Galicia, NADA SURF

Pics from Semana Santa are up too! I lent Antonio my camera during the day to take pictures for his project though, so Courtney's gotta give me her pics from Santiago and La Coruña during the day.

This past weekend I was in Galicia, the northwest province of Spain. Climate is comparable to Northern California...foresty, rainy, mountainous, cool...very different and 6 hours from from the arid Madrid province. Galicia is famous for its wines (Ribeira for white), almond cakes (tarta de Santiago) and cheese called queso tetilla, which is literally shaped like a boob. It was originally made that way to rebel against the Church, who requested that the cathedral sculptors not make their female figurines so voluptuous. So instead they made their cheese voluptuous. Make sense to anyone else?

Santiago de Compostela
So it was just my luck that Nada Surf, my favorite band ever, was playing in Santiago de Compostela the same weekend I would be there with IES. What would Nada Surf, a New York-based band, be doing in a random Spanish city? The bassist, Daniel, is natively Spanish, so there you have it. On top of that, Antonio was up there shooting pictures for his architecture project, which also takes place in Santiago. So everything came together beautifully. Anyway, so we explored the city a bit before going to the concert.

View of Santiago de Compostela from a distance
Not the most practical way to go down a slide
Scaling walls to take crazy pictures
Giant-ass azalea trees!
The streets of old town Santiago by night
The grand old Cathedral of Santiago
One side of the cathedral

What can I say about the concert? It was amazing...so lively and beautiful as always. They played just about all my favorite songs from the last 3 albums, and I still know most of the words to the Proximity Effect. I have seen Nada Surf several times in DC for the past 6 years or so. So to be able to see them in Spain was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I could not pass up. They were playing at Sala Capitol, a big concert venue for a relatively small city, about 1 million people. I thought I wouldn't be able to talk to them afterwards...but lo and behold, I see Matt (guitarist) outside afterwards and talk to him for a bit. He was a bit shy but amiable. After that, I ran into Daniel and introduced myself. He thought I didn't speak any English and looked annoyed when I wanted to take a picture of him. But then when I said "hey, I'm Jess, I'm from DC (the States)." And he was like "Holy shit! What are you doing in Spain??" And ended up talking to him for awhile...then he invited me and Antonio to the bar afterwards! So we hit up A Reixa, this rock 'n roll bar that was just packed to the core. We first ran into Ira, the drummer, who was stunning...tall dark and handsome, and dressed up too! So I chatted with him awhile and even treated him to a whiskey and coke. I am so starstruck right now. Afterwards I ran into Daniel and chatted with him about all sorts of crazy stuff, like the true meaning of "groupie" and how he still considers himself Spanish and that America is like a vacation to him. It was as if I'd just run into them at the bar and we were all native Galicians or something. It was definitely one of the best nights of my life...hopefully they'll remember me next time I see them in DC!
Sala Capitol
Nada Surf
me with Matthew
me with Daniel (note the Fuck Bush pride)
Me with Ira (he really wasn't that drunk, what a shame)

The next day I parted ways with Antonio and joined up with the group to go on the official tour of Santiago. It is an extremely significant city historically. It is one of the third most visited religious cities for Catholic pilgrims, because of the legend of Saint James, or Santiago in Spanish. Basically this saint was beheaded in the Holy land in the 9th century, and his remains were going to be disposed of but were salvaged by two disciples. They put his body in a boat and let it go down the river, which took him to Galicia. It was considered "The end of the world" back then because Columbus hadn't yet gone on his exploration. So there, they buried Santiago. Later, legend says someone was guided by a dance of stars (Compostela) to his burial site, and there they built the beginnings of the cathedral. "Estela" also means tomb in Spanish and Latin. Over centuries it has been expanded and improved and renovated, and now it is the central landmark of Santiago de Compostela, its outermost facade having a traditional Barroque style. There are legends of Santiago Compost resurrecting to help kill the Moors during the Crusades, so he is also known as Santiago Matamoros...a figure often used by fundamentalist Catholics as anti-Muslim propaganda. Oh, religion, it brings the world together. Anyway, the rest of the group went to dunes and the beach, but the roomies and I opted to just wander around and shop. That night we went to a nice Italian dinner with Alan, Jay (crazy kid from Pam's and my grammar class), and Isa, one of Maria's friends. We had sangria and white wine...then we reprised my visit to A Reixa because all of the other bars in the old town were completely dead, which was odd for a weekend!

We also took a visit to La Coruña,a port town about an hour from Santiago. Unfortunately it was pouring when we were there, so all we did was go through the town by bus. We did climb the tower of Hercules, but it wasn't that exciting and it was cold. That night Pam, Courtney and I went to see "Failure to Launch" dubbed in Spanish. It was amusing because it's about a grown man that won't move out of his parents house, so they try and get rid of him by hiring a girl to seduce him.

So overall, with the Nada Surf concert, hanging out with the roommates and Antonio, and a beautiful city, I am completely satisfied. I'm pretty much tapped in terms of traveling, but we've gone one more excursion. BARCELONA!!! One can't go to Spain without hitting up Barcelona. Seeing as that I've never been, returning to the States without visiting would be blasphemous. So here I go!