Erasmus BSO (1ª parte)

Adri:

Entrada en español para variar. Acabo de venir de una fiesta de acción de gracias que al final no se ha celebrado porque resultó ser esta mañana ¬¬. Si es que lo de a.m p.m está inventado para liarse. Es como poner dos calles llamadas King's and Queen's road una al lado de la otra, y en el mismo barrio un poco más adelante volver a poner una calle llamada King's Road y otra Queen's Road la una al lado de la otra. ¿Por quéeeee?? ¿Acaso Inglaterra nos odia? En fin para variar, aquí una selección de las canciones que por un motivo u otro han entrado a formar parte de la banda sonora de esta primera parte de la Erasmus. La inestimable ayuda de Spotify ha contribuído a que pueda escucharlas hasta aburrirme:

- The Scientist (Coldplay): Por curioso que parezca nunca había escuchado a Coldplay hasta que vine aquí. Y eso que cuando estuve en Dublín había un cartel bien grandote colgado en la calle principal anunciando el nuevo disco. Tuve que estar en Inglaterra para que algo de Britpop entrara en mis oídos. Y claro Coldplay, como mayor exponente actual del género, no podía faltar. La canción también fue un descubrimiento tardío. El título no me atrajo mucho al principio, pero la canción y el genial videoclip arreglaron el desaguisado. Sin duda. la mejor de Coldplay. Lo comenté anteayer con mi flatmate Jo, que la estaba escuchando en ese momento, y coincidió conmigo.

Y es que nadie dijo que fuera fácil, pero tampoco que fuera a ser tan difícil.

- Wonderwall (Oasis): Clásico entre los clásicos y más Britpop a fin de cuentas que debería haber escuchado hace mucho. Yo pensaba que aquí sabrían que carajo significa la canción pero que va. Tienen tan poca idea como nosotros los foráneos. Simplemente es algo que queda bonito. No hay Acoustic Night en la que alguien no la cante.

- Into my arms (Nick Cave): Me encontré con esta canción un día que fui a un concierto de jazz gratuito en la cafetería del Royal Albert Hall.

Bueno, exactamente gratuito no era porque había que consumir, pero me costó lo que una taza de té. La cantante una tal Yots K hizo un cover de la canción y ahí comenzó la historia. Un poema de amor religioso hecho por un ateo. Curiosa combinación, que da lugar a esta canción lenta, sencilla y emotiva.

- Kryptonite (3 Doors Down): Flamante aparición el día que jugamos al Guitar Hero en la JCS. No sé si sonó cuando yo estaba jugando pero tanto a Lu como a mí se nos quedó el ritmo. Ella la escuchó pechá de veces ese mismo día, yo me contuve un poco más y la dosifiqué. De hecho el día que vinieron mis padres no podía dejar de caturrearla mientras los esperaba en la estación de Victoria. Recomendable desde ya, porque todos nos volvemos locos algunas vez y nos creemos superhéroes.

- Jai Ho (A.R. Rhaman, Nicole Scherzinger, The Pussycat Dolls): Esta canción no está a título personal sino a título de Lu que al principio de la Erasmus no paraba de escucharla. Yo la escuché por primera vez cuando vi Slumdog Millionaire y sí, para bailarla está bien, pero no deja de ser eso, una canción para bailar. Pero el pique de Lu con esta canción me obligó a escucharla unas pocas de veces y eso la hace formar parte de esta banda sonora.

- Elephant (Damien Rice): Cuando vine aquí, creía que ya no me quedaba nada bueno del bueno de Damien para escuchar. Me equivocaba. Había escuchado esta canción antes sin prestarle mucha atención y tuvo ser aquí dónde le di su justa medida. Lo mismo me pasó con Rootless Tree. No podré imitar a Jose e ir a un concierto de este hombre porque los únicos concierto que ha dado desde Octubre han sido en Reykiavik, Islandia y como que no me hace mucha ilusión pelarme de frío más aún. Aunque en el concierto de la tal Yots K vi a un tío que sino era él se le parecía un rato. Iba descalzo y marcaba el ritmo de las canciones con el pie. No sé si le pega a Damien un rollo tan excéntrico, el misterio puede que nunca se resuelva.

No sé si yo también estoy lately horny, pero cualquiera puede pintar un elefante mejor que yo.

- Brianstorm (Arctic Monkeys): El único concierto importante al que he ido merecía al menos una canción. Y como el disco nuevo es nu mojón como el Big Ben de grande, confortémonos pensando que hubo un tiempo en el cual valoraban la opinión que el público pudiera tener de ellos. A parte de ser la canción que mejor representa el espíritu del grupo y ser hasta divertida en ocasiones, esta canción provocó el mayor pogo visto jamás por estos ojos. Solo por eso ya merecería aparecer aquí. O por el día que Lu y yo gastamos en aprendérnosla par ano hacer el ridículo en el concierto.

- Mr. Brightside (The Killers): Canción con unos pocos de años que Lu me descubrió aquí. Al igual que con Wonderwall, todo dios se sabe aquí la letra de la canción y mira que el estribillo es raro. Con la tontería la he escuchado pechá de veces. Por ello no es de extrañar que cuando la pusieron en Oceana entráramos en un éxtasis danzarín. Aunque hay gente que no sabe si decir eager o eagle eyes xD.

Estaría bien ser Mr. Brightside un día de estos.

- Basket Case (Green Day): Alguna canción era necesaria para hablar de la inestimable labor que hizo el Music Challenge por mi cultura musical. Uno de los motivos para convertirme al Facebookismo. La canción, una de Green Day, es un ejemplo de esos grupos como Linkin Park, Blink a los cuales no escuché en mi adolescencia, cuando se supone que se debe. Si formar parte de la BSO de mi Erasmus es un homenaje tardío, al menos es mejor tarde que nunca.

- Karma Police (Radiohead): Que no, que nadie sabe lo que Wonderwall no te esfuerces. ¿Y Karma Police? Tampoco. Ya ves, aunque nunca puedas estar seguro de lo que exactamente quiere decir una canción de algún modo esta provoca algo en tu cerebro, una sensación, y te emociona y eso pasa con esta. Y la parte del final cuando empieza "And for a minute there, I lost myself " me pone los pelos punta una y otra vez. El videoclip es una rayada, curioso cuanto menos.

The Wrong Hole (DJ Lubel):  Eso sí donde este una canción como esta, que se convertirá en un gran clásico de ahora en adelante, que se quite todo lo demás. El vídeo incluye los subtítulos en español. La puntería, que está infravalorada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thsaDPCw06w

No puedo dormir

Lu:

Necesito a mis amigas, me siento bastante mal, necesito hablar con ellas, contarles las gilipolleces que se me han pasao por la cabeza en un día, las echo de menos, echo de menos a Marisa, que se fue anoche. . .

Y encima las canciones que escucho no me animan precisamente, porque me recuerdan a ellas, a cuando estábamos en "Palmera Real", en la 210 una noche random y Marisa empezó a poner vídeos de Estopa:

Bueno, supongo que todos tenemos nuestros días de bajón, también estando de Erasmus (aunque se supone que esto solo pasaba en los primeros días...). Aunque puede influir el hecho de que el miércoles será mi vigésimo bday  y siempre me embajona cumplir años. Estoy nerviosa por algo que aún no ha pasado (x2). Uf. Habrá que meterse en la cama ya o mañana va a escuchar a Andy Walker quien yo te diga...

♫ y tus ojos me miraron y la Luna se cayó del cielo [...] pero me pongo tan malo cada vez que me roza tu pelo [...] cuéntame un cuento, dame locura!! ♫ y si tienes que marcharte... llévame en una maleta ♫

 

Arctic Monkeys Gig

Adri:

Finally, Lu, Eli and me went to the Arctic Monkeys concert. It was gonna be our first real concert in London (Fraud Feast and Tahani tried really hard, but you know) and it was going to be in Wembley Arena (not the stadium, what a pity, maybe some other time). We had some technical problems in getting there, because we had to take the purple line (for those who are really worried about the colors, the Metropolitan one), and the fast and medium tubes didn't stop at wembley park, which was our stop. And our tube was actually goin fast. We pass some stations without stopping. But at the end it was a false alarm, the tube stopped at Wembley. We expected a long queue, but in fact it was short, cause we arrived quite early. Moreover, we managed to get a place near the singers.

People there were really drunk. A lot of drunken British I mean. Before the Arctics, a group nobody known played (three guys with long moustaches like the gauls in Asterix) and the people started jumping and shouting like if it was the main gig xD. Well, to tell the truth not exactly like that because when the real concert began people acted more violently. The first song Arctic's played was a new one, so anybody got excited. The storm started with "Brianstorm" and the people around us started to do a savage pogo. So hard that we almost fall down. Lu got lost in the wave of people but Eli and I succeced in remained together. . The only good thing about that pogo is that you end up touching asses without actually having the intention of xD. After that the situation was much calmed.

About the singers, well, lets say that they were as emotionless as a sleepy mussel. They just played their songs one after the other without saying anything to the public nor trying to be empathic. Besides, they don't know anything about when they have to play each song. Instead of saving the most famous songs for the end, the played "I bet that you look good on the dancefloor" in forth place. To top it up they didn't play "Leave before the lights come on".  In spite of all this the concert was great, public made their ethilic joyfulness contagious.

That's the good thing about gigs. No matter who is singing, if you want to you have a great time you have it. And if you know the songs of the group, the better. Now I can cross from my list of things I should do in London " Going to a real concert" :D

Lost in London

Lu:

My first overnight visitor has been Marisa. She came from Berlin last Friday and I picked her up in Victoria Coach Station (despite my cold, temperature and coughing). We arrived at Roehampton at 3 in the morning! It was a nightmare trying to stop the N11, 'cos it was completely FULL.

We spent the Saturday together: we went to Tower Hill with the JCS, we had a good time (I played DDR!! ^_^), but it didn't come to my expectations, I thought there would be more cosplayers (that's why I brought Roxane with me!), but nope. I introduced Marisa to my friends there; Anna and Kurt (Luke seemed daydreaming, so I didn't say anything :S). Kurt was talkative, he was happy 'cos he had asked Sara out, and I am glad now everything had run smoothly for the two of 'em ;-) After a couple of hours or so, we headed to Soho with Adrien (but this story has already been told).

[...] in our way home, Harish texted Marisa: "find ur way to elephant&castle at 11. is dat kool?" Obviously, if it's 9 in the evening we think of 11pm, but for the British that's sth implied in the conversation and they think you've met at 11am the following morning. Therefore... picture my pale face when Harish calls me at 2 in the morning with his cockney-Indian accent I don't understand (damn!), telling that Marisa is lost in Central, that they've had a misunderstanding 'cos he was supposed to meet her at 11 in the morning!! And Marisa without battery in her cell-phone. Great. It took her 8h to come back from Elephant&Castle (which is not the best place to be at night)!!! I was incredibly happy when she entered in my room... =)

Her anecdotes:
In Elephant & Castle
- A man offered her ganya.
- A man asked her if she was sad and why was she sad.
- A boy whistled her.
In Victoria
- She swapped card sims with a Spanish group of people, realizing it was a waste of time 'cos she had my number in her mobile phone, not in her card.
In the N11
- She missed the Hammersmith bus stop.
In the 65
- The bus driver wanted to top up her oyster (she was really low), she talked about him as if he was her guardian angel.
In Roehampton
- There were 3 different bus stops in Roehampton and she got lost and asked an old crazy man for directions. And the man shouted: "My Lord! This lady has been lost in London all night long!!" So, Marisa aware of the situation started to cry a bit... but she found the dorm at 7 am!!

The following days she's stayed at Harish's. She came here in the middle of the week telling me she would leave on Monday (at first, she came only for a weekend LOL). So guess what, I still got her here, I'm writing an essay for photography and she's sleeping ^_^

Last Saturday

Adri:

Last Saturday was the Anime League event wtih the people of the JCS. I thought it was going to be like the Expo but in smaller size. I was wrong. It was even smaller. Actually, it was in a pub. Only a few shops and a television xD. But it was nice, at least I spent almost all the day talking in English. And I bought a surprise Christmas sock which turned out to contain 2 small figures of Dragon Quest, 2 small figures of Macross and a Bleach necklace. Moreover I saw part of an anime called Heitalia whose plot has captured my attention, so maybe i'll cast an eye over it. After that Lu came with her friend Marisa who came here this weekend in a love bussiness trip. Lu tried to play DDR with acceptable results. I tried to play with FAIL results, but it was OK. A photogtaph to illustrate the topic:
  

 

Then, the people of the JCS began to leave the place. We stayed a little more, but not too much. Lu wanted Marisa to know the Soho O'neills and there we went. I was completly crowded. The three floors. The reason: There was a match between Ireland and France and the place was filled with people of those countries. An example: When the Marselleise started to sound some people there began to sing along, when the unknown Irish hymn began to sound happened the same. I supported Ireland, because of the good times spent in Dublin last year summer. Besides I ordered a Guinness so I couldn't be more filled with Irish spirit. Lu a Marisa ordered a Foster's instead, because Lu has developped a liking for that beer, too soft in my opinion but still drinkable.

The atmosphere in bar was a little tough. Lots of people there.Not normal people but hooligans. Suited hooligans though. But nothing mattered and we introduced ourselves in that atmosphere, shouting or gettin nervous every time there was a goal chance for Ireland or for France. Was funny. At the end Ireland lost by one goal but I didn't notice that till the day after cause we only were there the first half of the game. After that we returned back to the University and Marisa went to meet his guy to Elephant&Castle, but this another adventure that deserves to be told by Lu with more detail.

Cheeeers!!!

Oceana, Kingston

Lu:

I am so sorry you had waited for me uploading that long, but here I am!

In these two weeks I've had awesome experiences to tell, like...

...I was invited to a private party in a posh club called "The Velvet Room" in Piccadilly. This pic was taken b4 leaving Digby Stuart, wiv Anna Poon and Sara Bellwood ^_^ It was fun, the Indian guys dancin' bhangra, meeting new people,... =)

...I went to the cinema on  Saturday, wiv Robin & Eli to watch The imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. It was... different. I can say I liked it, 'cos in fact I did, and Johnny Depp appeared as well, but... it's not going to be one of my favs. After going to the movies, Robin invited me to a Carling in her flat and I stayed till 2 talking wiv her and her flatm8s =)

...ASDA has ripped us off U¬¬ So we won't go again at least in 3 weeks. Jhm!

...On Wednesday, I was with Tracey having a look at Photoshop; masks, layers, all that stuff. And I was invited to go to Oceana in Kingston upon Thames, with the JCS, but I didn't feel like it. Therefore, Tracey and me were planning to go to The Comedy Tree the following day. When... out of the blue, I ended up in the website of Oceana and we saw that FREE PASS VOUCHER... we looked at each other and we decided to go! (BTW, I met Sam, her flatmate... that's a hot guy!). 2h later we were drinking Foster's and Coronas in my flat with Adrien. He left before us, 'cos he had met the JCS @ Sandra's and Tracey and me were waiting for Robin and LaToya. Tipsy Tracey is fucking hilarious xDDDD We were working, we were working x_____D  We took the 85 towards Kingston, we entered for free and we ended up with the JCS, together, nice group =) Wes came later.

I had a supergreat time at Oceana. With the spectators who jumped on stage:
- In the disco room we were taking pictures of the group and that party-animal decided to appear in them too, he posed with us xD
- While chilling out upstairs the pop room, the "high five" guy we came across twice haha
- And Adam, the drunkard xD He couldn't find his glass 'n he thought the table went around on its own x_D He was fucking sexy 'n I got his numba, but... dunno... xD

- A guy dressed in colourful tights were holding a lady upside-down around the club!! xD


Boys there were handsome, there were loads of'em, not like in The Bop, where you can only see the ones from uni and most of'em gay U¬¬ Adrien told me the girls were incredibly pretty there too, so we have to come back, deffo! hahaha And play "Have you met...?" x_D A Portuguese man tried to pick me up, but he wasn't good-looking and he seemed he was in his thirties! OMG! I danced wiv him (didn't see that a prob) but when he started to touched my hands, to get close... nooooo let's run away from here! xD And the guys were laughing at the scene and taking pics so they didn't help me T_T


OMG I almost forget this! While we were dancing in the pop room... the DJ played The Killers, Kings of Leon and... BLINK 182!!! OMG!!! That was the best "music part" of the night ^_^


We took the 85 back Roe and... I think that's it. AWESOME. We had the time of our lives :P

Apart from that... I met Kurt yesterday... 'cos he was low 'cos his 2 year girlfriend dumped him, and he helped me wiv my Luke stuff so we met at Whitelands @ 8 and... we said goodbye @ 12. Good times. Four hours practising English... yay! But the problem is that... I thought I had found a friend here (a male one)... and.. he dropped some hints while being wiv me... I think he's a nice guy, not sexy, but so funny and good-looking, but when he told me he was a fiancé when 16 and he almost had a child before uni... he lost 999999999999999999999999999 points, out of the blue xD Hope we can still be friends, 'cos he rocks! ^o^

And tonite... tonite MARISA IS COMING TO TOWN!!!!!! (L)! Can't wait any longa! =)

Shepherd's Bush connection, Guitar Hero and Quiz Machine

Adri:

As Lu refuses to upload interesting stuff about our everyday life here and instead upload boring posts like the last one (which was past course homework) so I guess I'm alone in taking care of this part:

The Shepherd's Bush part have been told by Lu in her Fotolog(the place where she tells that type of stuff I was talking before) and she did it quite well so just go there and see.

Yesterday, Bonfire Night (fireworks don't amazed me so much) the JCS organised a Guitar Hero competition and an anime projection. Compared to Guitar Hero, the anime projection fainted, so we went to the Guitar Hero thing. I was the first time I played in my life, but I did it fair enough. My highest puntuation was 70% in higher-easy level (that means easy level, difficult song xD). And I learnt lot of songs that I should have known before, like Livin' on a Prayer, In the Shadows or Kryptonite.

We stayed there till 10 so I thought I wasn't gonna made it to the acoustic night (we thought that it was off at 12) so I felt quite depressed because I had in mind goin out that night. At the end, although it was eleven, I decided to go alone to Whitelands. The first good new I ve encountered arriving there was that the pint of Guinness was only 1 pound! So I obviously ordered one. Then I started to look for someone I would know and I met Dane's flatmates Sam, Michael and Chantal. I tried to talk with them but was really hard to understand them partly because of the loud music partly because of the twisted accent of Michael partly because they talked very few, even among them.

But things changed when they decided to go to the Quiz Machine. It was one of those typical bars machine full of touch videogames that are also common in Spain with the difference that here if you do it well you earn money! At first they played the Family Guy quiz, which was a quiz in which your objective consisted in achieve all family guy characters by answering questions and then another one called Pub Quiz in which you just have to answer questions one after the other. I enjoyed it very much, I love trivial games and I have a good time every time I play. I wasn't as good as I used to because many of the question were related to England but even with that I managed to know some questions the others didn't. Michael, who was the one that paid, ended up with having neither win nor lost money, so it was fun for free.

Today my parents have come to visit me, so I'm not gonna be, if any, the one that uploaded things this weekend. Lu is right now in a party. It something interesting happens to her, then she won't upload anything so let's pray for the contrary xDD.

Driving over lemons

Lu:

I was writing an exhibition review of the gallery I visited with Tracey and Adrien in Brixton; Photofusion. And I am likely to upload this review, but I came across with the one I wrote last year for the BIII course, and here it is:

Driving over lemons, Stewart, C. London: Penguin Books, 2006. 247.

Chris Stewart, ex-drummer of the English rock band Genesis, wrote the novel Driving over lemons at El Valero, a cottage in the Alpujarras ―the foothills of Southern Sierra Nevada in Spain. He and his wife Ana had purchased it ten years ago and they continue making a living there, with their sweet daughter, Chlöe. This is the first book of a trilogy, since after the success it had, Stewart released A Parrot In The Pepper Tree in 2002 and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society in 2006. 

Driving over lemons tells the story of the drastic decision Chris made without seeking advice from Ana: leaving the United Kingdom in order to live in a cottage, El Valero, in the Southern foothills of Granada, in which they had to learn how to stock up to survive. Nevertheless, the neighbours living around did not hesitate to help them as much as they could. Bearing in mind that El Valero lacked drinking water, electricity and it was almost inaccessible ―neither by car, nor on foot―, the Stewart faced the construction of a bridge over the close and unpredictable river Trévelez, they first attended the well-known matanzas, learnt how to water the acequias, made a smooth transition to the rural-Spanish gastronomy: papas a lo pobre and costa wine. Apart from that, they harvested their first olive crop, aided their sheeps to lamb, sheeps which were sheared by Stewart and the neighbours together. Besides, they got used to the changeable weather of the zone, which some days covered their land with heavy rainfalls, so that they could stay isolated for weeks! Finally, their last adventure at El Valero was bringing a baby to life, Chlöe. Furthermore, they fitted into the group of Granadinos that inhabited the valley, they felt part of them and what is more, they discovered more foreigners in their very same situation. 

The way the novel is written makes it easier to read; the book has a linear narrative, which means that it does not contein either flashback or flash-forward. Apart from that, the landscapes are perfectly described. In fact, they are so well narrated, that we manage to escape from the daily skyscrapers and tubes to place ourselves into the breathtaking Andalusian valleys. Therefore it is a tireless description, not very deep so that the dynamic dialogues the author has created make the reading pleasant and enjoyable. Stewart adds a touch of humour to every new sitatuation that should not be forgotten. What can be clearly seen in this extract, where he introduced the hippy Welsh couple Amanda and Malcolm: «There seems to be a preponderance of eccentric women among the foreigners here [...] Amanda and Malcolm are one Duch couple: typical, in their way, of the Órgiva New Agers. Malcolm has long white hair and a penchant for loose flowing clothes. Rodrigo, whose flock of goats ravages the wilderness around Amanda and Malcolm’s land, is unable to accept that Malcolm is a man [...] and he refers to them, as ‘those two Englishwomen’». 

Chris Stewart –known as Cristóbal by his Spanish friends-, is the main character of the novel and he shows himself as a humble human being, interested in what surrounds him, well-behaved, who fights nail and tooth for transforming El Valero into an habitable place for his family. As soon as the reader begins turning the pages of the book, they realize how Stewart treats his wife; he does it as if she was an angel fallen from Heaven, he is very caring with her, sometimes a little henpecked though. As a whole, these are the keys of the success Driving over lemons has had: it is impossible not to take a liking to Chris throughout the story.

Otherwise Ana seems distrustful when it comes to meeting the inhabitants of the valley, as it is shown in the following piece of text ―which is a conversation about Pedro (the former owner of El Valero) Ana and Chris are having:  «‘It’s one thing buying a peasant farm, it’s quite another thing buying the peasant¹ with it’ [...] ‘You know I don’t like that word, Ana. I really do think it would be as well not to use it’». Despite this kind of reactions she could have had at the beginning, she ended up getting on like a house on fire with some neighbours, such as Belinda or Expira. 

The reader’s attention is attracted by a vast command of rural vocabulary, understandable at every moment. Besides, the recipient of the book appreciates the usage of Spanish words trhoughout the plot, that Stewart bothers to translate into English; papas a lo pobre «poor man’s potatoes». After this one, he writes a mini recipe, since the reader may be interested in how to cook them. There are many other examples, take; matanzas «Everyone around here keeps pigs, fattening them throuhg the year and killing them at the traditional matanzas in the fly-free days of winter», chumbos «prickly pear» or acequias «watering channels» among many others.

Moreover, the book incorporates a physical features map showing the Alpujarras, in order to help the reader to locate each scene when reading.

The purpose of the author may have been to catch the reader’s eye to  the simple things of life; the modest people living in Órgiva, the stories the shepherds tell him,... At least once, the people living in the noisy and polluted atmosphere of a metropolis have dreamt to escape from it, to feel the wildlife the country offers. Maybe, that is why this novel had such an outstanding acceptance, since it achieved the number 1 in the UK sales. 

Despite the fact that Driving over lemons has amazing descriptions and a rich vocabulary, this book leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. Althought it is not a marvel, it is an entertaining work, that is true ―with which you learn the geography of the Alpujarras and the rural tasks mentionned, with just a few strokes of the brush. Therefore, I would recommend it just in case you like country life, or if you are looking for a novel with a hilarious touch or even if you want to escape from daily life for an afternoon. So, do you belong to any of these groups? Then, give it a go. You have nothing to lose.

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[1] Here we can see that the word peasant has two different meanings: country people and country bumpkin. The first one has no negative connotations, but the second one does.