So here I am blogging on a Sunday evening! It has been a while, sorry about that. Anyway! We're now well into the second semester and I'm certainly not any less busy!
So the start of term was stressful. I got back here pronto because I had to go to my Catalan class and also matriculate for my courses. Wellllll that was an experience! The system is SO stupid. I'd chosen all my courses and agreed them with the Erasmus co-ordinator woman here, and that was all fine. However the night before my allocated matriculation day I checked online and discovered that some of the courses I wanted were already full... @%#*(@#!!!!!! They give priority to the straight-A students, you see. Anyway I started pulling my hair out about that and stayed up half the night researching other courses, scribbling millions of combinations on bits of paper, counting credits, converting them to ECTS credits, checking for clashes... it was awful! After many hours and a throbbing headache, I found alternatives I was reasonably happy with.
So I went to uni first thing in the morning to matriculate, knowing that there were only 2 spaces left in one of my 'new' courses and desperately hoping that nobody else took them. You get told to wait in this lecture theatre, and then a man calls out numbers... when your number gets called, you go through the door. And join a queue. Then you go into this room and log on to a computer, where they have a “sophisticated” matriculation program. There they were, the courses I had originally agreed on with the woman, but error messages because they were full. I then was like, fine, I´ll just put in my new courses instead and all will be well, but it wouldn´t let me make any changes. So I asked one of the helper people for help... and was told “no se puede.” NO SE PUEDE?!? (You can't!)
I was somewhat stressed out, so after explaining the situation to a few people and getting nowhere I went to see the relevant secretary, who's always proven to be equally as, err... helpful. This time was no different. Their advice was to just go to the classes I wanted, because “changes” to matriculation couldn't be made until next week. I was kinda dispairing at this point because I knew those spaces in the courses I wanted were bound to get filled up, but other than sending emails pleading for help to whoever I could find, there wasn't much else I could do.
In the end though, I did get places on the courses I wanted (although I think a special exception was made for me in one case), but I made myself ill in the process of it all! Administration in Spain is about as efficient as... I don't know, a log powered jumbo jet. i.e. Ridiculous. Banks, the post office, the police, even shop cashiers – you better bring your mp3 player and be prepared to wait.
ENOUGH COMPLAINING!!
So after that little adventure, my mum, dad, brother and his girlfriend came over to visit for a few days. As always, lovely to see them :-) and go to nice restaurants, and just wander and things.
One of the things we did was go up Montserrat in a cable car (literally Serrated Mountain in Catalan), a really unique monestry on a weird mountain, but it's very famous and has great views. There's a statue of “the black virgin” who is cased in glass, but has an “orb” in her hand sticking out of the glass... so you get to touch her orb. OoOoOh.
They were staying in a hotel near my Residencia, Barceló Raval. Such a cool hotel... just for the record. I will, also, give y'all my difinitive guide to “my places” and hidden gems which only the experts know about... but not quite yet. So watch this space.
Anyway after my family sadly had to leave, it was back to the grind! The first week went quite smoothly actually, and by the end of it I actually had a “YUSS!! SURVIVED!” kinda feeling. And! I had another group of people coming to visit me from home that weekend! Oh yes, it seems that if you're in “Sunny Spain” and such a cool city, people don't mind coming to visit!
That was great as well, I could probably get a job as a tour guide now! A few of them went to see FC Barcelona play against Espanyol (basically like a BCN equivalent of Celtic vs Rangers) but sadly Barça lost... ah well.
As there were about 8 of them, they stayed in an apartment rather than all kipping on my floor... and during our pre-drinky sessions we discovered a wonderously great local radio station – Ràdio Flaixbac (“flashback.”) Their jingle is even surprisingly similar to Northsound 1 in Aberdeen!!
Anyway that's all for now, more soon!
