is the host of the COMVERSE telecommunication event for the whole week. So all the hotels are booked and unfortunately taking public transportation is somewhat a hassle now. The subway is always full, and the public transportation employees chose the best week to go on strike! By the way, when you don’t speak good Spanish and hence not really aware of what’s happening in the local news, it’s kinda hard to figure out there’s a strike; but after a while at the bus stop, alone, you get the hint…and understand why so many cabs drive by your bus stop and slow down stare and wave at you…!

Valentine’s Day
Guess what, Valentine’s Day is not such a big deal in Spain…isn’t that great!?! Instead they have another holiday that is somewhat similar in April where the girl gets the guy a book and the guy gets the girl a rose. Now although I strongly believe Spain is a land of inefficiencies, I must admit they pretty much nailed it down with this one. What a great, simple, clear and headache free concept.

This week-end I’ll take a vacation from vacation, and stay in Barcelona. The weather has been incredible and the days are getting longer. Alright, gotta go do some ironing, grocery shopping, and fix a button on my jacket. Yes yes, you heard right, I, JP will be doing those things!

Andorra pictures to be updated in the coming days...

Adios!