Analogy... School Work:Stress, Rome:Excitement, Prostitutes:Church...wait what!?!?

Had a decent run this morning, I actually ran into Emily while I was walking back to the dorm. It was a fairly laid back morning; I didn’t have class till 2:30pm. In class today we presented a small assignment where we picked a word and compiled a slideshow of 5 pictures from our travels around the city that depicted this word. Our choices were uniqueness, density, encounters, and emptiness; I chose uniqueness and selected 5 photos from my library that I thought exhibited a form of uniqueness in some way. School work is really starting to weigh down on me…finally the “vacation” feeling of being here is wearing off…and the academic stress of studio is starting to build!

After our presentations we took a short walk to another old church here in Barcelona…this one was originally built outside of the old city walls, it was a very old Roman Catholic Church. On the way to the church we all passed by two overtly kind females, they were dressed very sensually and I soon realized that they were prostitutes…it was only 4:30 in the evening and they were already “working”. For some reason that I cannot grasp both “ladies” called me, and only me, out from everyone else! They paid me with multiple compliments as the entire class walked by. I don’t know if I should be intrigued or disgusted…in any event I was shocked!

Printed my boarding pass for Rome this weekend…can’t believe it, but I am one day from spending THREE nights in Rome…these weeks are really starting to fly by.

Re-stocked on some groceries today…bought beef for the first time since I have been over here…time for some burgers! Or maybe spaghetti….I’m sure I will try that this weekend! Had a great stir-fry dinner tonight: rice, peas, corn, chicken, eggs…who says I can’t cook?!

 Front Facade

 Very old bell tower

 Courtyard

 Barrel Vault....

Stir-fry!!!

Lost in translation...I mean transportaion...actually both!

Mallory and I took a few more steps advancing our project today in studio. Jordi helped us to direct our attention more specifically on a particular area within the site…it is where all of the bars, cafes, and nightclubs are! For Thursday we have to have a more finalized map with our observations of pedestrian movement. I took a visit to the site to gather some more information, it is cool how being there helps me conceptualize things better…I started to get a few more ideas that we could possible push forward in the project; I am just trying to think more architecturally than abstractly!

On the way to the site I had to take the METRO system and one of the lines was so full with people that the train would not move…it moved about 10 feet then made a loud screeching noise as it came to a stop, I thought the train was broken! I also managed to get lost within the labyrinth of the METRO system…I didn’t think it was possible but somehow I ended up at a station underground that was temporally out of service…one of the associates that works in the METRO was there and he told me that the line was being “re-routed”. It was kind of nerve racking to be alone in the tunnels of the METRO…but I won’t ever get lost again down there!! (I hope so at least haha)

For lunch a small group of us went to an authentic “Fish and Chips” restaurant not far from our dorm; the place was owned and operated by Englishwomen and everything was so “British” inside. Their accents were intriguing and I found myself subconsciously talking with a small British twang while ordering my food. I had well, Fish and Chips! What was cool is they bring this gravy sauce for you to use instead of ketchup. I’m not sure what was in it, but it was very good…they supply you with ketchup and vinegar for the fries if you really want it, but apparently the “real” way to eat the dish is with this gravy. I also had….drum roll….TEA, kind of obvious I guess. It too was in the traditional style…Black English spiced tea served hot with a side of milk and lumps (sugar)! The milk was a nice addition to the tea, I doubt it would taste good with green tea, but with Black tea it was delightful!

In our Spanish culture class today we broke into two groups…Lea the professor who speaks Spanish, Catalan, English, French, and some Italian went with the “beginners” and Joseph the professor who   only speaks Spanish and Catalan took the rest of us. It was a long class, 3 hours of pure ESPANOL was talked…I can’t lie a few times my mind took an automatic break from the Spanish so it could cool off haha, overall I understood most of what he was going over…most of it was review.

Tomorrow no class till 2:30pm…if I am good I’ll go running…luego!

Is this Valencia...or the Jetson's city?

So it turns out that the hostel we stayed in did have wireless internet….but we were relatively busy all day and night so I did not have time to update the blog for Friday and Saturday. So I will try to give an overview of what went on this weekend…but for starters I can sum Valencia up in 3 words: it was spectacular!

Friday:

On Friday my day started out very early in the morning at 5am. The train was scheduled to leave at 7am but I had to take the metro from the dorm so I made sure to get there early enough. To our surprise the train was a high speed/bullet train. Spain’s systems of bullet trains are called AVE (Alta Velocidad Espanola…Spanish High Speed), AVE is also a play on the word ave which is Spanish for bird. This was my first time on a bullet train…it was a great experience. In every car they have an electronic board that shows the next stop, local time, temperature, and the current speed of the train; I was not awake the whole time (I was still tired from only 5 hours of sleep) but the fastest speed I saw the train reach was 211 km per hour which equates to about 131 miles per hour! It is almost like an airplane in that you don’t realize that you are traveling so fast unless you look at a stationary object that is very close to the train…the ride is unbelievably smooth.

Once in Valencia we walked to our hostel…which was nothing like I imagined a hostel would be…I am positive that this is the nicest hostel on the face of the planet. I have never stayed in a hostel…and I am hardly counting this previous weekend as a stay…our “hostel” was a luxury apartment! We had two bedrooms, one with a double bed and the other with two twin beds, a main den which had a futon AND a love couch with a coffee table in between, the den also had a 4 person glass dining table. In the den there was a stereo boom box with a 20” flat screen TV and dvd player, the kitchen had a full sized freezer/refrigerator, plenty of cabinets/cupboards/drawers, supplied plates and kitchen ware, supplied seasonings, supplied tea and coffee, and a dishwasher! Our “hostel” had a balcony on both sides of the room one opening up to the street the other opening up to a courtyard…on the courtyard balcony there was a laundry machine. The bathroom was sleek and clean…I could not tell the difference between this “hostel” and a stay at Litchfield resort, the place was phenomenal.

We walked around Valencia the rest of the day and visited the tallest and one of the oldest cathedrals in Valencia; then we had lunch! Lunch was a spectacular multi-course meal (bread with salt, oils and vinegar, Sangria, fried potatoes with a delicious sauce….aaaaaaaaand PAELLA!) This paella was “real deal authenticy” and it was very good; afterwards we had a dessert platter brought to us which had different kinds of cakes and pies…the greatest thing about this meal was that it was only 10 euros per person!

Later that night we experienced a little taste of Valencia night life… I had the best conversation with a Spaniard thus far in complete Spanish at a bar/cafe…I was extremely happy with myself!!!

Saturday:

On Saturday we awoke and visited the City of Sciences and Arts, this “city” is a multi –complex/park area on the coast of Valencia…the entire area was designed by world renowned architect Santiago Calatrava! The architecture at this place left me speechless in a similar way Sagrada Familia did, it compared very well with the architecture of Gaudi. Again I felt inspired but also overwhelmed with the simplicity and intensity of Calatravas work…one day I hope to design on such a complex and high level of architecture! Calatrava was born in Valencia, so many of the designs in Valencia were by him.

That night we cooked dinner in the room instead of eating out, this turned out to be a great choice. Our meal was almost as good as our paella the day before. Everyone pitched in and we purchased chicken tenderloins, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, bread, various cheeses and ham! Our freshly prepared dinner was salad with sautéed chicken, for our appetizers we had bread with oil, various cheeses, fruits and thinly sliced cured ham…it was delicious. I had the honor of cooking the chicken and making a homemade dressing from tomato puree, fresh lemons, and honey…I surprised myself with how good the salad dressing turned out!

Sunday:

Today we got up at about 10:30 and ate a lite breakfast at a café on the way to the train station, I had a freshly baked chocolate croissant (croissant with chocolate filling and sugar sprinkled on top). After breakfast my day took an exciting turn….

There are two train stations in Valencia, the main station and a small substation that only handles bullet trains. We arrived in Valencia at the smaller substation so we assumed that our departure today at 1:08pm would also be from the small substation, hahaha wrong! We arrived at the station at about 12:55 and took our tickets to the attendant, she pointed out that our train was departing from the main station and not the substation…my heart may have skipped a beat when she revealed this shocking news to us…I don’t know how fast (or for that matter how I did it) we ran, but we sprinted to the other station which is about a half mile away and got there only to discover that our train was late…talk about divine intervention! Luckily everything went ok and our trained finally arrived an HOUR later!

What a great weekend in another part of the beautiful country of Spain!

Still proud of Nadal…he will get Djokovic in the French Open…he IS the king of clay!

The Hemispheric at night!

 A few of the exhibition hall, bridge, and arena at night! ALL BY CALATRAVA

 See the eye?

 Here's the bullet train I rode on!

 The Hemispheric during the day

 Another view

 Classic Calatrava bridge!

 Reminds me of a stingray...this beam is completely cantilevered

 Under belly of the beam!

 Meet George Jetson!

 The sink in the bathroom at the so called "hostel"

 Kitchen in the "hostel"

 Balcony in the "hostel"

 Den in the "hostel"

 Traditional paella for lunch!!!

 Desserts...(staring from the right) chocolate pie, cream cake, apple pie

 Tallest bell tower in all of Valencia...we went to the top!

 Facade

 One more view of Calatrava's work!

 Dinner on Saturday night...salad with sauteed chicken and homemade dressing!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! That's how fast we were going on the train....also look how close we are to the beach?!

Studio Today...Valencia tomorrow!

Studio today felt longer than normal…it took a while for Jordi, our professor, to come and critique what we had prepared for the day. Class is supposed to be over at 1:30, I believe we were the last group to get critiqued and he did not get to us until 1:30. He had some good advice to give us and he seemed to be pleased with our progress on the project. Mallory and I are going to have to make a lot more observations of the pedestrian flow/congregation within the area so we can formulate a good route to take with our intervention.

During the long time that I was waiting for Jordi to come critique our work I watched the Aussie Open on ESPN 3. I was privileged to see the majority of the match between Nadal and Federer, Nadal won and advanced to the finals!

I have an early morning tomorrow; I need to leave my dorm by 6am so Abraham and I can get to the train station at a decent time for our departure at 7. Hopefully everything works out and goes smoothly…I would hate to have things get convoluted at the train station or on the train (like boarding the wrong one and ending up in some random place in Spain). Abraham speaks Spanish very well so I am a little reassured by that.

I don’t think the hostel will have an internet connection for me to use, so I may not be able to blog for Friday and Saturday…but I will be up and running again on Sunday night for sure! Maybe I might get a surprise and have access to the internet…check back tomorrow and Saturday just in case.

Hasta Domingo (Until Sunday)

With the locals...

 Today in my Contemporary European City class we discussed some of the major architectural and urban transitions in Barcelona. We discussed everything from industrialism, the 1992 Olympics and Barcelona’s current struggle with “westernization” and retaining its own identity. Afterwards we paid a visit to a local architect’s office. The architects name is Ricardo Flores, he owns a relatively small firm of about 10 architects/designers. His firm is located in an old house within the “Achampla” grid system of Barcelona (I’m sure I spelled that wrong haha). The “Achampla” grid is the area of Barcelona that is much newer when compared to the Gothic quarter. It is organized in a very neat grid system with “rounded” corners (these are used for parking); each block contains an interior space…usually a courtyard of sorts, the buildings within these areas are referred to as “flats”. His office was very pleasing for this reason; it felt like a very comfortable space to work in. His designs were very creative and challenging…but his models were immaculate, each model was like a 3D jigsaw puzzle with each “component” coming together or apart to convey a unique message about the design. All of the models were hand crafted…no laser cutters or machinery was used to craft them so this added to the grandeur of each model. His office seems to be somewhat international...his firm was selected to design Microsoft’s new headquarters in Milan…yes I said Microsoft…as in multi-billion dollar company of software, and computers…you know BILL GATES! It was so inspiring to see an architect in person who was so successful…who knows he might be very famous one day…and he may have shook hands with Bill Gates! His English was pretty fluent…I was impressed.

In Spanish culture class today we walked around random spots in the city and were given “tasks” to ask the locals for directions to various landmarks and areas within each district of Barcelona. This was a challenge for obvious reasons…the locals do not slow their speech down like our professor…they ramble on very quickly. Surprisingly every person that we talked to was very helpful and nice (probably because we “targeted” older nicer looking people haha). This one gentleman that Caitlyn and I spoke to resembled Sean Connery and he was very talkative! After he answered our initial question he continued to ask where we were from, what we were doing in Barcelona, how we liked it here etc. Between the two of us we understood the majority of what he was asking and telling us…he was pleased to see that we were trying very hard to learn and speak his language. After he “finished” talking he even continued to walk with us as we made our way to the destination…he made my day and I seemed to have done just the same by bringing a little excitement and adventure into his life for the evening!!

Very excited for Valencia this weekend…I was supposed to be taking a bus to Valencia but everyone bought their tickets after class today. I would have done the same but apparently a passport was required, needless to say I was not prepared to purchase the tickets. No one waited on me to go back to the room and get my passport so I debated long and hard if I was going to go to Valencia again (I was actually a tad upset that no one waited for me…oh well). The only reason why I am still going is because a grad student named Abraham from Texas A&M overheard the conversation and noticed that I was going to be “alone” for the trip so he offered to accompany me on the trip….long story short between a lot of confusion at the bus station we ended up purchasing Train tickets instead of bus tickets….so looks like I will be on a Train to Valencia!

Here is the three page power point presentation that I had to turn in for my Materials class

Here is the "achampla" grid system that I was talking about...notice the "curved" corners of each block, this is where cars can park and also take note of the interior spaces/courtyards within each block!

Parks, fountains, Valencia??? Oh my!

I think I have figured out how to make text larger...and most importantly upload photos much faster...thus allowing me to post more pictures!!!!! It is called Picasa! Picasa is another program by Google that allows me to manage the pictures on my computer into an online album...thus allowing me to streamline the process of uploading pictures to the blog...so from here on out I will hopefully be including more pictures...YAY!

I woke up this morning at 10:30 and went running on my new route! I actually got up and did it, I was pretty impressed with myself for actually following through with the run... I was, however, very sore from playing soccer last night, I made sure I stretched before and after playing last night and running today; I think I am sore simply because I have never ran so far…who knows? I had a decent brunch afterwards which consisted of eggs, toast (toasted in the pan) and cereal!

Today in our field studies class we walked to various university buildings around Barcelona. We visited the university library. This library was originally one of the substations for the water system in Barcelona…it held the water supply for one of Barcelona’s biggest parks (this park contains an extremely large fountain pictured below!). Then we visited a few parks/public spaces around the city…the parks are very beautiful.

After class I made dinner (calamari pasta again…it was delicious). 5 of us (3 girls and 2 guys) are taking a short weekend trip to Valencia, Spain beginning on Friday; we discussed the details of our trip…the cost of the bus fare to and from (52 euros), and the hostel stay (33 euros for two nights). Valencia is the supposed origin of paella…which is basically Spanish gumbo; there are many different variations of paella, although all varieties consist of a yellow rice base. From there paella can have vegetables, all kinds of seafood (usually shrimp/shellfish and mussels), and chicken. I have not had paella since I have been in Spain so it will be a real treat to experience it in its birthplace of Valencia. We also finalized some logistics on our hostel stay for Rome in two weeks…it is 36 euros for 3 nights. I am very excited for this weekend but I still have a few assignments to work on before it starts…

Nadal advanced to the next round in the Aussie Open (I knew he would haha) so did Roger Federer…more tennis matches to come…Nadal all the way!

 This is the arch de triumph...it is the sister to the arch in Paris, France...notice the similarities?!. It was built for the world expo here in Barcelona just like the Eiffel Tower was for the world expo in France!!!.

 Strange bird I saw in the park...I thought it was a crow...but upon further examination it seemed to be something different.

 Here is that huge fountain I was talking about above...it is one of the coolest fountains/water works I have ever seen.

 Close up of one of the griffin creatures that populate the fountain...astounding!

The main focus or pinnacle of the fountain...it was very extravagant.

 Close up of the "Gold" horse statue on top of the pinnacle of the fountain.

 Could not resist taking a picture of this duck in the fountain...

 Hallway to the entrance of the library...very intriguing...

One of the views from a public space/park we visited today.

Another park/public space that we visited

 This is the roof of the library...notice the basin that used to contain water when it was the supply for the large fountain pictured above!!!

This is an atrium that covers three university buildings...the one to the left (brown) contains offices, the one in the center (red/pink) contains more classrooms, and the one to the right (glass facade) contains study rooms and the dinning hall!

La Tarea, Tapas, y Futbol!!

Today in studio me and mallory had our first desk critique of the semester! Our professor Jordi (Jhor-de) really found our proposal interesting and he likes the direction our project is going. He gave us some good suggestions on what to focus on and diagram throughout the week. Mallory and I are going to focus on pedestrian density/flow in the area...this in turn will help us to see where areas or nodes of congregation and flow occur naturally; once we have a solid grasp on this then we can determine fully where our intervention will go and what exactly it will be. As of now it could be anything from a strategically planned series of park benches and landscaping to small pavilions or canopies placed throughout the area...this is still to be determined. We have some tarea to do (homework) for Thursdays class...he wants to see initial site diagrams/maps showing the observations we have collected.

Here is the initial site map that I created for Mallory and I to use. We are very interested in the two intersecting roads, we really would like to focus our interventions on the two "peninsulas" at the point of each road...kind of like a "times square" but we will see if this fits in with the natural program of the area. Our purpose is to fit our intervention in and not FORCE a new program on the area.

Tonight for dinner Caitlyn, Emily and I went out and had Tapas for dinner... tapas are just another Spanish cultural aspect that you are "susposed' to experience while here. Basically a tapa is a Spanish hors d'oeuvre..they come in all varieties...but they almost always consist of a piece of bread with various meats, vegetables, oils, cheeses, and sauces on top of them. The place we went to had tapas for 1.90 euros each, all you do is grab a plate and put as many tapas as you wish on the plate...when your done they count the amount of toothpicks on your plate and add up your tally. I had a cibata bread mini sandwich as one tapa (this consisted of some type of turkey, onions, peppers and a delicious sauce), my next tapa was a cheese spread with seafood on top of a large piece of toasted bread, my last tapa was a croscant sandwich (this was a honey lemon baked croscant with shrimp and cheese) this was my favorite tapa!

To end the night I played some futbol (soccer) with a large group of Clemson students and local/college Spaniards! My futbol skills are a bit rusty (I really have not played since elementary school)...but I was very impressed with how much I still remembered and how my endurance has improved greatly. It was a great time, I played goalie at first then I switched out with a teammate later on during the game to a forward position. I did not score any goals but I had a few good saves as goalie and two exciting "getaways" and failed assists on the goal.

Late class tommorw...2:30pm, hopefully if I am good I will get up at a decent hour and go running. More Aussie Open...go Nadal!

Sorry for the pictures not uploading....AAAAAAAHH, the internet is horrible

This is the route that we took for the run, The green building is our dorm and that's where we started, we ran to the red dot (this is the meeting point we determined). The yellow dot was the "turn around" point, this is where I stopped! Gerado and Emily too a short "breather" and then ran back to the red dot! Great route along the Marina and beach!

Up close shot of the hanging candles in the church

WOW...I had mass in here

Look at this stained glass....

Iglesia y Correr!

I went to church today…

There are multiple services at the cathedral we attended today; apparently they have many short masses throughout the morning and early afternoon. A group of 5 went to the cathedral for the last service at 1pm. The sanctuary was simply beautiful and it must be a real treat to worship in such an ambiance every Sunday. The mass was completely in Spanish, they provide the congregation with a “hymnal/responsorial/verse/an outline of the service” all in one book (wow that was a mouthful!), and this is all in Spanish however the book does have Catalan and Italian text towards the back. The mass was relatively short in comparison with the services I am used to back home.

The Pastor was a simple and homely looking older man, he needed help getting up the short stairs to the alter; he spoke in a very small voice but something about his enunciation made everything he said profound and he still retained a commanding presence. When he sung it was even more intriguing, he didn’t sing the melody but rather the harmony…actually he was a pretty impressive singer. Although the service was completely in Spanish the structure was all too familiar, a few things were different being that it was a Catholic service and not an Episcopal one. It is amazing what music does…it has been and will always be one of the only universal languages; the lyrics and verses may have been in Spanish but the melodies were exactly the same. It was neat to try and sing along to the Doxology, and Alleluia chants. I would get lost a few times then everyone would begin the Nicene Creed, or the Confession of Sins and I would follow along…in Spanish I might add! The communion was exactly the same word for word (haha just in Spanish). SANTO SANTO SANTO (Holy, Holy, Holy) was a dead giveaway to the beginning of the Liturgy for Communion. In this service only the priest drank the wine and ate the bread…then two members from the congregation came up to the alter and helped distribute the bread…which surprisingly was not real bread but wafers just like the ones we use. There was even a short “peace” during the service, it was a great experience to greet the people around us in Spanish…they were very welcoming. After the service was over an older lady approached us and asked us where we were from (of course we stood out haha) and what we were doing while we were over here, she was extremely excited and happy to see “los jóvenes” (youth) at service. She explained how she is a regular and never sees anyone but older people at mass; it felt good to make someone else feel good! I thanked the priest who also seemed very pleased to see youth in the church; I even helped put the books back into the cabinets after the service…what an experience.

I also went running today for the first time since I have been over here…I was beginning to feel like I had lost my touch haha. I went with Gerado and Emily; we had a great run; though both of them have much more endurance than I do. I normally run at about a 7 minute a mile pace and run 2 miles for a total of 14 minutes. (I thought I was doing well…boy was I in for a surprise!) The route we ran was at least 2.5 miles to and then about a mile back to the “meeting spot” (just in case anyone wanted to slow down or needed to stop, we also set a time for everyone to meet back up). We were running at about a 6 minute a mile pace…whoo, I was exhausted. The route we ran was a great route and I am sure that will become my preferred choice, it takes me along the harbor/marina and then along the boardwalk on the beach!!! I have never run such a picturesque route before. Emily and Gerado ran both ways (from our starting point back to the “meeting spot” along the Marina) I could only run to the “turn around” point! However the “turn around point” was at least 2.5 miles from the start so I already ran farther and faster than I normally do…so I was still happy with myself, even though there was a slight blow to my confidence haaha.

What a great Sunday today was…school tomorrow, more Aussie Open tennis tomorrow night! Go Nadal.



Look at the detail on that alter table!!




Detail on the hanging candles!





Organ..its huge!




WOW...I had mass in here!






Amazing stained glass



The green is where we started right outside our dorm. The Red dot is the "meeting spot" that we determined. The yellow dot is the turn around point...this is where I stoppped haha, Gerado and Emily ran back to the red dot! I'll get to that point hopefully by the end of the semester.