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.

overview of barcelona nightlife

It is well known that Barcelona is popular for its crazy nightlife, but the extent can't really be understood until you are a part of it all. Of course, there are the promoted clubs, which are full of American students- Monday Otto Zutz, Tuesday CDLC, Wednesday Sutton or Bling Bling, Thursday Opium Mar, Friday Otto Zutz or Shoko, and Saturday Catwalk. These places can all be fun to an extent, but sometimes you dont want to be surrounded by Americans anymore and its nice to go to a small bar and just have a few drinks with friends. There are also the bars that have something different to offer like Chupitos with themed shots that are cheap, the Dow Jones bar, Pippermints, the absinte bar etc. And then there are places like Ryans, Dunnes, George Payne and la Ovella Negra, which also attract a large American crowd but have something differnt to offer other than the club scene. There is also razzmataz which is popular with both Spaniards and Americans. Also, a lot of DJs come and do sets at many of the clubs which brings in a lot of money and huge crowds. I did not get the chance to go to many spanish bars or clubs because I traveled many weekends. I don't regret traveling (obviously) but I do wish I had the change to go to more Spanish bars and get the chance to interact with more Spaniards and get a taste of a different scene. I did go to a few bars that were manily Spanish once or twice, but I dont know the names of them. They were more of a spur of the moment decision. As well, being a part of the Barcelona scene, you start to forget how isnane the nightlife is because you are used to it. It was not until one of my friends who is studying in Rome came to visit that I got that realization. When my friend was here, we were at Otto Zutz on a monday. Of course it was packed, which would never be the case at school. My friend was shocked by the crowd and the next day she couldn't stop talking about how she loved Barcelona. All in all, even though a person in Barcelona can experience the typical study abroad night life, by going to all of the promoted clubs, there are also many other options of places to go.

Diplo at Razz

Laidback Luke at Sutton

Otto Zutz

Opium Mar Mad Hatter

A friend at Catwalk

Strike

March 29, 2012

With the strike being such big news, big enough for CEA to let us out of classes, I thought it was worthy to blog about. As an American student, I wasn't really sure what to expect out of the strike. I thought that everyone was going to simply not go to work and cause a little loss in money for the day, which for us would simply cause some inconvenience. I planned on staying in my house all day but decided to be a little risky and go out for a little to see what was going on around. I didn't take my camera, in fear that if things were bad, it might get broken or stolen so i don't have any pictures. In my area of Les Corts the only signs of the riot were the sounds of sirens, some graffiti on cash machines, and a few people handing out flyers. One woman handing out flyers tried to hand me one and said "do you care about the strike?" I kept walking and she screamed at me "I hope you have a horrible day!" Which I thought was very rude but a little funny at the same time. After that comment, I decided to go back home and keep tabs on the strike from the comfort of my own apartment. Throughout the day I was looking at news articles where I saw photos of dumpsters on fire, broken windows, and some very angry people. When I heard that a dumpster on fire was thrown down one of the metro's I was shocked. I didn't expect people to be destroying their own city. I didn't really understand it and it got me a little angry because i think barcelona is such a beautiful city and i would never do anything to destroy my hometown. I also read this article :http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/29/eurozone-crisis-spanish-general-strike
which confirmed that the barcelona police used rubber bullets and teargas. Overall, i think that being here while the strike happened was very educational and interesting. I also think it didn't bother me as much as others because it didn't effect my flights at all for spring break. I am still surprised with how the strike turned out but i understand now that this is how a strike normally turns out.

Raval

March 28, 2012

Today we went on a trip to the Raval area which used to be China town before 1991. We started off our trip by walking down one of the main blocks of Raval where we saw this building which is normal architecture for this area:

The public areas are in the north and the private areas are in the south. An example of a public area is MACBA which is the skaters area and it is an attractive meeting place for young people

I thought that this was a very interesting place. I had never been there before. There was also a mural on the wall that was put up recently

Also, this area is near a part of UB so many students go there to hang out. Another place visited on our trip was CCCB. 

CCCB is a public gallery where exhibitiions are often showed. When we arrived here i knew i had been there before and then i put two and two together and realized that i had went there for an exhibition with my photography class a few weeks before. The exhibition I saw there was very interesting. There were photos of natural disasters, and people's everyday lives in places like mexico and africa. All the photos told a story. Another interesting aspect of this square is that you can see the skyline in the reflection of windows.

We also went to the Foment de les Arts i del Disseny which is a gallery where young artists can show their work. We went into the crypt where there was a gallery. 

 These are some of the works that were in the crypt:

This is a picture of the lobby area:
We also passed other museums which are part of the public area.

 Most of the apartments look like the apartments below with balconies and very close together. I think one of the most interesting parts of this area was how even after 1982 when the socialist government wanted to make the area a more commercial area, Barcelona still wanted to keep the spirit of the area alive and therefore didn't want people to leave even if they were poor. Instead, they decided to make a public and a private area so they emptied the center of town and put commercial things there as a central  meeting point.  In 1986-1996 Barcelona received the news about the olympic games and prices of soil went up which made this area even more attractive.

 This building was an abandoned building that was taken over by people and they have lived there ever since. I thought that it was very interesting that this was allowed and how the building was painted because something like that would never happen in the U.S.

Other things in this area that are important are schools, high schools, public libraries, hospitals, UB, and Hotel Barcelo. The hotel is a big part of the area. I think that this area seems like a very good place to live either young or old. It seems like a very artsy area. My favorite thing about the area is that they did not want to kick out the poorer people just because they wanted to make some money. It shows a sense of community and putting people over money which isn't seen very often in todays society. Overall, I enjoyed our trip to the Raval area.

Bomb Shelter

March 23, 2012

Today I went on a CEA trip to the bomb shelter 307. The only people to show up to the trip were my friend and I so it was like we got a private tour. I thought that this was one of the most interesting trips I went on with CEA. In the beginning of the trip we learned about what Barcelona was like before the civil war and the preparations that the community took when these attacks began. Franco's army began to bombard Barcelona with air raids. In order to avoid death during the air raids the community built bomb shelters. When an air raid was coming a siren would sound and everyone would run to the shelter closest to their area. The people would have to sign up for which shelter they were going to go to in order to avoid over crowding. The way that the shelters were built were very interesting and smart. When walking into the shelter the first turn you make the wall is curved so that if a bomb or smoke were to enter the shelter the wall would block it from the rest of the shelter. Also, there were bathrooms next to the entrance of the shelter. There were little corridors attached to the shelter. The plans were shelter 307 were 400 meters of vaulted tunnels, 1.6 meters wide by 2 meters high. The capacity according to plans was 2,000 people. By the end of the war the tunnel was 200 meters 2.10 meters high and between 1.5 and 2 meters wide with three entrances. In order to have a spot in the tunnel people would need to spend some time building. The shelter was made out of bricks. I also thought it was interesting that a company had discovered the shelter and used it for storage before it was considered a historical site. As well, our tour guide told us there was a family that lived in the tunnel for a while and they built a chimney system for their fire place which I thought was very smart. On the tour we also got to see the sick bay which was built differently so that there was constantly fresh air allowed in. As well, there was a room that was built as a play room for children, but people didn't feel safe letting their kids play in there which was good because the ceiling ended up caving in during one of the air raids. They ended up using this area for storage instead. All around the shelter there were water fountains and little cubbys with blankets. Overall, i thought that this was a very interesting and educational trip. The picture below is a picture of the plan of the shelter.

Jewish Quarter (again)

March 20, 2012


Today I had a trip with my religion class to the Jewish Quarter. It was interesting to visit the Jewish Quarter again with a tour guide because I already knew much of what she was talking about. She took us a different route than we took during our trip. It was interesting to hear the different things she had to say compared to what was taught to us during class.

Picasso Museum

March 18, 2012


Today I went to the Picasso museum with my friends. I thought it was a very interesting experience. I have been to a lot of museums since I arrived here and this was one of my favorites. It was very interesting to see how Picasso's style changed throughout the years. The way the museum was set up was also very interesting.

La Ribera

February 22nd, 2012

Today we went to go visit La Ribera quarter. In the la Ribera quarter is where El Gremis or the guilds were. All of the streets in this area are named after the people who worked there in the guilds. For instance, Mirallers is where the mirror makers worked and lived. The guilds were set up so that all of the people who made one item were on the same block so that people didn't have to travel all over the city to be able to compare prices. Also, if one of the workshops ran out of some item they needed to use, they could go next door and borrow it from the next work shop. In this area houses were called "la Casa-taller" which describes the structure of the house. In these houses the workshop is on the bottom floor and on the first floor is the owner of the building, his right hand official on the second, and the servants on the bottom floor. As the floors go up the windows get smaller and smaller.

One of the most interesting aspects of this area was the architecture. buildings were originally made out of stone but covered in plaster for aesthetic reasons. Also, the walls were cut out so that the horses and carriages could pass through. On the streets the signs for which direction the horses can go are still there. 

As well, on the streets of the guilds there are little stones with pictures that indicate what guild was on that block.

Also we saw Santa Maria Del Mar which was made by the guilds. If was where royal families were buried and originally sant Eulalla's remains were buried there.

the inside of the church was very beautiful. The floors had skulls and crossbones representing the royal families who were supposed to be buried there.

We also went to el mercat del born and el fossa de les morenes which is an area where people who fought for the city were buried and there is a memorial there now so that they can be remembered.

Towards the end of our trip we saw La Llotja which is the stock exchange.

Overall i thought that this trip was very educational and that it was interesting to learn about the guilds. If it werent pointed out to me, I would have never noticed the little signs around indicating which guilds were on each street. Also, I think that the structure of the casa-tellers is very interesting. I think it is interesting that if a person has a contract they will pay the same rent until they die. 

Carnival

February 19th and 21st, 2012

Today I went to Sitges to take part in the festivities of Carnival. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like it. You could feel the energy among the crowd. Everyone was so friendly and dressed in such extravagant outfits. I loved watching the parade and seeing people have a great time in the streets. Carnival came from the word carnevale which means "to put away the meat" so in the beginning of lent, since you are not supposed to eat meat, they have a celebration. Eventually the celebration transformed into a celebration of the arts as well. I enjoyed carnival a lot and although the festivities were supposed to have been bigger on tuesday night I think they were bigger on sunday night.

El Call

February 8th, 2012

Today we visited the jewish quarter of Barcelona which is El Call. The Jewish area is located in the gothic quarter. This was from the 12th- 14th centuries.

Carrer de Sant Domenec is the main street of el call so it was the area of the great synagogue, the butcher shop, the houses of important people in the community, and the gateway to the quarter at the end. Here we saw the Centre d'interpretacio del call which is a museum dedicated to the jewish history. As well, we saw the Palau de la Generalitat which is a govenrment building that holds offices. (gothic area)

As well, when walking through El Call, we went to an area which looks like a typical square with a nice little fountain in the middle. It is a place where kids come and play when they get their recess for school.

When looking closely at the walls you can see that there are bullet holes because people were lined up here and shot. 

This was very interesting/shocking to me because originally i would have never guessed that the holes in the wall were from bullets. I assumed that since the building was old it was just starting to deteriorate. Knowing this fact about this square gives a whole new perspective on an area where children are sent to play. We also passed the main synagogue in Barcelona, which is supposed to be the oldest in all of Europe. We also saw the Lloctient Palace which holds the archive of the crown of aragon. Much of the construction material was used from the headstones from the jewish cemetery. 

 Since El Call is a series of many small winding roads it was mentally hard for me to put together where I was most of the time. Overall, I thought that the jewish quarter was very interesting.

MNAC

February 5th, 2012


Today i went to the MNAC which is the Mueso Nacional d'art de catalunya. I thought that the museum was very interesting. I liked how the museum was split into different rooms based on the centuries of the art. I thought that having some knowledge of barcelona history was beneficial when coming to this museum. It was hard to get good pictures in the museum because the lighting was set certain ways in each room to give an effect. A lot of the art was religious based which was interesting to see. It was interesting to go from room to room and see how the art subjects and form changed. Going from the Roman room to the Gothic room was interesting because the art was still very religious based but you could see it changing slowly. The room with work from Picasso's blue period was unfortunately not available at the time.

Roman ruins

January 25, 2012

Museo d'Historia de la ciutat

Today we went to the Barcelona city museum which is located in the Barrio Gotico. As our walk began we saw the original roman walls that still remain and then made our way to the columns in the temple of Augustus that remain.

It was very interesting to see the columns and the areas of the roman ruins. The museum, which was found in 1931 and later turned into a museum, had a lot to offer and revealed a lot about Barcelona's past. In the museum we watched  video which showed how the city of Barcelona expanded and explained the history of "Barcino" which went through a series of name changes throughout the years based on the increase in knowledge of the city. The original city sign is below.

When walking through the ruins there was a lot to see. There were models build of the houses which had roofs that were tilted inwards so that the rain water would come in and land in the bath which was in the center of the living area. All romans cities had a public bath. They had tricliniums which is something in between a couch and a table for eating. If you were to eat at someone's table it meant that they could trust you because you were risking getting poisoned. 

There was a lot to see while in the Roman ruins. For instance, there where holes dug into the ground which were used for keeping fish, wine and dying clothes. 

As well, we saw many weapons that the Romans used as well as herbs that they would use to preserve artifacts, dye their clothes, preserve the fish etc.

Also, on display was what women used to use as perfume and makeup which as a girl I thought was very interesting.

 Overall, I thought that this trip was very educational and interesting.