Today was a good day. As with most days, it involved getting lost. Or to some extent. I need to stop taking the metro. Every time I get off I have to reorient myself. I have also lost a sense of scale. For instance, Gracia looks very far away on the map. But it’s an easy 10 minute walk from my house. It also happens to be my new favorite neighborhood. It has character. I’ll have to take pictures to explain…Tonight we went to Castelleros practice. If you don’t know what this is, do not be alarmed. It is just human tower building. It has been part of Catalan culture for over 200 years. The record is ten stories/people high. And at the very top are the kids. And we were going to practice this…Mostly this involved faking it by practicing climbing up a person (yes, there is a special technique to this…but you’ll have to ask me to demonstrate it for you…) But it also meant helping support the bottom. We helped enough that we got t-shirts and tomorrow will compete. Some 60 neighborhoods compete so this should be epic.
A video of me being a Castellero...aka human castle builder. Apparently I climbed too fast for the video...so here is the dismount.
Practice with Los Castelleros de Gracia.
Yesterday was a bad day. My schedule changed and I thought I had no classes. Then I received an email saying I had an interview in the morning for my internship. Ok. So I went to the interview (near the Arc de Triumf). The architect was wonderful—very knowledgeable and intelligent. But the only work she had was translating a PhD thesis into English. I hate to say it—but that’s really not architecture.
I wandered around the city park for awhile, taking the mandatory photos of tourist attractions, etc. But then I got a phone call saying I had class that day as well. The class was wonderful, my favorite so far. But all of these additions ruined my free day! : ( Oh well…
That night we had cook and taste. This was a wonderful experience. As a group we went to a school-type place and learned to make authentic Spanish food, such as Paella, Tortillas and Catalan Cream. Tortillas are actually omelets here in Spain. The food was phenomenal! But it went rather late, so I ended up taking the last train home. I can check that one off now. Lol.
Side note, I have been listening to this song over and over ever since we listened to it in class. I love it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok_wnW9YBrE
Barcelona's version of the Crystal Palace...also from their World Exhibition.
Guadi helped design part of this fountain. I think it is both excessive and utterly gorgeous.
El Arc de Triumf...the entrance to the park created for Barcelona's world exhibition.
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