Sant Jordi

April 23rd was the festival of Sant Jordi.  Sant Jordi is Saint George who is the patron saint of Catalonia. “As to the legend, Saint George killed a dragon which was about to eat the princess south of Barcelona. Out of dragon's blood a rose bush grow. Saint George gave roses of that bush to the princess.” The festival has been celebrated since the Middle Ages, but in 1932, the festival was combined with International Book day, which is celebrated because it is the anniversary of the death of both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare. Today, the men give roses to the women and women give books to the men.  I observed this holiday from two different aspects. My observation started over the weekend, which I saw many people on the metros holding roses. Then on monday, I walked out of my apartment with no expectation of seeing any stands set up, but there were about 6 on my short walk to the metro. After class I decided to go to la Rambla and see how the festival was being celebrated. On the walk over I saw couple after couple meeting and exchanging gifts and kissing in the street. Once I reached la Rambla I realized how huge the festival was. There were stands lining the streets. One of the interesting things I saw was that there were stands selling roses made out of felt instead of real roses and some of these stands had longer lines than the others. As well, there were Catalan flags displayed everywhere I looked. I enjoyed observing the festival and I think it was a good last cultural experience to have in Barcelona. Sant Jordi day is very unique so it was interesting to observe. 
 

The fountain show

One of the things my friends and I did that I thought was very interesting was we went to go see the fountain show at Monjuic. The fountain was built in 1929 for the world fair and universal exposition and it is now one of the most important barcelona attractions. I enjoyed the fountain show and I think it is a very cultural and magical experience. Each weekend hundreds of people surround the fountain to watch the show. You can feel the joy of all of the people around. It is nice to watch the children and the families enjoy the show together and see everyone being in awe at the same time.

Trias estudia poner patrocinadores a las estaciones de metro

I read an article titled Trias estudia poner patrocinadores a las estaciones de metro. From what I understood from translating the article is that the public transportation is looking to fund the metro by getting sponsors who put ads up. If they recieve this money, they will change the name of stations, change the maps, and change stations in general which could be helpful because they sense a strike coming on by workers. As well, something was said about wanting to change the name of the Glories of Trambesos station because it has something to do with Franco and it is seen as inappropriate. They want to change it to something meaningful. The link for this article is http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2012/04/19/catalunya/1334868688_696210.html

Crackdown on Foreigners using Spainsh Healthcare

An article I read was about how the minister for health, Ana Mato, is getting more strict in foreigners use of spanish healthcare. This is a part of the 7 billion euro cuts. They are going to change the Ley de Extranjeria which will put a limit to "health tourism". The idea of health tourism is that people bring their families over to spain so that they can reap the health benefits. This means that only legal residence of spain will be able to get full health benefits and their families have to be legal residence as well. I think that this is very interesting because that is one of the things i noticed and liked about spain, how open their health care system was. It seems very easy to get good generic medicine from a pharmacy, which are located on every corner of the city. Health care is so strict in the U.S., so I thought this was interesting. Also, I understand the view of this article, because if taxpayers money is going into healthcare, it isn't fair that people are taking advantage of it without residency. The link for this article is http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_34433.shtml

Científicos en directo

I read a news article which was titled Cientificos en directo. When I translated it the gist of the article was that there are many scientific strides being made. Also, there is a fair going on in La Pedrera for the next few days called Recerca en directe. At this fair, people interested in science can see, touch, and test some of the new scientific discoveries. I thought this article was interesting because i would have never known that this type of fair would be in Barcelona. It is interesting to think that Barcelona has a fair about strides in science because its not something i would generally associate Barcelona with.  The link to this article is http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/barcelona/cientificos-directo-1699781

Casa Batllo

April 13, 2012

Today I went to casa batllo. Sadly I realized I forgot my camera when I got there. I was very disappointed in myself, but I was not disappointed in the building. I was so inrigued by the architechture. Every room brought more and more to offer. I thought one of the most interesting parts of the house was the use of natural light. As well, when walking up the stairs, the tiles turn from lighter blue to darker blue. Also, when you are looking through the glass it feels like you are in water. My favorite part of the casa batllo was the room on the terrace which was the water room. In this room there was a metal ball with water flowing over it and a light relfecting that water on to the ceiling. There was also sound effects that actually made you feel like you were underwater. I thought that this was a great finishing touch to the casa and i thought it was very creative. I also thought an interesting part was that if you look off the terrace on to passeig de gracia there is a arch and if the buildings werent there you would be able to see the segrada familia through the arch. Gaudi wanted it this way so he could keep an eye on construction while he was at casa batllo.

Overview of Barcelona Restaurants

At first, I was not a fan of food in barcelona. It was hard for me to find the right places to eat. However, today I have a few favorites. My favorite, just like any other abroad student, is Bo de B. It is always a favorite because it is cheap and delicious, as well as filling. The patatas bravas are also amazing. The only problem with Bo de B is that the line is always long.

Another favorite of mine is Bon Appetite, a pizza place around the Olympic Port. My favorite thing to get there is the romano pizza. I havent when there in a while, but I used to go there a lot in the beginning before I discovered good food closer to home. One of the nicer restaurants I've been to is Divinus. They have really good paella. Also, Pim Pam Burger is a favorite. As well, one of my favorite places to go after class is Oriol located right below COACB.

A new found discovery is happy pills the candy store. I have been meaining to go in there for a while but didn't get to it until this week but its an awesome place.