Barcelona in News - Catalan Indepence

          The Catalan News Paper, El Periodico, reported that Catalan is still calling for it's independence from the Spanish Government, most recently with the President of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, comparing Spanish Governments take on the Catalan Constitution to that of Franco's Regime on Catalonia. 

 

          The President of the Generalitat challenged the Catalans to demonstrate there sense of state because while it has tried under Spanish rule, it has not been fully able to for the past 300 years. Since the fall of Barcelona in the War of Succession, on September 11, 1714, Catalan's have shown been shown to have a "sense and a sense of country." Now though, it is time to know their own state and fight for their independence by showing that they can have a self governing society and that their people and state can do well without the help of Spain. 

Final Days in Barcelona

It has literally come to the end of my stay in Barcelona with 4 days left until I start my next European adventure and I cannot believe how fast the time has went by. I remember coming here like it was yesterday and meeting my roommates and figuring out how to navigate this city. Now I feel like an old pro who knows the city like the back of my hand. My friends joke that I am a human GPS because I always know where we are in the city as can also direct us around any city that we have been too. Coming from NYC I knew I had a good sense of direction, but find that it is even better than I thought.

I truly have seen so much of Barcelona, but my only regret is not being able to see the south of Spain and exploring more of Spain. While I have gone to a lot of places in Catalonia and in Europe, I want to come back and explore the south of Spain and go to Morocco and Portugal in my next adventure. Even so, I have explored areas where others in our program and other Americans really have not been. For example, I went to Andorra with my parents and everyone there was amazed that we were American. Most people there knew no English, but all the signs were in English.

While I have many top vacations here, one of the best that occurred within Spain was my trip to Gran Canaria because I got my scuba diving license while there. I went to this little port Mogan and Taurito on the island and it was amazing. Everyone was so friendly and it was just so beautiful.

I really am going to miss Barcelona and the friends I have made here. I feel like with a lot of my friends I am just starting to really get to know them and know we have to part ways. For some I will literally never see them again because we all live all over the US. It is strange to think of this and sad, but true.

I loved every minute of my experience here and loved living my 'fake life' as I called it!

Barcelona News - Tourism

According to El Periodico, Barcelona Tourism and Vueling Airline have joined together to promote tourism in the city. They have signed an agreement to create more advertisements to attract more people to the city. 

The agreement between the entity to promote tourism and the main airline operating in El Prat Airport have signed the respective presidents, Joan Gaspart and Josep Pique. The general director of the consortium, Pere Duran, stressed the commitment of both parties to the joint action and coordination.

Tourism in Barcelona is up, but it is not at the peak it once was at due to the recession. Looking around Passaige de Gracia, La Rambla, and the Sagrada Familia one can see that Barcelona is filled with tourists and slowly starting to recover from the depression Europe is in. 

Barcelona News - Economy

Spain, like most of the Western World is in a recession and is one of the countries in the EU that is suffering the most. Catalonia, however, is seeing improvements in retail shopping, especially in Barcelona. According to El Periodico, the fall of consumption in Barcelona has stabilized and started to improve shopping.

The Fundació ESADE Barcelona Commerce, which conducts a survey every three months found that from January to March, sales drop was 3%, compared with 7.5% down on the same period of 2012. Buyers are also said to have a more cheerful behavior than during the previous quarter.

Even so, Francecs Josep Valls, director of the study stated,"the buyer has not changed in over their habits and follows with a rational purchase, buying only what you need and making smaller purchases."

My Neighborhood - Dreta de L'Eixample

The neighborhood I live in is in my opinion the best and also is in the best location. It includes Plaza Catalunya, Tatuan, Plaza Urquinaona, my school, and some great restaurants and bars. Besides this it also has some great architecture and has many of the works of the one and only Gaudi. I am also very close to 2 metros, Girona & Verdaguer, but I usually walk everywhere because everything is so relatively close to me.

My Barrio:

Casa Mila and Casa Batillo Pictured Below:

Something else I really love about my neighborhood is my market, which is actually right behind my apartment building. It has all the food I would need, with fresh meats, fruits and veggies as well as an actual supermarket in the same building and an electronics store.  It is really great because I can literally run there when ever I am in need of any thing or just forget to grab something.

 Directly next to my market is the District Office Building, which can be seen below. The building is where tourists can go and get information and where some paper work is done. There is also a school and music hall connected to the District Office so there is always a lot of kids hanging out by it. There is a building across from it where people can go to file paper work and get visas, which is also a part of the office.

Above is the school that is attached to the District Building.

In our area we also have a small local public library that I have been too and have a library card for. It has a nice little outside area and courtyard where a person can go work. There are also tons of computers and desks where many teens and kids will go do their homework after school.

Here are some pictures of the library:

 

My district also contains two hospitals, one of them being a children's hospital, which is actually really cute and I always see children going in and out of it.  

 

 The main attraction in my area is Plaza Catalunya, which is the center of Barcelona and leads to La Rambla, and the Gothic quarter as well.

Barcelona News - Futbol

One of the most important things in Barcelona is Futbol and here the only team that matters is FC Barcelona. On game days everyone goes out to a cafe or bar and watches the game making a huge social event out of the game. Most people here also have season tickets to the games and are die hard fans.

Yesterday, Barcelona played against Levante in the Champions League semifinals and was able to score the win thanks to Cesc Fàbregas in the last few minutes of the game. The Levante wanted the game to end in a draw, which it seemed like it was about to be, but Cesc changed that. With Messi, one of the world's best player, injured it left room for Cesc to step up for the team. After missing several penalties, Barcelona was able to finally score, and able to move on to the next stage of the Finals.  Barcelona will play Bayern in May for the next round and will hopefully come on top once again.

 

El Raval - History

  The El Raval neighborhood has its good parts and its sketchy parts, but for the most part it is a beautiful area. It was one of the first parts of the city affected by the renovation plans because of the Olympic Games becuase it used to be a poor area with prostitutes and drug dealers. This all changed when the socialists won the election in 1986. The government either wanted to tear the whole thing down and build a mall similar to la rambla stores or make a social place where they opened hospitals and schools and to attract people from other parts of town, this is what ended up happening.

 

The first goal was to bring young kids into the area and to make a social revival.  This was a success because it is now a safe place where children can play.

Old churches and nuneries were converted into libraries and primary schools, or museums for people to go to. Also the area became well known for art and has  the Foment de les arts I del disseny, which is where fashion shows are held and art exhibitions and also has the contemporary art museum next door. 

Furthermore, in this area is a section of the University of Barcelona, which brought even more young people to this area. The University, which is free to citizens and paid for by the government, is an area where students share there ideas and protest. It is where locals come to know what is happening and to listen to speeches. All the classes are open to all and the students have the city as their campus. 

 This is quite different than my university at home because I have a campus that is separate then the city it is in and also because I, like others in the US live on campus, whereas in Spain they usually live at home. While there are places in the US where the city is the Universities campus, it is not free at all. Schools like NYC or BU are some of the most expensive schools in the US. 

Barcelona News - Boston Marathon Bombing

This past Monday, on Patriots Day in the US, two bombs went off during the 4th hour of the Boston Marathon killing three people, one an eight year old boy and wounding over 170 people. Some of these injured lost limbs, are in serious condition, or escaped with a few broken bones, but all of their lives have been changed.

Being abroad it was scary and makes you just want to go hug your family and tell them you love them. As an American it also brings back memories of 9/11 and makes everyone immediately think terrorist. This is over course the first thought that pops

into an Americans head, but it may not be true. It was interesting to see though how the story would be shown in the Spanish news. I was getting the story from the New York Times and CNN and looking at any American news source online to get the full coverage. The Spanish News Papers though did cover the story because of how tragic and shocking it was not only to the US, but to the world.
 
Yesterday, the FBI put out the pictures of the two suspects to the US people in hopes of getting their help in finding these two men. I am sure they re

ceived many answers, including some that lead them to MIT where there was a shoot out between the two bombers and the police. I was reading in El Periodico, a Spanish paper, who get there information from US papers, that one suspect died after being in custody from serious injuries he suffered in the clash with the police. A policemen was also killed after the suspects armed with guns and explosives stole a car at gunpoint and chased the men until there was a dramatic confrontation. The other suspect was able to escape and police are still looking for him.

It is scary to think that things like this can happen in the world and that there are madmen out there who think they can stomp on America and break our spirit. Just from hearing the stories that happened after the bombs went off make me love America and the fact that while there are people willing to hurt others there are more willing to help those in need. An example of this can be seen in all those runners who ran 2 more miles to the nearest hospital after running more than 26 miles in the marathon. 

Barcelona News - Laia

Back in late February, Barcelona had a 3 day celebration for Laia, the patron of the city's soul. The festivities included the Castellers, which is a huge part of the festival, and also a light festival called Llum-BCN, which is when different images and stories are projected on City Hall and is absolutely amazing.

 Most of the activities are actually designed for kids, but they are for all to enjoy. Besides these activities Barcelona also opened up all of it's museums to visitors for free.

I was luck enough to stumble upon the light show one night, while out to dinner and then went back the next night to see more of the stories. I also got to see the Castellers, ranging in age for 8 years olds to 70 years, which was amazing to see and watch them form their pyramids.

Madrid

The Wednesday after my family left I went on a Hemingway bar crawl with a bunch of kids from my Lit class. We (Sam, Mary, Farrell,Emon, Mitch & his friends and I) literally went from class to the bar crawl and then to a club afterward. I literally went out in the clothes I wore to class. We went to London Bar, Quatro Gats, Bar Marselle and Belushi's (not Hemingway). For each bar my friend Sam had a little blurb about it that we read before drinking. It was so much fun. We played drinking games and Belushi's and just chilled at the other bars before going out to the club, which was just as insane. But I am so happy I made new friends.

That Friday I woke up early after happily not going to Abroadfest, which is this huge party thing where DJs play House music and people do drugs and get shit faced. Not my scene. So anyway, I went to Madrid Friday with CEA. We took a high speed train to get there and I sat on the train with Sam. When we got to Madrid it was pouring and cold, but I wasn't going to let that ruin the city. I roomed with my friend Lior and while she recovered from her night out I went on a tour of Madrid. It was pouring so we (Sam, Emon, Michael, and Josh & I) were first just in a bus and saw lots of things including the Real Madrid Stadium, the US Embassy, and an Egyptian Pyramid. The tour was nice, but made me sleepy and our tour guide was very strange giving his opinion and pointing out stupid things and not getting Greek mythology right. After the bus tour we did a walking tour in the pouring rain and saw Town Hall, the Royal Palace, Mercat de Miguel, and Sol Square and another Square that I can't remember the name of. We also saw and later went to the best Churro place in Madrid.

That night we went to a real Flamenco show with CEA and it was so cool and intense. The people singing were amazing and the dancers were great. I was happy I was able to appreciate their dancing me thanks to going to Milana's dance competitions and seeing what real good dancers look like. On a side note, the male dancer looked like a mix between Adrienne Brody and Brody Jenner and kind of could have played Jesus in a play. I thought about that too much.

After the show we added 3 more people (Haley, Pegy, and Todd) to our group and went to a pub called Ulysses after the James Joyce novel. We got pints of beer and cider and played cheers to the governor, which was so much fun. For the rest of the weekend this was our group and even though it was a little large it was a good group and we got along great. After the pub we went to get Churros at Sin Granas(?), which is supposed to be the best. They were good, but I still love cinnamon and sugar Churros more.

The next morning we all woke up early had our free hotel breakfast and made sandwiches for later and headed to the Palace. The Palace was gorgeous and insanely beautiful with a huge courtyard and ornate rooms. Everyone was wishing they were a royal at the end. We kept getting yelled at though because everyone was sneaking pictures and Emon decided he wanted to touch a real gold wall. We also tried to sneak onto a Canadian tour. Somehow we did not get kicked out though.

All of us then went to Retiro Parc, which is like Central Park for Madrid. The park was beautiful with a huge lake in the middle that has paddle boats and a crystal palace that is now used as an exhibit. The park also has the only statue of the devil (supposedly) in Europe. The most insane part is that the park used to be only for the Royal Family to use and walk around. I can't imagine Central Park not being opened to the public. So insane.

We then went on a tour of the Art Museum Reina Sofia, which is in an old hospital. I saw lots of Picasso's, but the most important and one I was excited about was seeing Guernica because I have learned about it since middle school. After the Reina Sofia we went to the Prado, which is supposed to be the Louvre of Madrid. At this point I was dead from walking around all day, but I managed to see more paintings and photographs. By dinner though I did not want to see any art for the rest of the weekend.

That night thankfully did not involve art, but instead we tried to go on a Hemingway bar crawl in Madrid, but instead went to a local Disco Techa and met these 3 Spanish guys. They were really nice and fun to talk to because only one of them actually spoke English so we had to try hard to speak to them. Sam, Todd, and I ended up going with them after to get Churros at the same Churro place before heading back to the hotel. It was cool because they were so much more open to talking to us then people in Barcelona and you could clearly see the differences between Castillian and Catalans.

The next morning I headed back to Barcelona with some new friends and absolutely loved Madrid.

Barcelona - La Riberia 7 El Born

In my history class we went on a field trip to my favorite part of Barcelona, El Born and La Riberia. El Born is a part of Barcelona that has been heavily gentrified and now contains many shops and expatriates. This part of town reminds me of the winding streets of Florence, but leads to the sea, which is one of my favorite parts about it.

The picture shown above is from a square in El Born, and is the flame is actually a memorial for all those Catalans who died fighting for their independence in the War of Succession against the French in 1714. This square, called  --> El Fossa de les Moreres was actually where thousands of Catalans died and were buried. The tower in the background is from the Church Santa Maria del Mar, which was made in the 13th century by Pere III and is considered a traders/workers Church because it was built and funded by the traders in that area.

On the other side of La Riberia is La Ciutadella Park, where I go running usually. This park has so much history behind it that you could not tell just by walking around it. Before this park was built, there was a huge pentagon fortress that enclosed 150 acres and dominated the city. The fortress, which was built after France won the War of Succession and was the most hated symbols of Castilian rule for a century and took 20 years to demolish it. Now there is a park that I love with a zoo and lake and the gorgeous fountain that is pictured above.   

In this area of the city, the Guilds could be found. The guilds were the core of the medieval city economic life and lasted from the 13th century up until the French took over after the War of Succession. These guilds were important in both Political life as well as the Church, having great influence. The picture seen above is an example of La casa taller, which is the building where shopkeepers worked and lived. The ground floor of the building was the shop and then the first principle floor was where the owner’s family would live, which has bigger windows and the upper floors has smaller windows where the servants would live. 

Also, on our field trip we passed the

--> Llotja, which used to be the cities Stock Exchange building. The building was built in the 1350s and then rebuilt by Pere III in 14^th century. The contract room of the Llotja was the oldest continuously running stock exchange in Europe until it was moved to Passaige de Gracia. The building is a neoclassical building that conserves the 12^th century building inside. It has been used as many things including an Art Academy, where Picasso studied.