Barcino and the Roman Foundation

June 15, 2010

I'm obviously writing this late again, but the roman part of the city is still one of my favorite places. We went on a field trip and got a tour from our teacher about the Roman foundation, which used to be called Barcino. I really like this part mostly for the architecture, but also because there is so much history. Barcelona in general is filled with history that they have preserved and are very proud of. However, they obviously cannot restore everything. For example, we were showed the area of where the Roman baths were found. They haven't excavated it though, but they still exist. There is a way to get to them but they are not allowed to be viewed by the public. It is very very interesting.

They do however have other areas which they have restored. We saw one of the the 78 towers that surrounded the city. It is impossible to completely just leave the structures alone because of weathering and a chemical in pigeon poo that wears down the stones. It was very obvious to see what were original stones because they were very large and then what parts of the tower had been fixed. In many of the areas there are pictures of what the shape of the city used to be. The city was originally discovered by retired soldiers so it has the shape of an oppidum (military camp).

The prior week we had taken a similar tour of the same area, but I didn't realize how small the city was. This time, our teacher showed us the different entrances of the city and it was very easy to see that this was not a very big community at all. There were 2 main roads running perpendicular to each other that and met right in the center of the city. We also got to see where the palace used to be (in the middle of the city). It was built at the highest point of the city and there still remains 4 columns. I believe that these were in the southwest corner of the palace, but it doesn't really matter. The man who discovered these columns wanted to preserve them so he built a building around them so that they wouldn't be destroyed. That is what is pictured on the left.

First Weekend

On Saturday, our program took us on a day trip to the Codorniu, which is a vineyard. We got a tour which was pretty cool. They had an unbelievable amount of champagne (or what they call Cava). The cellars were pretty cool. We got to ride on this train thing and ya, it was fun. I wasn't able to hear the tour guide very well, but also I was taking pictures of things and not really paying attention so sorry, I can't really tell you how it's made.

Then, we went to Sitges, which is up the coast a little bit from Barcelona. The beach was beautiful. We had lunch there and walked around a little bit. Most people stayed at the beach but a couple of us didn't know we were supposed to bring our swim suits so we went back on the bus. Sitges is also one of the most gay-friendly cities in Spain so to say the least, it was interesting. It is a very beautiful town though. Josh and Bryce stayed and said that the paella was unreal. The other day we went back because we wanted to go to a beach but not Barceloneta (the beach in Barcelona) so we went to Sitges. We got some paella and it was pretty good, not something I would order again though. I did have to at least try it.

On Sunday, we decided to go see Camp Nou, which is Barcelona's soccer stadium. This was definitely one of the top things that I wanted to see. FC Barcelona is like a religion here. Everyone has uniforms, there are stores everywhere, its crazy. People don't really support Spain though. Catalonia, which is the region that Barcelona is in, used to be its own country until Spain took it over in the 18th Century (see...I do go to class). Many people are very bitter about this because the Catalans were repressed and forbidden to speak Catalan in public, people were slaughtered, and they closed the university. There's still many people who support Spain but there are definitely people against Spain as well. Anyways, we went to Camp Nou only to find that there was this huge event where they vote for the next president of the organization. The place was packed and so we weren't able to go down near the field or get a tour. Hopefully I'll be able to go back though.

Since we weren't there very long, Bryce, Josh, and I decided to go to Tibidabo which is the highest point in Barcelona. There, they have an amusement park which looked kind of cool, but it wasn't really big. We got on one of the rides which basically just took us higher. I took the picture of the Cathedral while we were up there. Then, we went in the Cathedral and went to the top which was actually even higher than the ride. The view of Barcelona was unbelievable. You can see the entire city on one side and then the mountains on the other side. It's definitely one of my favorite places.

Then Dong's birthday was that Sunday night so we went out for that. We started at a place called Xiputo's where they have all these crazy shots for 2 euros a piece. Somebody bought Dong one called the Monica Lewinsky, which is pretty raunchy. I'll just leave it at that. I didn't make it to my first class in the morning but it was ok...we get 2 freebies.

We didn't do much the rest of the week. We went to the beach, we took siestas (naps) after class a lot. We went out a few times to check everything out. We still had a lot of time so we kind of took it easy the entire week. I did go on some cool field trips with my class though so I'll probably post that next time.

Classes and Figuring out the CIty

June 10-11

Thursday and Friday were our first few days of classes. We are all taking a spanish class and a history type class. Bryce and I were placed into the intermediate spanish class, but quickly found out that this was not for us. We were told that this class would be taught with some english, but this obviously wasn't the case. By the time we got through the class, we looked at each other and said we have to move down. There's no point in sitting through a class in which we won't learn anything because we don't understand a single thing being said. On Friday, we went to one of the beginner classes, which turned out to be a joke. There was a huge difference between beginner and intermediate, and Bryce and I were definitely right in the middle. We just decided to stay because we thought that it might get a little bit more challenging.

My other class is awesome. I absolutely love it. Its called Past and Present in Barcelona. So far we have learned about the history of the city and who occupied this region and such. Also, I really enjoy it because our teacher takes us on field trips where we walk around the city and learn the significance of different places. If I were just here to visit, I feel like I would just see all of the touristy places and just say oooohhh ahhhhhh. This way, I get to learn some of the real history and reasons behind things you wouldn't typically get to see because they aren't in travel books.

I don't remember exactly which day I did what but we went grocery shopping and did laundry and went to the beach. We just started getting a feel for where we were, where everything else was, and how to get around. I'm not sure if I already mentioned this but my residencia is only 10 blocks from the beach. We also found this small little sports bar thats like a block away that everyone from our program likes to go to for watching the U.S. and Spain World Cup games. We're only like 2 blocks away from a metro station which is what we take everywhere. We usually take the metro in the mornings to class but then we found out how to get home by walking so we started doing that.

Getting into Barcelona and the First Few Days

June 7th-9th

Getting into Barcelona wasn't the easiest of things for us. We didn't plan the best and didn't realize that our flight from Dublin was into Girona, Spain...which is like an hour and a half bus ride into the city. Once we got there, we had no idea where we were and the only directions we had to the hostel were from the Barcelona airport, not the bus station. So anyways, we got in a cab and he didn't really know where it was and then all of a sudden he did and started driving and we started going into the mountains. It didn't help at all that none of us spoke very good Spanish. We thought he was taking us to the middle of nowhere. It turned out that he actually did know where we were going and the hostel ended up being in the mountains in a somewhat nice hostel.

The next day we were able to figure things out better with the help of a girl on the train and made it to the hotel where our program, CIEE, was meeting. We were the first ones there so we were able to check in right away and then rest for a little bit before things got started. P.s. the hotel was unbelievably nice, which was completely unexpected.

After more people got here, we got a chance to meet each other and then we did some ice breaker type games. We also were split up into groups with our "guardian angels" which are just other college kids that live in Spain and were to show us around. With our groups we took a walk, found out where the metro stops we needed to know were, where our classes would be, where the beach is, etc.

Then we came back and I had an amazing dinner. The hotel had a really nice restaurant where we got served a bunch of different appetizer-type things called tapas. I didn't exactly know everything I was eating, but it was good. We sat with one of the guardian angel guys that told us a lot about what to do.

The next day we woke up, had an awesome breakfast at the hotel. We then checked out, had a meeting with the people in charge of the program where we found out our classes and where we're living. Luckily, I got my choice of living in a residencia and I was also lucky that all of my fraternity brothers were staying in the same place. We then took a tour with tour guides of the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It was extremely interesting and the architecture is unbelievable. I'll be able to explain most of my pictures when I get home, but on here would just take forever. Then we had another lunch at a very nice restaurant in one of the plazas. I decided to get more Spanish food since I might as well soak in the culture and it was a good choice. I can never remember the name of what I had but I know it was amazing.

We then walked back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage and were off to our new homes. The place that we live in is about 10 blocks from the beach and 2 blocks from the metro that we have to take everyday to go to class. We are not in the best area of town, but nonetheless I still love it. I have my own room including a small desk, tv, and bathroom. Then I share a kitchen at the end of the hall with everyone on my floor. We have our own sections in the fridge and cabinets. Then there are 4 buildings, each split into 2 sections, but on top of the buildings there are pools and areas to sit and hang out. It's really cool.

On Wednesday, we didn't do much. We had our Spanish placement tests and then we took a bus tour. However, it was rainy and hard to understand the tour guide but we got a basic gist of some of the bigger things to see and then we can go there on our own time. Then we were treated to another lunch which was good, but not as good as the ones I had already had. And finally we had free time. We were on our own so we decided to all go home and nap. We had been walking around so much, seen so much, and a lot of people were jet-lagged so ya, we slept.

The rest of my blogs really won't go by and tell you every time I eat lunch and stuff but these were probably going to be some of the best meals that I would eat and I wanted to share how things got started. More to come soon.

Dublin

June 3-6, 2010


To tell you the truth, I don't know where to start. I've been here for 2 weeks and I've seen a lot so far so for me to remember all the tiny details would be impossible. Little by little I will catch up to present day, but for now this is all I can do. We started off with our plane flight from Chicago O'Hare to Dublin. The way there wasn't too bad but I couldn't sleep. We left June 3rd, arrived June 4th in the morning. We took a bus to our hostel, which happened to be located right outside of Dublin's Temple Bar area. The Temple Bar is Dublin's like biggest touristy area but there are a lot of locals who go to these bars. Jamie would be able to talk more about it.

Well we arrived early and couldn't check in so we dropped off our bags and decided to walk around Dublin. We quickly found out that Dublin was unlike anything we've ever seen. It really isn't explainable. It's something you can only see for yourself. The architecture was beautiful. There's pretty much no parking anywhere. I'd say about 75% of the cars on the street were taxis. I can't really tell you much about Dublin though because we didn't take any tours. Well, we took a tour of the Guinness Brewery which was really cool. They have a glass room at the top with a bar that you can see a lot of Dublin from. After that, we went to a small Irish pub for lunch, then back to the hostel for a much needed nap.

The next day we went up to Hoath, which was just gorgeous. There's hiking trails that we walked and were able to see cliffs and the ocean. It was really cool. Like I said, you have to see it for yourself. We then came back, bought some dinner and took it inside of the Trinity campus to eat it. Trinity was definitely the most beautiful campus I've ever seen. The buildings, the stone walkways, everything was just beautiful.

The next day was pretty rainy so we weren't able to do much. We walked around and found a mall, but that's basically it. It was time to go to Barcelona so we got a taxi to the airport and were finally on our way to our new temporary home.