Local News: El Clasico 2010

In the United States, futbol (aka soccer in America) is not a big national sport.  I feel like the only time it is ever recognized is every four years when the FIFA World Cup is played.  Futbol in Barcelona, however, is definitely not like that.  I have never lived in a city that is so obsessed and proud of its main professional sports team.  In this case, that team is Barcelona's futbol team FC Barcelona.  The biggest game of the year for this team and this city is when Real Madrid comes to town to play in the world famous game, El Clasico.  This futbol match is played at least bi-annually and is one of the most viewed in the world, estimated to be watched by over 100 million people.

The game is not big because it is played by the two biggest teams in Spain, but rather symbolizes the Catalonian view and feelings towards Spain.  Catalonia is very big on its independence and the nationalism displayed at this game by FC Barcelona fans makes that loud and clear.  My friends and I were lucky enough to get a table at a bar called Ovella Negra.  We had to get to the bar at 7pm, the game started at 9pm.

Waiting for the two hours between arriving at the bar until the time the game started was well worth it.  The energy in the bar was nothing like I have ever experienced before.  We were the only "fans" who were not local Barcelona residents.  At first we felt uncomfortable with this, but after a few beers and talking to locals sitting around us, we were quickly taught FC Barcelona chants and became die hard fans in no time.  FC Barcelona ended up winning the game 5-0, a huge win for a futbol game, especially for El Clasico!  After the game was over, my friends and I decided to go to Placa Catalunya to see if there was a celebration, and it turned out to be a little bigger than we though.  Las Ramblas was flooded with people all celebrating the big win over Real Madrid, it was crazy!  Needless to say this was one of the cooler sporting event experience of my life.

Local News: Catalonia Elections 2010

What a time to be studying in Barcelona!  Though I missed the midterm elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate back in the United States, I was fortunate enough to experience how elections worked in Spain; more specifically, in Catalonia.  It was very interesting to see all of the advertisements and how certain candidates campaigned for this election.  For instance, Alicia Sanchez-Camacho, representative of the PP (Popular Party), focused her campaign a lot on immigration.  She was clearly against immigration and made that point clear when she came out with a campaign strategy of making a computer game that could be downloaded and played for free on the internet.  This game entailed her face hovering above immigrants coming into Spain and Catalonia, and after clicking on immigrants below her, bombs would be dropped on the immigrants.


Unfortunately, this campaign strategy did not work out for Sanchez-Camacho and the PP party.  Artur Mas, head of the CiU party ended up winning 62 seats, thus winning the 2010 election.  The CiU party gained 14 seats in 2010 after only holding 48 since the 2006 election.  This was a huge win for the CiU; however, it was not a surprising win.  The party that was in control before the election was the Socialist Party (PSC).  This is also the party that has the majority rule in Madrid in the Spanish Parliament.  Due to the current economic status of Spain and Catalonia, the Catalan people are not pleased with the Socialist's policies and therefore were not expected to win this election.  Though it was fairly difficult to know all of the factors voters were voting on this election, it was still exciting to see how another countries elections work.

Artur Mas, leader of the CiU

Barcelona: Local Art

One of the greatest aspects of Barcelona is the profound interest in art that the city has.  This ranges from famous architects and architecture, to famous painters and paintings, to local photographers and local spray paint/graffiti artists.  I don't want to focus on the obvious Gaudi and Piccaso in this blog, but rather the more local art that gives Barcelona the character it has today.  Wherever I walk in this city, I am constantly surrounded by local art.  This includes people on the street making random things with random materials and local scenery paintings, but most noticeably in my neighborhood, Poblenou,  there is graffiti everywhere.  Whether it is a random wall in an alley or a metal protective pull down door to a store, there is a unique graffiti painting.  In fact, about a week after moving into my apartment in Poblenou, there was an intersection a block away from my apartment that was blocked off for a local concert and graffiti showcase.  Local rappers were on stage rapping while local graffiti artists had their own canvases lined up along the sides and front of the stage doing their own designs and displaying/selling them.  The intersection was inundated with locals!  This was one of the cooler experiences that I have had in Barcelona because it showed me another perspective of the culture that I did not realize existed.  I have now developed a more keen sense of appreciation for local artists and graffiti artists because they are not trying to get recognition on a scale that Piccaso and Gaudi recieved, but rather a more "raw" and intimate appreciation by their fellow local neighbors.