Irony killed Lindsey

Well, I get to blog tonight because I made the colossal mistake of trying to fly to Portugal without a passport... you would think that if I were to remember any single item, it would be my passport, but no. I am not quite that smart. I think I may have been a little ahead of myself when I said "I am normally a good traveler" - it appears I may just be absent-minded (and a terrible estimator of time, to boot). I got to the airport on time, yes, but I have had too many close calls of late to leave that out of my (abbreviated) list of shortcomings.
ANYWAY I got home and thought I should go to the class I had previously planned to skip in order to go to Lisbon - and found it was canceled because my professor was sick. So if I had actually been on that plane instead of in IES, I wouldn't have missed any class! But no.

Today, Catalan students all across the state walked out of class in order to protest the Bologna Declaration. I had been warned (over and over) by posters, professors, and students, but nothing could prepare me for what was at UPF when I arrived this morning. Mind you, the protest was at the University of Barcelona at noon, and I arrived at UPF at 8:45 to find the doors CHAINED SHUT with students guarding them (two lines of students, in case you somehow get through the first in your desperate attempt to learn). Students who chose to cross the picket line and go to class had to go down a back staircase that leads to the lower floor, and then back up to the main building. Of course, even this entrance was crowded with people handing out flyers (in Catalan) about everything that was wrong with the Bologna Declaration. From what I can tell, it is a plan to regulate European education and make it more similar between countries. A girl in my class said it would increase the cost for Spanish students and increase the workload so that there is more than a simple final exam to determine your grade. There is a different division of higher education in Spain than in other countries, so it would also change degrees and the definitions of the concentrations somehow. My classes were all at about half-attendance (and those of us in my poetry class got a postcard containing one of our professor's poems to reward our dedication). The same girl told me that in her 8:30 class, the protesting students burst into our class, blowing whistles and talking into a megaphone, and wouldn't leave even after complaints from both students and the professor. Anyway, it was really odd, and between my classes there were students walking around the "quad" with a banner, the whistles, and the megaphone, building up a crowd for the march to UB. According to La Vanguardia (a Catalan newspaper), over 4,000 students protested and they tried to walk down the Ramblas but were stopped by the police.

Speaking of La Vanguardia, when Jane was here we were talking about how cool Barcelona is (obviously), and we decided that Barcelona is just undeniably hip. You can't have a city whose newspaper is "The Avant-Garde" without being altogether too cool for your own good. That's why all the cool people leave Madrid and go to Barcelona to create weird art, write, and do other mold-breaking things. And then they went to Paris. But still. This also translates into the Catalan attitude - they're just too cool, and hence are not so friendly. Just a thought.

I also wanted to comment more about London and how awesome it is. I love cities. I want to live in a place where I can go to the theatre all the time, and where there are zillions of different cuisines available, and where I hear four different languages walking down the street. London actually blew my mind because I heard English on the street about as often as I hear it in Barcelona. There were SO many people speaking goodness-knows what else (caught myself there - sort of), and I heard Spanish again, about as often as I hear it on the street here. Of course, both of those are affected by the crazy amounts of tourists and the fact that I mostly overhear Catalan rather than Spanish. Still. I'm going to go ahead and say it - London is cooler than New York. It's cleaner, has better parks, better tea, and nicer people.
Also, the difference between British English and American English is so interesting. I know I have already commented on this (binky v. toddy), but I would like to note some others. For instance, instead of an "exit," there is a "way out." Instead of yielding, the British give way. Instead of a train stopping at x, y, and z; the train calls. Instead of trucks in the road, there are lorries. You get the picture. Anyway, I liked chuckling at each of these individual things every time I saw them, which was often.

Lastly, since this post is so random already, I may as well include the story of my dinner tonight, in which Ana told me that Paula used to be nice and helpful around the house, and now she is sassy, rude and disrespectful. She then kicked Gonzalo out of the room for repeating what Paula had said about nine times, and tried to feed me a fourth serving of meat. When I said I couldn't eat it and Paula took it, Ana yelled - quite strongly I might add - at her for taking what was mine. I told her that I didn't want it, and was glad for Paula to eat it instead, and Ana continued to yell at her! I also learned that many Catalan actors live in our neighborhood, and Paula has seen quite a few while walking less than 4 blocks from our apartment. I also had Chips Ahoy, because Ana bought them for me for my trip (so cute), and then I ate too many and got sick. Also, I felt sick after EVERY meal in London, I kid you not. Every meal except the one we made ourselves. I think this is due to the fact that they use butter in England, and my digestive tract is used to the delicious monounsaturated fats in olive oil. Not actually sick sick, just sort of tummy-rumbling sick. Anyway, tomorrow I am off to Lisbon PASSPORT IN HAND at six am. Good times. See you next week!