Barcelona, Spain...The Most Amazing Place On Earth

Reverse Culture Shock... IT"S REAL!

2008-05-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

I have been home for about 4 days now, and believe it or not, but reverse culture shock really does exist! When I pass people on the street, I expect to hear a foreign language spoken. I can't stop trying to dress nice either! I mean, in Europe I didn't want to stand out as a poorly dressed American, so I tried to look my best all the time. And I'm continuing to do that here, which might actually be a good thing. The plumbing is so different too, I keep forgetting that the flusher on the toilet is not a button on top of the toilet anymore! Doors here swing out, not in. And handycap accessible buildings are alive and well in America! Ordering at a restaurant is all of sudden not an adventure of not knowing what exactly your ordering, but rather boring. And worst of them all, those of us under 21 can no longer drink whenever we would like!

I miss Barcelona very much already, but I have plans on visiting next summer after graduation.

So long for now, Barcelona... I will be back :)

As the semester comes to an end

2008-04-22T06:23:00.000-07:00

Well, after almost 4 months of living in Spain, my time here is coming to an end. I will be leaving Barcelona in exactly 11 days! All assignments are wrapping up. Spanish is over, Cece's paper is turned in, and sketchbooks are due tomorrow. I have learned SO much this semester in terms of architecture. I would have never gotten this education back in DC. I'm so grateful I came to Barcelona. Sketching has really helped me read into architecture more deeply and made me start to realize how important analyzing a space, building, facade really is to my architectural eduation. Here are a few of my last sketched of the semester...

Habitages de Mercat Santa Caterina:
At this site, I looked at the relationship between the market and the apartment complex behind it.

Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya: Sketching this site was very difficult because the scale of the area is very large. I sketched the entry sequence between the MNAC and the city and the city to the MNAC.

My favorite works of architecture in Barcelona

2008-04-14T10:59:00.001-07:00

The Museum of Comtemporary Art
Architect: Richard Meyer
What I like so much about this building is the layering of the facades,
the colorful panels, and the intersecting simple geometric forms.

Gas Natural Building
Architect: Enric Miralles

This building is a favorite of mine because it is very reflective
at all times of the day, during mid-day, at midnight, and
its most beautiful when the sun sets. The cantaliever
is very impressive and the forms of the building are really
beautiful.

2008-04-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

All Good Things Must Come to an End…

With less than 2 weeks left in this amazing city, I am starting to feel the end of the semester approaching. It’s an interesting feeling, living in a foreign city for so long and traveling through-out the world and then all of a sudden it comes to an end, and reality comes back into play.

This semester abroad has been life-changing for me. I think everyone needs to do this in their lifetime. For me, going abroad was scary and uncomfortable. But I forced myself to do it and I have no regrets at all. I have accomplished so many life-long goals that I never thought I would do in my lifetime. My dreams became reality this semester, beginning in Southern Spain then traveling through Rome, Athens, Santorini, Paris, Istanbul, and Morocco. I have wanted to go to these places since I could remember but for some reason in my mind I thought I would never get there, and I got there in less than four months!

In terms of architecture, I can’t really think of a better European city to study it in. Barcelona is sort of like a package deal. In one city there are old Roman ruins, Gothic churches, Gaudi’s art nouveau, and then extremely modern buildings. It’s so enjoyable to study all the different types of architecture that Barcelona has to offer.

There are so many things I will miss about Barcelona. Lets look at a few!

Mistral:
I still remember my first visit like it was yesterday, one chocolate croissant! I probably go about 4-5 times a week, and sometimes multiple times a day. It’s that good and that cheap! I suggest the zumo de naranja (orange juice) as well.

BCNeta:
Barcelona’s amazing trash/clean-up service! These guys clean the streets at 3 in the morning and always seem happy. They keep the city looking beautiful!

Prostitutes & Transvestites:
What am I going to do when I get back to DC and don’t have the entertainment that I have when I leave studio here? I will miss seeing inappropriate things happening in the corner of the hospital across from studio and seeing guys trying to hop over the fence with the prostitutes. It always makes my day to see such desperate people take such drastic measures!

La Veronica:
If you are not homophobic, go eat the amazing pizza at this trendy restaurant in Raval. Great food and gay people unite here at cheap prices.

Barcelonetta:

You get great bars (such as the Champagneria), great seafood and the be

ach all in one! If I move back to Barcelona... I'm living here!

Most Recent Old vs. New Sketches

2008-04-07T04:34:00.000-07:00

Universitat de Girona Biblioteca
Girona, Spain
Studied how the old existing building acts as a shell to the
new building, encompassing it within itself.

Building B & C of Can Jaumanpreau 22@
Barcelona, Spain
By studying the tartan of the elevation and the plan
between the two buildings, one can begin to see
how the two relate.

Most Recent Sketches from Various Cities...

2008-04-07T03:23:00.001-07:00

Blue Mosque
Istanbul, Turkey
Studied the way the domes sprung off of one another.

Musee Batha

Fez, Morocco

Studied in plan the spaces that felt most inviting and least inviving and why.

In the same courtyard, I studied the sacred from the profane and how I defined the two terms in accordance to the building.

Home of the Ex-Governor

Fez, Morocco

Studied the underlaying tartan

in the courtyard.

An Incredible Experience... Fez, Morocco!

2008-04-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

For our last field trip as a class, we ventured to Fez, Morocco and stayed in a Riad in the Medina which is the ancient city. Fez has left me speechess and at a loss for words. It was such an eye-opening experience. I will have to start at the very beginning for this blog, so here it goes!

When the shuttle from the airport dropped us off in the middle of the Medina, we all looked at each other in confusion because the pictures of the Riad did not look like they would be in the part of the city in which we got dropped off in. Then we were led into an alley and we approached the door to the Riad. We were greeted by the staff and brought inside, it was breath-taking! Without a doubt the most beautiful place I have and will ever stay. The main courtyard was once open to the sky but now covered by a retractable glass roof. The tile mosaics, marble floors, and plaster walls were so detailed that it was hard to imagine that someone did all that work. Me and Staceys room was a two story room with our bedroom and tea area upstairs on the loft and our living room, bathroom, and dressing room downstairs. It was really cool to stay in a two story room! The staff at the Dar al Anadalous was so generous and I will never forget them.

In terms of architecture, it really is a great city to study. The narrow streets of the Medina wind around in such an unplanned fashion: under buildings that went under arches that turned into wide streets with vendors and then narrow streets where your shoulders scrape the two buildings surrounding you. Walking through the Medina is very unpredicable and I loved it! The best part about Fez is that the streets are interesting but the buildings are not attractive, and then all of a sudden you walk through a huge doorway and up a few steps and you are in the most gorgeous courtyard or garden you have ever seen. Its interesting how the Islamic culture uses its modest values in all aspects of life, even architecturally. You would never be able to tell the beauty of a building in Fez until you stepped into the interior. I really enjoyed sketching in the Medina, needless to say!

Our excursion to the Middle Atlas Mountains was really really fun! I wasen't particulary interested in the two towns we vistied but I did really like seeing the water fall that me, Stacey, and Lauren put our feet in for the sake of a good picture! The car ride was so much fun! Our driver really liked music and he showed us how to dance traditionally. Then he sung us Arabic songs, and we sung him American songs. It was such a fun experience! We had lunch in the middle of no where and it was absolutley beautiful. We found a baby desert with baby sand dunes and me and Hawra played on them. Then we went to feed the monkeys! They were a lot bigger than I expected, but harmless until you tried to pet them. They only wanted food, not to be pet! Ask Nick about that, he got slapped.

Our guide Momo took us to some awesome places to see how things are made and good for shopping too! The ceramic place was the best by far. We all went a little crazy buying ceramic stuff, and it was so much fun. The textile place was next, I think everyone got something from scarfs to bedcovers, another really fun experience. The tannery smelt really bad and the stuff did not really attract me. The silver place was after that, I could have spent a lot more money but there was not enough time, probobly a good thing!

In the end, the trip was life-changing for me. It was weird to be the minority being starred at while walking down the streets, but I think its really good in life to be in those persons shoes for a few days and see what its like. Fez almost seemed like I was going back in time. It is still so primitive compared to Western societies. There are no cars allowed in the Medina, only donkeys which bring things in and take things out. Everything that is made is hand-crafted from pottery, to the fabrics. And to see the work people really put into these products makes you appreciate the things you are buying from them. The culture shock in Fez was intense, but I really liked it. It was so amazing to feel like you are in such a different, out of this world country. I'm so thrilled with how our Morocco trip went, it was definitly the most special trip to me and I will never, ever forget it.

Easter in Istanbul

2008-04-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

I spent Easter break exploring the Islamic city of Istanbul, Turkey in the far east. It was a very unforgetable trip! The architecture is far more exciting than I ever pictured it being. The skyline of Istanbul consists of tall minarets jutting up into the sky past everything else.

The first day there, we went to the New Mosque to sketch but ended up being politely asked to leave for right before the Call for Prayer. The Call for Prayer is pretty incredible. People from all over the city, vendors, business men, taxi drives, all rush into the Mosques to pray. The Mosque got so crowded that people were trying to get spots to pray outside in the courtyard. Needless to say, it was a pretty cool site to see.

The spice market and the Grand Bazaar were really fun too. All of the vendors invited you into the stores and offered either Apple tea of Turkish tea, both very good. We had a very fun experience buying Turkish rugs from our teachers friend Ebreheim. He sat us down for a few hours and gave us tea and told us all we needed to ever know about rugs. Then we bought some! I got a Kilim which is an ancient prayer rug. I'm really happy with my purchase and cant wait to display it at home.
The Blue Mosque was such a beautiful site to see. It sits facing the Hagia Sofia with beautiful gardens inbetween them. Although the Blue Mosque was very pretty, it was too touristy to really take in. We sketched there for a couple hours until a lot of the tourists left. The Hagia Sofia was breath-taking to see because it was one of the first churches ever built. Upstairs in the upper galleries there were Viking graffeties carved into the balconies...very cool!

The most memoriable part of the whole trip was without a doubt the Hamman which me and Irene did together. It would not be appropriate to type the details over the internet, but just picture a hot marble slab, a 400 pound Turkish woman, and a lot of steam. I would recommend the Turkish bath to anyone and everyone! You will sleep like a baby afterwards. In the end, if you love shopping, hookah, tea, and a very exotic experience, you will love Istanbul! I feel very grateful that I had the opportunity to visit such a great city architecturally speaking and culturally speaking.

The Most Romantic City in the world... Paris!

2008-03-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a fabulous weekend visiting a good friend of mine in Paris who is also an architecture major, so he was very informative on what was important to see and what was not as important to see. I discovered another form of how the old meets the new while we were wandering around Paris on Saturday afternoon. The building is called the Marce de Sant Honore and it in replace of what used to be an old market in Paris. The building has a passage that lines up with the main road and cuts through the building with multiple shops on either side. The building is all glass and disappears into the surrounsing neighborhood. In the picture above you can see how the building reflects the buildings around it so it does not take away from the old, traditional style of Parisian buildings. I really admired this building because of the fact that it was so modest to it's surrounding context.

I had time to act as a tourist too and see the infamous Eiffel Tower at three different times of the day. First, when it was not lit up at 4 in the morning and no one was there. Second, when it was mid-day and completley crowded. And third, when it was lit up at night and started to sparkle, which it does every on the hour starting at 7 pm. It was beautiful, it looked like crystals!

We went to the Louvre and the Cite Architecture Museum all day Sunday. The Louvre was so much bigger than I thought! And I had no idea it used to be the old royal palace! We started in Italian Art and saw the Mona Lisa and many other beautiful paintings and sculptures. I'm sure one could spend atleast 2 days wandering the Louvre. There is so much to see and just not enough time. A little upsetting... because of course you want to see it all. But I know I will be visiting Paris in the near future (and by that I mean thanksgiving!) and get to see everything that there was not enough time for in one weekend.

The architecture museum was really interesting. There were so many models and beautiful drawings to look at. There was also a life size

model of Corbusier's apartment building that you could walk through! It was really cool not to have to imagine the space by looking at drawings and models but to actually be able to physically walk through it.

To sum up, Paris was incredible. Guil and I were talking, and we both decided that Paris is so nice because it seems more like a villiage. The buildings heights are not high at all and the city is so clean! There are also so many gardens and bridges that cross the river. My favorite thing about Paris was the opera singers and orchestras that sung and played as you walked around the city. Soooo beautiful. I can't wait to return to this city... I completley fell in love!

Santorini, Greece

2008-03-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

Santorini is the most picturesque place I have and probobly will ever see. Towns cascade down the mountain side to the Aegean Sea where you will see some of the most incredible water! The one thing I noticed while traveling through the island is that the double-barrelled cross vault it used everywhere there! From the structure of a church, to even the smallest of details such as mailboxes and bird feeders, you can see these vaults all over the island.

Our last day there we hiked up to the top of the Ancient town of Thera circa 3000 BC! It is the oldest structures I have ever seen. It sits on one of the highest points on the island and the cliff it sits ontop of juts out into the Aegean. Amazing views of the island and the sea surrounded by other Greek islands can be seen from the top of Ancient Thera. A lot of interesting things can be seen up there. The entire cities footprint is very clear and you can walk through the streets of what used to be there ancient city and look into these structures. It was easy to put yourself back in time and feel like you are looking through the city. Ontop of the cliff, you can also find the remains of an amphitheatre, stoa, temples to various gods, a gymnasium, and tons of residential homes

Analysis On How the Old Meets the New: Layers of History

2008-03-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

So far on my analysis, I have noticed one major theme, the old never touches the new, this must be due to the respect that the new has for the old.

Some examples so far on how this has been accomplished:
1. Reina Sofia Museum – Madrid, Spain:
The new edition on the back of the museum meets the old hospital by the new roof meeting the old roof but leaving the slightest gap to keep them separate. On the front of the museum, the glass elevator shafts physically connect to the old hospital by attaching it with steel reinforcements.

2. Santa Caterina Market – Barcelona, Spain:
The doors and side panels hover next to the old, existing market. They are so close to one another that it gives the illusion that they are the same entity. The roof also hovers above and cantilevers a little over the old market to once again give the illusion that they are one.
3. A New Museum for the Acropolis – Athens, Greece:
The new museum hovers (by columns) over the ancient Athenian city. In plan, the new museum aligns itself with the Parthenon even though it sits at the foot of the acropolis.

All three of these examples can be concluded as titling them “Layers of History.” The first layer being the oldest is the most important and is layer that is respected the most. The second layer is the newest layer which sets itself apart from the old layer and gives it the respect that it deserves. You can literally see the layers unfold while diagramming it. Muy interesante!

An exception was found in the process of doing my research. From looking through my sketches and notes, I found that the old and then new can meet with touching by using facade work.

Some examples so far of how this has been accomplished:
1. Palau de la Musica Catalana - Barcelona, Spain
The new part of the theatre is completley connected to the old part of the theatre. While studying the underlaying tartan, I realized the proporations stay exactly the same. A lot of the building gets carried over to the new building. Some modern moves are made in replace of the old. For example, Glass louvers are put in on the new edition in place of the marble railings on the old building.

2.Surrounding Buildings at Barcelona Cathedral - Barcelona, Spain
In this particular case, the three buildings are all in line next to each other but are not connected. How the architects of each building connected the buildings to one another was by carrying lines over until you ge t to the newest building and then an interesting move takes place. Instead of putting the windows in line with the rest of the windows, it puts the windows in the negative between the windows of the old buildings. I really admired this move. It still connected to the historical buildings next to it but separted it by distinguishing that this is a modern building in a new time.

Athens, Greece

2008-03-10T00:59:00.001-07:00

So my Spring Break to Greece was absolutley amazing. It was my favorite city that I have visited so far (besides Barcelona of course!) Athens is so incredibly rich with history that I could hardly stand it! I loved it!

The first hour we were there I went to the Acropolis... it was just as incredible as I pictured it, walking through the Propylaeum, I felt so small compared to the buildings around me. As I caught a glimpse of the Parthenon, I quickly remembered History of Arch 1 when I learned that the Parthenon was placed on an axis so that it was seen in perspective. It looked so grand sitting there ontop of the city of Athens! I looked to the left and saw the Erectheion sitting in a grassy patch surrounded by yellow flowers. The Porch of the Maidens was beautiful and so elegant. I walked around for quiet some time before I took a seat next to the Parthenon to sketch. What I found very interesting about the Acropolis was that history today seems to be represented as voids in our perception... A hole in the ground with ruins in it, or a pile of columns laying in the middle of the Agora that one used to stand high supporting an important structure in history. The Acropolis is the exact opposite, it sits high over Athens with much of it's structure still in tack... thanks to hundreds of years of preservation!

On the walk to the Acropolis we noticed a building that was still under construction but nearly finished. The building is called "A New Museum for the Acropolis" by Bernard Tschumi. The building is perfect for my study! It completley sums up how the old must meet the new. From the top of the Acropolis, it was easy to see how the building got its orientation. The building is essentially two boxes ontop of one another. The bottom box aligns itself with the Acropolis itself, and the top box aligns itself with the Parthenon.

The next morning, we were able to take a tour of the museum and walk around the groups and a part of the interior. The first thing I noticed of how the old met the new was that, yet again, it didn't. The building itself hovers on 100 concrete pillars over the archaeological ruins of an ancient Athenian city. Walking around the entrance of the museum, the concrete floor turns into glass at various times and you are literally walking overtop of the ruins. In front of the main entrance doors, there is a large oval opening that reveals the ruins underneath without any glass in the way. Inside of the museum, the glass panels on the floor continue, but the lighting inside of the museum makes the ruins underneath so much easier to see. There are many parts of the museum where you look down and the landscape slopes down so you are about 40 feet above the ruins. It's remarkable how well designed the building is. Inside the museum, where the floor turns into glass, the ceiling above the glass forms a glass box emphasizing the importance of that particular area from the rest of the building.

In the case of this building, the old did not touch the new which seems to be a current theme on my research of how the old and the new meet. The museum held such great respect for the Athenian city that the Athenian city became one with the museum. It's incredible how walk ontop of it and look down and can see the footprint of what used to be there. The museum obviously respected the Acropolis, but how they oriented it was very subtle and elegant. This building has become one of my favorite buildings and I really enjoyed studying it.

How does the old meet the new? Architecturally speaking...

2008-02-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

How do you put a new building next to an existing building that has been the dominating structure in that area for so many years? It's a question that I always ask myself, especially because I, myself, have a strong passion for historical buildings and their preservation. I know that in my archiectectural future much of the structures I will be designing will be either editions or be a structure that is next to a pre-existing structure. The last thing I would want to do is take away the old buildings dominance though.

To me, a beautiful new building that sits next to an existing old building is one that does not take away anything from the old building, it blends in and lets the building still have its signifigance. The new building must have respect for the old building.

In studying this concept at the Santa Caterina Market next to the Cathedral of Barcelona, I studied how the next edition of the market literally and conceptually touched the existing part of the market. In this case, the new edition did not touch the existing! It held so much respect for the old that the edition literally had hanging panels closely floated overtop of the existing walls. Even the funky curvacious roof of the structure hovered overtop with great respect.

This building really inspired me to engage in this concept even more. I went to the Cathedral of Barcelona the next day and studied how the surrounding buildings next to the Cathedral sat next to the old, beautiful structure that dominated that space. The architects of these three different buildings from three different time periods used datum lines from the previous buildings next to it. I will be posting sketches soon, and I will be talking more about this topic upon my return from Greece in 10 days! Can't wait to see what kind of "old meets new" I can find there!

A Weekend in Roma

2008-02-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

A few of us just got back a few days ago from a weekend in Rome. For most of us, it was our first time visiting the city. Our teachers sent us with a list of places to see and places to study the architecture. We visited the Piazza Popolo, Campidoglio, Navona, Farnese, Campo di Fiore, Pantheon, and many many more places that set a standard for urban architecture today. We have been studying urban architecture in Barcelona for 6 weeks now so it was really interesting to go to Italy and analyize and compare.

Besides studying the architecture, we made time to be tourists as well and go to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and Roman Forum. Considering I love history, I was fascinated by Colosseum and Forum. Those are two places I have always wanted to see so I can check that off of my "To Do" list for my life!

Flamenco Dance Disaster

2008-02-11T03:04:00.000-08:00

While in Granada, Lauren gave Josh a black eye in an attempt to Flamenco dance. It's been 5 days and its still not gone... pretty hilarious.

Field Trip Numero Uno

2008-02-11T02:40:00.000-08:00

Here is an brief summary of the most FABULOUS field trip I have and will ever go on:

Madrid...
Unfortunatly, Madrid was not too exciting. The best part of Madrid was Plaza Mayor. Other than that, it was rainy and I felt like I was in New York (except worse). We ate chinese food there... that was good. And we also got to see the superbowl. To our suprise, the Giants won! Who would have thought. We all would have loved to see the Picasso exhibit at the Reina Sofia Museum, but it was closed. Pretty much we were ready to leave Madrid by day 1.

Cordoba...
We took the train to this quaint little Islamic city early in the morning. We spent the day at the Great Mosque and got to see the horse-shoe columns that we learned about in History 1 class. After that, me, Hawra, and Stacey walked around and did some shopping. Then we got dinner and mucho Sangria so that we didn't feel so self concious in our bathing suits for the Arab baths later that night. Pretty much, it should be illegal to put on a bathing suit in February. But the bath was AMAZING! We even got massages. Are you seeing why this was the most fabulous field trip ever now?!

Granada...
After a great night sleep after our Arab bath and massages, we woke up refreshed and took a 2 hour bus ride to Granda. We spent the first day in Granda eating lunch in the Islamic neighborhoods. Then we decided to drink mucho cervezas and sketch perspectives. It was very warm there so we took our jackets off and tanned as well. Then we went and got tea at the Teteria. I got violeta... it was great. We sketched there too. We re-grouped as a class and hiked up to one of the higher parts of Granada which has a look-out to the Alhambra. We sat on the wall and sketched the Alhambra as the sun went down. I point a nice painting of the Alhambra which is currently hanging over my bed in Barcelona. When we got back to the hotel, we got ready and went out for drinks and tapas. Then we realized that there was no where to go out to because it was a Tuesday night and apparently everything was closed. We spent all of the next day touring the Alhambra and the Fortress. It was so beautiful and breath-taking I can't even describe it. We sketched and took some amazing pictures. Later that night we had dinner and drinks and then went out to watch a Flamenco dancing show. It was so much fun! A great way to end our last night in Granda.

Seville...
We woke up bright and early and took a three hour bus ride to Seville. It was personally my favorite city that we went to. Most of the buildings were yellow and white and there were orange trees everywhere. We spent the first day eating delicious food and watching the sunset over the two Calatrava bridges. Then we went out to dinner and to a few bars for the evening. The next day we took a tour of the Real Alcazar de Seville. We sketched there for a few hours and then we took a tour of the Cathedral of Seville where Christopher Columbus' tome was. We climbed the bell tower and saw amazing views of the city. The weather was great so we went up on the roof of our hotel and tanned and sketched. Then we went and got vino and dinner and sat up on the roof top terrace all night and celebrated our last night of our field trip. A great way to end the trip!

Sketches From Southern Spain....

First Pin-Up in Barcelona

2008-01-30T03:23:00.000-08:00

Today is the day before our very first pin-up in Barcelona! We had to design our own city that extended off of a small part of a given city which turned out to be a small section of Venice. Hopefully it will go well for all of us because once we are done we are on our way to Southern Spain!!!!

Pictures from the Final Jury...

We're Going To Africa!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

So our teachers finally announced to us that we will be heading to Morocco for our second field trip! We will be starting in Southern Morocco and working our way up to the Northern part of Morocco. I can't wait to not only go to a completley different continent but to see a completley different culture that is so different from Europe since it's very Arabic.

Sketching Out In The City

2008-01-23T12:42:00.000-08:00

Today Eric and Christi took all 17 of us out in the city to sketch. All of us really enjoy sketching so it was a lot of fun to get out of the studio and walk around the city, especially because it was a beautiful day out. They took us to two completley different Placa's (as they spell it in Spain) and we looked for transitions and patterns in the architecture and design and sketched them. The second Placa we went to was really interesting because right next to it and underneath it they had excavated an old Roman cemetary from hundreds of years ago and there were walks to go over and look down onto it. It was really cool because the cemetary was so old. I love going out into the city and sketching because you are constantly discovering the new fun and exciting new things that Barcelona has to offer!

First Review and First Field Trip

2008-01-22T00:49:00.000-08:00

Today our very first assignment in Barcelona is due. It is a collage of the a section of the city in which me and my lovely parter, Lauren walked around in following our senses. We mostly walked around the Gothic Quarter and then crossed Las Ramblas and ended up in El Raval. We followed our senses according to texture, smell, temperature, sounds, and interesting landmarks and nodes. Hopefully the results of our first project will be good.

Our very first field trip is coming up next week! Ten days in Southern Spain! We will be visiting the Alhambra in Granada which is a dream of mine and I cannot wait to see it in person. Only 8 more days then we are off. Then after that we are hopefully going to Rome for the weekend and then 6 of us are headed to Athens and the Greek island of Santorini for Spring Break. So many exciting things coming up!

An amazing time in Spain with amazing friends!

2008-01-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Today is my 6th day in Barcelona, Spain and my very first blog, ever. I have fallen in love with the city already! The food, people, culture, architecture, and landscape is amazing. I have walked more in 6 days then I have in the past few years! On Sunday we walked down to the beach and saw the big fish by Gehry and a lot of other awesome buildings and sites. I was really excited to see the Mediterranean Sea.

We leave in two weeks for our first field trip through Southern Spain. We will be traveling to Madrid, Seville, Granada, and Cordoba. We are all very excited to see what Southern Spain will be like. We are still awaiting to here where our second field trip will be. The majority of us are hoping that we are going to Istambul, Turkey. But Morrocco would be awesome too! Anywhere we go will be really cool considering I have never really traveling like this before.

I love this city and I can't wait to see what the rest of this trip has in store for me! More to come later...