dilluns, 14 de desembre del 2009

Jo, la Pompeu


Dissabte passat es van celebrar els actes de graduació de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) per als alumnes que hem acabat aquest any 2009.

Com molts altres estudiants jo també hi estava convocat, concretament a la sessió de les 16.00h. Haig de reconèixer que al principi no m’apassionava especialment aquest acte, tot hi que era quelcom que semblava interessant d’assistir-hi; per una banda per rebre un premi obtingut per el treball realitzat i per l’altra per retrobar els antics companys de classe.

Primer m’agradaria dir que hem va sorprendre molt positivament la organització i el muntatge, la veritat no estava gens malament. També crec que l’aparició del periodista Eduard Boet (Periodista i professor de la UPF), que va ser l’encarregat de presentar i dirigir l’acte, va donar-li un toc de professionalitat i simpatia, que només un professional com ell pot fer.

La sessió es va desenvolupar dins d’un caràcter festiu amb un toc de nostàlgia per a tots els estudiants que marxaven. El ponent Àlex Saiz Arnaiz (Catedràtic de Dret Constitucional) va fer un petit homenatge al difunt Jordi Soler Tura ressaltant la seva actitud democràtica i conciliadora en aquells temps difícils. Puc estar satisfet ja que les meves principals pors no hem van privar de gaudir de l’acte, vull dir que en general les paraules dels ponents no feien pudor a sociata.

El rector Josep Joan Moreso va acabar amb unes paraules, inspirades de Jaume Sisa, dient “La Pompeu sempre serà casa vostra, si és que hi ha cases d’ algú”, un bon detall per acabar l’acte.

Celebro que aquesta Universitat vulgui seguir tenint l’actitud professional i treballadora que l’ha caracteritzat fins ara, buscant sempre l’excel·lència. El que mai podrà oblidar la Universitat Pompeu Fabra és que té un compromís amb el País, i això passa des de la formació de persones i estudiants fins a la neutralitat política que hi ha d’haver dins de la direcció. I parlant de país, com va dir la persona que dóna nom a aquesta Universitat, “cal no abandonar mai ni la tasca ni l’esperança”.

dimarts, 13 d’octubre del 2009

...and I could not eat Surstromming!


I will never forget the day that I opened a can of Surstromming. First of all I am going to present the actor. Surstromming is a northern Swedish dish consisting of fermented Baltic herring. He is famous because of his smell, impossible to describe and impossible to bear.

I bought it when I was in Sweden and I brought here to share it with my family. The woman that sold me it advised me telling that if I lived in an apartment and I opened it there I will have problems with my neighbours so I had to open it in a garden, a forest, a field...outdoors and far from everybody (all that made me think about if this fish could be eaten without having to go to hospital after eating it). When I arrived in my house after the Erasmus I opened the package and I realised that the top date of consumption was over. Actually, this was not a real problem because I thought that it was impossible that the fish smelled worse, on the other side, what I decided in that moment is that I will not eat it (but I wanted to open).

To carry out the great achievement (open the can) I went with my brother and a friend of him who had been living in Denmark for four years and he knew Surstromming too. I had some problems to open the can (it was so hard) and I only was capable to make a small hole, and from this hole came out as a bullet a jet of liquid. After 3 seconds of opened it I realised that I could not stand the smell, it was horrible, and I tried to finish rapidly the opening of the can but It was impossible with my tool so I tried others ways to open the can but it was impossible too.

Finally, following the advices of my brother and his friend I threw the can of Surstromming in the rubbish (I could not open the can, I did not know how to face up the smell... but the main reason was that the top date of consumption was over, if not I would have tried to open the can and maybe eat it).

Some days later I explained it to a Swedish friend and she told me that Surstromming is unbelievable good; according to me it smelled unbelievable bad although after thinking about it I decided that one day I would like to taste Surstromming in normal conditions with the instructions and the company of a Swedish friend.