Ty and his roommate Jason took us to their favorite spot near their house to see the ocean. Stopping at a cute covered-patio to eat on our way, we ordered Nutella and orange crepes and “salty gofres.” Gofres are like waffles, but the batter is thicker and sweeter. In the waffle iron, they made these salty waffles by sprinkling a layer of cheese down, poring the batter on, cracking an egg over the batter, adding chunks of meat and lastly, sprinkling another layer of cheese on top. It was good, but not as good as I expected, so I plan on making my own version of this genius creation once we get back to the states.
We walked along a cliff that had eroded into the ocean over the years. The path was perfumed by the fig trees and flowers that lined the perimeter. You could almost taste the sweetness in the air as you inhaled deeply. To get down to a surfing beach by their house, though it wasn’t much of a beach, we held onto an unstable rope that was sketchily staked into the ground. Our lives were definitely in danger for several minutes and we scaled the cliffs down to the sea. It was a beautiful place to look out over the ocean, climb over rocks, and dip our feet into the cool tidal waters.
Yesterday, Aria and I had ventured to the Guggenheim museum, architected by Frank Gehry. The building was just a strange as I had learned about in architecture classes.
Jeff Koons, an American artist most known for his giant metallic balloon dog was featured through out the gallery. Some of his stuff was interesting, but he had a sexual exhibit of himself and his future wife that made everyone feel quite uncomfortable.
There was a permanent exhibit on the ground floor of the museum that consisted of huge iron sculptural walls. The artist created mazes, tunnels, canyons, and spirals out of the rusted metal plates. I introduced Aria to the awesome architectural phenomenon known as the “creep effect.” This is the ability for sound to travel incredible distances because of the geometry and curvature of walls. We ran around the exhibit playing telephone, with her listening at one end and me whispering at the other. Though I’d learned about this phenomenon in classes, it was amazing to see it in action.
Another beautiful exhibit was within the videography room. It was a film called Thread Routes by Kimsooji. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fashion, sewing, embroidery, and overall artistry. Kimsooji combined cultural aspects with art, architecture, nature and musical sounds to produce her six film segments. Each segment was based on a different culture’s trade of textile goods and thread-work. It was extremely inspiring to me in terms of my future career and love of everything she combined into her videography.
Everyone in Spain seems to have a little puppy that they stroll around with. As we were leaving the museum, all of a sudden, we heard a terrible noise in a town square. A small black french bulldog was sprinting ahead of the shopping cart he was tied to. At first I thought he was a little pig, but the poor doggy thought the cart was chasing him. He kept clanking into poles and being rattled by the collisions, but he kept running away from the inanimate object. Everyone in the square gasped as they watched the poor creature run for his life, until finally the owner caught up with him.
We didn’t believe the boys when they told us they were going clubbing in the Guggenheim that night, but of course we ventured with them to see if the impossible rumors were true. Sure enough, the Guggenheim was hosting a club like event with a catered alcohol cash-bar and music that made us want to jump around. Our group was the first one to really start dancing, and we got the whole club on their feet. We hopped around with the DJs and screeched with sheer excitement. I couldn’t get my mind off the fact that we were raging in literally one of the most famous buildings in the world! I’m sure I stated that fact to everyone that I talked to that night because I was in disbelief. We felt like celebrities. How often does anyone get to go clubbing in the Guggenheim?? It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it was absolutely INSANE!
