Vino Casa Tinto

Phrase of the week: Vino Casa Tinto = house red wine
Observation of the week: Spaniards love their red wine. On our third day here, we went to a little restaurant around the corner from our apartment that offered an enticing set price menu (lunch typically starts around 2 p.m.). We noticed that 75% of the people in the restaurant were having a bottle of red wine with their lunch, so of course we decided to partake – when in Spain! We later learned that one of the only positive things the scary Spanish dictator Franco did for his country was to reinforce the lunchtime habits of the people by enshrining in law the “Menu del Dia”. So the working class could get a good priced lunch without having to go all the way home, bars and restaurants were forced to offer an all-inclusive (i.e. with wine) cheap set menu. The tradition still continues today, so we will of course take full advantage! A side note – you can still order bottles of Vino casa tinto for about 3 euros . . .

We arrived in Barcelona on January 1 and have spent the last few weeks getting settled. Our apartment is in the perfect location in Eixample near the Passeig de Gracia where all of the Modernista buildings are (Gaudi, Gambus, Cadafalch). Our roommates Nic and Ariana are fantastic and lots of fun – I think we’ve gone out every night since they’ve arrived . . . Nic is South African, Ariana is Australian/Croatian. January 5 was the Three Kings Festival, “Cavalcada deis Reis”, which is similar to Christmas Eve. We went to Placa de Catalunya at the end of La Rambla to watch the parade that went through the city – packed! After the parade, the children are supposed to run home to put their shoes filled with hay on their balcony for the three kings (literally every building here has balconies) – if they were good, the three kings will leave them presents, if not, coal . . . Sunday everything was closed, so we went to Parc Guell – favorite day so far! It was first designed by Gaudi to be an upscale residential development in the early 1900’s, but funding and interest fell through, so it’s now one of the most unique and impressive public parks in the world. What did we do – more vino casa tinto in the square of course!

January 7 – back to reality. Tim started class, Alicia started work again. Here are Tim's initial comments on his classes:

• Creative Problem Solving: We are split up in teams and we have to use some creative problem solving techniques to help solve a problem of our choice. We came up with trying to figure out how to reduce teen drug/alcohol addiction. After meeting at 9:00 a.m. every day for a week, luckily this class is over on 1/15.


• Sports Marketing: Our professor used to work for the futbol club FC Barcelona. I think this is going to be one of my favorite classes even though I will use nothing that I will be learning about.


• Consumer Behavior: The first class was like an introduction to marketing. I think that I can skip all of the classes, show up for the final, and get an A.


• Management of Cultural and Creative Industries: This is another team-based class and our topic is advertising. After the first 3-hour class, I still don’t know what we are supposed to be learning or what we are supposed to hand in by the end of the semester!


• The Impact of Culture on Business: Doesn’t start until next week, but given the content of my other classes, I am not expecting much.
  

The lack of internet access is proving to pose problems for Alicia’s work schedule, so she and Ariana signed up for yoga classes (in Spanish, muy tranquilo . . .) and a 4-week intensive Spanish class.

Feel free to leave comments/questions. We miss everyone and will try to update this once a week!