Guild Area Field Trip

This field trip was a fun one.  We were able to get a feeling of what the life was for the working class of Barcelona during the 13th century era.  This area was for all industry specialists in Barcelona.  These specialties ranged from clothing washers, to wool weavers, silversmiths, and so on.  This area for the guild people was created when the walls of Barcelona were extended by Peter III at the beginning of the 13th century.

I thought it was very cool that you were able to tell what guild you were standing out front of by looking at the tile sign/picture by each particular door.  For example, there is a picture of a woman washing clothes on the street dedicated to that guild.  What is most cool about these signs is that they are still outside modern day stores today.  This is just another example of how Barcelona preserves its rich and interesting history.

Another stop we made on this field trip was to one of the most famous churches in Barcelona: Santa Maria del Mar (translated Saint Maria of the Sea).  This church was built in the mid 1300s and a true testament to the guild area.  It was a church that all guilders could attend--socioeconomic status was not significant in this church.  The common folk who built this church are recognized on the church's main entrance door, where a man carrying a stone on his back is displayed.  This church was beautiful and exhibited the gothic style of architecture that was used at the time.

This field trip not only gave another perspective of a different lifestyle once obtained and used in Barcelona, but also shows the next step of how the progress of this city was moved forward.

Old Roman City Field Trip

The first field trip we took for our Barcelona Past & Present class was to the location of the old Roman city of Barcelona.  I thought this was a very appropriate first field trip because it allowed me to see the foundation of where the city I am studying in was started.  We saw ruins in the museum that were over 2000 years old! That was very cool to see that such structures (or remainders of structures) were still standing after being built so long ago.  It was astounding to see the original pillars to one of the main gates to the city were still standing as well.  This is an attribute to the Roman culture; their physical structures are just as strong as the strength of their culture.

It was also very fascinating to see how the Romans lived in their day-to-day lives in Barcelona.  The museum displayed the pots and utensils that were used for cooking back then.  It was interesting to find out that clay pottery and similar utensils that the Romans once used are still commonly used in present day Barcelona.  I thought it was also fascinating seeing the sewage and fresh water systems in these ruins and also the way they would preserve food such as fish--who knew that such a simple preservation tactic was putting fish underground!  The public bathing area interested me because I learned that these were the most common areas to talk about politics and other community events.  I also learned that the assassination of Caesar was thought to have been planned in a public bathing area such as the one we saw.  The one thing that grossed me out about this field trip was learning about how the Romans washed their clothes during this time: by mixing coal and urine.  Never in my life would I think that these two components would clean my clothes.

All in all, this was a great way to start my experience in Barcelona and learn about ancient past times in this old and historic city.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum so I could only snap a few.

Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia (translated to The Holy Family) is probably Barcelona's main attraction to tourists; but it is also an important part of Barcelona culture.  This cathedral was designed by world famous and local resident architect Antoni Gaudi.  Construction of La Sagrada Familia started in 1882, and it has just reached its half way point in regards to finishing construction in 2010.  In fact, construction of this immaculate church is estimated to be finished in 2035!  Construction is slow for a couple different reasons. First off there was a stint in the construction during the Spanish Civil War and it did not start up agin until the 1950s.  Also, funding of the construction is strictly based on private donations, so it is up to the people of Barcelona and Catalonia to determine how fast or slow construction will be finished.  Finally, when looking at the detail of parts already built of this cathedral, it is easy to see why the whole construction process takes time--the second half of this construction is estimated to have the greatest challenges.  Pope Benedict XVI visited La Sagrada Familia just this past month of November 2010 to declare this church a minor basilica.  Considering that the church isn't even fully built, this declaration by the Pope alone is a huge accomplishment for Barcelona.  The one problem La Sagrada Familia faces currently is the construction of the AVE that would go beneath the church.  The AVE is a high speed train that is intended to connect major cities across Spain and the rest of Europe, and the major debate right now is whether or not the vibrations the train would give off will disrupt the church or not in regards to stability.  Tests have shown that there should be no interference.

When I visited La Sagrada Familia I was amazed at what I was looking at.  Never in my life have I seen something so unbelievably beautiful and detailed.  To think that this is one of the more massive structures I have ever seen in my life and it is only half way built astonishes me.  I think it is so cool how each side of the church is made up of very detailed sculptures that tell a story about the catholic religion, but every side has a different style of sculpture.  This church alone gave me a new found respect for Antoni Gaudi and all other architects because in order to build something as epic as La Sagrada Familia takes an incredible amount and combination of imagination and intelligence.  I hope to come back to Barcelona one day to see the final product of La Sagrada Familia.  I can only imagine what it will look like then!

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.

Barcelona Dining: Bar Mut

Bar Mut is a famous tapas bar located in the L'Eixample neighborhood of Barcelona.  When my parents and older sister came to visit me for my birthday in late October, they told me we had to eat at Bar Mut while they were there because a friend of our family recommended it to us.  I got to bring two of my roommates and the three of us all agreed that this had been our most adventurous night of eating while in Barcelona.  This restaurant only serves tapas and we didn't know which ones to order, so we told our waiter to bring us a sample of all of them.  I had never liked sea food until I ate at Bar Mut.  The first 5 tapas were all sea food such as clams, oysters, lobster, different types of fish, and muscles.  I really liked the muscles, lobster and fish that they brought out to us.  Next was the meat tapas which only consisted of chicken and filet of beef.  This was definitely my favorite part of the dinner because ever since leaving the United States for Barcelona I had been craving a juicy piece of steak; finally I got it this night and it was cooked perfectly at medium rare!  My 26 year old sister did not have the same sense of adventure that the rest of us did at dinner and so unfortunately her meal consisted of the bread that came out before dinner, and a bite of the chicken tapas.

After the dinner, our waiter told us that they have a drinks bar that they wanted us to check out.  This was not a normal bar, however.  We had to be escorted by a waiter of Bar Mut outside and around the corner to what looked like the door to an apartment building.  Once we were let inside, there was a man in a suit and earpiece at the bottom of the apartment building.  After a minute he told us to walk up the steps and enter the first door on the left.  Once entering that door, there was a dim lit hallway with another lady and earpiece at the next door.  She made us wait for a second and then let us in and showed us to our table.  Once we sat down we asked her what kind of place this was because we were all a little creeped out.  She told us that it is a "speak easy" bar, meaning not many people in Barcelona were supposed to know about it.  The logo on the menu further explained this because it was a pair of lips with a finger over it, implying the "shhh" gesture.  Though I'm sure this "speak easy" bar wouldn't want pictures up on my blog, I decided to put them up anyways. Shhh!

                                                                My sister's "dinner"

                                                     Everyone at the "speak easy bar"

                                                                   Actual dinner