My Leisure Activity

 Is there anything better than a cold beer after a long day? No. To be honest the beers I've had in Catalunya were nothing special but the atmosphere i drank those beers in was spectacular. I had never known myself to be a day-drinker but then I realized that I don't need to get drunk every time I drink. Upon my arrival in Barcelona I quickly learned that Catalans drink vino o cervesa todo el dia but they dont dont get drunk. They drink very slowly while Americans buy a bottle of hard liquor and try to finish it as fast as possible so we can end the night with no clue where we are and vomit all over our shoes. I don't like those nights. Believe it or not, in Barcelona I learned to drink responsibly. I learned to drink to relax and not to party. Me and my roommate (no, not the gentleman pictured above. I don't know who he is) found a tapas bar right near where we live and they have a deal of a beer and one tapas for 1.50 euros. We spent our fair share of Friday and Saturday afternoons outside on Gran Via watching the world go by as we sipped on our San Miguel's and bit into our jamon iberico. I also learned to love a great bar that is semi-well-known: Ovella Negra. Pictured above and to the right, you order a tower or torre of cervesa for only 16 euros. It can give you and three of your friends a pretty good buzz. The wine in Catalunya is also very good. I spent many nights during and after dinner slowly sipping on some wine knowing that just weeks away I'll be back home overpaying for worse wine. Many might look down on drinking as a leisure activity but if you finish all your work and it's the end of the week, why not?

Field Trip to Medieval Barcelona

 An in-class field trip brought us to Medieval Barcelona. On the way we passed the famous Palau de la Musica. I had walked by the building several times and always stopped to look at the architecture and why the older half and the newer half looked so different yet fit together so well like a puzzle. The facade of the Palau is magnificent, my favorite part being the huge glass panel at the entrance. From there we made our way around the corner to a smaller theatre known as L'Antic Teatre. I took the recommendation to return to L'Antic Teatre and have a drink on the patio. It was great.  Directly next door to this smaller theatre we stopped as a class for about 10 minutes to discuss a building that was built in the 13th century. The building is the orange colored one picture below and to the right. As you can see the windows begin to get smaller and smaller as the floors get higher. This can be explained through an understanding of the class system in Medieval Barcelona. The walls that surrounded the city had prevented horizontal growth, thus it had to grow vertically. The owner of the building, thus the owner of the store or restaurant or whatever may be on the bottom floor, lived on the second floor and was

given the largest window. His floor was called 'Principal.' Today, in my apartment building in Barcelona, I press 3 when I use the elevator. However, before 3 there is  Entresuelo, Principal, 1 and 2. I'm not sure what Entreseulo stands for or what it's historical significance, if any, it holds. After Principal, in Medieval Barcelona, lives the artisan or master of the craft who works in the store on the bottom level. After him are people who work for him and on top of them live the maids of the house and building. It is a social hierarchy of richest to poorest from the bottom up. Balconies were also a sign of affluence. We then made our way to Santa Maria del Mar and on the right  there is a picture of a grave stone. Wealthy families

 that donated money to the construction of the cathedral were given the privilege of burial within the cathedral itself. This field trip also focused on the many guilds of Barcelona and street names signified where members of the guilds lived and worked. A large plaza in Medieval Barcelona was Placa de la Llana. To the bottom and the left, there is a picture that shows the sign of the Llana guild, or textile workers. There are many markers like this around the old city. To the bottom and the right, another picture representing a separate guild dons the wall. These plaques on the walls have lasted 6 or 7 centuries and the history of the city can be unfolded by simply taking a walk.

La Diada de Sant Jordi

 The day I returned from spring break was La Diada de Sant Jordi on April 23rd. I returned from the airport, set down my luggage and walked to Placa Catalunya. In Catalonia, April 23rd is a litle bit like the equivalent of Valentines Day in the United States. A day of love. The customs are that men give women
roses and they in return give their man a book. The symbolism is meant for a rose to mean love and a book to last forever. Up and down Placa Catalunya, down Las Ramblas and through the old city there were stands selling roses from 1 euro to 20 euros. There were also book stands where huge crowds of both men and women waited in line for discounted products. Outside Corte Ingles there had to be a line of over 300 people looking to buy books. I had never seen the streets of Barcelona so packed with pedestrians. Men, women and children of all ages crowded the streets all for Sant Jordi? I came to a realization that La Diada de Sant Jordi wasn't just a day to celebrate love, it was a day to celebrate Catalunya. Catalan flags draped buildings and stands up and down the streets. A huge Catalan flag hung from Corte Ingles, the most recognizable building in Barcelona's largest plaza. I found it interesting that Corte Ingles' headquarters are stationed in Madrid yet they allowed a huge Catalan flag to be draped from their building in Barcelona's most prominent plaza. It was a day of Catalan nationalism. Not necessarily a day for Catalan independence, but a day to celebrate a tradition that began as early as the 16th century and a tradition that was clearly still going strong.

 As I prepare to leave Catalunya in just over two weeks, I found myself appreciating the Catalan people and the value they place on family and tradition. I had never seen such appreciation of a city then I did on the faces of every Catalan that walked down the streets of Barcelona. It seemed as if nobody had anywhere to be so they spent the day just walking the streets and people watching and gazing up at the architecture. Restaurants were packed, bars were wall-to-wall and people were happy. It was nice to return to Barcelona.

Figueres and Dali Museum

 My dad and I arrived in Figueres, a city 30 minutes north of Girona by train, in the late afternoon. My dad is a huge Salvador Dali fanatic and we have a couple pieces of recreations of his art hanging in our kitchen back in Chicago. I've never been into art too much but he was excited to go so I went with him. Off the train Figueres looked like a small urban area with an old population. As we got closer to the center of the city where there is a huge tower and a castle, I realized that there really weren't any store fronts advertising in Spanish and nobody around me was speaking Spanish. All signs were in Catalan and the people only spoke Catalan. We followed signs and crowds to the Dali Museum. Right out front was an older gentlemen playing the accordion. He was spectacular and I had to take a picture of him. I think the accordion looks like one of the hardest instruments to play and since being in Catalonia I've come across several street performers who play this instrument. We found the museum relatively quickly and paid the fee to go inside. Immediately We are crowded with high school students from all across Catalonia who also came to see the museum. As somebody
 who prides himself on not knowing anything about art, I believe that the Dali Museum in Figueres is the coolest museum, of any sort, that I have ever been too. I could not fathom the sorts of artwork he had created. What went through his mind? How could a human being possibly create such artwork? It blew my mind. Also, I could not believe how many pieces of art he created. There must have been hundreds of paintings and sculptures. My favorite piece of art that I saw was perhaps the one pictured at the bottom of the page. I enjoy it so much because in order to see the whole artwork I had to do a little work. The "eyes", the nose, the mouth and the hair are all located separate from each other. I had to climb a staircase and stand on a platform to take a picture of the whole artwork. I had never experienced anything like that. After seeing Dali's art, I now have a new appreciation for his work and will try to understand the artwork of other artists that I am exposed to.

Girona

My dad came to visit and he had never been to Catalonia before. We spent his first three days exploring the city and with me as his tour guide I showed him all the big Barcelona attractions. On his fourth day here we took the train north to Girona. Right off the train the town isn't that impressive. It looked a little industrial at first then as we walked more it began to get prettier. We stopped at a tourist information desk and they pointed us in the right direction of the old city. We crossed over a bridge and had an amazing view of the riverfront of Girona. After the bridge it appeared that we had made it to the old city center. It looked a little bit like Barcelona's gothic quarter but the streets were fairly wider and more hilly. The main reason we traveled to Girona was to check out the Jewish museum and it was located in the old town. I had learned at IES that Girona once had a prominent Jewish population and when I told my dad that it was only a train ride away he wanted to make the trip. On the outside of the museum, in the window of the apartment above, there were Palestinian flags. We entered the museum and asked why such disrespect was shown outside of a Jewish museum and they replied that they are not affiliated with the flags and they can't be removed because the apartment above the museum is private property. Once inside the museum we learned that Girona no longer had a Jewish community. The Jews were eradicated during the Spanish Inquisition and all of their synagogues were destroyed. The museum is now in the location of the best preserved synagogue. The museum was small but had a lot of cool artifacts and items that survived the Inquisition. It showed prominent Jews from Girona, their professions and their influence on Catalan culture. There was also a patio with a big Star of David and a large Israeli flag which was nice to see. It's a little disappointing coming to Barcelona, a huge international city, and not being exposed to any Jewish culture except for a small synagogue that must hide it's existence for fear of being vandalized, but now that I know a great museum of Jewish history in Catalonia exists, I am pleased. We ate lunch in the old town of Girona and headed another half hour north to Girona.