13 January was a nice day, and hopefully the beginning of great weather for the rest of my time here. The weather of Barcelona has been pretty cool, colder then normal. With temperatures under 10 celsius and rain, no fun – until today. Perfect blue skies and beautiful weather couldn’t be better. Our class lead us to the Port Olympic area of Barcelona, checking out the architecture and spaces of the area. View Full Article »
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12 January began with the exploration of the barcelona model of urban regeneration and a discussion on public spaces. The city is abundant with public spaces, from complete city blocks in L’Eixample to the beach and up to Montjuic and Park Güell. The focus of class was more on small plazas and squares, and the center courtyards of the inner city L’Eixample blocks. View Full Article »
Barcelona has a fascinating history beginning as a Roman retreat. Like Shrek, the city it similar to an onion, which you can peel off layers of history and discover the life of the Catalonian city through the ages. Although many parts of the city’s history have been lost or covered up, Rome’s mark is still visible under the metropolis. View Full Article »
The plan was to explore the neighborhood around the local Av. Tibidabo FGC (metro) stop, but Hannah (another CIEE architecture student) and I just kept heading up. We met in the early afternoon looking forward to a snack or a small lunch but that would come at the end of this adventure. View Full Article »
Sábado 9 de enero (09 January, Saturday) began with a great day of sleep. I started my day around 3p (CET) with a day trip to Parc Güell as a tourist. With my camera in one hand and my iPhone Map in the other, I ended up wandering around, eventually meeting up with Michelle and Nile, of the CIEE program, in the park. View Full Article »
Friday was a fun day. Preparing for a really cold day, I was surprised to find sun on my way in. Our visual culture class brought us to the CCCB, the cultural center in Barcelona. The class’s discussion for the day was on the expansion of Barcelona in the 1800s, known as L’Eixample. It is very noticeable and is recognized in maps as the perfect “Barcelona” grid. View Full Article »
7 January began with a rainy morning. The first day of classes were exciting, the process of meeting new friends and being exposed for the first time to the new facilities (la Casa 2 is the expansion to the Barcelona CIEE Study Center on Ptg. Permanyer.
5 January 2010 began with my decision to not bring my DSLR for the day. You can follow along with my counter of missed photos to explain why it ended up being my biggest mistake of the trip.
With that said, I began the day with a quick look out my window into the rainy courtyard in the center of the block/complex. I prepared my stuff for the day and threw in my small camera because it was cold and rainy. I skipped breakfast and headed out to meet the subway at Avinguda del Tibidabo. The train was very simple to find and use and was completely empty at 9:15 in the morning. I told Nile we would meet up at the train but we ended up meeting at the Pl. Catalunya in the city center instead. The train was very cool and offered a great chance for a photo (photos missed: 1). I took the subway from the end of the line (Av Tibidabo, my station) to the other end, Pl. Catalunya (my stop) and met up with Nile. We then managed to get lost among the city streets until we got out of the rain at the CIEE study center on Passatge Permanyer.
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It was the 3rd of January when we made it to the hotel where we stayed. The Catalunya Berna, located in the heart of the city and less then a block from the CIEE study center, where we would be studying.
We began with meeting those of us who had made it to the city early, many of the participants had not yet made it but that was ok. We began with a light lunch of fruit and little ham sandwiches for lunch and then we hit the streets for a small self guided tour to where ever we wanted to go. We saw some highlights, by chance, on the first day including some statues and monuments of the city along with the Arc de Triumf.
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On 2 Jan 1020, I flew United from Denver to Chicago, meeting up with Nile for our transatlantic flight to Barcelona, connecting at Frankfurt in Germany. Both flights were very smooth and easy. The United 944 flight (ORD to FRA) was cool as it was the first time I actually was exposed to another language, German, which I loved. The flight was filled with German students and residents, including those sitting next to me.
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