I'm Back

Wow! I haven't updated the blog in a long time. Well, I managed to get out of a high school in one piece. I am officially a high school graduate. My most recent adventure was in Spain. I went with my youth orchestra. It was kind of grueling. On the left is a view of the country side. I took this picture at the monastery of Montserrat. It is in Catalonia near Barcelona. It was a really neat place full of monks and tourists. They also had a really good boy's choir and a black virgin. Unfortunately, the monks were allowed to talk. Otherwise, I would have stayed to become a silent monk.

Spain is a very cool place to visit. I went all over the place. Some of my highlights include: The Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid (home of Picasso's Guernica), the Prado Museum, the Palau de la Musica Catalana, and the sword shops of Toledo.

I also enjoyed the food. Ordering food in Spain is an adventure for a tourist. I only speak English. A lot of the places I went only had Spanish menus. However, I had my spanish phrase book. This was invaluable. I was able to avoid the raw ham thanks to this. I also got to throw phrases around. I was able to order what I wanted and pay my bill thanks to my 1 year of Spanish and Phrase book. I recommend trying the local cuisine in Spain. Don't go to american fast food restaurants. I had several favorites. Bocaddillos are nice. A boccadillo is a sandwich on a baguette. I usually got one with fried calamari on it. A tortilla is good too. If you order a tortilla in Spain, you get a frittata or potato omelet. I also liked the paella. It is a dish of yellow rice, chicken and seafood. Coffee in Spain is excellent. I had two different kinds. Cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and cappuccino. Cafe con leche is basically steamed and foamed milk on coffee. It is very similar to a cafe au lait. cappuccino is an Italian espresso drink. it is basically the same thing as a cafe con leche except made with espresso.

I also played three concerts while I was there. The first was a children's concert. I loved it. Little kids get really excited when they hear an orchestra for the first time. the second concert was in a community center. when we first arrived there were a lot of little bitties doing ballet. It was great. The concert looked like it was not going to be well attended. To drum up an audience, the conductor had the brass section go outside and play a fanfair. This got about five more people. The last concert was kind of a bust. We went to a music conservatory in the middle of their final exams. No one came except the parents and conservatory administration.

I'll leave you with a picture of the dancing fountains of Barcelona