January 19 2014

Wednesday night we headed down to the bar 2 doors down from us.  The owner is named Oriol and he introduced himself with a handshake.  We all ordered a beer and he gave us each a free shot that he took with us.  Can’t complain about that!  We stayed for about an hour after talking to him a little, told him we’d be back ,and were home by 12:30.  Friday morning I had to meet my bus at the Hard Rock Cafe in Placa de Catalunya by 9.  We had an hour 30 drive to Tarragona in South East Catalonia.

Tarragona is an ancient Roman capital and held an important position on the Mediterranean Sea.  The city was enclosed by several miles of wall built in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.  A few of the towers and some sections of the wall still stand.  The current city was built inside the remnants of these walls and when walking around the tight street you get the feeling of being so far in the past.  The city also had a beautiful cathedral with ancient statues and a gladiator ring by the sea that my hotel room overlooked.  

We got about a 2 hour tour of the city after arriving and saw everything I mentioned above and other ancient artifacts archaeologists have uncovered like mosaics, marble dolls, and pottery.  We had a 2 hour lunch/exploring break after the tour.  I met up with a roommate and some other kids and had a cup of coffee and this Spanish Tortilla thing that was delicious.  We walked around for a little enjoying the history of the town.  After lunch we met back with the bus and drove out further into the country side. The entire drive we were travelling through green hills with a blue sky and it seemed like every inch of flat land was covered in vineyards(not blooming yet) so pretty cool to see some of the countryside and not just city.  

We came to the Santes Creus Monastery for a tour.  This thing was ancient and looked like a cold and boring place to live but I guess that was the point.  It was really cool.  

An interesting part was the graveyard where the monks were buried.  All throughout the Monestary there were elaborate graves for important bishops/priests/whatever but the monks were burried in a small courtyard and were given no headstone or anything.  It was just a small area of grass with a cross in the middle.

After the Monestary tour we were given our Hotel Rooms and fed dinner at the Hotel.  My room was right on the water and we had a balcony that overlooked the Mediterranean and the ruins of the Gladiator ring from Roman times.  Waking up there was especially awesome.  

Most of us IES kids headed out to a bar that night.  There were probably about 70 american college kids in an Irish Pub in Taragonna Spain.  Kinda fun and kinda funny.  

Friday we had breakfast at the hotel and then went to a Castell museum.  We were given the history of Castell’s in Catalonia and they tried to get us to realize its cultural significance to the Catalan people.  

Especially now Catalan pride is very high.  Catalonia wants to secede from Spain and become its own independent nation.  There are thousands of vertical yellow and red striped flags with a blue triangle and star hanging around Barcelona because so many people here are calling for Independence.  It’s very interesting time to be here for that reason because a few years down the road where I am could be its own nation.  In November of the this year they are holding a referendum to see if the can have a vote for Catalonia to become its own nation.  Vidall is all for it and was telling us the motives of the people here and how Spain is doing everything it can to not let this happen like threatening to block Catalonia from being able to enter the European Union if it becomes its own nation.   So we bought a Catalan independence flag for the apartment.

But anyway the Castell’s are giant towers of humans.  Sometimes as high as 3 people per level and 10 people high.  Pretty insane stuff and these people take it very seriously and it is an important symbol for Catalonia because it is a show of strength and teamwork.  After the tour we got to make our own tower.  I was one of the people in the base with a person standing on my shoulders and then that person had another person standing on their shoulders.  It was freakin tough! I can’t imagine having 8 more people on your shoulders.  

After the Castell’s we drove into the countryside again and stopped at a Spanish Restaurant.  About 200 of us so 2/3rds of the program were in a giant dining room and were fed a giant feast of these long Spanish Onions that you peel and dip in some special sauce and then some local grilled meat, artichokes, creme brule, and wine.  It was an awesome meal and it was great to have almost the entire program together.  We got a chance to meet a bunch of the people in the program and the trip was a success.  

Friday night we got back around 6 and we had our neighbors downstairs over to meet them.  We eventually ended up at Oriol’s and hung out there for a bit.  A couple people wanted to go to a club but me and Jeremy stayed behind at Oriol’s and talked to some older local dudes.  Kinda weird but it was a fun night.  

Saturday was raining and we got up late and then went for a walk down Diagonal and just hung at the apartment watching movies all night.  

Today I went for a run, did some laundry, some dishes, and I’m about to start my homework.  I ran down by the water today by an old castle surrounded by palm trees and the Christopher Columbus statue.  This is such a beautiful place and I am so grateful to be here.

Tomorrow real classes start so ill be in class from 9am-7pm.  Woo!! Time to finally do some work I guess.

Let’s go Broncos + Seahawks!

(I took zero pictures this weekend.  All I got was one of the monestary inside the church and one outside for a feel of the area we were in and another of the view from my hotel room.)

  

January 15 2014

Soon after I finished writing my last blog on Sunday Max, one of my roommates, and I decided to go for a run around the neighborhood.  We were hoping for maybe 3/4 miles but of course we ended up getting lost and it quickly turned into 6 miles which was great.  Exploring while running and running in new places is the most fun and satisfying way to do it.  We tried asking a shop owner for directions and we were shrugged off.  Then after blankly staring at a few maps at metro stops and doing a few circles and some bickering we found our way back to Av. Sarria.  It was awesome to see some more of the neighborhood and I wish I could say I know my way around a little bit better now but my sense of direction is pretty shitty.  I’m sure I’ll get it down it’s just going to take some more time and maybe a few more runs.  After the run we just hung around the apartment the rest of the evening watching football/breaking bad.

Monday I went to the IES center early to get my Spanish class changed and it ended up getting moved to 2pm so I had 2 and a half hours to kill before I had class.  I figured I would go do something and decided to check out one of Barcelon’s most well known landmarks.  I hopped online and bought a ticket for a tour through Sagrada Familia the MASSIVE Catholic church designed by Gaudi.  The church has been under construction for over 100 years and was Gaudi’s baby.  He died in 1926 and they plan on finishing construction by the 100th anniversary of his death.  All that is missing is pretty much 5 giant columns that will appear in the middle of the Church representing 4 evangelicals and 1 in the center for Jesus.    All the money for the tour ticket goes towards funds to continue construction.  

Between the size, the amount of detail and thought, the beauty, and the feeling you get when you step inside it is almost impossible to describe.  I’ll attach some crappy iPhone pictures I got that will do it no justice.  Every single tower/column/statue/EVERYTHING has a purpose and was thought out by Gaudi.  There are three sides to the church one representing the birth of Christ, one for the death of Christ, and one for the Resurrection of Christ.  The birth and death sides are complete so I guess more is still under construction than just the center columns.  On the inside, the ceiling seems to go on forever and the supports appear to be trees holding it up.  The sparkling light let in by the stain glass windows reflects the different colors off the polished stone floors.  It’s all just crazy and I’ve never been in a building like that.  I felt like I could just sit in there all day and look around.  To say I was filled with feelings of peace might sound silly but I guess that’s the best way I can describe it.  Sadly I eventually had to head to class.  I feel much more comfortable in the new class I got put into. 

After class I was signed up for a “DiscoverIES” trip to La Boqueria which is the huge food market in downtown Barcelona.  Our guide gave us some tips about where to go like the stands in the back and on the sides and what to avoid like the the stands at the entrance because they are lower quality and over priced.  He also told us things like not to buy fish on a Monday because no one goes fishing on Sundays.  We got a 101 on how transactions occur and what to say when.  It was great and I also found out there are over 30 markets in the city and a couple in my neighborhood so I just have to muster up some courage and head down to it for some good fresh eats.  

After the market tour he took us to a little restaurant for some hot chocolate and churros.  The chocolate was served in a coffee cup and was very dark, thick like runny pudding, and tasted more like cocoa than sugar.  It was pretty bitter because not a lot of sugar is added.  Dipping the churros in it was pretty awesome but I’m not sure how much I actually liked the chocolate by itself.  I’m glad I tried it because it is such a unique food to get here but I probably won’t go out of my way to get it again.  

Monday night we went to a bar called Ovella Negra(Black Sheep).  It was in the downtown part of the city off of Las Ramblas and the building was really old and they had these huge wooden tables with stools.  It was a cool place and after a couple beers and some Foosball we were home.  

Tuesday was really cold and drizzling all day.  My roommates went to Parc Guel but I was still in class so I missed out on that.  Other than getting some awesome “Kebab” from around the corner of the apartment and starting to watch “Six Feet Under”, the HBO series, nothing great happened.

I forgot to write that Monday before going out we went food shopping and we all cooked sausage and peppers and had a family dinner with Vidal, the four of us, and Vidal’s architecture partner who he has been working with nonstop the past week because his final semester project is due this Monday.

After a boring rainy Tuesday today I had class and then was signed up for a “DiscoverIES” run around the city.  Apparently 20+ people were signed up but only myself and two girls showed up which was fine.  We were all capable runners so the leader took us on good long run through the Gothic and Roman quarter of the city with 2000+ year old buildings that used to be walled off and where the king used to live.  We ran down to the beach in Barceloneta and eventually wound up back at the IES center after about an hour and 20 minute run.  The guide, Giusep,(probably butchered the spelling but Catalan for Joseph) gave us some awesome information about what we were seeing and that there is a running “club” that meets every Tuesday at 6 o’clock to run through the city which I am 100% going to join.  He also told us he puts together groups to go to the many races Barcelona has from 5ks to marathons.  So it sounds like I will have ample opportunities to run and I plan on taking advantage of all of them and hopefully I can get a half marathon under my belt before coming home.  

After the run Zach, my roommate, and I went shopping at Cortes Ingles basically an 8 story Macy’s and got some school supplies and I got a pillow.  We grabbed dinner on the way back, he got Kebab as per my recommendation and I got a 4 course meal of stuff to throw in the microwave for 6 euro.  

Tomorrow IES is running a “study journey” to Tarragona where we’ll be staying over Thursday night in a hotel they have set up.  They have a bunch of tours planned for us so it will be cool to see and learn about some more of Spain.  We will be back in Barcelona Friday evening.  We have to meet at IES at 9 tomorrow so I’m going to pack now and we might go check out a bar on our street for an hour to get to know the owner and make some friends because we heard it is a great small local place that is especially friendly to students studying abroad.  

(All of the pictures are of Sagrada Familia Death side then inside then birth side and the last one is of a fountain I ran by today)

January 12 2014

Wednesday night 2 of my roommates and one of their friends from school and their two roommates came over and we went to dinner at a restaurant right downstairs from our apartment.  It was pretty good and only about 10 euro each for a bottle of wine and main course.  It was nothing crazy good but it’s easy and cheap so we may be back.  After dinner we explored a little and walked down Av. Diagonal, one of the main roads in Barcelona that runs diagonal through the mostly otherwise grid setup of the rest of the city, and found a bar across the street from the club called Sutton we wanted to go to.  The bar and then club was fun but because the time to go to a club is 2 am we didn’t end up getting to sleep until about 6 am.   It was weird because the club was basically filled with American students studying abroad(mostly IES kids) so it wasn’t really anything unique to where I am in the world.  It was pretty much what I guess you would find in the US.  Not really what I want to spend all my nights doing here.

Thursday I had another orientation session at the IES center so after that me and my roommates just hung around recovering from Jet Lag still and lack of sleep/the night before.  Thursday night we went to a pizza place across the street that was easy/cheap/pretty good.  We weren’t sure how eating pizza with your hands is looked at here so we all just ate with our knives and forks to be safe.  Got to bed at a reasonable time Thursday night so I could make the most of Friday. 

Friday was our first day of Spanish classes to assess if we were in the right class, which I was not so I got dropped down 2 levels.  After about 2 hours at the IES center I went on a “DiscoverIES” trip that IES was running to hike the mountain of Montjuic.  About 30 students and 3 professors took the metro to Espanya and we started our walk through a little neighborhood that I definitely want to go back to for dinner or to hang out in at night one weekend.  It was quiet and had tight little streets of apartments rowed with palm trees among others with little bars/restaurants on the street level.

So we walked through this neighborhood and came to this awesome Garden.  There was an amphitheater and water flowing down the stairs’ handrail from the top of the mountain.  Fountains were integrated into every aspect of the garden.  We were starting to get higher up so we could start to see the city as a whole.  The buildings here are amazing and it makes you realize how new and young america is because you don’t find such huge old marble/stone buildings like here and the rest of Europe.  

At the top of Montjuic there was the Castle of Montjuic and an overlook where you could see the entire city and the Med Sea.  The castle was awesome and we got to walk through it a bit and the gardens that were on top of it.  There were some orange trees with fruit but I don’t think they were ripe because after climbing a bit and picking one it tasted more like a lemon!

We got to explore the castle and enjoy the view for 20 minutes and after we headed down the other side of the hill towards the 1992 Olympic grounds and Palau Nacional, a beautiful museum.  I got to take all that in and we eventually made it down to the “magic fountains” where they have a show every Friday/Saturday starting in February so we missed out on that but I’m sure I’ll be back.  The trip was only supposed to be about 2 hours long but we ended up walking up/down this hill for about 3 and a half.  I didn’t care and I loved seeing the city from up high as well as the Sea and the amazing castle.  

The group split up and I headed back to the apartment to meet up with my roommates.  We cooked pasta and got ready to go out.  We went to a shot bar called Chupitos which translates to shots.  The bar was fun.  It had a giant menu of random names with no explanations so you just pick one and see what you end up with.  Again it was filled with mostly Americans but definitely had more diversity than the club scene.  After Chupito’s we stopped at another bar in the neighborhood which was filled with old locals.  We got to talk to some of them and the bartender.  

Saturday myself and 3 roommates took the metro down to Barceloneta an area on the beach.   This was my first time walking down there and it was really great.  There were palm trees along the streets and African dudes making sand castles on the beach and more beautiful buildings along the coast.  We found a place named Salamanca and had our first paella.  It was definitely the best meal I’ve had yet.  Sitting outside 20 yards from the sand eating delicious fresh seafood was awesome.  After the meal we walked around the boardwalk some more which was filled with runners/rollerbladers.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go for a run down there soon.  After some more exploring we headed home.  

We ended up in Catalunya for the Barcalona/Atletico Madrid game.  Apparently they are #1/#2 respectively so this game was a big deal and of course I was rooting for the home team.  The game ended in a tie but I was hoping for a goal/Barcelona win to see some people go crazy.  After the game we came back here and had some people over.  The consensus is that our apartment is the best spot to hangout because of how lucky we got with our setup.  Some people decided to go to a club at 3 am but I didnt want to sleep all day today so I stayed in and watched the Pats game.  

Today I have no plans other than going food shopping and maybe exploring some more.  I feel like I have seen so much but I haven’t even scratched the surface here and can’t wait to keep finding more cool spots.(top picture is of the square in Catalunya where the IES center(where I take my classes) is located.  The others are some of the hike and castle and the last 2 are at Salamanca.  I didnt really get a good picture of the view at the top which I now regret. )

January 8 2014

I landed in Barcelona around 11:30 am yesterday.  The view coming in was awesome! The Mediterranean on one side and snow capped Mountains on the other with Barcelona in the middle.  I was met at the airport by IES representatives and went through a signing in process where I had to sign a few forms and then I was given the keys to the apartment I would be living in.  After that I was directed to a cab stand, threw my bags in the back, gave the driver my address and my adventure was off to its start.  Immediately after leaving the airport reality set in a bit.  The airport is higher up than the actual city so driving down to Barcelona I could see hills with towns built into them with their light orange tiled roofs to my left and the sea, soccer stadium, and actually city with a few skyscrapers to my right.  It didn’t feel like America anymore and that’s what made it so awesome.  This new and beautiful place is now at my fingertips to explore and enjoy.  

The cab dropped me off in front of my apartment on Av. Sarria which is in the northern part of the city with the downtown (Catalunya) about a 30 min walk/10 min metro ride.  I am on the sixth floor and luckily there is an elevator big enough for 3/4 people so I didn’t have to drag my bags up.  When I got into the apartment the layout was a pretty big surprise.  IES described our living quarters as small with limited space so that’s what I was expecting.  The apartment has 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms a massive living room and a plenty big enough kitchen.  It’s super nice and I am super grateful for the setup I was given(I think I ended up lucking out big time with my housing assignment compared to other kids in the program).  I unpacked, met my 3 roommates, and local “RAV” who works for IES and will be living with us.  He’s a 20 y/o architecture student studying in Barcelona and my other roommates are all from the Northeast and it looks like we are going to have a fun time together.  

After unpacking and a nap Vidall took us for a little walk through the neighborhood pointing out the important stores, the nearby metro stop, and good places to eat.  We got some groceries we all split the cost of headed pack to the apartment and after hanging out for a bit headed to bed.  

The 12 hours of sleep I got last night definitely helped remedy my jet lag and we headed to the IES center in Catalunya for our orientation session today.  We stopped for some coffee and left early enough to give ourselves some time to explore the city.  It seems like every second today has been filled with a new experience of some kind and I’ve been enjoying all of it.  

At orientation we got some basic tips for living in a new place and Barcelona and then had a 2 hours free before heading to the University of Barcelona building.  A couple of us had some pasta and drinks on the sidewalk and watched the city go by.  In the UB building the entire IES program was talked to by a local police officer, US consulate, and program directors.  The building was unreal and i’ll try to upload an iphone picture I got.  After it was over we hopped on the metro and headed back to the apartment where I am now.  We are planning on going to a restaurant/club/bar or all three by the coast tonight so I am going to take a nap and get ready! (top picture is the view out the living room window bottom is the building at UB part of orientation today was held.)

January 7 2014

I have a 3 hour layover in Portogal so I decided to try and set up this blog to kill some time.  Looks like it’s working!  I bought a bottle of water, a yogurt, and tried to buy prosciutto flavored lays but the vending machine wasn’t working.  Exciting stuff!

Flight leaves at 8:45 and should arrive in Barcelona at 11:30.

I sat next to a very nice evangelical missionary woman named Nancy who shared bible quotes and told me Jesus was my savior for the majority of my first flight.  We talked about religion and shared our opposing views but it was an enjoyable talk and we each respected each others beliefs.

20 minutes of free airport internet is just about over! Hopefully I can come up with something to write about the next time I decide to post one of these.