http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/ http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/4396.html Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:03:56 GMT
1. The second presentation about cava.

Cava is a subject I knew nothing about, except you can drink it and it contains alhohol. I think the girls did a good job by presenting new information in a living way. They showed pictures, gave information from their own experience and let us experience the subject, by a nice tasting session at the end. It was more than just listening to dry information and it is very related to the Catalan culture. I think they've putted a lot of effort in this presentation.


2. The presentation about the Catalan language.

It is not that much the subject, but the way the subject was presented. First the loud music with the 'Did you know?-facts' on the powerpoint presentation. And after that we suddenly had to be active too, for a game of pictionairy. I always appreciate some interaction. You certainly couln't fall asleep at this presentation and even learned a few words!


I must say that I also enjoyed the presentation about Dalí's life very much. Especially because of my personal interest. And I should still try La Xicra, the chocolatery, too.

Bye bye!!]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3750.html Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:02:03 GMT
Another good thing is the CaixaForum (Marquès de Comillas 6-8, metro España). Three interresting exhibitions for free and also a very nice bookshop. Please go there and enjoy yourself.

Other recommendations will follow as soon as I have the time!]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3749.html Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:55:03 GMT
Order a Hoegaarden, La Chouffe or some other delicious beer in 'Belchica' and don't forget to order the delicious cheeseplate!

-->Belchica, Carrer Villaroel 60, metro Urgell.<--

]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3704.html Mon, 07 Nov 2005 19:46:37 GMT
Results of interview #1:

The first person I interviewed, is a boy who is born and still lives in Barcelona. He studies (he is in my Teatro Social class), is 20 years young and his name is Ismael.

Ismael feels more Spanish than Catalan. That's because at his home, and also in his daily life, he speaks more Spanish than Catalan. Actually he doesn t speak that much Catalan at all, but when he does it is usually with his classmates.

Ismael doesn't have a clear opinion about if it is a good thing or not if Catalunya would become independent. He said it has it's advantaged and disadvantages. He thinks it would not be a good thing if Catalunya would be a totally independent place, because it needs to work together with other places in order to "survive". On the other hand he thinks true independence would be nice too.


Results of interview #2:

The second person I interviewed is Mónica. She is one of CDT-ladies from our school. She is 21, studies and lives in Barcelona.

She feels more Catalan than Spanish, because she was born in Barcelona and has lived there her whole life. She speaks both Catalan as Castilian, the whole day. It makes no difference to her.

She wouldn't want Catalunya to be totally independent, because she thinks that will bring many social, economical and political kind of problems.
---

I also found an interesting opinion about this subject in a speech from Jordi Pujol, the president of Catalonia. The speech is given in 2002 and was about Forum 2004. He points out some interesting things about the Catalonian identity:

"We have always maintained that Catalonia has an absolutely fundamental objective which is to preserve its own identity, something which is often under pressure from all sides and it must do this while at the same time establishing an international position for itself. Catalonia, we Catalans, can not simply lock the doors of the house and wait in a defensive position, stifling ourselves with our own company until we become a relic of history that will eventually disappear.

One of the elements of our identity must precisely be this will to project ourselves in the World. We posses everything necessary to achieve this and I think that the experience we have gained from constantly having to defend our identity in wider political, economic and cultural settings, Spain on the one hand and Europe on the other, and the call of the wider world which many of us have heeded, stand us in good stead to convey this message."]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3701.html Mon, 07 Nov 2005 19:20:27 GMT
Nevertheless, since I am not the very worst person on earth, I decided to do as I was told. A little frustrated already, I went to the station and got in one of these rooms of darkness and dreariness.

After a quick look in the mirror, I was almost totally ready for the Big Happening. Unfortunately, as soon as I threw my money in the machine, it fell out again. Would that have been a hint, a sign, a warning?

Somewhat irritated, I went to an other machine, threw my money in again, listened to an ununderstandable Spanish machine- voice and pushed some buttons. I thought that a picture with a nice animation would be more enjoyable than just my face, so I chose one of them. Suddenly the machine flashed, so the moment of Big Decency was over. I thought.

When I picked up the result, there was just confusion in my mind. -Yes, there was a paper with some animation stickers, but no, my head was not on one of them. So. I went back in again and suddenly saw a surprising option: language choice! I followed the same procedure again, but picked a different animation. This time my head was printed on the paper indeed. Though as I walked away with the result, I realised that it might be rather small for a schoolcard: not even 1 square centimeter.

So I went in a new darkroom, to try it for the last time. I picked the right language, threw some money in the machine and waited. The voice that accompanied me, kept on requesting for money. I pushed the "¡¡Give me back my money!!"- button, but nothing happened. Great! Just a little more frustrated than before I stepped out of the doomed place. There was a guy waiting outside and I told him that the machina didn t work. Apparantly he was just about to get the money out, because he opened the thing up and gave me back my money. He also showed me another machine that should work. "Okay, in that case I will try it for the very, very last time.." I thought.

For the fourth time in half an hour I went in one of those picture machines. I chose for English, a bigger size, an even better animation and everything really worked! There was only a small problem. The picture that came out this time, was as big as my whole studentcard. I couldn t even cut it in the right size without chopping half of my face off..

I bought a big bar of Toblerone to comfort myself. Now here I am, sick of chocolate (again, after yesterdays chocolate convention at El Forum), broken (I spent about 10 euros in total!) and without any good results. Probably I am doomed to use the internet café's for a while now, before I have gathered enough courage again to try the picture machine for one more time.

It is the tough life in Barcelona, and that is what it is..]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3602.html Thu, 03 Nov 2005 11:57:47 GMT
So, what are the promising results of this research? I will present the most important conclusions in this note for you.

1. It ís possible to go out in the nightlife of Barcelona for no money at all! I did it for two days and I have not been thirsty for a minute. Just make some friends at the Magic, be nice to the doorman and the dj, dance as much as you can and success is guaranteed.

2. A Reagge Party in a kind of half- broken building is cheap, but not that great. It is too hot to even move an arm and also way to crwoded. Sitting on the street with a beer afterwards can be nice though.

3. Halloween, oh halloween! I never celebrated it before in my whole life. But this time I did. All dressed up, with a wig, looking like someone out of Mozart´s time. We went to the Fonfone and I just danced and danced and danced. Great music, great place, great night.

Till so far the most important conclusions. But don t worry, the research will be continued.]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3218.html Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:15:10 GMT
If you are curious, go to: [Click to view link] and click on the first link!

:-)]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3216.html Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:08:01 GMT
How can I describe this in just 200 words? I think that is impossible. If you compare living here to living in Nijmegen (where I live back home), the main difference is that everything is x10 over here. Nijmegen has Romain remainings (it is the oldest Dutch city), a nightlife, cultural events, a nice park, international students, etc. But it is almost boring if you compare it to Barcelona. There is so much to see, do and experience over here, that it sometimes drives me crazy. I don t want to miss anything, but there is just too much and unfortunately I need to sleep once in a while too. School is, to be honest, way on the background. It is good to have classes though, because you meet many people and it stimulates you to look further than all the touristical attractions.

Things I really miss in Barcelona (and I surprised myself with that) are moments of silence, fresh air and nature. I definitely need to go outside Barcelona as soon as I find some time. When people from Holland are visiting me, I suddenly realize that I miss them too. I wish they could just move to Barcelona, or Girona or some other place around. And that I could live the rest of my life like this, happy after all!

Do you believe in fairytales?]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3186.html Wed, 19 Oct 2005 13:18:10 GMT
This is an INVITATION

for
a BIG PICNIC

NEXT SUNDAY (23 october)
at 16.00 o clock

in PARC CIATUDELLA

¡¡BE THERE!!

and bring DRINKS, FOOD and GAMES!!

¡See you there! :-)

Anna, Inger, Sonja, Heidi and Pauline


p.s. Only when it is raining a lot, it won t continue]]> http://curry.elgg.org/catstud14/weblog/3003.html Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:22:37 GMT
This matter worries us, as we worry about all the social matters. So we tried to think up of a plan to clean the streets with less effort. Ofcourse it wasn t that difficult for us to find a solution, since we have these huge creative brains. And besides that a lot of human knowledge. We know that we can convince people to participate if we do it in a nice and funny way.

So, now we are in the beginning phase of an enormous international project. It is called: -Pick up one Piece of Garbage a Day-, also known as -PPGD-.

The idea is so great! ¿Wouldn t you want to live in a beauteful place, surrounded with pretty things and scenes, instead of what exists now? It brings a smile on peoples faces, which will stimulate others to participate too. We are sure that we can unite the world with this big idea. It is not only the beginning of a nice and clean environment, no. Just imagine how much positive energy it will bring to everyone who participates and to those who see others participate.. It is the beginning of world peace!

Now, we already hear you say: -This won t work chica s..- That is the most scary part of this project, as always when one wants to save the world: a fear that nothing will happen. That is a wrong conclusion for any idea. It is a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. It prevents people from take some action, instead of give the good idea a change and think it is worth trying.

Well, probably you are shivering on your chair because of curiosity right now, ¿aren t you? Then let us tell you about HOW we will make this thing work! It will be like this:

1. The first thing that has to be done is to spread the word; sing it out loud to every soul, every ear and every brain that you meet.
2. Also, we need very good posters to catch peoples attention. Ofcourse these posters will be in all different kinds of languages. The whole class can participate and bring translations.
3. We can and will use everybody s talents. This is a great oppurtunity to show the world wat difference YOU can make. Yes, even you!
4. We will invite different organisations to be envolved with this project. We can use their funds, knowledge or services to spread the idea. Then it will even be more effective..
5. We will remind all the habitants and all the tourists that picking up one piece of garbage a day can make THE difference to live healthy and in balance.

It will start with just a few posters in the city, but soon it will spread itself as a kind of a positive virus. The more people participate, the more guilty other people feel when they don t. And, if they will pick up one piece of garbage a day, they might as well pick up several pieces of garbages a day, right?

People will also start talking about tjis project and maybe even get in toutch with very interesting other earthlings, which they would not have met otherwise. Oh yes, it is a big thing for civilisation, we know. Do not thank us for it, just participate..

A few things you could fo:

ª Take this as an obvious thing in your life. When you believe in it your aura will show that, and others will belive in it too.
ª ¿Can you draw, make posters, think up slogans, do you know organisations that could help us (with copying for example), do you have got some free time to hang up the posters, do you have got some other suggestions? Please let us know!
ª Join us, participate! LET S CHANGE THE WORLD!!!!!!
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