Singing in the rain...

It's raining in Barcelona. Actually it has been raining more or less continuously for a loooong time. I think we have had more rain the last two weeks than all the time from September to March combined... And I have finally completely lost any belief I may have had in weather forcasts. Somehow they manage to get it wrong every day. Until March my impression of weather reports here was that they were always too pessimistic. They told us it would rain everywhere (at least in Catalunya) and then it did rain everywhere but Barcelona. I even told Riikka, the Finnish girl who moved in in February, that it never rains in Barcelona (of course it started raining the next day, just to prove me wrong, but at least then it only lasted for a couple of days). My relationship with rain has also changed rather dramatically over the last year. In Bergen rain is normal, it's what you expect. A day witout rain is a positive surprise. Here I take it personally if it rains for two or more days in a row.
At least we were lucky with the weather on our two daytrips during Easter (pictures upcoming). Lucky enough, in fact, for my friend Alma to get sunstroke (very scary business, btw.). Today the rain is combined with a bit more heat than earlier in April, which you would think was nice, but actually it just makes the world humid and sticky and disgusting, and it makes the Metro a nightmare, particularly if you have been running because you're just a littlebit later than you were planning to be (the Metro is always either too hot or too cold, and gets very humid when it rains). Have been checking the reports for next week, and the weather is supposed to get better, but I'm sceptical. Last week I was convinced that this week would be good because I actually didn't think it possible that it could rain for such a long period in BCN, but now I don't know anything anymore...
Anyway, apart from the weather situation:
Friday the 13th today and so far nothing dramatic has happened (yes, a little disappointed). Had an exam which went really bad, but that was as expected, and since it was a partial exam and I can do it again in June it doesn't really matter. The exam I managed to fuck up completely on wednesday I'm a bit upset about however, because I had actually studied for that one. So, having finished two exams this week and everything (worked very hard...) I tried to do as little as possible today, and I have rather succeeded. My class at 17 (Spanish and Catalan history for exchange students) was cancelled because the teacher is ill, so now I'm back to wasting time on the internet. The plan for the rest of the day is to find a book at the library for Erica and then go see free movies at the Museu d'Història de la Ciutat.

(Av ein eller annan grunn has melodien til "fuglane vett" snurra rundt i hovudet mitt heile dagen i dag. Veldig rart, for eg har ikkje høyrt denne sangen på lenge, og det tok meg halve dagen å finna ut kva det eigentleg var. Kanskje det er eit eller anna slag teikn...)

Hørr, gode vermeldar,

du melde vidt og bredt,

og lengre enn tri dar.

Du peike utforbi,

øve grenså i det fri,

e du stigfinnar, eg drar.

Der fuglane vett,

finst ei lisa av fre’,

der må vel regna tett,

bara fuglane vett.

Easter

Easter is here already (how can it be Easter already?!) and we have ten days of holiday from the university. As it turns out, everybody I know has either gone home to spend the holiday with their family, or have visitors coming to Barcelona. Talked to some friends at home yesterday and they were all going to the same party (there's always a party for Easter) and I felt very left out. Started searching the internet and thought I had found really cheap tickets to go home to Norway, but today it turns out that the price was in euros, not kroner, so actually it wasn't cheap at all... And then there's the fact that the trip will take me forever. (The flight Barcelona-Oslo is the smallest problem, it's travelling in Norway that makes things complicated. Why did they have to put the capital and most of the international flights in a part of the country that is absolutely irrelevant to me?) So now I'm back to the original plan: spending Easter in Spain. At least I will have the opportunity to find out if Easter celebration in Spain is really very different from Easter celebration in Norway (which basically consists of going skiing or spendig a week on the sofa eating chocolate and reading detective stories).
I also found out not that long ago that I have two partial exams the week after Easter (11th and 13th). I would of course have been nice of our teachers to inform us of this a bit earlier, but since I don't think I would actually have started studying anyway I guess it doesn't really make a difference. Sooner or later I will have to start reading something, but I must admit that the idea of spending Easter in the library is not too appealing... Was considering a few days in Madrid, but the prices of the flights keep rising every minute, and I would prefer to go there with somebody else. Since Haldis has now promised to try to come and go with me in June I think I will stay in Catalunya. Maybe I can go on a daytrip or something inthe area and at least I can do a few of the things I have been wanting to do here in Barcelona. I have realized that I am only staying here for three more months, and am beginning to panic a bit. Too much to do, and too little time. Of course I have been here for seven months, but it's amazing how good I am at putting things off til the last minute... Will try to give an update on Easter celebration in Barcelona, and promise to try to put some photos here sooner or later (hopefully sooner than later).

PS: Today I have fixed the configuration (or whatever it's called) on my blog so that anyone, including people who don't have a blog themselves, can comment. Any language is OK!

April and spaghetti harvest

I just realized it's the day for fooling people. I usually don't realize this until it is too late, but this year I don't think anybody has tried to fool me...

Anybody else been fooled today?

Have a nice first of April anyway, and don't worry too much about the spaghetti beetle!

(http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/)