16A: Queima das Fitas - Video

And, as promised, here is my video account of Queima das Fitas:

http://vimeo.com/23986361

Hope you enjoy!

16: Queima das Fitas

I'm finally back with a much more upbeat blog post (because God knows we all need to be more positive nowadays).


Queima das Fitas, or "The Burning of the Ribbons," is the biggest student celebration in Europe... and it happens right in my little city of Coimbra, Portugal.  As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Coimbra is Portugal's first and oldest university and it has quite a few very old traditions.  Queima isn't a tradition that stretches back to the university's founding in the 13th century but it is at least one hundred years old and celebrates the senior's (or finalistas) graduation and the burning of their school ribbons as a symbol of such commencement.  The 8-day celebration (a day for each department at the University) starts on the Friday of May with a midnight Serenata in the wee small hours of the morning.  From then on it is complete madness in the city: mayhem, drunkenness, debauchery, and all that follows.  I sincerely doubt several of my friends here would remember the week if they didn't have incriminating photos to help them piece together the events of each day. :)

Tacos for Cinco de Mayo!

 The Thursday before Queima was actually Cinco de Mayo, so with the Midnight Serenata that night it felt as though the two party traditions of my heritages were coming together for a truly epic night.  After a "Mexican dinner" (thanks to an overpriced El Paso taco kit), Tatiana, Amy and I joined forces with Barbara and Ashleigh, split a bottle of wine, and headed to the Midnight Serenata.

Fadistas singing on the steps of Sé Velha

The square was packed at 11 PM, though we weren't surprised in the slightest.  Students in full Coimbra uniform had been waiting since the afternoon on the steps of Sé Velha, and Amy had seen them receive a pizza from a delivery boy sometime around 3 PM.  We stopped and bought individual half-bottles of Barbara and Ashleigh's favorite Portuguese wine, Mateus.  I've decided that I have family connections to this winery.

Mateus wine for everyone!

After dodging far too many drunk Coimbra students (the guys were very excited to see us and the girls glared as if their looks could kill), we found a pocket were a few recognizable Erasmus faces were stationed and enjoyed the concert when it began at, you guessed it, midnight.  We weren't sure exactly how long the concert was going to be, but with the help of Mateus we ended up enjoying the somber fado celebration quite a lot.  After stopping back at our apartment, Tatiana and I headed back out at 2 AM for the first real Queima das Fitas festivities: a party underneath the Quimica (Chemistry) and Física (Physics) departments.  The rest of the night got a little crazy... all I will tell you is that I met Tatiana back at the apartment at 6:30 AM and enjoyed delicious grilled cheeses before falling asleep and definitely missing my 9 AM class the next morning.

The Gates of Heaven.

The Stage

Ashleigh and THE CANDY

Friday night marked the first night of the "Noites do Parque," which took place across the river in a huge area.  Each night there was a giant concert, where the opening act usually began around midnight and the headliner graced the stage around 1 or 2 AM.  The first night featured The Editors as the headliner, and while they were great we didn't stay at the concert the entire time.   The facility was huge: near the stage was a giant complex for food, souvenirs, and beer.  Behind the food were three enormous tents, each with its own DJ blasting dance music.  And of course, port-a-potties and public urinals tucked out of sight.  That night Amy, myself, Barbara, and Ashleigh got giant bags of candy.  There were people all over the place handing out random things for free, and we ended up with pink balloons and condoms whose wrappers called attention to human trafficking.  We also bought delicious sangria from a booth sponsored by Bigorna, a favorite bar close to our apartment.

A shining beacon in the night.

The next day I went to visit my family with Amy, but I'll talk about my adventures with my family both that Saturday and this past weekend in my next blog.  When we returned, Tatiana and I headed out to the Noites do Parque again, where we watched Brazilian musicans Marcelinho da Lua and Marcelo D2, who were both fantastic and high-energy.

Concert-goers.

The next day was what most would call the highlight of Queima das Fitas: o Cortejo.  O Cortejo is a huge parade where students from all of the different departments create giant floats that traditionally feature some sort of political, social, or cultural satire about contemporary Portugal.  From these floats, each the color representing the department (yellow for Medicine, dark blue for Humanities, red for Law, etc), students already drenched in beer, liquor, water, and juice pour these things from the sides into other student's open mouths or drop cans and bottles into their waiting hands.  The parade starts at the Old University, continues down the hill, turns around Praça de Republica, and continues through the city.  We practically traced its path, as we saw many of the floats waiting up at the university.  There the students first got drenched by their friends and colleagues, who poured and sprayed whole cans on one another.

Classy.

While we were no stranger to the Coimbra University uniform, this was the first day that we saw the finalistas decked out in their dress uniform: sans cape, both the boys and girls had black jackets with lapels covered in colored satin (the color depended on your department) with a flower for emphasis button on their chest.  They also had colored top hats and colored walking sticks.  It is tradition to hit each senior's top hat three times (and hard!) with the walking stick (for good luck?), so most of the students had huge dents in the top front of their hats.  I was pretty jealous of their uniforms, though not so much of the hat abuse.

I didn't have any good up-close pictures myself.  How great are these uniforms though?

We walked down the Escadas Monumentais and met up with Ashleigh and Barbara to watch the parade in motion.  Absolute chaos.  If I had a Euro for the amount of times I watched someone fall down in the street right in front of me, I would be rich.  Everyone was drenched in alcohol, completely drunk, and dancing through the streets.  And this wasn't just students!  Young people (and quite a lot of older people too!) from all over the world were on the street, dancing in the parade or dodging the sprays of beer on the side lines.  As the floats passed, students tossed cans of beer to the people below.  Every once and while they would also throw bags of chips or homemade sandwiches.  One float passed by handing out little pieces of cake.  Don't worry, I fought the people at the base of that particular float and got two.  Of course I did get sprayed while trying to get a can of beer, but the mood of the entire parade was infectious and I didn't mind at all.  Unfortunately my camera got a little sticky and the zoom button still sticks a little bit, but otherwise I had a fantastic time.

Before the mayhem.

This float gave us cake.

 

Sprayed with beer. Super Bock!

Pouring vodka right into students' mouths

That night we headed to the Noites do Parque once again and saw Quim Barreiros in concert.  I'll insert a video of Quim Barreiros for you below so you can comprehend why we were at first astonished that he was headlining and then had the greatest time ever dancing to his songs.

Quim Barreiros and his accordion!

Once the weekend was over, we were a little partied out and didn't return to the Noites do Parque until Wednesday night.  Each night, though, we could hear the concerts from our apartment and, later, the music of parties going on in the different student houses around us and the bars near Sé Velha.  But attendance at the Noites do Parque on Wednesday was completely necessary: Yolanda Be Cool, who are behind one of my favorite songs of all time "We No Speak Americano" (the song I used in my Queima das Fitas video) where playing and I was determined to worship them in person.

Having too much of a good time.

In all, this week was absolutely insane.  To give you an idea of the amount of people here in Coimbra and the amount of drunkness that they carried with them, it has been reported that more beer is drank during these eight days of Quiema das Fitas than during Oktoberfest.  I really hope I can return again while I'm still young and experience this celebration again!  Later, when my video finally uploads, I'll post a link to my video about Queima das Fitas on here. 

But for now I will leave you with this, a recent vocabulary discovery I found that I don't think is entirely by accident and may be completely inspired by the Queima das Fitas festivities:

Licenciado, -a graduate

Licenciar to graduate

Licenciatura degree

Licencioso licentious

Hmm. Coincidence?  I think not.

11: Birthday Week and Viseu

Now for the second blog of the day.

Birthday Dinner!

Fresh off the plane from Barcelona, I arrived in Coimbra just in time for the week of my birthday.  I absolutely love birthdays and am positive that I will continue to love them even when I get much older (what's not to love about a day celebrating to your very presence?).  For me, I tend to include the week surrounding my birthday as part of the celebration, and it was pretty easy to celebrate like that this week.  Somehow two very fun events were planned for the two nights before my birthday: Tuesday night was French/Belgian night, complete with champagne and free French fries, at a local club called "Duplex" and Wednesday night featured a midnight futebol game, where the Erasmus team, which included several friends of mine, played and lost to vicious Italy.  Then, of course, there was our trip to Viseu which began the day after.

Empty Dom Pedro's

But of course, all week I waited anxiously for Thursday morning.  March 24th, and I was finally 21 years old!  My last milestone birthday until the not-anxiously-anticipated 30th, and I had a fantastic day.  We only had one class, but since a university-wide strike was in effect that day, few students showed up and it barely counted.  I then got dressed far too early for my birthday dinner, watched my favorite movie (When Harry Met Sally, in case you were wondering) and then went to dinner with several friends at the infamous Dom Pedro's around 8 o'clock.  The owner was, of course, escatic to see us and, upon finding out it was my birthday, not only gave me beijinhos but took pictures of our dinner party both on my camera and on his own camera, to post on the Dom Pedro's Facebook page (how did I not know this existed?).  He was very adamant about taking high-quality pictures and it took about ten minutes before he was satisfied and returned my camera full-loaded.  Of course the restaurant was empty so no one was there to witness the blatant favoritism, but it was still highly awkward and hilarious.  But the awkward is only part of the charm and I still love that restaurant.  The owner even gave me a free half-bottle of wine on which he had written the date.  We had a delicious meal and my friends refused to let me pay (though I still should have contributed...), and then we headed out on the town. 

My Dom Pedro's wine

Mom, I know you aren't going to want to read the next sentence but: we drank quite a lot.  My friends and I hoped around Coimbra, meeting up with more people. Despite my insistence on staying out, my friends eventually broke me back to the apartment so I would avoid the probably copious amounts of trouble I could have gotten into.  Overall, a very good night and definitely appropriate for one's 21st birthday.

Out on the town for the big 21st.

Mom, you can resume reading.

Friday consisted of classes and packing, because we were leaving that afternoon with our program director for Viseu, Portugal.  This was meant to be a "viagem cultural," though in reality it seemed to have very little to do with the culture of Portugal.  Late Friday afternoon, Amy, Tatiana, and I arrived with Ana Paula and her boyfriend Francisco at Hotel Montebelo, a five-star hotel and spa.  I'm not saying I'm not grateful because the hotel was absolutely gorgeous and amazing, but was it truly "cultural"?  I think not.  This seemed glaringly obvious to us, especially when we spent several hours in the overwise empty spa, where Amy and Tatiana took turns getting massages while I hopped between the sauna, Turkish bath, and pool with Ana Paula, who was in a bikini.  Good.

One half of our giant room

I told you it was made entirely of ice...

That night, Ana Paula took us to the Palácio de Gelo, which is not a palace or castle but a mall in Viseu.  We paid for our own dinners in the food court, visited a few shops, and then went to the Bar do Gelo, a bar made entirely of ice.  This was paid for by the program, you know, since it is Portuguese culture.  It was rather neat though, despite the unflattering black jackets and the freezing temperatures.  We sipped vodka beverages with Ana Paula from cups made of ice while the bartender cursed us under his breath and pulled his hat lower over his ears (we were the only ones there).  After the ice bar, we returned to the hotel and slept in our beautiful room.

Ice seat at the Bar do Gelo Viseu

Buffet Carnage

The next morning we discovered the most amazing breakfast buffet known to man.  Any kind of bread you could want, pasteis de nata, cake, fruit, cereal, meats, eggs, vegetables, excessive amounts of jam, a whole leg of ham... and more.  We gorged ourselves before leaving with Ana Paula to visit Santa Maria de Viseu, a beautiful, dark, and slightly moist 12th century church in the center of town.  There we stopped in the Museu de Vasco Grão, whose name refers to a Portuguese painter that they highlight throughout the museum.  The museum had amazing amounts of religious art and sculpture from all around Portugal, and while I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, I was amazed by the detail on the wooden sculpture.  It was actually mostly wooden, with very little stone.  They even had relics, which grossed my friends out: "Why would they want to keep someone's bone and touch them?!"  I guess it just makes more sense to someone raised Catholic... though I couldn't explain why anyone would want to do such a thing either.  :)

Inside Santa Maria de Viseu

After this museum we went into the church itself, which was beautiful.  For its age, it was amazingly preserved.  It was absolutely beautiful inside, though I could feel myself getting a little churched-out.  It was a lot of religious art to take in after such a short amount of time, and by the time we also explored the inside of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia across the street, both its chapel and museum, I would have been very happy never to look at another sculpture of Saint Sebastian pierced with arrows, Jesus on the Crucifix, or "Virgin with Child" for several years.  Though we left soon after to walk around and do a little bit of shopping, there was yet more religious art in my future.

Santa Casa de Misericórdia

When we tried to leave Misericórdia, it began to rain excessively and, with our umbrellas safely packed back at the hotel, Tatiana and I huddled under Amy's umbrella as we wandered the streets of Viseu and stopped in several cheap shops with Ana Paula, who seemed equally excited about the shopping as she did about the museums.  She even bought a pair of boots on sale and would intermittently proclaim her love for her "botas bonitas" for the rest of the day. 

Somewhere in Viseu

At the Tesouro: Isabel, patron saint of Coimbra

After our walk, we returned to Santa Maria de Viseu and went into the Tesouro de Catedral Museum, which would have been far more impressive if we hadn't spent all morning looking at religious art.  By this time, Francisco had joined up with us again (he had returned to Porto after driving us to Viseu), and we had a "culture lunch," which consisted of some sort of baculhau, some sort of other meat, and línguas de porco: pig tongues.  Oh yes.  And I can safely say that they were absolutely delicious, especially since Francisco seems to have taken a liking to me kept putting more and more tongues on my plate. It felt like he maid it his personal duty that I speak as much Portuguese around him as possible, correcting my pronunciation of "chávena," (which was appreciated) and making me recount the legend of the Gallo de Barcelos (which was not).  After that lunch, I was so full that I wanted to die, and Amy and Tatiana felt the same.  We returned to the hotel, but I couldn't nap the food away: it was time for my own massage.  While I would rather not go into detail about my very first professional massage, I will simply say that it involved paper underwear and a very friendly Brazilian masseuse.  At least she told me that I spoke Portuguese very well.

We wasted more time in the spa area, which all of the other residents of the hotel must have discovered that day, and glared at the French men in the jacuzzi until they left.  Then we returned to the mall that night, where Ana Paula and Francisco left us to shop.  We ate dinner in the food court around midnight (yes, the mall was open until midnight!), where Tatiana and I finally experienced "Telepizza."  This pizza company has been a source of amusement for us for some time as we often see their delivery boys on logo-ed bikes delivering pizzas throughout the badly-paved streets of Coimbra, but their pizza was absolutely delicious.  Mr. Pizza, you have competition.

TELEPIZZA

We also discovered a crepe place in the mall after Telepizza.  Thickest crepes I've ever eaten.  For the second time that day, I was too full to move, but somehow I managed to get back downstairs and hop into a taxi back to the hotel. 

CREPE

The next morning we returned to the magical breakfast buffet before packing and checking out of the Montebelo.  I been feeling a little sick throughout the entire week but, as it was my birthday week,  I had refused to let it interfere with my enjoyment of my 21st or this trip.  However, in what was probably a combination of the lack of sleep, amount of alcohol consumed, the mental exhaustion of speaking Portuguese almost 24/7 that entire weekend, and rain from the previous day, my cold came rushing on me that morning and I was rather miserable.  As we got into Francisco's car, I  thought we were returning right to Coimbra and was excited to get into my bed and pajamas, but that was not the case.  After a very curvy trip down tiny streets, we stopped in a town called Caramulo for their museum.  I only wish I felt better, but as I wandered through their very neat automobile exhibit and their World War II propaganda gallery, I was just not having it.  The top floor, which included a ton of religious art, didn't help.

Churchill Pot-luck vs. Hitler Humble Pie

Rolls Royce, my dream car.

We got back in the car to find a place to eat before returning to Coimbra, but it took so long to find a place that I ended up falling asleep in the car.  Ana Paula was dead set on eating sandes de leitão, which is a sandwich with suckling pig, and while we passed restaurant after restaurant advertising leitão, we didn't stop until we found one with a sign specifically with such sandes.  I'm not a huge fan of pork, but by the time we got our sandwiches I ate it so fast that I could barely taste it.  I had told them about our court's tradition of pig roasts earlier in the weekend, so they were very interested to know about the differences between our usual pig and the leitão.  Even though Ana Paula had ordered for us, this was apparently not a culture lunch and we had to pay for it. 

Frustrated and in debt, I got back in the car and, after some traffic, finally Amy, Tatiana, and I were back in our apartment.  We haven't left since.  While I still feel a bit sick, I can definitely feel my cold subsiding.  Viseu was a cute little city, but I am very glad to be back in Coimbra. 

And now, after several hours of blogging and uploading photos, I think its time to make some dinner. 

10: Barcelona

So sorry its taken so long to update this blog!  These past two weeks have been absolutely crazy.  Be prepared for two posts back-to-back.

So last weekend, March 18th - 20th, Amy and I took a trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona.  We chose that particular weekend to visit since Amy's uncles would also be in town.  One of them was a conductor in Spain for years and years, so he definitely knew his way around and could potentially help us with the language barrier (despite the fact that they speak Catalan, not Spanish, in that region of Spain).

We took a later flight on Friday night and arrived in Barcelona around 11 PM.  The airport was my very first exposure to the language of Catalan.  I was a little nervous about going to a city which didn't speak English, Portuguese, or Spanish (which, thanks to Portuguese, I can read a little bit), but Catalan wasn't too bad.  First, we only saw the spelling, which at first looked like badly misspelled Spanish and second looked like the love child of French and Spanish with a taste for the Portuguese "ç".  But thankfully each sign in Catalan had both Spanish and English versions right underneath. 

Tried to take a picture of the signs to BARCELONA but... alas.

From the airport, we hoped on a shuttle, then a metro, where I heard Catalan.  Honestly, I could not tell the difference between it and Spanish.  I don't speak either, but to my untrained ear it sounded exactly the same.  Hopefully when I learn Spanish in the distant future (that's the plan, anyway), I'll be able to go back and understand how it is different.

Common room in our hostel

When we finally arrived in our hostel, we were very pleasantly surprised.  This was technically the second hostel we booked.  The first had emailed me a few days before our flight to let us know that they could no longer accommodate us.  While navigating the poorly translated email, I came to believe that their water lines had busted and therefore their facility was down.  They sent us the name of another hostel, but we went our own way and found another cheaper one.  The new hostel, however, was really nice!  There was a common room area, a kitchen, and the dorms that we were staying in were very clean.  I had been a little nervous about staying in a dorm, instead of a private room, setting, but there was no problem at all.  We discovered the next morning that the furniture in the common room and kitchen was really bright, colorful, and clean.  They even served breakfast with toast, cereal, and knock-off Nutella.  What could be better?  We got up very early that Saturday morning to eat breakfast as soon as it was available and then set off toward our first sight, Sagrada Familia, with our purses zipped closed and held tight to our bodies: Barcelona is infamous for its pick-pockets.  Even though we were only there for two whole days, I am still getting used to not clutching my bag to my body protectively here in Coimbra.  Probably not a bad habit to have though, now that I think about it...

Passion Facade

We probably should have worked our way up to Sagrada Familia instead of starting with the most impressive site in all of Barcelona.  I absolutely loved this cathedral.  I don't know anything about architecture at all and couldn't name more than two architects even now if I tried (Gaudí and Christopher Wren, thanks to a previous excursion to England in 2008), but I can safely say now that Gaudí might be my favorite architect of all time.  When you enter the complex, the first thing you see is the haunting Passion Facade, with the story of Jesus' passion and crucifixion illustrated in stark boney statues.  Even the columns around the facade are shaped like bones - which, from our audio guide, was intentional.  Gaudí was extremely detailed and, though the cathedral is still under construction, he left detailed plans so that it will be exactly as he wished it to be.  I won't continue to recite the audio guide word-for-word, but every detail was conceived and perfected so entirely.  Amazing. 

Interior

After the Passion Facade, which is only one of the side entrances, we entered through huge copper doors. I won't lie to you: I almost teared up just looking up into the cathedral.  It was amazing.  My pictures don't do it justice.  Gaudí wanted this to be the perfect cathedral and it truly is.  I was so overcome with emotion as I walked down the line of pews and to the other side. 

Looking up at the stained-glass windows

The forest-like ceiling

There we took an elevator to the top spires, where you can see Barcelona spread out as far as you can see. 

The view from the spire

Jesus as a young carpenter

Back at the bottom, we exited through the other side: the Nativity Facade.  This was entirely different than the Passion Facade.  It looked like it was melting and moving, even though it was hard stone.  There were sculptures of the Holy Family, the Flight to Egypt, Maria visiting her sister, and even an image of Jesus as a young carpenter.  I got really emotional again here.  I was completely and inexplicably enthralled with the sculpture of Jesus as a young man.  It was so incredibly beautiful. 

Gaudí's workshop

In the gardens around Gaudí's home

We continued down into the museum, which details the on-going construction and shows Gaudí's methods, workshop, and burial place within the crypt.  Then we left the Sagrada Familia to go to Gaudí's Park Guell, a fantastic area which he had originally conceived to be a living facility for the rich but failed.  Now it is merely a park, with his home placed dead in the center.  We walked around the fantastical grounds and went into his home, which now contains various pieces of furniture that he designed for aristocratic families.  After posing next to the famous lizard statue, we took the bus to La Rambla, where Amy's uncles and their friend Peter were waiting for us in a little restaurant in an isolated plaza.  They graciously bought us lunch (which was fantastic, as I had been slowly nibbling at a Nutella sandwich in my bag to avoid buying food) and then walked us around the harbor area of Barcelona. 

Park Guell

The Lizard statue

The burnt ceiling of Santa Maria del Mar

Then they led us around the Barrio Gótica, where we visited several fantastic old churches (though they didn't come close to La Sagrada Familia).  Santa Maria del Mar was fantastic: it was internally burned during the Spanish Civil War when the church officials took the side of Franco, and you can still see the carbon on the ceiling.  We also went to the national cathedral, which was being renovated.  Outside some sort of cultural event was happening: hundreds of older people were dancing in large circles to a band.  As night fell, we parted ways with Jim, Tim, and Peter and had dinner in a Spanish restaurant (tapas included!) and returned to the hostel after meandering around the La Ramblas area and shopping.

The front of the Cathedral

The next morning we got up bright and early yet again and went directly to the Harbor area, where we revisited the Columbus Monument (and I made yet more lion friends)...

New lion friend!

... the Maritime Museum...

Shark friend at the Maritime Museum

Yeah, I know this is Portuguese, Barcelona.  Not obvious from the coat of arms or anything.  But don't label it.  It's cool. 

A model of an English ship that destroyed Spanish ships.  Derp.

... and visited the sights that we missed in the Barrio Gótica, like the Temple of Augustus: Roman ruins housed within the Barcelona Hiking Club (no wonder).  We met up with Amy's uncles during this time and they again bought us lunch (seriously, the most wonderful people on the planet) before they had to leave the city.  We continued walking around and visited the Viceroy's Palace, saw the outside of the City Museum (formerly a palace of Ferdinand and Isabella), and the Cathedral again (where the strange cultural festivities were continuing, now with dancing and a parade of huge statues of unidentifiable people from all different time periods... I'm guessing they are famous Spaniards but who knows?) then went to the Picasso Museum, which was very interesting.  It houses quite a lot of his earlier stuff, which is beautiful classic painting.  You would never connect these paintings with his famous later work, like Guernica.  I'm going to be a little snooty right now and say that I have a strange relationship with Picasso... as much as I appreciate what his originality, I rather dislike modern art and he definitely contributes to that whole movement.  But, at the same time, you can see just how talented he really was... Complicated.

Okay, I'm lowering my nose now.

After the Picasso museum, we decided to forgo a large dinner for a dessert tour instead.  We stopped in a small dessert place and got freshly made waffles (mine with caramel... magic), then McDonalds (where I got McNuggets and a purse-shaped Barbie notebook), and then churros with chocolate back near the cathedral.  Then it was back to the hostel, where I passed out. 

The most delicious waffle the world has ever known.

CHURROS

Early flight the next morning, and we were back in Coimbra that Monday afternoon.  I unfortunately missed my favorite class, History of Portugal, but my friend Dan was good enough to allow me to borrow his notes.  But truly, I would have missed several History classes for Barcelona.  What an amazing, amazing city.

Sorry this was written a little curtly... But now its time for me to start writing about my birthday week and "cultural trip" to Viséu!  Até logo!