Málaga Club de Fútbol 0 - 2 Fútbol Club Barcelona. What could be a better way to commence than with the witnessing of my favorite team dominate the local boys in what was a year during which they broke the record for points accumulated in the league. Ibrahimovic and Piqué got the goals and it was a night to remember for me.
If that was arguably the most memorable event of the year, then number 1a would have to be watching the last league match of the season in a bar two minutes from Las Ramblas and then going to celebrate with the masses. A group of American exchange students even took their photo with me thinking that I was a real honest-to-goodness resident of Barcelona. Then I headed up to the balcony of the hostel and watched the celebrations from there. Good stuff.
It's impossible to rank most of the rest of these, so I'll just present them. Another one from Barcelona as seeing the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia play Tchaikovsky's and Shostakovitch's 5th symphonies. Of course, it wasn't so much the performance as the venue; the breathtaking Palau de la Musica Catalana makes for as enjoyable a visual experience as possible while one takes in the beauty of the music.
Several days after that came another quite memorable event as the Dickinson group attended Las Fallas, the totally out-of-control pyrotechnic festival in Valencia. I think, to be entirely honest, that between the various explosives devices detonating all over the place, the massive 100-foot papier-mache statues burning, and rowdy crowds pushing in all directions when there was nowhere to go, I was more afraid for my life at Las Fallas than I have ever been in my life. I did still manage to enjoy myself, but I certainly don't feel the need to go back.
If I continue with the traveling theme, Lisbon has to have been the city that most affected me aesthetically. I can never remember having such a positive reaction to the mere sight of a city before. And the personal, culinary, and cultural interactions I had while I was there lived up to the surface beauty. Between the fortresses from the Moorish period, the reconstructed center from the neo-classical period, the remnants of some of the pre-earthquake on the hills, the bridges, and the monastery down the road in Belem, Lisbon has it all.
More traveling makes the list, as the highly memorably night in the desert simply couldn't have been left off this list. Playing silly games with the Berbers until two in the morning when we hiked up a dune to watch the moon rise was awesome (although not being able to sleep due to the cold was not). It all made for a memorable experience, one which was fully worth it, and worth doing again.
Thanksgiving dinner was also memorable if only for the sheer incongruity of eating a family style traditional American meal in Spain with a whole bunch of Americans and a few Spaniards who felt obligated to say polite things about what for them must have been one of the most unusual traditions imaginable. Eating turkey to celebrate some meal that took place about 400 years ago... odd.
Of course, as far as Spanish myth and legend is concerned, nothing could possibly have beaten the bull ring in Ronda. Upon arriving in Ronda one is struck immediately by its near perfection. It seems more like a town invented by a brilliant author than like a real place. No wonder Hemingway and co. were so obsessed with this most enchanting of Spanish villages.
And then of course there are the things that will always be linked to the people I did them with, like drinking Guinness with Braeden in the oldest pub in Ireland (Sean's Bar), or sitting in Brothers cafe in Utrecht debating evolutionary psychology with Jesse, or playing soccer with Stephan and several 12 year old German kids who were as good as I am, or sitting around talking and taking in the Spanish culture with my wonderful colleagues from Dickinson in Málaga. The night at Agape stands out in particular.
Specific places in Málaga that deserve mention: ArtePostre - best cafe around; the kabob stand - best fast food around; the alcazaba, cathedral, and roman theatre all within 500 meters of each other - most diverse cultural heritage within such a short radius; the terrace of my apartment - best view around; the beach - best walking imaginable; the 11 bus - most consistently unpleasant experience; the 20 bus - most inconsistently timed bus. To my fellow pseudo-Malagueños, what stands out to all of you?
More to come...
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