Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is one of the most recognizable sights in Barcelona. Known as one of the main tourist attractions, I find Sagrada Familia to be one of the marvels of our world. Sagrada Familia is a Roman Catholic church that has been under construction since 1882 and is not scheduled to be finished until 2026. In the modern world of construction, the sheer time frame of the construction for Sagrada Familia attests to the grandeur of the church. The church is considered the crowning achievement of Antoni Gaudi, the famous Catalan architect and artist. The unique style and design displays all of Gaudi's unique visions, truly a masterpiece. He began the construction in 1883 and dedicated the last 15 years of his life to this magnificent structure. Sagrada Familia is scheduled to be consecrated by the Pope in November of this year, a huge event for the Catholic Church and Barcelona.
For people that have never seen Sagrada Familia in person, it is almost impossible to explain. The church has three facades; the Nativity Facade, the Glory Facade, and the Passion Facade. The Nativity Facade was built first and displays the most Gaudi influence. In person, the Nativity Facade is actually fairly gloomy and ominous. The sheer detail encompassed in this facade is almost unimaginable. The Passion Facade is much newer and displays Jesus on the crucifix at its central point. There is a striking contrast between the older facade and the newer facade, demonstrating the different uses of architecture. I have personally visited the church numerous times, marveling at the grandeur of the design. My friends and girlfriend visited Barcelona for their Spring Break and Sagrada Familia was the first place I took them to. They were all astounded by the church and couldn't stop talking about it. I will be sure to visit Barcelona again when the church is finally done.

Lighting up Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas in one of the main tourist attractions in Barcelona, a place my roommates and I visit on a weekly basis. During the day, the street is a beautiful place for people to shop, dine, and enjoy the weather, but after the sun sets, Las Ramblas is a vastly different place. At night, the street is plagued by drunk tourists and and various types of crime. During the day, the street is over run with tourists and street performers, but it is a relative ghost town at night. In a recent La Vanguardia article, the publication talks about the recent decline of Las Ramblas due to drunk tourists and prostitution. The article entitled Rambla de la Luz, talks about the changes that the city is planning in order to restore Las Ramblas to its former glory. Cristina Castells, the director of Energy and Heat for Barcelona, explains the modifications planned for La Ramblas. The basic idea of the restoration is to bring more light to this area at night, illuminating all corners of the street in order to sway the negative attributes that have surfaced there. The plan calls for many more street lights to be placed along the street, as well as numerous neon signs to illuminate the area at night. I believe this is a very positive step for Barcelona because Las Ramblas is one of my favorite places in the city. It is a shame that the splendor of the area is tarnished by the activities during the night. I believe that the plan will bring many more local people to the area and keep the street safe at night.

New Health Care Bill

I woke up on Monday morning here in Barcelona and went on to the Wall Street Journal's website. The main picture on the homepage showed President Obama signing a bill surrounded by many democrats and a few citizens. He was signing in the new health care bill for the United States, which gives the United States nearly universal health care. This is the most radical political and social change in the United States in the last 30 years. There has been an ongoing struggle between Democrats and Republicans over the last year, culminating in the recent passage of the bill in the House. The bill barely passed, with the democrats only winning by 7 votes. The bill was voted against by every Republican in the House of Representatives, which shows the division of ideals among the two parties. The Republicans are already planning to repeal the bill. Republicans are expected to dominate the upcoming elections in November due to the general public's lack of support for the new bill. The new health care plan will cost the United States over 900 billion in the next ten years, but the Congressional Budget Committee has said that it will be able to bring the national debt to lower levels. Republicans are skeptical of such positive results, noting that many of the costs will not hit the economy for years to come. Even though the Republicans and most of the general public oppose this bill, President Obama seems confident that this is the right move for the United States. While this is huge news for the United States, it is also quite large news for the rest of the world. I went down to my local news stand today and the cover of La Vanguardia had a large picture of Obama. Even all my teachers here in Barcelona had discussions on the implications of such a radical social change. Many nations throughout the world have sought to emulate the private health care system of the United States, only for the US to change back to a public system. No one can predict whether this new bill will eventually be beneficial for the country, but at this point, there is a lot of skepticism. It will be very interesting to see the political turmoil that will surely follow the passage of this new health care bill.

Paella with Friends

Over the previous week, my friends from Penn State came to Barcelona for their Spring Break. Barcelona is a huge place and I wanted to show them all the cool sites, so we journeyed to Sagrada Familia on the second day of their arrival. As we made our way around the church, I realized that it was time to show my friends some authentic Spanish food. We found a perfect little restaurant right next to Sagrada Familia that was advertising all kinds of paella. I explained to them what the concept of paella was and they all ordered different kinds to try out. Paella is basically a rice dish that originated in Vallencia, and many non-spaniards view paella as a typical spanish meal. Some of my friends ordered chicken, some ordered seafood, and some ordered a combination plate. As the waiters brought them their steaming plates of rice and meat, their eyes widened. Paella is very different from typical American cuisine and none of them had ever even heard of it. Come to think of it, I had never even heard of it before my semester in Barcelona. Anyways, they all loved the food and were very excited to have learned a new type of meal. A couple days later, they all asked if I could take them to another paella place because they enjoyed it so much.

Medieval Barcelona- The Guilds

On February 23rd, my Barcelona City class took our third field trip to the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona to see where the guilds were located during the Medieval period. Our class met in front of the Cathedral of Barcelona and we began our journey into the time of the guilds. The first thing that Xavi pointed out was the layout of a typical street store during that time period. The store front was at street level, obviously, and he said that the corners were the most valuable real estate for a store. The first floor, or primero, is where the owner of the store lived. The higher floors were where the servants lived. This seems contrary to today's standards, but they did not have elevators back then so everyone had to take the stairs. The wealthy owner of the store did obviously not want to climb four sets of stairs to get into bed at night. Anyways, we continued our field trip by moving through the streets of the various guilds. During medieval times, each street had many of the same types of stores. These stores could include siver makers, iron workers, mirror makers, or clothing stores. All of the various categories grouped together on to one street where a type of "stock market" could take place; this type of stock market was called "La Llotja". Vendors would bring their materials to a common area and all the store owners would bid on various prices. Xavi pointed out that today all the streets are named after the various guilds that they housed during Medieval times. After moving through the streets of the guilds, we made our way into a magnificent church. There were graves throughout the interior of people who donated money to the church. The largest donators had their family crests on the ceiling of the church. After the church, we made our way to La Ribera, something comparable to the NYSE nowadays. It was where all the boats coming from the sea got their cargo priced for sale in Barcelona. Xavi noted that three groups technically own La Ribera (Catalonia, Barcelona, Madrid), and they fight over it constantly. Anyways,with all these various elements, I found the field trip to the Guilds to be one of the most interesting and informative of the entire semester.

Camp Nou

My Sport & Culture class is one of the most interesting classes I am taking this semester and my feelings were confirmed when we recently took a tour of Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona stadium. My roommate, Justin, and I were overwhelmed with anticipation as we boarded the private bus to the stadium. It was a rainly day and fairly miserable outside, but that didn't mattr at all to any of us. As we pulled up in front of the stadium, people literally began fighting to be the first one of the bus. We waiting anxiously as our teacher went and got the tickets, then we made our way into the stadium. The first stop on our tour was the opposing team's locker room, which was actually very plain, but cool none the less. All it contained was vanilla colored lockers, a shower area, and toilets; nothing flashy by any means. After the locker room, the tour really began to pick up. We made our way down the halls to the entrance tunnel of the field. As Justin and I looked down the hallway, we were humbled by the knowledge that generations of FC Barca players had run down this very tunnel in front of thousands of screaming fans. An interesting thing to note was that there was a little chapel off to the side of the tunnel, where players are allowed to pray before they take the field. Our teacher told us that Ronaldinho prayed there before every game, which was very cool because he is my favorite player. I also found this interesting because there would never be anything like that in the United States. We exited the tunnel and found ourselves on the FC Bara field, gazing up at the thousands of seat ascending from all directions. It was unbelievable to picture the stadium filled with 100,000 people, Justin and I could not stop giving each other high fives. After the field, we made our way up to the various levels of the stands. It was great to see the VIP area of seating, high enough up to see all the action at a premium. After seeing all the levels, we made our way down to the FC Barca media center where all the players give their postgame press conferences. After that we headed into the recently remodeled FCB history museum. Unfortunately, the tour bus was leaving and we basically had to run through the museum. But some highlights were the virtual television screens with highlights running, the digital history of the team, and the various generations of jerseys. We left the museum feeling overwhelmed with everything we had just seen, Justin and I could not stop talking about it for days afterward. I have already made plans to go back and take a more in-depth journey through the museum.

Park Guell

My roomates and I live in the Gracia area of Barcelona, which encompasses one of the most famous sites in Barcelona- Park Guell. Last weekend we didn't have a trip planned so we decided to venture out to this park and see what all the hype was about. We took the short metro ride to Lesseps and walked up the streets to the front gate. As soon as we entered the park, I knew exactly what all the hype was about. Park Guell is a park designed by Gaudi, an extremely famous Catalan architect. It was built from 1900 to 1914 on the hill of el Carmen. The entrance way houses a beautiful garden and an elaborate staircase leading up to the main square, all covered in the famous designs of Gaudi. It took my roommates and me about an hour to make our way up the staircase, because there seemed to be a photo opportunity every couple of feet. After finally ascending the stair case, we emerged on the top of the main square; it had some of the best views of Barcelona I have ever seen. It was a lively square with performers and street vendors selling everything from sunglasses to jewelery. After taking pictures and checking out various street vendors, we journeyed up the back pathways of Park Guell, basically just wandering. We came upon a cone shaped rock formation with a cross on the top, obviously some kind of religious structure. As we made our way to the top of the cross, we were confronted with the most breathtaking views of Barcelona. We could see Sagrada Familia and all the main streets of the city. It is hard to appreciate the sheer size of the city without viewing it from an elevated point. I would recommend journeying to the top of the cross to see Barcelona in all its grandeur. After the cross, the sun was starting to depart and we made our way out of the park. The entire way home no one could stop talking about the magnificence of Park Guell and how great the view way. I was so impressed by the Park that I took my girlfriend back there when she came to visit in February. Park Guell was definitely one of Gaudi's greatest achievements and it remains here for generations to appreciate.

Cathedral of Barcelona/ Gothic Quarter

On February 11th, we took our second field trip in my Barcelona City class. We met outside the Cathedral de Barcelona, which is a Gothic cathedral constructed during the 13th to the 15th centuries. The outside of the cathedral is actually a neo-gothic facade that was added in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the cathedral was undergoing a surface cleaning that only happens every ten years or so. Even with all the scaffolding and tarps surrounding the structure, the sheer magnificence was obvious. After meeting the class in front of the cathedral, we began our journey into the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. The architecture surrounding us was obviously from an earlier century, although many of the buildings had facades to cover their original structure. Xavi pointed out that the corners of streets were cut in a diagonal fasion in order to allow horse-drawn carriages to make turns without stopping. I found it fascinating that the orignal "blueprints" of the building had not been changed for over 700 years. Another interesting thing that we saw the center stone of the Medieval Barcelona, which was placed at the highest point in the ancient city. During those times, any person that stood on that point could see the Mediteranean Sea. Although, today the view is obscured by the tall building that have gone up since that time period. After seeing that stone, we went through a little passage that seemed to be the interior of some building. But as we moved into the building, we found ancient columns from the Temple of Agustus dating back over one thousand years. We actaully had to wait for another school group to clear out before we could sit down and marvel at their beauty. These three columns are some of the best preseved pieces of the ancient Roman Barcino. I found the columns to be one of the most interesting parts of the field trip, just on sheer age and historical relevance. Overall, the trip to the Cathedral and the Gothic Quarter was amazing.

Lalola- Our local diner

In terms of Spanish food, we have a diner located directly below our apartment that offers a wide range of Spanish cuisine. The diner has become a common place for my roommates and I to eat on Sunday nights when everything else in the city seems to be closed. The staff has begun to recognize us and they always have a smile for us when we come in. My first time to eat there, I was introduced to the bikini, which is basically a ham and cheese sandwich. Although this seems to be a more American dish, I see the locals eating Bikinis all the time. The next time I went to the diner I upgraded my sandwich to a Trikini, which has ham, pork loin, eggs, and tomatoes on it… absolutely delicious. As I became more accustomed to the menu and the general feel for Spanish food, I began to order various kinds of tapas and appetizer meats. The diner has all kinds of great sausages and meats that you just can’t find in America. The diner brings out a dish of olives every time we eat there, but I have yet to warm up to the taste of the olives. They are marinated in some kind of strange sauce that has a relatively vile taste; I don’t think I will be eating the olives on this trip. The diner has an extremely extensive menu and I’m sure I will try almost everything by the time I leave Barcelona, due to the fact that we eat there almost three times a week.
Another thing I have noticed about Lalola is the service and the attitude of the waiters. The food comes out extremely fast and is always delicious, but the waiters basically ignore you unless you get their attention. This is not a bad thing, just very different from the United States. In the US, waiters seem to hover over your table waiting to be useful because they are working for a tip. Since tipping is not a cultural custom in Spain, waiters only do what they need to. Initially this was a little strange for me, but the more that we go to Lalola, the more I like it. I wish I could go back to the United States and bring the custom of no tips, but I don’t think that would go over to well. Anyways, Lalola is our go-to restaurant and I’m sure I will eat there about 100 times this semester.

FC Barca Game

On February 7th, the CEA group took a trip to the FC Barcelona game vs. Getafe. This was one of the experiences that I had been looking forward to ever since I knew I was coming to Barcelona. FC Barca is regarded as one of the premier soccer clubs in the world. As we were walking to the stadium, I realized that I was the only person not wearing any FC Barca attire, so I bought a great scarf from one of the local street vendors. As we preceded into the stadium, the anticipation began to mount. We were so excited to get there that we ended up in our seats an hour before the game began. We watched from our upper level seats as the stadium began to fill to capacity. Shortly before game time, the FCB squad ran out on the field and the crowd erupted into applause. The game began and we were all screaming along with the locals, excited for our new team… FC Barcelona. In the first half, Messi scored a beautiful goal; he is truly one of the quickest athletes that I have ever seen on. In the second half, Xavi scored a goal on a beautiful assist. After the second goal, the stadium was truly deafening as the crowd erupted into ecstatic celebration. The game ended in a 2-0 romping of Getafe, as FCB looked like the powerhouse that it truly is. We left the game celebrating the win with all the locals as we were hearded into the most crowded subway station that I have experienced in Barcelona.
In our sport and culture class, we discuss the significance of the soccer in the European culture. After having been to many sporting events in the United States, it is true that soccer takes a much more serious role in the lives of the people in Europe. I will always remember my FCB game as one of the most intense sporting experiences that I have ever been a part of. My expectations were more than met, they were exceeded. The only negative experience that I had from the entire game was the Henry did not play, who is one of my favorite players in the world. Regardless, FC Barcelona is one of my favorite sporting teams in the entire world and I will cheer for them long after I head back to the United States.

Roman Barcino Museum

We went on a field trip to the Roman Barcino museum with our Barcelona City class. The museum was an extremely unique experience that documented the origins of Barcelona as a Roman City around the time of Christ. The group met outside the subway stop by the museum and our first experience was seeing the original Roman wall of Barcino from the streets of Barcelona. The original stones that built the wall thousands of years ago still stand as a base for structures from centuries following. After musing at the magnificence of the wall, the group proceeded into the museum. One of the first highlights of the museum was seeing the original Roman stone that read “Barcino,” which sat at the entrance of the city during the time of the Romans. We then proceeded underground to see the original layout of the Roman city, which is below the current level of the ground due to centuries of sedimentation buildup. We saw the layout of a typical Roman household, which was fairly modest and small. The original Roman city had a sewage system and an aqueduct system to get water into the city, which is extremely impressive. We also saw where they stored wine in the city, which served as a social tool to stimulate conversation among community members. Wine was also used as a religious symbol. These two uses of wine are in starch contrast to the uses of alcohol in our current society. We use wine to get drunk and have fun, it is interesting how society changes the use of things. We also saw many everyday artifacts from the Roman times, such as plates, glasses, bowls, earrings, perfume, and sewing utensils. It is strange to think that Roman people had such luxuries like perfume thousands of years ago. Overall, the Roman Barcino museum was a great experience. It is unbelievable to think how old the origins of Barcelona really are; the origins of the United States only goes back three hundred years, while the origins of Barcelona date back thousands of years.