oh the coast..pictures

These are a few pictures from my wonderful weekend spent on Costa Brava...

This is Mae West from the Dalí Museum in Figueres. It's all one big room, then you climb up these stairs and look through this glass and you can see the whole room come together as Mae's face.Cadaques


Swimming in the Mediterranean. Pretty chilly, but I don't think it's as cold as the Pacific.

This is not from the beach. I just think this is a cool picture taken at Montjuic today. It's me and the Palace (also MNAC- museo de historia de artes catalanes)

Costa Brava

La Costa Brava lies along the coast of Cataluña, extending north from Barcelona. It's absolutely beautiful. Quaint little towns dot the coast, and there are plenty of gorgeous beaches. I was lucky enough to spend my weekend enjoying the Mediterranean.

Saturday: I took a day trip with my program to Figueres and Cadaques. Figueres is about an hour outside of Barcelona and is where Salvador Dalí was born. He built a museum there in an old theater. He considered the museum to be one of his greatest works. The museum itself is a work of art. Dalí wanted people to get lost in his museum, so it's a bit of a labyrinth. Also, he knew that if people saw a line they would get in it. So all over the place there are places where you can make lines. It's a little bit bizarre, but then again so was the whole museum. Anyone who knows Dalí, knows he was a fan of optical illusions. This is a painting of a nude woman, but far away it's Abraham Lincoln. The reason for a painting of good ol' Abe? Well he was killed in a theater, and the museum is an old theater. The museum also has the Mae West room. The whole room is Mae West--and then you walk up these stairs and look through a glass and you can see that all the pieces make up Mae West. I'm not the biggest fan of Dalí, but his stuff is interesting. It's a cool museum, and I highly recommend it.

We continued on from Figueres to Cadaques, the cutest little fishing town about 2 hours outside of Barcelona. I felt like I was in another world. All the buildings were white and the towns hugs the Mediterranean in a U shape. The ocean was super blue, contrasting the white houses. We had lunch by the water and then walked around. There were a bunch of little tents selling all kinds of goodies--a million varieties of olives, wine, bread, jewelry. I picked up some olive spread that is superb. It was nice just sitting on the beach, albeit rocky, and enjoying the sea. Unfortunately, we had to make our way back to stormy Barcelona, but it was a relaxing afternoon.

Sunday: My roommates and I are super lucky to have such an awesome RA. Her parents have a beach house about a half hour outside of Barcelona, and invited us for the day to enjoy the beach and some tasty paella. It was absolutely perfect weather, and a nice break from all the rain and gray. We arrived and promptly made our way to the beach. The sun felt so wonderful. The water was chilly (I don't know why I always thought the Mediterranean was warm), but two of my roommates and I got in anyways. It was cold at first, but after those first 5 minutes, the ocean water felt good. As I sat on the beach, watching the waves go in an out, I sat in wonderment of how the ocean is what connects us all, and water is what keeps us all alive. The sea I was seeing was the same sea that someone else in the S. of France was seeing. It's the same sea that melts into the Pacific--that reaches all the way across the world. Water is beautiful--in its plenitude and scarcity.

After enjoying the beach, we headed back to the house, where Laura (our RA) has ordered us some delicious paella from a tienda close by. I had yet to try to some really yummy paella, and was glad to finally have some. It was the perfect meal for our perfect day spent in the sun. After the paella, we lounged by the pool, went swimming, and took in more sun. All in all, a perfect day.

Time works so funny here. It stays light for so long that it never feels late. Then I look at my watch and realize how much time has actually passed. The summer solstice is coming up. The Spaniards celebrate it as San Juan. It's supposed to be one crazy party, plus we get the day off school (yes!).

I'm off to bed. It's past 1 am, and I have class at 9 (really, what was I thinking?).

Hasta luego.

In a garden

I'm exhausted. I don't know how anyone gets anything done here--going out super late and staying out until super early in the morning....

I'll guess I'll pick up with the Palau de la Música Catalana, my field study for my architecture class on Tuesday. As the name would suggest, it's a music hall. The Palau was built in the early 1900s and was built for the Orfeó Catalá. It was built from public donations, and enough money was raised to hire Domenech i Montaner. Fun fact: Domenech i Montaner and Gaudí are considered the fathers of Modernisme in Spain. It is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL building. I don't have any pictures because pictures aren't allowed, and it was raining (seriously, what drought), so I don't have any of the outside. The entire building, inside and out, is designed to be a garden. Why? Because the Palau was built in what use to be a super industrial part of Barcelona, so the Palau was to be a garden in the center of all that industry. The columns are done in mosaics of different flowers and plants, each column different.

All the details from the main theater evoke some natural element. The most breathtaking part about the main theater is the chandelier/skylight. I think it's probably more appropriate to call it a skylight because it is all natural light. The whole thing is done in glass and it looks like a sunflower (my description really isn't doing justice to its beauty). It drops out of the ceiling like a water drop--to nourish the garden, and the sunflower represents the sun, also to nourish the garden. As the chandelier uses only natural light, there are stained glass windows all around the top of the theater. The idea was to use only natural light for the theater.

The amount of glass work is interesting, especially for a theater. Glass isn't really the best material to use for good acoustics, since it doesn't really absorb sound that well. However, there is a ton of padding and wood in the seats to help absorb some of the sound. At point, the Palau was going to be torn down. I think one of the reasons was because of the bad acoustics and all the noise you could hear from the outside because of the glass windows. Luckily, the Palau was saved. The windows have since been reinforced, so I don't think there is much noise from the outside. I don't know how great the acoustics are though. Either way, the Palau is GORGEOUS.

The back wall of the main stage hosts muses-I think 12, but I don't remember. Each of the muses is dressed differently and playing a different instrument. They represent and welcome all genres of music. In the theater you can also see the Valkries from Wagner. Wagner was considered a modern composer, so it's a nod to modernism. There is also a bust of Beethoven, and classic columns, a symbolizing the classical. It's a beautiful fusion of past and present, welcoming all music. Fun fact: The Palau was spared during the Spanish Civil War (Franco sought to get rid of all kinds of regional nationalism). The name was changed from the Palau de la Música Catalana to just the Palau de Música.

The other field trips this week were pretty lame. Thursday I went to the Museum of Catalan History with my History class. I love history and museums, and I thought it was pretty boring. I don't care for guided tours of museums. I like to walk around on my own Even if I had just been able to walk around, I wouldn't have gotten much out of the museum--everything was written in Catalan.

On Thursday afternoon, I went on a walking tour on Passeig de Gracia, a posh shopping street right next to school. There's a couple of Gaudí's works on the street, as well as some by other Modernist architects. The walk would have been great had it not POURED. Of course, my umbrella was in my other bag. I did have my beach towel with me because I was planning to go to the beach after glass (I bet you can guess how that worked out). I wasn't really paying attention to the architecture, but I do remember seeing Casa Amatller and another house (I don't remember who did it though).

The only mention I'm going to make about nightlife this past weekend is techno music and how much I hate it. And smoking inside. Not a fan. Febreeze was one of the best, most useful things I packed (thanks Greta!).

I have more to say about Costa Brava, but I'm going back today!! Our RA has a beach house there, and invited us for the day, so I'm off to enjoy more of the beautiful Spanish coast.

my favorites

These are just some of my favorite pictures that I've taken so far. I also really love the pictures
I took of the Gothic church, the street musician, and the Parque Güell guitarist, but I posted those in other posts, so I didn't want to upload them again.

This is an accordion player in Valencia. I love love love the street performers and the street musicians. Especially the accordion players.

This is also in Valencia. These are some of the figures (I believe they're of the saints and apostles) that are on the cathedral. The one on the corner is of King David.

Also in Valencia.

This is a tree in the Parque de la Ciutadela. I just really thought it was pretty.

Picasso, the Metro, and Gaudí

Who knew I'd be back so soon to write another blog! I guess I'll start with a recap of the past couple days...

Sunday: The first Sunday of the month is free museum day (love it)! Although it was wet and rainy (what drought?!), my roommates and I headed to the Barri Goti (Gothic Neighborhood) to check out the Picasso Museum (free!) and the Chocolate Museum (not free). Gothic architecture is probably my favorite. This is from the inside of a BEAUTIFUL Gothic church. I wish I had enough time and money to make it up to Toledo, the capital during Spain's Visgoth period, to see some really cool stuff. Oh well, as I keep telling myself, reason to come back. The line for the Picasso Museum looked really long, so we decided to come back in a bit and go to the chocolate museum first. I have to say, it was probably the one thing I've been disappointed with so far. It's just different scenes and sculptures out of chocolate (Don Quijote in Chocolate, FC Barcelona in Chocolate, Arc de Triomf in Chocolate), and really you can see all that stuff on the food network. We didn't even get free samples and the so-called museum store was also pretty lame. They didn't even serve churros y chocolate!!

After lunch, we got in line for the Picasso Museum. The line is through this tiny little street/alleyway. There are shops and a million people passing through. As in every major city, Spain has no shortage of street musicians. While waiting in line for Picasso, there was a really awesome guitarist serenading the line. One of my roommates bought his CD, and his music is super chill and relaxing. It was only about a 15 minute wait to get into the museum, although it was PACKED. I'm not sure I like museums when they're that busy. Sometimes it's nice just to stare a painting for a long time, and it's kind of hard to do that when there is a ton of people all trying to see the same thing.

The museum has a lot of Picasso's earlier works, before he got super cubist. I actually had no idea how many different styles Picasso had. While I didn't really care for his earlier stuff, I really appreciate his talent more. You can really see how his super abstract stuff morphed from his super realist stuff. I think the museum did a good job of showing that transition. The temporary exhibit that was at the museum was the collection of Picasso's abstractions of Velasquez's "Las Meninas." Picasso did some 50 odd interpretations of Las Meninas.

After Picasso, the sun had finally come out, and it got ridiculously humid outside, so some gelato was in order (have I mentioned that I love how there are gelato places on like every corner?). We wandered around and found ourselves at the Parque de la Ciutadela. There used to be a fort there (citadel--ciutadela). The park is really gorgeous and green. We didn't walk around it too much, but we're definitely going to go back. Also right around there is Barcelona's Arc de triomf. The Arc was not actually built for a military triumph. It was built for World's Exhibition in 1888. I'm excited to compare this Arc with the one in Paris (only 9 days!!).

Monday: I have to make a mention of the wonderful metro system here in Barcelona. I take the metro to school, but I have to switch lines at one of the stops. Well, that passageway is under construction, so to switch lines, I have to walk out of the metro station and all the way to the other entrance and re-enter. It's a pain and it adds about 10 minutes to my commute. Yesterday, I get off the metro and do the whole walk to switch lines, but once I get to the other metro station, I'm informed that the line I need to get on is not working. I only have 10 minutes to get to class, and I absolutely cannot be late for class because we were going on a field study. I was a good 15 minute walk from school--so I start running, mind you its god awfully humid out. I can't get a taxi to save my life. Finally, at 3 minutes until 9, I get a taxi and make it to school 5 minutes late. Luckily, my class hadn't left yet. Oh the beauty of public transportation.

The field study was for my history class. We walked to a few statues. But the really cool part was this public library we went to--La Biblioteca Pública Arús. The guy they built it for or who built it (I can't remember) was a Mason, so there are all these masonic symbols all over the library. The library is super old looking, with these dark wood shelves with glass doors, filled with really old looking books. There was also a bunch of Masonic artwork on display and some Masonic medals, pictures, etc. It was pretty cool--a little creepy. The library was closed during Franco, but luckily it wasn't destroyed. I guess it houses a large collection on Spanish Anarchism, as well as a bunch of information on the Freemasons.

I also visited Casa Milá, one of Gaudí's houses, yesterday. My camera died, but I'll be going back, so I'll take pictures then. It's pretty spectacular. Gaudí didn't believe in using straight lines. According to him straight lines were man made, curves were of nature. So you can imagine this large building with very few straight lines. You can't go throughout the whole building, but you can go up to the attic where the servants lived, and to the roof. Gaudí was also really big on the self supporting arch. If you were to take a chain and pin it in any two places, it would form a self supporting arch. The arch in St. Louis is self supporting. In all of Gaudí's work, you really see his use of arches. Another interesting fact, in Sagrada Familia, each column is made of a different type of stone to support the structure underneath it so that he wouldn't have to use steel support--truth to materials. Although now, they're using steel supports inside the columns. In Casa Milá, there are also some of Gaudí's chairs on display. I had no idea he was a carpenter of sorts. The chairs are really really beautiful.

Monday night we had Spanish cooking class!! We learned (and got recipes for) chupitos de tomate, tortilla espanola, paella, and crema catalana. Everybody helped with one dish. I got to help with the paella! And after we cooked, we got to enjoy the meal. It was all very delicious. I don't know if I would be able to make any of it again, especially the paella. The teacher definitely did and added stuff to all the dishes once we were finished. Either way, it was tasty and a fun experience.

I've got to head back to class. I'm going on a field study today for my architecture class. We're going to the Palau de la Musica Catalana. It was done by Domenech i Montaner--a rival of sorts to Gaudí. I've seen the outside, so I'm really excited to go in an take the tour. If only every class involved field trips...

Ruins, Churches, and everything in between

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've been here!! The time is flying by. Anyways, I'll do my best to recap the past week and a half the best I can.

Last weekend the whole program took a weekend trip to Tarragona and Valencia. Tarragona is about 1 1/2 outside of Barcelona. It's an old Roman city, which is why we went--to see the Roman ruins. It's a beautiful quaint little town, at least I felt like it was little and quaint. We took a tour of what was left of the old Roman wall, the cathedral, the circus, and the amphitheater where they use to have gladiator fights. Also, during the Spanish Civil Way, the amphitheater was used as a prison. The amphitheater is right on the Mediterranean. I would have loved to stay and spend some time at the beach, but we had to leave to go to Valencia.The Roman Amphitheater

Valencia is about 4 hours outside of Barcelona. It's the third largest city in Spain, population wise, next to Madrid and Barcelona. We got there about 7:30, had dinner, and then it was time to go out!! The Spanish like to go out late and stay out until the early morning--something I'm still adjusting too. We went to a bar and had super tasty mojitos. Then we went to a discoteca. It was PACKED, playing techno music, and a ton of people from the program were there.

The Cathedral in Valencia at night

The next day we toured the harbor where the America's Cup Sailing Race takes place. We also went around the old part of the city, saw some old churches, and went into the cathedral. All very beautiful. It was also the Saturday before Corpus Christi, so we got to see the floats for the parade on Sunday. They also had fireworks that night. Later that night we went out again to a really cool club by the beach. It was basically everyone from my program.

Sunday we went to the new part of the city--the opera house and the art museum. We didn't get a chance to go inside, but we did get to take some pretty cool pictures. Then we went to the aquarium--it was pretty cool, saw a dolphin show.The opera house in Valencia

Classes started on Monday. I have Contemporary History of Spain at 9 am (brutal) and then Modernism in Architecture and Comparative Design at 2:30, so I've got a four hour break in between. On Monday, I went with a friend who has the same break to Parque Montjuic. There we saw the Olympic Stadium, the National Museum, and some Greek theater. The park is ENORMOUS. I really want to go back and go into the National Museum and the Olympic museum. Free museum day is the first Sunday of the month--tomorrow, so I think my roommates and I are going to go to a few.The National Museum of Art

Olympic Stadium

Where they put the Olympic Torch

On Tuesday we saw Indiana Jones in English!! I haven't seen any of the other ones. It was alright, kind of weird. Tuesday night was also our first cultural activity. Our RA's cooked us a Spanish dinner. It was pretty tasty. I don't remember what the main dish was called, but we did have bread with tomato and olive--similar to bruschetta.

Wednesday we went and checked out Sargrada Familia--the church that has been under construction since 1882. I didn't have my camera with me, but don't worry I'm going back so I'll take pictures then. It was actually kind of nice not having a camera. I didn't feel like I had to constantly take pictures of everything. I just got to stand and stare and absorb. The detail is BREATHTAKING. It really is unreal. And there's people from all over--every language imaginable flying around. I can't really explain it. It's one of those places that you really just have to see. And after 126 years, it's just about 50% complete. I don't think it will ever be finished. I don't think it can be finished. I didn't get the chance to go up to the top--the wait was too long and we were on a time crunch, but I'm going back with my architecture class, so I'll take pictures then and hopefully go up to the top.

Thursday was wine tasting. I don't like wine, but I thought going to a wine class would help me appreciate it. We learned how to look at wine, smell it, and taste it. We tried a white, a rosetta, and two reds. I liked the white and the rosetta, not so much the reds. It was a fun class though, and I was right I definitely appreciate wine more.After wine tasting

Friday I dont have class, wohoo!! I slept in (very much needed) and then met my roommates to go to the beach! The beach was PACKED. It's funny, there are people walking around asking if you want a massage for 5 euro, a beer for 1 euro, or a henna tattoos. Unfortunately, the clouds started to roll in and it started raining, so we didnt get to stay for that long. I really don't understand this whole drought, because there have been more rainy days than sunny ones since I've been here.

Today we all slept very late after going out and staying out very late. Then we visited Camp Nou, the home of FC Barcelona. We got to see the locker rooms, the chapel where they pray before games, the actual soccer field, the press rooms. There was also a museum, and in true amusement park/tourist attraction fashion, you leave through the store. I did get an FC Barcelona hoodie because I didn't bring a hoodie with me and there has been a few cold days and chilly nights.Camp Nou- "More than a club"

This week I booked my trip to PARIS!!!!! I'm so excited. I'm going with my roommate Danielle, this guy Kris, and this girl Emily. We're leaving early in the morning on Friday, June 13th and coming back in the afternoon on Sunday the 14th. So we've got 2 1/2 days in Paris. I have a friend, Ivana, from school who's been studying there all semester, so I'm really excited to see her. We even found a cheap hotel that's really close to all the sights. I think it's in Montmarte.

I'm enjoying myself so much. I feel so incredibly lucky to be doing this. This really is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and Barcelona is such a beautiful and amazing city.

I'll try and keep up with the blogging, but I'm not making any promises.

L'auberge Espagnole -- El Apartamento Español -- The Spanish Apartment

I finally got my internet to work!!

So here are the pictures from my apartment. We live in a super safe and nice neighborhood. We're centrally located in the city, and there's a metro stop right down the street. It never takes us very long to get anywhere--it's about a 10 minute metro ride from our apartment to Placa Catalunya, wich is where the IES center (where we take our classes) is located.

When you walk in

The kitchen

The living room with 2 of my roommates

The dining room


View from the living room


View from the living room


My room + my roommate

My desk