Exploration

My second week here in Barcelona was spent better acquainting myself with the great city I now call home. I had the opportunity to check out many of the great architectural gems that Spain has to offer and document everything via photograph and sketch. Early in the week our class paid a visit to Richard Meier's MACBA Museu D'Art Contemporania as well as the Museu Picasso to work on sketching exercises in axon and to document potential sequences of spatial layout. My quest for architectural wonders throughout Barcelona led me to Antonio Gaudi's Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, as well as Sagrada Familia for the second time. Unfortunately, heavy winds prevented me from going into the towers to get a bird's eye view of Barcelona as was planned.

Later in the week I had the opportunity to make the trek up Montjuic to check out the Olympic Complex where the games were held in 1992. I was finally able to get that bird's eye view of Barcelona, and it was a great one. While in the area I also paid a visit to Calatrava's infamous communication tower and left with over 200 pictures to show for it. Our class had the special opportunity of meeting up with an architecture program based in San Antonio for a sketching class at Santa Maria del Mar- it was a great experience to gain a different perspective on the architectural learning process. As the week began to wrap up I also had the chance to see Torre Agbar up close and personal. The highlight of my week, however, came Saturday night when I went to see FC Barcelona take on CD Numancia at Camp Nou Stadium.

My second week in Barcelona was without a doubt a successful one. I had numerous opportunities to check out the architecture in and around Barcelona while absorbing the culture all the while, and I look forward to what the coming weeks have in store.

A Few First-Week Kinks

I was a little unsure of what to expect coming to Barcelona considering I had never been to Europe before, let alone a huge foreign city like this. So, with all the Spanish phrases and vocabulary I could muster up in my memory from high school, I set off from New Jersey to become a part-time member of the Spanish culture. My first week here was very eventful, to say the least. I had my first taste of the "culture shock" I had heard so much about the second I tried to catch a cab to my apartment with Mike Hoak and Mike Iskandar. My driver spoke no English at all (as was expected), and it became a game of charades with a whole lot of map pointing to try and communicate with him. When all was said and done, we made it to our apartment on Portal Nou, right down the street from the infamous Arc de Triomf. Much to my surprise, Portal Nou fulfilled my expectations almost perfectly of what I had always envisioned Europe to be- narrow cobblestone streets flanked on both sides by small shops, locals wandering everywhere, clothes drying on lines hanging from balconies only big enough for my little cousin to stand on. It was quaint and relaxing (some might say idyllic), everything I had hoped for in coming to Barcelona. Also as I had expected, the apartment itself was pretty authentic European. Another taste of culture shock came with the size of everything in the apartment; our kitchen had about enough standing room for one person (two at max), and my feet barely just made the edge of my bed when laying down. It was a little different from what I was used to back in the states, but all in all I had no complaints.

The week started off well. Prior to classes starting on Monday, I had the opportunity to explore some of the local bars on the weekend and try to get a feel for the city that I now called home. I also had the opportunity to check out some of the local restaurants, since from what I had heard, Barcelona was known for its great food. Again, I was not disappointed with the selection of food here, but actually ordering was a task in itself. To wrap up the weekend, I finally got the chance to see Gaudi's infamous Sagrada Familia in person, and I was pretty amazed. Classes all started off well, and the week seemed to be going smoothly until about Wednesday. Coming home from studio that night the three of us were mugged by 7 or 8 locals, and my bag with all my architecture supplies was stolen, along with my wallet that had two bank cards and all my ID's in it. Bad luck? Poor timing? Who knows, but its not the worst that could have happened.

The rest of the week went pretty smoothly (especially considering the events of Wednesday), and here I am. My first week in Barcelona is wrapping up. I'm finally getting used to navigating the city and I'm enjoying every second of it. If every other week here in Europe ends up being as eventful as this one, I'm sure I'll have plenty to talk about when I go back home to New Jersey in May.