Srijana in Barcelona

"A trip to Finland"

2007-01-05T21:59:00.000+01:00

For the new year 2007, we were in a trip to lapland along with other 25 friends. I had great and amazing experiences there and probably all of those experiences were for the first time. Being in the place where it was dark for almost all time during winter, seeing the real Santa Clause and the Santa Clause village, seeing the line where Artic circle falls, seeing blue lights, doing snow mobile, sledding, walking over the river which was frozen, reindeer sledding, feeding reindeers, having drinks from snow bar, covering whole body with snow and many more things were my first experiences. I had a great time there in Finland which will be my life time memory.

Enjoying the blanket of snow.

Infront of the Santa Clause house (the blue line above me marks the artic circle).

Feliz Navidad Y Prospero Ano Nuevo

2006-12-24T23:02:00.000+01:00

"Feliz navidad y prospero ano nuevo" to everyone.

At IESE, they traditionally organize a a lucky draw of 5 special "jamon" every year before the Christmas for the staff. Ths year the lucky draw happend on Friday (Dec 22). Aline, a Brazilian friend, who was not so fond of jamon told us earlier that she would give away her jamon to other RA's if she won. Surprisingly 3 out of those lucky 5 winners this year were Research Assistants (RA) including her, Luis and Olena. When she started getting congratulations from her friends and realized how valuable the jamon was (we were told that it costs more than 250 euros each), she changed her mind. Now she was thinking of sleeping with her "dear jamon" as a pillow. Another winner Luis, after knowing that I don't eat jamon, has promised to make a special jamon soup for me so that I will start liking jamon. Luis I will remember your promise huh!!! And the remaining winner Olena had already left for the vacation.

We were all having fun with all these things during cocktail organised by IESE on Friday. Every one were wishing merry christmas and happy vacation and I was not lagging behind to wish all my friends and whom I know there.

RAs including two winners (Aline,5th from right in the top row and Luis, 1st from right in the bottom row)

I was specially happy today after I got a christmas gift from one of the professors in the department for which I work. Wow..Christmas gift for me!

"Men´s club"

2006-12-20T13:53:00.000+01:00

I was surprised to know that almost all the men´s clubs in America are named after animals: the Lion´s club, the Elks club, the eagle club etc.
Source: Social Capital: Measurement and Consequences by Robert Putnam.

"Theories"

2006-12-19T12:47:00.000+01:00

Now the "finale" has come. I have been looking at lots of data and analysing them since long time back for my research work. Now I am trying to write a research paper that finalises all of it. This work is new and challenging for me. I need to read others' papers and find if they have done the same works as ours to cite them. Oppsssssss...so many papers..thousands of them..I am lost!! Lost in "Heisenberg theory", "Homeostatis Theory","Hofstede Theory", "Maslow's laws", "aristotelian view", "Jeremy Bentham philosophy" and hundreds of other theories. Hopefully all those theories will be "wow yeah, I know about them. They are very simple" in few days!

Fear of pain

2006-12-01T16:07:00.000+01:00

Because of the fear of the pain which I would have, I didn´t go to a dentist once even after making an appointment. Well! I think it was also because I didn´t like the dentist who didn´t even give 1 min to see my teeth earlier.

However, because my upper right wisdom tooth didn´t have enough space to come out, it was continuing to be a problem to my jaws and affecting other teeth as well. So once again I made an appointment to a dentist, but this time a different dentist, the one suggested by one of my friends. That day he took the x-rays and saw the orientations of my "muelas" and gave me the appointment for last Tuesday for pulling the tooth out. I was again really very scared by the thought of the pain that I would feel when the anesthesia injection is given, while my wisdom teeth is taken out and after the effect of the anesthesia goes away.

But on the day of the appointment to have my tooth pulled, I was not feeling uncomfortable with my tooth. It was perfectly fine. So I was wondering if it was really necessary for me to have my tooth pulled out. Well! I had to go. I was solacing myself with one point! i.e. taking out the upper wisdom tooth won´t be such painful as lower (as always,I did internet research to find this information). Then the doctor came, asked me if I had normal blood pressure, heart beat and other basic things. I told her that all those things were fine but I had viral flu (that was true) hoping that she would postpone the pulling out of my tooth to some other day. But she observed me and started laughing and said "Then no problem, it won´t save you from me taking your teeth out" So sad......

She then started giving the anesthesia and to my surprise I didn´t feel any pain. She used a tiny needle which was painless. The image of being anesthetized with a long needle was completely wrong. I then started thinking, after finishing she will stitch a portion of my jaws and when the effect of anesthesia will go, I will feel pain. Then she started cleaning my teeth letting the anesthetics work in my jaws. The dentist was very friendly and I was happy that she was giving her time to help me relax. She was assuring me that she will start taking my tooth out once I became sure that it would not give me pain. I have met few doctors in Barcelona and I think she was the first doctor who was so friendly and had time and empathy to understand the patients. At least for me this is the most important quality I look for in a doctor, which is to relieve the patients a bit psychologically, without any medicine.

Finally, the main part was over. She took my tooth out. I could fell the pressure in my jaws when she was doing her work and it was great that I didn't feel any pain till then. Within 10 mins she told me that she was done and gave some instructions to follow for next 24 hours (e.g. hold the bandage between two jaws, don´t spit, don't eat hot things). Other then that nothing. She didn´t even stitch because my tooth came out easily just by pulling. Amazing!!!!!!All my postulations of pain was unnecessary.

For those who have to take their wisdom tooth out and are worrying, I want to say "Don´t worry". Its going to be much simpler than you have imagined.

2006-11-26T20:30:00.000+01:00

me trying to capture all the beauty of Switzerland

Posted by Srijana

2006-11-26T20:29:00.001+01:00

Pradeep and myself in Switzerland

Posted by Srijana

2006-11-26T20:29:00.000+01:00

Celebrating Christina's B'day (Christina, Juliana, Sofia, Lidia and myself: from left front)

Posted by Srijana

2006-11-26T20:28:00.000+01:00

Geetha, Pradeep, myself and Anil (from left)

Posted by Srijana

"Thanksgiving"

2006-11-26T20:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we attended the thanksgiving dinner at IESE. Thats when I came to know the history of thanksgiving and its importance. After knowing all this, though late I could not stop myself from giving thanks to all my family, relative, friends and all my dear ones who know me. Thank you everybody for being with me.

The dinner itself war great. Dinner was followed by the talents shows (Pradeep also sang a Nepali song with an Irish girl who played flute beautifully: It was a great combination). Then the auctions were amazing. People bidded maximum of 4000 euros for the dinner that will be organised by first year girls and the guys were crazy to get it. (I think it was also some alcohol effect). Anyway total amount raised was almost 18000 euros from all the bidding of different things which was raised for a charity. Good job!!!

donde esta Srijana?

2006-11-20T19:56:00.000+01:00

Wow.......I am writing my blog after a long long time and I am happy for it.

Not to bore you all my dear ones, I won't start updating all the things of 4 months.

I recently had a trip to Switzerland with Pradeep (16th Nov, 2006 to 19th Nov). He was in a trip for his project work and I didn't miss a chance to see Switzerland by joining him.

During my research work, I have been always dealing with Switzerland as the country with very high GDP, low mortality rate and natality rate, high life expectancy and one of the countries where most of the people are highly satisfied. I was really very excited to see the country about which I had been analyzing the data since long.

After we reached the airport, Pradeep headed to the company where he was supposed to be in a meeting and I went to the hotel. I rested for sometime there, had a coffee and waited for pradeep to be back. In the evening when he came back Pradeep and his project team mates and I went towards Zurich centre. I just got the glimpse of night-time Zurich as it was already late when we finished our dinner.

Next day in the morning Pradeep, Anil and I went to the small village "Trogen". It was 2 hours in a train from Zurich. We enjoyed the beautiful scenary on the way. All scenic landscape and the mountains really were amazing. I was surprised to see each and every parts of the hills, meadow, landscape well maintained. Well!!!!!!!! I know it is the country with high GDP and they have the money and resources to maintain it. Pradeep also had a horse ride (only for a minute or so!!!!!!). A beautiful girl from the village was the owner of the horse offered him the horse ride. In the evening we returned back to Zurich, had our dinner and went back to the hotel.

On Sunday, we had a flight in the evening. So we woke up early, went to the airport and checked-in our luggage (luckily, Swiss air had this facility of allowing luggage to check in before 24 hours of flight) and went to Zurich centre again. There we met Pradeep's friend Geetha. She took us around Zurich city for sometime. We had our breakfast (hmmm...with hot chocolate) in one of the oldest cafe in Zurich. Then she took us to the mountain Uetliberg from where we could see the beautiful views high mountains and the Zurich city with the lake. I was mesmerized my the beauty of nature there. But in few hours we had to go back to the airport.

It was a great weekend. I enjoyed my trip.

photos speak more than words. So enjoy!!!

2006-06-25T19:51:00.000+02:00

Farewell for Mimi (until January as she is going with her fiance Gabriel to the US and then China) and Sofia (until September as she is going with her husband Thanos to Germany) in a Nepali restaurant.

All researchers enjoying the nepali food.

From left; Juliana, myself, Mireia and Elena:

With friends at work; from left: myself, Elena, Juliana, Netta, Valeria and Marta

Dinner at Sarita's place; from up left Mari, myself, sarita, Germa and Sabin:

Return of "Lazy blogger"

2006-06-25T19:04:00.000+02:00

At this moment, I realize that I am a lazy blogger. Well! I will try as much to change my image to an active blogger. So my dear readers keep on reading!!

I don't have an idea from where to start. But I won't bore you by updating from April 24th (my last blog posted):

Opsssss...really I am a very bad writer. I don't have words to start writing!!!

It is surprising that it has been almost 1 year we are here in Barcelona. I still remember the first few months of Barcelona. Confused, being homesick, struggling to know the language, trying to find friends and looking for a job to keep myself busy, waiting the whole day for husband to come home so that I could talk, and at the same time my husband trying to find time for me besides book. I am now just waiting for the first year to finish!!!!!

Now after completion of 1st year, when some of my friends were moving with their husbands either to spend time together during internship and/or exchange program in other college, I was really sad. I can proudly say that I have made very good friends whose absence made me really sad.

Pradeep is in London now doing his internship. I am missing him. But I will join him in next month.

Other things are normal as they used to be. Going to work, sometimes going to gym after work and sometimes trying to keep track of my Spanish.

Sant Jordi in Barcelona

2006-04-24T14:18:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was Catalan version of Valentine's day in Spain. Here people don't really celebrate Valentine's day on 14th Feb but celebrate Sant Jordi a lot on 23rd April. According to the legend, this day was the day when Sant Jordi (Saint George) , i.e., the Patron Saint of Catalonia died. The legend says that Sant Jordi rescued a princess from a dragon who was going to kill her and red roses grew from the blood of the dragon. Since then every 23rd of april it has been a tradition for a man to give a rose to the woman he loves... it can be to his mom, sister or a very close friend. And because it is also the day when Shakespeare died, the tradition adapted to book giving by women to men.

Pradeep gave me a rose to make this day special. Of course, as usual, he didn't give me a surprise because we were together when he bought me a rose. But except the surprising part I was happy to get a special rose from him.

Yesterday my good friend Mimi and Gabriel got engaged. She was, no doubt, very happy and we, all the Research Assistants, congratulated her for the special occasion. Congrats to Mimi and Gabriel.

My enemy sinus is not leaving me. Oppsss...I wonder if this enemy will leave me in any moment of my life. It has been 2 weeks I haven't had a lot of energy like I used to have. I hope I will get better soon.

my days

2006-04-20T12:27:00.000+02:00

After a long Easter vacation it was not fun to go back to the work again. I had some remaining work to finish, so I had to work hard as soon as I returned back. Yesterday I completed the remaining work and showed it to my professor. Now I am more relaxed as I don't have lingering work from the days before the vacation..

The professor with whom I am working also teaches Pradeep. Since he was teaching regression and correlation which I needed for my project, he asked me to attend his class. So I did it yesterday. It was the first time I attended an MBA class and it was a fun and learning experience. It was exciting to be in an MBA class and see active participation of the students. I was waiting for Pradeep to speak in the class. Only after some time he asked a question to the professor.

Sitting at work, I am thinking something. I don't know what!! I feel like meeting my family, relatives and friends who are in Nepal and the US. I am missing them a lot. I want to talk, I want to laugh, I want to play and I want to be with them.

"Trip to South of Spain"

2006-04-18T19:16:00.000+02:00

Please click the following link to know about my trip to South of Spain,

http://gandaki.blogspot.com/2006/04/easter-holidays-and-road-tour-of-south.html

Being lazyyyy!!! Or no no.............being smart...!!!!!:):)

Trip to London

2006-04-15T21:21:00.000+02:00

I was very excited to go to London on 1st April. I was visiting my cousin there. I was excited both because I was meeting my cousin after a long time and this was going to be my first time in London.

When I reached the Gatwick airport at 1:30 am (because of flight delay), I didn't see my cousin there who was supposed to receive me. So for few minutes I was nervous and was wondering what to do. I needed coins to call him but I had none. I was running here and there to find a shop to get change but they were all closed. When I finally found change from another traveler in the airport and called him, he said he was just outside the airport. For 10 mins I was very nervous.

I was with my cousin and sister-in-law for three days. I enjoyed being with them. The first day we went to see the Buckingham palace. We were in hurry to reach there as we wanted to see the change of guards in the palace. We were about 15-20 minutes late. We saw 4 new guards coming to a guard who was already standing there. One among the 4 guards took the place of the old one. He took an oath and the other 3 and the old guard went back. We were not sure if we saw the one which we wanted to see because I had heard that all guards would be in red dress but the guards we saw were in black dress. But still we were solacing ourselves that something is better than nothing.

My sister-in-law, cousin and myself in the garden of Buckingham palace

Then we took a walk around the palace. I was excited to take photos as well. From there we went to see the Parliament House, Big Ben and London Eye. After seeing London eye, we walked sometime along the Queens walk and then took a ferry to go to the Tower Bridge. On the way I saw the tall building of Citigroup. I was happy to see it as my husband would be working there in the next 2 months. From Tower Bridge we then went back home.

Tower Bridge in the background

In the second day we went to "Madame Tussauds", a wax musuem. We had to be in a queue for an hour to buy tickets. As soon as we entered the hall, we saw a man welcoming us. I later realized that it was actually a statue. How stupid could I be! But seriously, some of the statues were very difficult to distinguish if they were live or just statues. Actually I was thinking that the statues would be inside glass boxes and people would see them from outside. But to my surprise all the statues were openly placed. People were touching and hanging on the statues. It was fun to see Jennifer Lopez blush when you whispered in her ear. Wonderful!!!!!!!!!

With Indian actress Aishwarya and Indian super actor Amitabh in "Madame Tussauds"

At home, I had some Nepali dishes which I had missed very much after I came to Barcelona. I had a great time.

2006-03-29T23:03:00.000+02:00

Few members of the partners club of IESE:

Posted by Srijana

2006-03-29T22:51:00.000+02:00

Komal, me and Sarita (from right).

Posted by Srijana

2006-03-29T22:49:00.000+02:00

My friends. From right Elena, Mimi, ....., amaya, mari, Teresa

Posted by Srijana

2006-03-29T22:46:00.000+02:00

Pradeep and me in my B'day

Posted by Srijana

"Hibernating me"

2006-03-27T21:38:00.000+02:00

I think my hibernating phase comes after my every blog post. I suppose this level of hibernating is not good.

Last Thursday members of the IESE partners club went for the drinks and Tapas. Though there were not many partners, we had fun talking with each other among the ones who were there.

Friday was my B'day. Pradeep and I went for the dinner in a Nepali restaurant. It was the perfect day for us because Pradeep finished his final on the same day. Of course I didn't expect for any b'day gift because he was busy for his exam and as I told earlier Pradeep cannot give me surprise anyday. (hehe). But he has promised me something, I will mention it when I actually receive it.

Today my friends in work wished me my B'day and gave me a pleasant surprise (on Friday they didn't know about my B'day). They gave me a card wishing me B'day in Nepali language. Mimi, my American friend, googled to find how to wish birthday in Nepali. That was a really pleasant surprise. Thank you, all of you!!!

Will post the photos next time!

case study with Professors from IESE

2006-03-14T22:09:00.000+01:00

I can say that the partners club in IESE is very cooperative and innovative. These days they have organised the case sessions. They give us the MBA cases with some problems and in the class we discuss it and share our different perspectives. We are having the case sessions with the professors who are teaching our partners in exactly the same scenario as they do in their class. It really helps us to know how our husbands are dealing with so many cases everyday. Really cool!!!!!

On this note, last Tuesday I signed up for a case session which I later realized that it was in Spanish. But as at the last minute I didn't feel good to skip, so I went for that. The case itself was in the Spanish and the professor was also discussing in Spanish. So instead of discussing the case I was just trying to figure out some spanish words which I thought I knew. Finally I could say "Yes the case was very interesting!! You know why ? I learned some new Spanish words!!hahaha

Today we had a case called "Promotion And The Dual-career Couple". It was a case about a couple where the husband got promotion and wanted to shift to other country. At the same time the wife had her own settled career life at the place they were living. Now they had to decide whether to shift to the new place (for husband) or live in the same place (for wife). Well ! It was interesting to know different ideas from different people. At the least it was nicer to meet friends after long time.

Hey all! By the way, I need your help. I am doing a research in "Patents" related to "cars". If you know or have any idea of the database about patents please please let me know. That will be a great help for me.

no excuse

2006-03-07T23:49:00.000+01:00

This time I don't have excuse on not writing my blog regularly. So I won't go with this further.

My days are going on usual. Wake up! go to work! come back! eat and then after sometime sleep. This has been my daily routine.

But last Wednesday IESE students had organised a "Multicultural Fair" which was hyped as one of the popular event in IESE. But the event was not as the one I was expecting. I was expecting it as a fair where we visit every stall, know about their culture, see different new things from different countries. Yes we saw different things from different countries...but..at the end all were alcohol. Alcohol!!!Alcohol!!!!Alcohol. People were drinking and drinking, shouting and spilling drinks. It was all that!! For me it was more an "Alcohol night then a Multicultural night". Yeah!! I enjoyed a lot but it would have been more better if it had reflected the name "Multiculture" instead of "Alcohol".

I feel myself bad for not practicing my Spanish these days. My improvement in Spanish has become stagnant. No further movement! It has been long since I learnt any new words in Spanish. I know I should do something. May be I should do more practice with my friends of intercambio. I am doing intercambio with two girls these days. They both are nice girls.

One new news, I have started waking up early (in comparison to before). I don't have any choice. But for a lazy girl like me it is good. At least I can see the world in the morning. :):):)

Oppss..again late!

2006-02-26T15:08:00.000+01:00

I know I am being lazy and lazy in my blogging activity. But this time, being lazy, I don't want to miss an opportunity of writing something for the very special day.

Yesterday my sister-in-law got married. The marriage ceremony took place in Boston. Both of their parents from Nepal were present there in the ceremony. Pradeep also attended the ceremony. Because of some reasons I was not able to be with them. But I am hoping to see them soon.

So in this special day, through my special blog :):) I would like to congratulate the newly married couple. May they lead a happy and successful life together. My best wishes are always with them.

Buen fin de Semana

2006-02-17T12:20:00.000+01:00

This week was a party time for our work team. There are about 20 research assistants in our room who are working for different professors in IESE. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was the birthday of Betty, Marc and Mireia respectively. We had sweets and pastries on those days. And on Thursday there was a birthday party in a Mexican restaurant. I had some delicious Mexican food. This was the first time I went somewhere with my co-workers. This was also the best opportunity for me to know all of them since I am new to this work here. So I enjoyed being with them.

Today is a good day for me! Any guess??? Today Pradeep finished his mid term exams. Now I can see him and talk with him as much as I want. It has been a week I have hardly seen him in daylight. He used to go IESE at 8 am in the morning and return back home around 10 pm. Then he had his dinner and the same process of studying begun. I was in my own world of my work, gym and friends and he was in his own world of study. Now I hope we will be in the same world at least for some couple of weeks.

Great Multicultural evening (second one)

2006-02-12T12:34:00.000+01:00

Because of the grand success of first multicultural night, the IESE's partners club organised second multicultural night. It was also as successful as the first one. The difference was, in the first party we all were new and were busy introducing each other. And this time most of us knew each other and were busy on chatting with each other and not to mention, having food from different countries.

Countries represented were Spain, Nepal, US, Finland, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, Mexico, German, Andorra, UK, Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium and many others. It was really a great multicultural night.

Happy Birthday, My dear husband!

2006-02-03T22:50:00.000+01:00

Where have been I for so long time? Have I been busy or lazy?

I know that "where there is a will, there is a way". But this seems like a paradox to me as I always have the "will" to write my blog but do not find a way!!!

"Happy Birthday Pradeep". I think I really gave him a pleasant surprise yesterday. Actually Pradeep and I decided to celebrate his birthday simply at home. But in the afternoon his friend Anil, Abanis, Mujib, Yuha, Yuha's girlfriend Mari and I decided to give him a surprise. My part was to take him to the Nepali Restaurant giving him the impression that only two of us were going to be there. At 9 Pradeep and I were supposed to reach the restaurant but we took the wrong exit from the Metro station and hence got lost for like 15 minutes. When we reached the restaurant, his friends were already there. Pradeep was very surprised to see all of them there. My trick worked.

2 weeks have passed since I started my work. And I am really very happy. It is not only because I am working but also because I am learning a lot of things. I used to read a lot when I was teaching the bachelor students of Engineering in Nepal but they were all course related. Now I have got a chance to read things on different subjects and I am finding them all interesting. I am sometimes reading books on economics, mathematics and different topics such as happiness and I am sometimes working with new software.

On Saturday, Dom and Atsushi, our Japanese friends called us for Japanese dinner at there house. Great!!! Such delicious food and such a passion for making food! We were about 12 people there and we all enjoyed the food and songs from all different countries (Nepal, Finland, Japan, Greece, Spain, Africa and America), and had a very good time. Thank you Dom and Atsushi.

And this coming wednesday there is a second "partners multicultural night". I am thinking of what to take there. (I am not so good at cooking, so I think more about what to cook than actually cooking). If you can please suggest me, I will treat you later).

"Update on Madrid Visit"

2006-01-26T19:02:00.000+01:00

After being done with embassy work, we went directly to our hotel. While passing through the way in Madrid I found that Madrid is a bigger city than Barcelona. I noticed taller buildings than in Barcelona. People seemed to be in a hurry (symbolization of developed city????). It was little different for me as I have found the people in Barcelona to be more relaxing and seldom in hurry.

Our destination was the zoo from the hotel. On a way we grabbed sandwich for a lunch because we didn't want to miss quality day time just eating. The zoo obviously was fascinating. The dolphin, sea lion and birds shows were amazing. The trained animals along with their masters performed their best to satisfy the visitors. We spent almost 4 hours there, our precious hours of the wedding anniversary day. But it worth a lot!!!!,really yes, because Pradeep was more than happy there.

Then from there we went to the city center. Enjoyed the happenings of the city for sometime and then went for an elegant dinner (celebration of wedding anniversary). As we both were tired, we went to the hotel after having the delicious Italian dinner.

As always I got up late. And then hurried up to go out to see more touristic areas in Madrid. We went to Plaza Real, Plaza Sol, Museu de Prado, Plaza Mayor and some other "must visit" places.

In Plaza Mayor, Pradeep and I wanted to take a photo of both of us. I saw a man coming towards our direction. Without wasting a second I asked him if he could take our photo. Then very soon I realized that he was eating some sticky sweet thing and when I asked to take photo he sucked his fingers, wiped them with his pant and grabbed our camera. Oppss... Pradeep stared at me with his big eyes. I could not do anything and with deep heart I handed my camera to him. Oh..no...he touched the screen of the camera with his same fingers. With almost no interest we posed for the photo. As soon as he was gone I could see a big patch on the screen of our camera. If possible Pradeep could have eaten me when I handed the camera to that guy. For him, the camera is so dear that he could forget me but not the camera. Within every half an hour he used to ask for the camera and now to make matters worse, the camera had marks in the display screen!!! Then after he cooled down he gave me a very cute suggestion!!! Always ask a girl ,if beautiful, even better, to take a photo...what.??? But I think I agree. Yes, girls will only handle and take care of such things better. No possibility of any dirt or patch!!!! Hey! it can be a good suggestion for you too!!!

Till then it was already 6:30 pm. Now the time was to go back to hotel , pick up the luggage and then head towards the airport. The connection of the Metro to the airport was very convenient. The Metro stop was the airport itself. I found it very comfortable because in Barcelona if we take a train to go to airport we need to change two trains from our place and then a bus inside airport which is a hassle for passengers with heavy baggages.

The timing was perfect for us in the airport. Neither we were in a hurry nor we had to wait for a long time anywhere inside airport. The flight was at sharp 8:50pm, the given time by airlines. I was feeling that I was missing something. This is Spain and everything was on time. Something strange (from the experience I have here)! We reached Barcelona at 10 pm, 35 minutes before the arrival time given by airlines. Even more strange!!!!Spain and things done before the given time. well!!! all got up to get off the aircraft and the door didn't open for about 5 minutes. And then there comes it....The pilot announced laughingly that since we were in the airport before the time and even though they informed the airport authorities about this on time, the airport authorities could not provide stairs from the plane to the ground on time. So we waited for about 20 minutes inside the plane. I was then confident that this was Spain. :)

I will be busy now..

2006-01-22T21:47:00.001+01:00

Year -2006

16th January on Monday- Job offer for Pradeep
17th to 19th January- being happy for him
20th January on Friday- Our wedding anniversary, got the job offer.

What could be the better way to start the New Year with??

Ding...dong..... or yaaaa..hoooo..... or huuu...rreee.... I do not know what the rhythm of my heartbeat was when I had all these great news within a week and on the day of our wedding anniversary. yes...I am very happy.

We were applying for the US visa and had an appointment on Friday in Madrid. We reached there on Friday morning and went to the US embassy directly. The interviewer in US embassy with a cute smile said that I will love my visit to US. Around 11 we were done with all our visa procedures.

From there we went to our hotel. We relaxed for sometime and had our Lunch. Then we went to the zoo. It may sound funny but yes we went to a zoo on the day of our wedding anniversary. Actually I wanted Pradeep to meet his old and close friends. :) he he...(he is not reading this blog, is he?)After returning back from there (Ok!!!details of my madrid tour will be in next posting) we went to a cyber cafe to check our emails. As soon as I checked my email, I found out that I was offered a job by a Professor in IESE (same university where Pradeep is doing his MBA) as his Research Assistant. Thank you professor Franz.

I am starting my work from tomorrow. I will get the details of the research work and the work I need to do. Yes..I am really looking forward to "tomorrow".

Today I talked with my cute little nephew (4 years old) in phone in Nepal. So sweet!!!! I asked him to give me a kiss and then when I said "thank you", to my surprise I heard in his sweet voice "welcome". Ah!!!he has become big now and while talking to him in phone I cannot stop myself from wanting to see him.

Thank you everyone who has given the encouraging comments and best wishes to me via my blog. This is all because of your wishes. Thank you!!!

Muchas cosas

2006-01-17T14:16:00.000+01:00

I have done nothing during these days but while writing blog I am feeling that I have a lot to write. What to write and what not to!! I think like I have nothing special to write but a lot of general things to write.

I became a member of the public library here from where I can get 2 DVD's/CD's for 7 days and 6 books for 21 days. It is really cool. Now I can bring Spanish movies from there and practice my Spanish (but truly speaking my Spanish is going down nowadays).

I also applied for "Targeta de Sanitaria" which is the card for health check up. My intercambio friend Laia helped a lot in finding the address of offices and what paper I need to show. Previously before asking her I went to one office where they denied to give me the card saying that only people working here will get this card. Guess what! I had gone to a wronhg office. Today Laia sent me all the details and I went to the correct office. They have asked me to pick up the card tomorrow. Thank you Laia.

Pradeep and I got the visa for London during the winter break. It was good that he applied earlier as he had to go to London for his interview on Sunday. Since I have to go to Madrid this Thursday to apply for my visa to US, I didn't go with Pradeep to London as I wanted to go London for at least a week. Pradeep was there just for one night. I will go to London sometime soon in the next couple of weeks and stay there at least a week visiting my friends and relatives.

Hey, don't worry. What?? Yes, because he has gotten an offer from his favorite bank to work as a summer intern. He had an interview yesterday and after 1 hour he got a call of offer. Wow.... Yes and so of course I will be with him in London that time. No questions!!!

Don't know why but after he got his offer I am feeling that I will also get an job offer very soon. Till now I do not have any clue but still am seeing a silver line inside the dark cloud. I have the feeling that this New Year will bring a lot of happiness for us and for sure, a job offer for me. What do you think??

"French Dinner"

2006-01-08T17:45:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Pradeep and I were invited for a dinner by Teresa. She is an American friend of mine married to a french IESE student called Fabrice. Though Pradeep and Fabrice were from the same year they only knew each other yesterday after we went there. I and Teresa knew each other during the get together of the partners of IESE students.

When we reached there Fabrice was busy in cooking and Teresa welcomed us. After we reached there we knew that Srini and Madhur were also invited there. Well! started with the drinks ! Fabrice first served the fantastic starter (salad). Wow! he put a lot of effort in cooking. After salad came the main course. Nothing was ready-made. All were prepared by Fabrice himself. With the dinner everyone was enjoying drinking and chatting. After the main course came the dessert which was another special home made french item. It was tasty. Till that time we were so full but just couldn't resist it. Having eaten French dishes for the first time, I could say that they are very tasty. And Fabrice's style of making others laugh was unique. Yesterday we enjoyed a lot.

Thanks Teresa and Fabrice.

"Heartful of condolences"

2006-01-07T15:36:00.000+01:00

Since the Christmas time and New Year´s day till today I have read the news of eight Nepali young people who died in different accidents in the US.

Shekhar Regmi, 20, who was in USA with his dreams, was shot dead on 21/12/2005, by two armed man, in attempting robbery. All his dreams were dead. With him all his families were mentally dead by the thought that how will they survive without their"Shekhar". More news about him can be read from the following links:

Star Telegram news on the sad news

Star Telegram news on arrest of suspects

Thread on Sajha on the news

Then came the news on 01/01/2006 of the death of three young nepali students in USA who died in a car accident. They are Utshav Basnet, 19, Nishima Timilsina, 20, and Bedija Kharel 20. They were all dead far far from their home land far from their loved ones and family. More news about them can be read from the following links:

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=115579
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/160156.html
http://www.keyc.tv/article/view/89964/

And today I am reading the news about four students who were dead in USA again in a car accident. Amrit Dhital, 21, Pralhad, 22, Pushkar Acharya, 21 and Subash Gurung, 20 were again the victim. More on the news in the following links:

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/01/07/20060107wacpolicereport.html
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2006/jan/jan07/news07.php

At this moment I am just thinking about their family. How can their parents believe that the children they sent abroad for their bright future are no more in this world! How can they live with this fact that a part of their heart was shot or dead in cruel accident? I am imagining the face of their family, instead of the dead students, who will be living this life with pain in the absence of their beloved ones.

May the departed souls rest in peace. And god please give their family, whose children you took from them, the courage to endure this truth!

"Happy New Year 2006"

2006-01-04T08:41:00.000+01:00

A belated warm new year wishes to all of you.

Again cough and cold!

2005-12-30T23:43:00.000+01:00

This cough and cold will make me die. What the hell! I could not drink any cold drinks or go to any cold place. That day I went to Montserrat and the result: I got cold.

Theses days we are having very good dinners. One day we went to Anil's and Abanish's place to have dinner. We had very delicious dal, chicken and rice. Then yesterday we went to Srini's place and had very good food. He had cooked some Karela, potato, rice and parotha. All were very very delicious as usual. And today we called Anil, Srini, Abbinish and Alok. Pradeep cooked some potato and Kapil cooked Roti, Rice and Dal. We enjoyed a lot.

visit to Montserrat

2005-12-27T20:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we went to Montserrat, a mountain of rocks. The small train we took up the hill was small and beautiful. There it was freezing cold. But the place Montserrat itself was again another heavenly place. We couldn't stop thinking about mountains of Nepal when we saw Montserrat. Ah...only if Nepal could develop the infrastructure to help tourists access places they have never gone earlier!!

Since we got there around 4 pm and the last train from there to Barcelona was at around 6:06 pm we could not stay there for a long time. But we were happy that we finally saw Montserrat. We had heard a lot of good things about Montserrat and I can proudly say now that I have visited Montserrat.

I have to say we had very very enjoyable time hosting Sandeep dai and Biparna and going with them to visit different places in and out of Barcelona. They returned to UK today. We are missing them today.

Good time in different places!!

2005-12-27T20:25:00.000+01:00

We (Pradeep, Sandeep dai, Biparna and I) went to Montjuic on Friday. We took a cable car up the hill from Barceloneta. It was a great place to be, a small mountain with many gardens and beautiful scenery on the way till we reached the top. From top, we could see Barcelona city on one side and the sea on the other side. We were also excited to see the big cruise ships with built-in swimming pool and football ground. As it was already getting dark, Barcelona looked even more lovely because of the night lights from the city.

We bought a round trip ticket for the cable car from Barceloneta to Montjuic. But we later realized that we should have bought only one way ticket as we wanted to go to Placa Espanya from there instead of again returning back the same way to Barceloneta. Pl. Espanya is on the base of Montjuic and it is another good place to visit.
We nevertheless went back to cable car station to "use" our tickets but we found out that the station was already closed at 5:45 pm. It was already 6:30 pm when we reached there. On one hand it was good as we did not need to go to Barceloneta and could go directly to Pl. Espanya taking a bus. On the other side, it was bad for us because we had paid for the both way.

Well! We took a bus and went to Pl. Espanya to see the fountains. I felt like I reached a heavenly place when I saw the water fountains which changed colors with orchestra music. The beautiful scenery of the light rays emitted from the palace and the water fountains dancing on music made everyone very happy. We thanked God that the cable car station was closed because of which we came here earlier.

Barcelona remained sunny all this week. It seems as if weather was happy to see us enjoying our time. Every morning we smiled with the sunshine. This was adding colors to our time in Barcelona.

On Saturday we decided to go to wine country near to Tarragona (a beautiful town out of Barcelona city). We were all excited in the prospect of seeing how wine and cava are made and were also hoping to drink wine in the factory. But bad luck! It was closed because of Christmas eve. We returned back with no wine and no excitement.

From where to start!!!

2005-12-27T19:52:00.000+01:00

I am now myself confused as to where to start writing my blog from. It has been long since I have not updated my blog and in this time interval I have done many things. I will try to write them all. Let me start with my last week.

Last Tuesday we had a small get together of Christmas in Sylvia's house. All of us were partners of IESE students. We were very happy that day. Guess what!!! Our husbands/boyfriends would finish their final exams that Wednesday and we would get time to be with them. We were actually jealous with the books they read because they were spending most of their time with the books. Well we were happy because some of us were going back to our home, some visiting other countries and some having good free time.

Some photos from the dinner:

Delicious Japanese and Spanish food!

The next day, that is on Wednesday, Pradeep's friend and his wife (Sandeep dai and Biparna) came to Barcelona after they visited Paris. We went to pick them up from airport at around 3 pm. Then we came back home and chatted about how our last few months in Barcelona were.

I will continue posting about other days.

Finally got a camera!

2005-12-19T13:44:00.000+01:00

Yes, that something in my last blog refers to a "camera". Now finally we got a "camera".

From the day my camera stopped functioning, I was desperately in need of a camera. I was doing the research work about the camera so I could buy the best one. During research work, I went to market many times to see the several models and compare the prices in different shops. After seeing the real camera, I then used to check other features and reviews about the model in internet.

Finally I liked one camera and decided to buy that camera. I went to buy that camera last Saturday. I asked the salesman to show me that specific one and asked some of it features just for formality (as I knew everything about it from my internet research). The salesman brought that camera and with that also brought another camera from another brand and instead started explaining me about why that other camera was the best one in the market. Ummnn..I was pissed off. I said "vale, yo penso y vuelvo despues algun tiempo" (okay, I will think and come back after some time). He seemed to be very happy for at least convincing me to come back :). I am sure he would get a big commission by selling that product to me.

Well! I then went to another shop and without asking any features asked to show that particular camera. As the salesman was showing the accessories and packing them he showed a stand that was needed for this camera to charge the battery and transfer the photos from camera to computer or a printer. I could not directly transfer the photos from camera to the laptop without using the stand. That meant I needed to carry one extra stand with me for transferring photos when I am traveling. I did not like the idea and was surprised that I did not find about this thing during my research. I left the camera and then went back to home empty handed. However at home Pradeep was waiting to see the new camera.

But this time I was determined to buy it. So after reaching home I continued my research work and decided to buy another model. Then yesterday I went with Sarita to Pl. Catalunya and without thinking much I bought the camera (of course, without an extra stand).

Now I can say proudly that I am the owner of "Canon ixus 55". Please now do not give me any negative comments about this camera. I will cry if I get any.

I will now finally be posting photos taken by this new camera.

Srijana's day out!!

2005-12-18T00:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to IESE for a cocktail hosted by the Dean. I like the way IESE values partners. It is explicitly mentioned in its handbook that if there is any program organised for the IESE students, it is also meant for their partners. After the cocktail there was a play organized by IESE students. The play was very good. Pradeep explained something about the role of their professors who were mentioned in the play. I laughed a lot and enjoyed it to the fullest.

After that I went to IKEA with my friend Sylvia. I have heard of IKEA a lot, but had never got chance to visit there. Well! Yesterday was my first time in IKEA. A big store with relatively cheap prices!! Sylvia bought a lot of things. It took almost about 4 hours for us to finish our shopping. We could have spent more time there if it was not getting late. We had many bags in our hand when we finally got out of IKEA. It was almost 10 pm when I was back to my house.

Today, I had a good day. In the morning when I went outside to buy some groceries I realized that lots of things were going on outside with music, rally, people, shopping and many more. I regretted myself for staying home for nothing (as my husband has his finals from this coming Monday and he does not have any time for me till Wednesday. I myself also do not want to disturb him by being at home). As soon as I returned home I got ready and went to Plaza Catalunya (centre of Barcelona) and shopped for something (I will tell about this "something" in my future posting). I then called Laia, my intercambio friend, to Pl. catalunya. Then we went to a exhibition where Sylvia had her stall of hand made bags. I helped her for sometime (Sylvia please do not think when and for what I helped you, hehehe!). Then Laia and I went outside from there and enjoyed hot sip of coffee while chatting with each other in Spanish first and later English.

At around 8pm she left and I headed towards an Indian store to buy some dal (lentejas), minced ginger and garlic. It was almost 10 (again) when I reached my home.

cold Barcelona

2005-12-17T00:47:00.000+01:00

It is getting cold and cold here. I am fed up with this cold. I am the one who will vote for summer if there is a poll to choose between summer and winter. And to make things worse, our water heating system has become manual from automatic. If I need a hot shower, we need to open the tap right beneath the heater first, run to the bathroom and turn the shower on, and then back to the tap to close it. I can't even by mistake turn the shower off when I am shampooing. Because I need to repeat the same process again. Que pena! We found out today that the landlord is not supposed to fix it. So we are going have to do something about it this weekend.

I was feeling little down yesterday. "Empty mind is the house of ghost" seems to be true. I do not want to think but am thinking much and much. But today, I spent time with my Spanish friends and felt much better.

On a different topic, here is a interesting thing I found about Encarta dictionary. May be some of you have known about this but for some this may be new and interesting.

1. Open MSN Messenger and sign in
2. Add Encarta as a contact: encarta@conversagent.com
3. Double click Encarta from your Contact List
4. Ask a question on chat!
5. Get an instant answer from the Encarta library, as if it were a person

I found this thing from one of the blogger site. You can read more about this on:
http://dineshd.blogspot.com/2005/11/try-this.html

The conversation with the Encarta contact is very interesting.
I have tried it and is really great.

" Christmas Time"

2005-12-07T20:38:00.000+01:00

"Tihar" is a festival in Nepal which is celebrated with great joy and happiness. This is basically the festival with light and fireworks. It took place during the month of October.

Now it is time for Christmas here. I am seeing lights everywhere. People seem to be very happy, busy in buying things for their dear ones. This is the first time I am enjoying the happenings of christmas because in Nepal most of us do not celebrate Christmas.

Nowadays I have the best way for passing my leisure time. Normally in the evening I go to the city center to see the lights, decorations and of course, people. I find it very interesting to sit in a place and keep on watching different people. It is fun.

I have one more wish for this Christmas. I really want to know the culture for celebrating Christmas. I am eager to know what people do, how they do and why they do things in the Christmas day. Hey, are any of you there to invite me in your house for the Christmas day???? :)

Spanish Lunch with Sarita

2005-12-05T11:58:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, we were invited by Sarita for Spanish lunch in her house at Sant Cugat. This was our first time we were going outside the core city of Barcelona. We were enjoying the beautiful view outside from the train and Pradeep was comparing the view of jungle and hills with that in Nepal. His usual comment was "I wish Nepal had such train systems and nice highways."

Well, we reached at Sarita's place and had Spanish lunch. She had made some typical catalan soup, mushroom and patata tortilla. They were very delicious and the best was the "soup". I will soon learn to make that soup from her. We were impressed that she had already learned Spanish cooking besides Indian cooking in such a short period of time. Her Spanish is fluent tambien.

Pradeep and I had a very nice time there. Thank you Sarita!!!

Srijana, you are GREAT

2005-12-05T11:49:00.000+01:00

Oh! do not think I am gone mad. When you will know what I did, you will sure write comments to my blog saying "Srijana, you are Great"(hehe).

Last Friday I was called for a job interview and guess what!!! I had my interview in Spanish, yes all Spanish. I was myself surprised to know this. I do not know if I did well enough to get selected but I am happy for myself. I had already passed my first interview and this second interview was to check my level of Spanish. What happened, God knows! I will know my result in few days and then you will also know.

Football match in NOU CAMP

2005-11-30T16:37:00.000+01:00

It was like a dream come true when I was inside the NOU CAMP watching live football match yesterday.

My brother Simit and my brother in law are die-hard sports fans, especially cricket and football. When we were coming to Barcelona my brother said"wow..sister you will see Nou Camp and the players in real. Please go to match and I will see you from here in Nepal when we watch the games on TV". He is so fond of football that he rarely misses any European league matches. He is however the supporter of REAL MADRID team. He knows the name of every player and almost every news about them. So he was the one with whom I came to know about FC Barca and Real Madrid when I was in Nepal.

Yesterday when I was in my Spanish class Pradeep gave me a call and proposed to go to see football match between FC BARCA and PEACE TEAM (team of Palestine and Israel) in Nou Camp. Though after much struggle (couldn't find any taxi on time and had to walk a lot) I reached there I was very excited when I first entered the Nou Camp and saw players on the ground. Ronaldinho, of whom we were a big fan in last world cup, was playing in front of me. I never thought that could be real, but it was real yesterday. I couldn't believe myself.

Though I was very happy and excited to see the match I was wishing my brother to be in place of my seat. It would mean a lot to him. I can imagine his feelings if he was seeing the match live here. I really missed you, my brother!

Party time!

2005-11-28T19:49:00.000+01:00

Last Friday I called Pradeep's team members for dinner at our flat. For some reasons they could come only at 9:15 pm. They were around 9 people. They seemed like they were all enjoying the party. It was fun to see them imitating some of their professors. They liked the dinner. For some friends the food was quite spicy. The party went on quite late (although not from Barcelona standard). By 1 am I was feeling sleepy and I was finding difficulties in making myself awake. At 2:15 am I couldn't stop myself and went to bed. They were still chatting and the next morning I knew the party went on until around 2:45 am.

Then on Saturday we had another fiesta. I had invited my friends Elena and Silvia with their partners for dinner. Their partners both went to IESE with Pradeep. I prepared the dinner around 7 and was waiting for them. After they came we had some drinks and then dinner. I was very happy that they all liked the dinner very much. I felt good. Then we were chatting and talking on different things. I took them to my room to wear Sari. Spanish girls in Sari looked very beautiful. But as we started to take their photos in Sari our camera stopped functioning. Anyway we managed to take some photos,though blurred and dark, using our flatmates's camera in mobile phone.

We had very nice time. I was happy to chat with them and Pradeep was also happy to see and meet them. Here is a photo from the evening:

Today there was an "open day" lunch in IESE for the prospective students. Pradeep and I were invited to share our experiences about IESE. In our table we were 7 people, 2 first years students including Pradeep, 3 prospective students, 1 prospective partner and myself. I gave them the information about the "partners club" and the good things I felt about IESE.

I am feeling very happy. These are all new experiences for me. I am glad that I am learning many new things.

An interesting news::

2005-11-24T09:05:00.000+01:00

I found a very interesting news about a boy in Nepal whose followers are claiming him to be reincarnation of Gautama Siddhartha. You can also try it. Just go to this following link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051123/ap_on_re_as/nepal_buddha

Hey, sister! you are in Bhairahawa. Do you know about this thing???

Enjoy the photos

2005-11-22T13:45:00.000+01:00

These are the photos from our Finnish friend Juha's birthday party.

Things as usual!!!

2005-11-22T13:09:00.000+01:00

After about one week of rain it is now getting colder and colder. Every morning I get up, I see outside and my first comment is oh! it is very cold today. And I am always the one who prefer summer than winter.

As usual my days are normal. Wake up, have lunch, internet surfing, job search and then to Spanish class. Do you know that now I know the most of the names of our body parts in Spanish? I will not have problem if I need to go to doctor. Good improvement!!hehe

Last Saturday we went to a Juha's Birthday party. He is from Finland studying in IESE. We had a very nice time there. As usual we enjoyed a lot there and met many people.

Oh...and one new thing. Now I am reading some books related to Investment Banking. Hey don't think I am going to be a banker (at least not now). Now I know a basic definition of Investment Banking and Consulting. And when my husband and his friends talk about Banking I do not feel completely lost. I can at least understand some terms.

Today I have my salsa class. I have learnt some steps in Salsa. Now when Salsa music starts I can have Salsa style leg movement.

Let me go now. Now I need to finish my Spanish homework.

Hurray !!!!have a residence permit now!!

2005-11-15T23:23:00.000+01:00

Yes the new thing is that I got residence permit today. Ah...what a relief. Now I can go anywhere and then be back to Spain without having to apply for visa again for a year. Now I will be soon in a Europe tour (hehehe).

visit to a nepali program

2005-11-15T22:55:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday we went to a program organised by an association "Amics del Nepal" to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It is a association in Barcelona working for the welfare of orphan children in Nepal . They raise funds here and help for children in Nepal. Well,if you want to know more about this association just log on to www.amicsnepal.org.

We were surprised to see so many Nepalese there. At the same time we enjoyed live nepali music after a long time. The ending of the program was by the very popular song"Resham phiriri, resham phiriri...". Wow....all were excited and singing, thanks to the lead singer Mukti from "Mukti and Revival Band", Raju and Surya.

Second Birthday Celebration in Barcelona

2005-11-09T23:06:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I was invited to a birthday party of two friends Elena and Silvia (from Spain). Yes what a coincidence, they were both born on the same date.

Some five of us were invited to Silvia's flat. I reached there half an hour later than the given time but not because of I left late but because the flat was little far than I expected:):):) All of them had already reached there. We were alltogether seven girls there and five of them could speak Spanish. Then we started chatting, sometimes in Spanish and sometimes in English (if Tomoko and I didn't catch anything in Spanish). Silvia had brought some cheese from France. I tasted different varities of cheese and some sea foods. They had also made cakes (home made). Actually I liked almost every food there. Took same photographs. I gave them”bangles” as a birthday gift which I hope they liked.

At around 10pm everybody left from there except Elena and me. I also tried some wine then (thanks god I was not drunk:):):). They explained to me about some Spanish religion and culture. I had a pleasing time with them.

At 11pm Elena and I left from there. I was walking down the same street which I took while I went to Silvia's flat but did not know where I missed and was almost lost. I was walking and walking and did not find my destination. Luckily, I had a map. Thanks to my map and help from some people on the way, I reached my place.

Once, I was lost while traveling by train (can read about it in my previous posting “My bad day in Barcelona”) and yesterday while walking. Will I miss my way again???

Good Friday

2005-11-05T19:11:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, it was the good Friday. My day was as usual. In the afternoon I went to a nearby restaurant for intercambio. I am loving the intercambio session. My friend Laia for intecambio is very good. She tries to teach me as much as possible. Sometimes when I find somethings very difficult to explain in Spanish, she helps and encourages me to explain in Spanish a lot. Yes, I am doing fine with Spanish.

After intercambio I went to my apartment and was happy to see my husband there. Then we went outside and sat in a restaurant with two of his friends. They talked about college people, college environment and the cases they need to read. Though I didnot understand some of the topics from their courses they were talking about I was enjoying to chat with them. Normally it is very nice to sit outside a bar and have some drinks while chatting with friends. But yesterday it was very windy and cold. Still we decided to sit outside (at least I didnot want to be in a smoky environment which is very common in most of the Spanish restaurants/bars). After 2 hours we went to a flat of another friend and had some more drinks. We were laughing, pulling legs of each other and teasing some bachelor friends. We finally had dinner there. It was already 1:30am when we decided to leave. I still could have spent more time there but my husband and the other friend had to study tomorrow(poor guys:):)) So walked down to flat.

And today Saturday I did nothing. Even didnot get out of the house. So I say good Friday because at least on Fridays I am getting chance to enjoy more than in other days.

A long leave and celebration of TIHAR

2005-11-02T11:17:00.000+01:00

It was a long weekend in Barcelona for 4 days. That was from Friday to Tuesday. As usual, the leave was because of a fiesta in Barcelona. Though I am in leave everyday, I was also as excited about the long weekend as IESE students because after a long time, I could spend time with my husband and of course go somewhere out.

Do you know what we did in these days? Guess??? In the first day ie Saturday we climbed up a hill which is nearby to our house. I had never been there. When we climbed up, we had a very beautiful view of the city. I enjoyed jogging there. After a long time I forced myself do some exercises (hoping to loose some weight :):):)) The next day I was tired. In the morning we planned to go out after having lunch. Then in the afternoon we decided to go out in the evening and then the process continued for night. Finally I went to sleep. Pobre my husband tried doing some of his homeworks without going anywhere. The next day was Monday and the museum which we wanted to visit "Museu Picasso" would be closed. So we decided that we will get out early in the morning on Tuesday and visit there. On Tuesday afternoon we were invited to our good Indian friend Anil's flat for the celebration of Dipawali. (We met Anil for the first time when we applied for our visas in Spanish Embassy in Delhi.) So we planned to get out from house early, enjoy some time out together and then go to his house in the evening. The next day it was already 11 when I got up. And since my husband had to go to college the other day he needed to prepare his work. By the time he was ready, it was already 5pm. We then went directly to Anil's place.

There he had invited 15-20 people. Most of them were Indians (obviously). They prepared Rice, Dal in house and brought Vegetables and Nan from an Indian restaurant. Initially we prayed and did Puja of Ganesh and Laxmi. We also sang a bhajan. We ate laddu and some other sweets as "parsad". We then had dinner. The food was tasty.

After dinner we played Bingo. Anil's flatmate Abanish did a good job in organizing the bingo. I bought a ticket that cost 1 euro. Some bought 2 tickets. The game started. For me...No..No..No...I didn't get any number in the beginning. There was also an unlucky prize for one who didn't get any number in the first 5 calls. So it was a "lucky to be unlucky" prize. :) The next time when the number was called I would get the unlucky prize if the number didn't match the ones I had. But...Unluckily I had that number and I didn't get the unlucky prize. OOPPS..Missed the prize (3 euros). The game was going on. Every one was excited. Some were asking for some numbers while some for others numbers. I was getting the numbers very slowly. But you know, I finally won the houseful(second) prize. Slow and Steady does win the race, right? Wow...I finally got one prize (3 euros). I was happy that at least in the day of "Laxmi Pooja" I gambled and won some money. Then at around 11 pm we were back to home.

Learning Spanish

2005-10-29T14:50:00.000+02:00

Nowadays I am doing some new interesting and fun things to improve my Spanish. I got to know a girl from internet who was interested for "intercambio" . We decided that we will speak English for 1 hour and Spanish for 1 hour so that she can improve her English and me my Spanish. So we met yesterday at 4:30pm. We sat in a restaurant. It was a new experience for me. We talked about 1 hour in English about her family, her study, her hobbies and general things. Then we spoke in Spanish the same things. Till then it was already 7 pm. Wow...I really enjoyed the session with her. This was definitely a good means of learning a new language. We will meet again next Friday.

At the same time I am sending emails in Spanish to some of my other Spanish friends. This makes me search for words in a dictionary and know its usage. I need to work a lot on it. I was surprised that I have learnt more in a week than in the last one month this way. My friend is so kind and helpful that she sends me an email in both English and Spanish. She also corrects my emails and sends the correction notes back to me.

So I am having a nice time learning Spanish and making new friends.

Lazy me!

2005-10-29T14:18:00.000+02:00

I know nowadays I am being lazy to update my blog. That means I am active with other things (:):).

I will begin with writing about my last Saturday. I now have some Spanish friends who are really nice people. I am happy that I met them. Last Saturday they(Elena and Silvia) made a plan to walk around the centre of city. They explained me about the history of the city, the Catalunya region and its relation to Spain. They showed me many historical palaces in Barcelona. It was really nice and fun to be with them. We walked around for almost 3 hours. Before departing, we had coffee and some special spanish pastry.

Then the days were as usual. Last Thursday a Japanese friend of mine called me for lunch in her flat. she had invited some others friends too. We talked about costumes, religions and monarchies of Nepal, Japan and Spain. I knew many new things. Tomoko (Japanese friend) had prepared some Japanese food for us. I for the first time had Sushi. It was a kind of dish which is prepared by wrapping some rice with a thin layer of raw fish. It looked tasty but I didn't really like it. Because I don't like the smell of raw fish. Finally we saw their wedding photographs and left from there as I had to go to my Spanish class at 5:30 pm.

A Great Multicultural Night

2005-10-21T12:42:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a great multicultural night for me.

It was organized by some of the second year IESE's partners and hosted in a partner's house. Everyone was requested to bring her country's special dish. The purpose was to meet each other, taste different dishes and have fun.

I reached there little late than the given time. Some of the partners were there and many were still coming. That was the first time I saw so many partners at one place. That was a perfect environment to know many partners who I didn't know earlier. I enjoyed talking with all of them. All of them were very friendly.

I also got chance to taste various special dishes and wines of different countries. I had taken "Chicken Biryani" with me. I don't remember the name of all dishes I tried. However, I remember I tasted Japanese dish, special Spanish Omelette, Catalan Pizza, Salads, Spanish and Portuguese wine, chocolates and pasta from different countries.

Wow..It was really a multicultural night to meet people from different countries and at the same time taste foods from different countries. It is a memorable night for me.

Finally met Nepalese in Barcelona

2005-10-18T00:04:00.000+02:00

And finally I met some Nepalese here in Barcelona. This Sunday we got a call from one Nepalese dai that there was a Nepalese get-together for celebrating Dashain that evening. Though keen in going, my husband couldn't go because of the loads of study he had to do, something normal to an IESE student. I was excited to go as this was the first time I had a chance to meet many Nepalese at one place in Barcelona. The get-together was at one Nepali restaurant in Barcelona. I went there, met about 15 Nepalese, and had some nepalese dishes after a long interval. They introduced me to the group as I was the most recent member. It was interesting to see that most of the Nepalese guys had Spanish spouses. I didn't miss a chance there too and expressed my interest for intercambio with Spanish spouses. I returned after about 2 hours and felt after meeting the people from my own country.

Formal welcome reception in IESE

2005-10-11T23:56:00.000+02:00

Finally I felt like I am the partner of an IESE student as there was a special welcome reception for the partners organized by IESE today. Yes I was there on time. One of the professors gave us a speech about our responsibility to our partners when they are studying in IESE. The speech was followed by a lecture by a profesora who was an expert in Entrepreneurship. Lastly we had a lunch session. I met most of the partners. I also met the partners from second year who were always willing to help us. During lunch I got chance to chat with almost everyone who had attended the reception including some professors.

In lunch there were some items which I had never tried. One profesora was explaining about some of dishes in a group. I was about to eat one item and just for curiosity I asked what it consisted of, showing one dish. It was beef. Then I asked for the next and again that was pork. As I don't eat these and I realize that in Barcelona meat is part of almost all the dishes. I didn't ask for other dishes. I just ate the food which I clearly knew that they were either vegetarian or chicken.

My first day of Salsa class

2005-10-11T21:31:00.000+02:00

Now I am doing some new things after being here in Barcelona. I joined a 'Salsa" class which is one of the popular dances in Spain. The training is for 10 classes organized every Tuesday.

Today was my first day of dance class. As I am very interested in dance I was curious to know what kind of dance this is. We were about 15 students in the class and most of them were from IESE. Our dance teacher was young and seeing her dancing I wished to dance as she does. She was explaining about the dance in Spanish (native spanish speaker and you can imagine how fast native speaker speaks Spanish). Luckily I found a girl there who speaks both Spanish and English and she was helping me translate her Spanish. I could catch on the dance steps just by observing her steps.

She taught some few steps of Salsa first without music and later with music. I suppose I was learning the steps quickly. Different people were trying to learn on their own way. Some were trying to make their body movement flexible, while some were practicing their leg movements. Seemed like everyone was busy with their own world of dance.

We can even not imagine how the 1 hour flew. Now I am sure I will be having fun during my future dance classes.

Celebration of Dashain Festival

2005-10-09T20:52:00.000+02:00

Being away from Nepal, I am missing the biggest festival"Dashain"of Nepal which falls in October. Since the cultures in Nepal and India are more or less similar and they too celebrate"Dashain" as "Dashara", there was a program called "Dandiya" organized by the Indians in Barcelona. It was a dance program. Pradeep, Kapil(Indian friend) and I from our flat went there. After the puja ceremony the dance program started. It was really a nice program and we all enjoyed it a lot. We were also provided with some snacks and I first time ate some Pakoras, Samosa, Gulabjamon after I came to Barcelona. I was missing all those foods a lot. I enjoyed Gulabjamon very much. We danced dandiya for the first time in life. We returned back around 2:30 am(common in Barcelona). At that time too there was a Fiesta going on in Sarria.
I have to say that people in Barcelona find plenty of time to have fun.

As usual I got up late. We were invited for lunch in one of our friend's flat. He had cooked some south Indian dishes (tamarind rice, dal and crushed potatoes). They were very tasty. The crushed-potatoes item was the best. After returning back to home I didn't go out again. I was thinking of going to a park nearby here but I didn't. Because of the yesterday night late sleep I still have a hang-over.

Feeling Home Sick

2005-10-07T07:39:00.000+02:00

Today, I woke up late. I was feeling lonely at the time I got up. I felt lazy too. I just sat thinking nothing for some time. Till then it was already 12am. I then had my breakfast, replied some emails. I was missing something. I called my sister in Nepal. After talking with her I felt somewhat relaxed. I then took a shower, did some spanish homework. And one new thing I did was read a part of a course book of MBA students. Fantastic! my husband is doing MBA at his college and I am doing my MBA at home. It was already 4pm then. I had my lunch and then went to my Spanish class.

As usual the class was interesting. I was most of the time counting the number of students in my class. Today there were 16 students in class. And number of chinese students were 10, pakistani 3, Brazilian 2 and myself 1. I most of the time felt that I am in a chinese class. Our Spanish profesora is interesting. She keeps the class laughing. I am normally the first to finish my classwork. So at the end she asked me to come infront and say about my family. Yes this made me feel that I will speak Spanish very soon.

After returning home I cooked rice and cauliflower. As I had my lunch late I just ate some vegetables and some icecreams. Oh..shit...after having icecream I remembered that I am trying to loss some weight. I will try to remember this next time before having some icecreams.

I will atleast learn some spanish words and sleep today.

My bad day in Barcelona

2005-10-05T22:50:00.000+02:00

I was very excited to go to my Spanish class. So instead of being there at 5:30pm I reached at 4:30 pm. Poor me, they didn't even open the door for me. I later realised that it was a government school and by the time I reached there, they were having some other classes. There are 14 people in our class and do you believe out of fourteen, ten are chinese. It seems like it is difficult for them to learn Spanish. They couldn't correctly pronunce many words. I wonder how soon they will learn Spanish.

yesterday I had a bad day. Yesterday I walked a lot to buy some fruits and specially a packet of fruits(common in Barcelona which is a packet of fresh cut fruits) for my husband. Everytime I bring this to him, he becomes very happy(apparent from his face) because he is a fruit lover. He prefers fruit to meat or other heavy foods. I bought some phonecards too. As I already said I walked a lot to get these things. Then to return home I went inside train station. I just missed the train that goes toward my place. After waiting for some minutes I got into another train. It left and from the Sarria station( station that is before my place) it took another route. I first thought that there may have been some problems in between route of Sarria and Reina Elisenda(station where I need to get off)and it is taking some other route. But the train was going on and on, sometimes from a open place,which I had never seen. It didn't stop almost for 12 minutes. I was little worried then. So I asked a man near to me"esta tran es no L6"? He answered"no esta es S55". Oh my god, I took S55 instead of taking L6 train. I then waited for the train to stop so I could get off and return back. But the train was going on and on. The man understood my passion after talking to him and said me"don't worry, in about 2mins it will stop in a station. You can get off there and take another train to Sarria. No trains go to Reina Elisenda from there."Thanks god he spoke English. Then I got off and took next train. In Sarria I again took off as it is a few minutes walk from there to my station. As soon as I got off I realised that I left the fruits packet in the train. ups..I spent a lot of time to buy it and was more excited to give it to my husband. What could I do!!!! I felt too tired to walk to my place also. So I took another train that goes to my place.

Atlast I reached home safely. It was already 9:45pm. When I reached home I was informed that there is nothing to eat because the man who was repairing our gas stove left the work unfinished. So Pradeep and Kapil asked me to come with them to have some food. After having a sandwich Pradeep brought, I went to my sweet bed. Ah..after a hard day I then had some rest.

visit to Lilla

2005-10-03T06:44:00.000+02:00

Yes here are 2 photos. One of Pradeep and Kapil and another one from elif's birthday. Now I kept my promise.

I went to Lilla, a huge shopping center, in Barcelona. It was closed because today is Sunday and it is natural in Barcelona to get everything closed on Sundays. Though I knew that it would be closed, I went there because my main purpose was to walk. And I walked a lot. I am doing this because I am feeling that I am getting fatter and fatter and I want to reduce my weight. Please when you see my photo comment me as" you look so slim"....:)

Today I am going to a"Jagaran"program with some Indian friends. It is a program organised by a Indian who is in Barcelona. They wake up whole night and pray Gods. But we will be there for just a half hour. I just want to see how is that program.

We need to leave at 10:30 pm and I think I need to leave this computer now.
Adios

Birthday celebration

2005-09-30T17:43:00.000+02:00

It was the first time that I went to a friend's birthday party after being to barcelona.Tomoko(one of my Japanese friend) and I went to buy a gift for Elif. Ah...I won't go for buying gift now because when I am seeing gift for others my heart says buy for yourself. We bought a very beautiful bracelet for her(hope see will like it).

We reached the restaurant where we were called around 10:00pm. We had a lot of fun there. Met different people. I tried many new Spanish dishes, some being sea food. One item was a strange one(sorry I forgot its name). It was a kind of vegetable physically similar to cabbage. We took out all of the outer part and ate very little inner part. Icompared it to a tiny gift wrapped in a very big gift package. We enjoyed a lot. We returned back around 1am.

Today here is a fiesta(festival) in a local market where we live. I can hear drums and other music playing and people shouting. I don't understand why people in Barcelona are so much fiesta loving.
Because of Internet problem in our apartment I am unable to post Pradeep´s and Kapil´s photo.Sorry. As soon as I get photos of yesterday party I will post them here.

Now I am going for shower. I just woke up and sat to write my blog(its 1:30pm). Don't call me lazy okay. I am late because I slept late yesterday. hahahaha good excuse.

Getting used to in Barcelona

2005-09-28T23:47:00.000+02:00

Now I am all set with my Spanish languages classes. Do you know what happened??? There was again a lucky draw for people in the waiting list. I had to wait half an hour for that. And at last as I said earlier my luck never favours me, I didn’t get an entry. But everything happens for its own good. Some guys who were there for the same purpose asked me to join them as they were going to some other school for Spanish classes. I went with them. That was the school ran by Municipility of Barcelona and to my surprise that was a free school with only 20euro registration fee. Oh..my god..I then knew everythings happened for my own good…

That was the best thing. I returned back and checked my emails. Oh..what is happening!!!!I was called for an interview for a research assistant position in IESE which I had applied some days back. Yes I then went to IESE and gave interview. If the position was for English research I was 100 percentage sure that I would get the job but the professor told me that this was for Spanish research. I don’t know what’s gonna go…Lets wait again untill Monday. He will let me know on Monday.

I was back to home as usual and ate Taheri (Indian Special). Our flatmate Kapil is good on cooking Taheri.

In Nepal I know I would be dreaming at this time(11:50pm) but here I am feeling it’s morning. No sleepiness in eyes. But I am going to bed as I will need to wake up early tomorrow. Tomorrow Pradeep, Kapil and walter are wearing formal dress because they are having a career week in their college and tomorrow is compulsory for them to be in a formal attire. And they had asked me to take their photographs on formal dress. Interesting. I promise I will publish their photographs in my blog .

Okay good nite.

Waiting for the result

2005-09-27T21:45:00.000+02:00

Ah..now all things are settled for home. The beds are changed as we were sleeping on the floor because of unsuitable bed. Today everything is done.
I am just thinking and thinking of life here in room. I wish to have a job as soon as possible. But......here in espanol wishes donot come true unless you know spanish.
I was waiting for a result of the school to get admitted in the spanish language classes. For 4-5days I was waiting for yesterday to know the results ang give shape to my schedule or other options here. Yesterday was the result and with jumping heart when I saw result!!!!!!!guess?????????????My name was in waiting list...Shit..2 more days to wait for final result.

My first blog

2005-09-25T23:25:00.000+02:00

I am just starting to write my blog.