El Chipiron Restaurant

Earlier this semester I ate at El Chipiron restaurant by the Marina. It is a Spanish restaurant with tapas and paella. I really enjoyed it because of the view that overlooks the water. The place itself is not extremely impressive or fancy, but it is the view that is breathtaking and makes the experience much more enjoyable. I think it is actually better that the inside is not too fancy to take away from the outdoor experience. I ate here when my family was visiting and we all shared a seafood paella. It was very delicious but I still think that I like Caracoles paella much better. The same thing occurred where the shrimps were not de-shelled and I was having trouble eating the shrimp. The sangria was very delicious here as well and I really enjoy having sangria when I am eating fish for some reason. Maybe the fruit flavor complements the seafood well in my mind for my palette. I wish I went back during the daytime to eat here on a clear day because I would have been able to look out on the water more easily because at night it is dark but you can still see the lights from the ships. As well as being able to see the ships, you can see the city skyline and the mountains of Barcelona and you can really capture the essence of the city well. I would suggest to anyone eating here that they make a reservation if they are a large party. It was not too crowded when I got there at around 9pm but as the night went on, it got more crowded towards 11 pm. The service was very good, although it seemed we did have trouble with the language barrier, but what can you expect when you are in Spain. The service was not very fast, but nobody at the table was in a rush and it seems that in Europe meals take more time and nobody really rushes like you do at home, especially where I am from in New York. I really enjoy having authentic paella because I have had it back in New York but nothing compares to the Spanish paella. My favorite part of the dish was the squid that is inside the paella because I am a big fan of Calamari. The restaurant is large and is two floors, and they steam cook the food in front of you which is fun to watch, although my mom does not like to watch how people prepare her food. I did not eat any tapas here because usually I do not get filled up enough from the tapas and I like to eat more of a meal at dinner time. The picture I included is of my mother and brother at the restaurant because I feel that there are way too many pictures of me on this website and I don't have any other pictures from the meal.

Local Article

"El secretario de Estado del Vaticano, turista de excepción en Barcelona"

This article is from La Vanguardia. Today the morning of April 24th, the secretary of state of the Vatican, Tarcisio Bertone visited the Sagrada Familia. He was supposed to come on Monday but all the volcano disruptions prevented him from arriving in Barcelona then. He arrived at 12:30pm to the church and was accompanied by the president delegate of the temple, Joan Rigol, and the director of architecture, Jordi Bonet. Workers of the Sagrada Familia were checking bags and backpacks of people entering the temple and anyone surrounding the temple to guarantee the safety of the number two man to the Pope. There were also many police officials and Mossos d'Esquadra to again ensure the man's safety. The visit of Bertone is supposed to be the prelude to the visit of Pope Benedicto XVI to Barcelona where he is supposed to consecrate the Sagrada Familia by holding a holy mass inside. I picked this article in particular because I live right up the block from the Sagrada Familia on Marina. I noticed today that there was a lot more traffic and a lot more tourists outside the Sagrada Familia and this may explain why. It also may be that it is a Saturday and I have not been in Barcelona many weekends to notice just how many tourists are outside the Sagrada Familia on a Saturday. I can't believe that I am only finding out now that a very famous man was just up the block from me today inside the church. I was not aware that the Pope was planning a visit to the Church soon to hold mass there, and I didn't know that the church actually functions and holds holy services when it is under construction. If anything, I would have thought people would wait until the construction was finished to consecrate the church with a mass service. I am not very religious, and I am also Jewish so I am not sure what a mass will do to make this church more holy, however I do realize that if the Pope travels here and does so it will be a big deal. I wish that the Sagrada Familia church would not be under construction. When I came to Barcelona in 2007 it was under construction and it still is today. I feel like all of the major cities I have traveled to have had their main attraction under construction and I wish it would all come to an end. The picture I am including is of the Sagrada Familia because clearly I do not have any pictures of Tarcisio Bertone inside the Sagrada Familia.

Local Article

"An organized gang of twelve jewel thieves have been arrested in a police operation in Barcelona"

This article from the BarcelonaReporter.com talks about exactly what the title implies. The National Police foreces arrested twelve men who were of South American origin today in Barcelona city. The men were in an organization that specialized in robbing jewelry stores. They would break into the stores forcefully and make the employees open their safes by restraining them and acting violently. The gang of robbers moved to Barcelona pretending to be tourists and stayed in the Catalan capital for three or four months. During those months they would carefully plan each attack on different jewelry stores. Just one of the robberies alone they stole jewelry and cash worth over one hundred thousand Euros and they threatened the employees there with knives. They are not only charged with many robberies, but they are charged with assault on private business people, seizing revenue and payrools, and thefts from customers of banks, using the method "cogotazo" where a member of the group watches their targets within a bank and once outside the other members of the group violently assult them. The men were operating from their home in Sant Boi de Llobregat and a room they rented in Plaza de Espana. The room in Plaza de Espanya was their meeting point. When they were caught today to be arrested they were carrying knives and they resisted the arrest very violently. This article caught my attention because it is very similar to what takes place in the United States. Specifically, my dad is a jeweler who has a store in Manhattan in the diamond district. He comes home and often tells about robberies where people get away with a great deal of cash and jewels. The only difference between Barcelona and New York is that usually in New York these robberies take place when nobody is around because it seems robbers do not want to deal with confrontation. Furthermore, in New York it is usually an inside job where somebody who has some close relation to the store is able to access the jewels and money and get away with it. In New York City, it would be very hard to get away with acting violently in a store front because there are so many people flooding the streets of the diamond districts and there would be too many witnesses to the crime. It makes me nervous that my dad works in a profession where many robbers and bad people are out to steal from them. Diamonds and jewels are worth a lot and my mom also worries sometimes that it is not worth it to have my dad hurt in any way. I cannot believe that these men were able to organize this robbery ring for almost four months without being caught. I also wonder whether or not they had visas to be here or were living here illegally and were not caught for that. They deserve to go to jail for an extremely long time or at least pay restitution to those they have taken from. I hope the jewels will be recovered although I am sure the money and jewels are long gone. The image included is of the police car in Plaza Catalunya.

Local Article

"La amenaza de lluvia no disuade a los barceloneses de tomar el centro de la ciudad"

The article from La Vanguardia on April 23rd talks about el Dia de Sant Jordi, a Catalan holiday that takes place each year on April 23rd. It says that the people from Barcelona starting celebrating the holiday very early in the morning filling the streets with books and flowers even though they were scared that the forecast predicted rain. At the start of the day many salespeople were fearful that the rain would ruin their business for the day. One saleswoman who was interviewed explained that the is a day of liberty because most days you must go to the shopping centers to buy things, but today the people buys and sell in the street. Many students were enthralled by the many colors that filled the street, there were even 5 different colors of roses being sold. Many tourists are attracted to this city for the holiday as well. This year, the market Mercabarna-Flower predicts that six million roses in Catalonia will be sold, a figure that is 10% higher than last year. Of course the red rose will have the most success and its price will be around 3 euro. Mercabarna-flower will market more than 2.4 million roses, 40% of which will all be sold in Catalonia. The price of the flowers will be around the three euro. The Gremi of Llibreters of Barcelona i Catalonia predicts to profit around 20 million euro, a figure that has maintained stable in the last three years. It is coincidental that I had to research this holiday for my CEA class the first week I came here. I learned that it is the Day of Saint George and it is heavily celebrated by Catalonians on April 23rd to recognize the day of his death. On this day, women must buy their men a book, while men must by their women a rose. This holiday is often compared to the American holiday of Valentine’s Day. The day all comes from a legend that St. George killed a dragon to save the princess and when he did so, he gave her a red rose that grew out of the blood of the dragon. The idea of giving your boyfriend a book is said to have come later on as a business ploy and a day for book publishers to make more money. I walked around the city on this day and I was amazed to see how many different stands were set up to sell books and roses. Furthermore, I saw such cool colored roses that I kind of wanted one myself, but I sadly had no one to buy one for me. The city had so much traffic, I am not sure if it is because of this day or just coincidental. I am going for dinner tonight at a restaurant and I hope that it will not be too crowded as a result of this day. The picture I included shows a vendor selling roses on the street.

National Article

"El PSOE abre la puerta a que se utilicen las lenguas cooficiales en el Senado"

The article from La Razon on April 22nd says that on the 28th of April, a Senate meeting will debate the taking into consideration a proposal that was presented by 34 senators in order to spread the use of co-official languages in the upper house. This article specifically points to the fact that the PSOE socialist group announced that it voted in favor of the proposition, so the only group who will propose the idea is the PP. This all stems from a request from the nationalist parties. It will be studied in order to decide “where the use of autonomous languages would be able to be expanded and for what type of initiatives.” It is thought that the Socialist party is in the Senate and not in the Congress where such a debate should take place. The Socialist party is emphasizing that this controversial proposal needs the maximum possible consensus of political forces in order to pass. In my mind this is an interesting article that the popular party would oppose such a proposition, while Socialists would be the ones to back it. Usually when I think of a socialist, I think of more repression and I would have thought that the popular party in power would want to gain more recognition from the Spanish people. Such a proposal would gain popularity from regional groups like Catalans, and Basques who have a different language than Spanish. It would allow these people to feel more closely tied to their heritage and allow them to feel less undermined in their culture. I am wondering if it would be confusing to start introducing co-official languages to the Spanish nation; however it would make for more diversity, and a more unique place. Furthermore, so many people speak different languages like Catalan, Basque, Galician, etc. that it may even benefit the nation and those in power to allow co-official languages. The image shown above is taken from La Razon's website and shows a picture of the senate. Clearly I am unsure if this is the Senate in debate over the topic, but this was the most fitting picture for the article.

Field Trip 3 - Raval

On April 22nd our class visited the Raval area of Barcelona. I had never been there before sadly as it its almost my last week here. Next year I think it should be an earlier field trip so that kids can really experience the area and hopefully go back during their abroad stay. I was hesitant to go here because I heard it was a very creepy area with prostitutes and drug dealers, but it was much nicer than I thought it would be. I learned that previously this area was filled with more creepy people because it is close to the port. Also, Las Ramblas was where the city used to be considered to end so when you went to Raval you were considered to be leaving the city. I really like the CCCB area and the fact that you can see the skyline because the building is shaped in a certain way at the top. I only wished I visited the area on a sunnier day but maybe I will go back next week. There is an eclectic mix of stores in the area ranging from electronics, to shoes, to clothing, to candy stores. I felt as if I saw many middle eastern people in the area. The thing that struck me the most were the new garbage bins in the streets. The United States should start such an idea where the garbage put into the bins goes beneath the ground so that it does not overflow or smell bad in the streets for many hours until it is collected. That is a very modern and forward thinking thing to do and makes the area much nicer with that one small addition. I don't think I would like to live in Raval though although it seems to be an up and coming area. I do not like living in small alleyways, because at night time I would be frightened. Furthermore, it was mentioned that in small alleys like that in the summer time it gets very hot because there is not much ventilation through the tall buildings. I enjoy living on a more main street that is more well lit, etc. I enjoyed learning that most of the official community and government buildings in the area used to be monasteries and churches. It was even more intriguing that these religious buildings used to be orphanages and take in the children who had no parents. My favorite part of all of these field trips has been the grafitti artwork on many of the buildings and garage areas. I think its amazing what people can do with a spray can and not many people pay any attention to this when passing through an area. I always wonder if grafitti artists make a living doing anything with their talents or they just do this in their downtime.

International News

"El África subsahariana sigue perdiendo la batalla contra la pobreza extrema"

The article from La Vanguardia on April 20th, 2009 says that all developing regions except the African Sub Saharan are doing well on the road to reduce extreme poverty by 2015 a date that was set forth in the “Objectives of the Millennium” in 2000. There were 8 objectives established during the Summit of the Millennium of the UN in 2000, one to reduce poverty. Another goal was primary universal education, the reduction of child mortality, the reduction of malaria, improvement of maternal health, etc. The latest report says that the attainment of these objectives has been uneven among the countries it was created for and only 49 of the 87 countries on the list are on a good pace to reach the goals. However, they note that since 2000 37 million more children have been capable of and attending schools and more than 14 million have been vaccinated against disease. According to the last available data, seven of each ten people in developing countries have reached the universal schooling. Despite improvements school and other things like major access to drinking water or equality in schooling, the World Bank insists in its study that it has not advanced enough in the reduction of child mortality and malnutrition. Thus, some 8.8 million children die yearly before reaching age five, a lower figure to the ten million in 2000 but it is still too high. Furthermore, despite all the improvements, there are still 72 million children of school age that do not attend school, the majority of them in the south of Asia and the Africa sub-Saharan. This report surfaces on the eve of the semiannual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington this weekend. They say that the World Bank expects to receive the go ahead to spend 3,500 million more dollars over the next 20 years to help the developing countries. They also plan to transfer at least three percent of the power of the rich countries to the developing countries. The picture above is from the African Sub Saharan and shows the poverty where everything is flooded and houses do not seem sturdy or livable.

Park on Industria and Marina

When I have downtime here in Barcelona, many times I like to go to the park right near my apartment on the corner of Marina and Industria. I find that its enjoyable to just hang out at the park either on my own with an ipod or some school work, or with a friend. For instance, yesterday I went to the park with a blanket with my roommate. We ate lunch and fruit there and I studied for a final that I have coming up this week. The park itself is not very large. It has ping pong tables and large dirt areas with surrounding grass. There is also a small gated in playground type area with a slide and some swings for younger children. I notice that this park is never very crowded, and there are usually parents taking their children to play, or people walking their dogs. I always get upset that people here are not required to pick up after their pets because it makes the park smell worse, and it just seems dirty to me. I also like to watch the people play ping pong, and I am happy that they make use out of what the city has to offer them. It is mostly residential people who use this park, because I live in a very residential area. I also live near the Sagrada Familia, but I do not like to go into the parks surrounding the church because they are extremely crowded and extremely touristy. It is hard to find a peaceful spot to sit down in the parks by Sagrada Familia and there are always people trying to sell small items and souvenirs because they know there are so many tourists there. The parks here do not really remind me of parks back at home because at home I feel like all the parks are standard and have much more to offer. However, I know there are parks in Poble Nou and other areas that have skating rinks and more options for the patrons of the park. But in my area it seems the parks really just have benches, a few play items for kids and some ping pong tables. At home, most of my parks have greater playground areas for young children, more facilities like tennis and basketball courts, also skating rinks, etc. I still enjoy the park near my apartment though because I do not like to spend all day sitting in my apartment on my computer. Instead its more productive for me to sit outside, look around my surroundings and get some work done or just hang out. I wished that there were more nicer days while I was here in Barcelona because I could have enjoyed the park more and it rained so often and was colder than I thought it would be.

La Flauta

La Flauta is a Spanish restaurant. There are two in the city and it was a great tapas experience. I ordered a ravioli tapas, grilled vegetables, and tomato bread. Tomato bread is by far my favorite Catalan dish that I have encountered in Barcelona. I am pretty sure it is referred to as "pan tomaca" and it is just pieces of bread that have tomato rubbed onto them for flavor. The price was very reasonable I think it was just over 20 euros a person. We went here for a friends birthday and it was a great atmosphere for dinner. I think we showed up at about 10 for dinner and the place was absolutely packed, and it was still crowded at midnight when we were leaving. It seemed that there were a lot of younger aged people eating around us, not many elderly. I also wasn't as bothered by smoking as I usually am which was great. There were two floors and the upstairs was for smoking and the downstairs was for non smokers. The fact that they separated smokers and nonsmokers made me extremely happy because many times the stench from the smoke ruins my appetite. I noticed that they serve a menu of the day for only 12 euros which seems very appropriate. I wanted to order my own choices, but I am sure the meal of the day would have been good. A flauta itself is a baguette with different combinations of ingredients. The menu had a lot of vegetables and meats to choose from. The wine list was also very extensive and their house wine was tasty and inexpensive. The service was fast, and the waiters were friendly, but maybe because we were a large group of young girls. We made the meal last much longer than it had to, but they were very accomodating to help us order in English and make suggestions. I would recommend this restaurant for lunch or dinner!

Les Glories Shopping Mall

Although it may seem a bit silly, I would count shopping as one of my leisure activities. I live on Long Island in New York, but I always find my way into New York City to shop for the day. If it were up to me, and I was able to, I would love to shop up and down Passeig Gracia here in Barcelona. However, many times I take a trip over to Les Glories Shopping Mall. I take the metro from my area to the Clot stop on the blue line. The Glories mall is extremely similar to a mall at home. I remember some kids in the class who presented on their neighborhood saying that it was dissimilar to an American mall because it was outdoors, but I know many strip malls in my area that are outdoors. Whats great about this mall is that it is a combination of an outdoor strip mall and a full indoor mall. My favorite stores to actually shop in there are H&M, Zara and Pull & Bear. However, most of the time I go there with a friend to just walk around and window shop because my dad would kill me if I spent all my time there shopping. However, if I do want to pick an item or two up, Zara and H&M are very reasonably priced for certain items. I also like the fact that this mall has a Starbucks because I do love getting a blueberry muffin and passion tea from Starbucks. There is also a movie theater in this mall, which makes it even more similar to an American mall because most have movie theaters attached, and there are a bunch of restaurants. I have never actually eaten there because I usually cook at home. Its three floors and it even has a Disney Store which is always fun to walk into. It seems like the stores range from inexpensive to pricey. Sometimes back at home depending on the location malls will have stores that fit the surrounding area. In less wealthy areas, the mall will have stores that are less expensive. However, Glories' stores range widely, but there are no luxury shops like you would find on Passeig Gracia. They also have areas for small kids to play which is nice I guess if their parents are busy shopping and need to distract their restless child. It is funny to me that there are two H&M's in one mall, because at home that would never happen. Finally, the mall hosts some events similar to a mall back in the United States. They have model casting calls and advertise for cell phones and run small stands to raffle away free things.

Opium Nightclub

The nightlife in Barcelona is much more crazy than I could have ever imagined. It is almost as if the people here are nocturnal. It seems that things do not really begin until 2am, and people stay out until about 6am. Many times I cannot keep up with the lack of sleep. Some of my favorite clubs to go to are the ones by Port Olimpic, by the Marina. These clubs are Shoko, Opium and Catwalk. I enjoy these clubs because there is the option of enjoying myself outside near the beach as well. I do enjoy going out as a break from the week when I am going to class each day. I also like to get dressed up nicely to go out and get to wear heels! The clubs in this area are very nice inside, and decorated very beautifully for nightclubs. I often do not like the stares and calls from the locals in these clubs, and it bothers me how forward they are to try and reach out and touch you, and try to get your attention. Many times it makes me feel uncomfortable. I also always keep an eye on my belongings to be sure my phone and wallet do not get stolen. Many Thursdays I find myself at Opium nightclub as that is when many of my American friends go there, and I enjoy going out with them. The drinks are extremely costly, however the club is enormous. I really enjoy when there is an electric violin player there, who plays along with the upbeat music. I find it funny to see the women who are dressed provocatively standing and dancing on the stage, as that is a job that I would never find myself doing. One of my favorite aspects of this club, is that when someone purchases a whole bottle of alcohol at this club, they serve it to you with a plate of fruit. I just like the size of this club, so it never gets too crowded and you don't feel that you are trapped, or being constantly stepped on. There are also so many areas where you can go to hang out that you can surround yourself with many different groups of people. One picture is of the men who are dressed outside in different costumes on stilts. I think they are so funny and I had one lift me up.

Labyrinth Park

The Labyrinth was one of the most fun parks I have ever been to. It is basically like a human maze. It features so many beautiful gardens, but the bushes in the center are shaped in such a way that you can walk through them and get lost between each entrance to the bushes. My friends and I went together in a group of 6 and we raced one another in two groups to see who could get out of the bushes the fastest. As well as the fact that you can get lost once inside the park, it was also puzzling how to actually reach the park from the metro. It was quite confusing to finally get to the long path of steps that led you to the entrance of the park. I would suggest this site to anyone on a beautiful day, as the cost to enter is only 2.17 euro and you can sit in the park for the entire day just in awe at all of the gardens you see. There are many benches to stop and sit at. There is also a little pond/pool area and some old and beautiful statues. The statues are meant to be mythological figures. My favorite area was the pavilion where you could stand from above and look out over the maze of bushes. You can see how it is crafted so neatly and evenly from above and it amazes me to see this. Supposedly there have been films made inside the park because of its immense beauty. It was great to go to for the day for a change of pace. As opposed to being in the middle of the city with so many cars and so much noise, the park was very peaceful and enjoyable to be in.

Casa Batllo - Gaudi House

During the month of February, I took one afternoon to go into Casa Batllo, one of Guadi's famous houses here in Barcelona. It is located right on Passeig Gracia and the entrance fee was only 14 euros for a student. The house is one of the most magnificent houses I have ever been in, and I wish that I lived there. It is said that the whole blue tiling interior of the house and all the walls and ceilings were meant to replicate fish scales. The house was many floors and was extremely interesting to go through. The house was originally built for a wealthy couple to live in along with their servants. It was constructed between 1906 and 1910. The house has no straight lines, instead it is all curved, even the banister for the staircase. The house is extremely colorful with many colored tiles especially on the rooftop and on the outside garden. My favorite part was the rooftop terrace. It has a great view of the entire city, and the roof top itself is beautifully designed with Gaudi's style of rounded edges and mixing of tiles. The house is also known as La Pedrera as a derogatory term for the design of the house which reminds people of a quarry. It was also great that this museum offered an audio guide which explained each room and each piece of artwork in the house. I would suggest to many other students abroad here that they make it to the house at some point or another. It is amazing to see Gaudi's artwork, especially inside of a house to see just how detailed his work can get into the walls, ceilings and door knobs. There are many places like this where I live at home. I always enjoyed going on school trips to places like Teddy Roosevelts' house because I think it is nice when they preserve things and leave them intact for later generations to see. The Gaudi House reminded me most of Monet's House and Garden in Paris. I am not sure why because Monet's house included the whole garden and was not set in a city, but for some reason I got the same feeling from the two places, possibly because I am in Europe and they were both two places preserved well from many years ago.

Los Caracoles

Los Caracoles means snails in Spanish. This is the name of the restaurant I ate at that had great paella. It is located on Calle Escudellers. They have a great variety of seafood as well as paella. I have been there twice and each time I was there I got the seafood paella. The restaurant is very large, with many different rooms and it scares me to see the meats hanging from the ceilings. My favorite part about this place is the men who sing and play guitar, 3 men specifically dressed in Spanish clothing. They go from table to table singing songs and they make for a great deal of entertainment. When you enter the restaurant through the main entrance, you walk past the cooks who are making all of the food which is fun to see all the paella being made. The price of the meal is not very costly, it varies between 20 and 30 euros. The only thing that upsets me about the seafood paella that I continue to order is the prawns. In the United States I am used to just having plain shrimp, and I do not usually have to remove the outer shell. However, at Caracoles, the seafood paella comes with large prawns and I must remove the shell and it disgusts me to have to see the head of the prawn with eyes. Also, I am not very good at removing the shell and many times I feel like my hands are being cut. Another fun part of the restaurant is the bread you are served that is in the shape of snails, like the name of the restaurant. I also must add that I love the mussels there, and I feel their seafood is extremely fresh. It is a fun place to dine with friends, and when it was my friend's birthday, the three men who go around singing, came and sang happy birthday to her which was nice.

Carnaval

Carnaval took place on Tuesday, February 16th. It was one of the most fun nights I have ever experienced. It is the celebration leading up to the holiday of Lent. It is so vigorously celebrated, as it was banned from being enjoyed during the dictatorship of Franco. The night was like nothing I have ever seen. I have never been to Mardi Gras in the United States but I imagine it is even more exciting than that. Almost every single person in attendance is dressed in some costume or another. I felt extremely out of place as I was not dressed up like everyone else. It seemed that there was some cross dressing, while other people on the floats were in the most beautiful costumes with great makeup and hair accessories. It amazes me how peaceful the people of Barcelona can be, while in the United States at parades similar to Carnival with a lot of drinking many people get violent, and police are needed many times. It just goes to show how different the drinking attitude is here when you compare it to the United States. People here do not need to be wildly drunk like people in the United States. Also, some of my friends who were hanging out by the beach got into a little argument, but obviously it was the American students which just further proves that people should adopt the European drinking ways. My favorite part of the night was when I got down to the beach with my friends. We loved dancing on the beach to the music. I also snacked on good french fries down by the beach and we made our way into and out of local bars which were also fun. I did not take the metro there, but I heard the metro was so crowded it was unbearable to move. So many women were wearing beautiful headdresses while other people dressed together in groups. It was funny to see people dressed as avatars, I did not realize it was so popular here. It is amazing to see just how many people could fit in one beach city - there must have been hundreds of thousands of people.

Field Trip 3 - Cathedral, Gothic Quarter, Santa Maria Church

Our most recent field trip was around the same area as the previous two. However this time, we took a closer look at the idea of workshops and we even got to see the Santa Maria church. Although I arrived late to the field trip, I got there in time to learn that many of the street names like Calle de Llena and Calle de Espejo are streets named after the trades that took place in that street. So the two examples above would be the street where wool was made, and the street where mirrors were made. I assume this was simple for the people to know what was taking place in each area. We were fortunate enough to have one woman come out from a small door in one alley way which turned out to be an old workshop. The door was not large at all, and there was a small winding staircase inside. I also found it most interesting to learn about the housing situation in the area, although it may not have been a main focus of the trip. It was sad to find out that landlords strategically try to force the elderly in the buildings to move out, because they are locked in to paying a low rent, so landlords cut their electricity and make it unliveable for them. Moreover, I learned that I should be overly thankful for the invention of the washing machine, or else I would have no career path, or education if I lived in barcelona. Women would have to wash clothing day in and day out, and without a washing machine I would be someone still doing that today. Finally we ended the trip by going inside the Santa Maria church. The church was one of the most beautiful religious buildings I have ever been in. Again, like I said about the first field trip, it amazes me how they could have created such nice stain glasses windows with little or no technology. I will never get over the craftsmanship in so many old buildings. Personally, I am not an extremely religious person and such places never really affect me much at all. I can appreciate the artwork but I do not feel connected in any ways to my religious self when I am in these kinds of places. I am not sure if it is a good or bad thing, but it is just the way I am.

Field Trip 2 - El Barrio Gotico, Cathedral

Our second field trip we walked around the area surrounding the Cathedral, also known as the Gothic Quarters. We met at the Cathedral and began walking around from there. The streets are all very narrow, not big enough for a car to pass through. It was great to see how the old city is preserved so well in this specific area. We passed through the Plaza St. Jaume where the capital building is located - where I have to be sure to get in the building on the last Sunday of the month free of charge. When walking through the streets it was fascinating to see signs still remain above where the street signs hang that show the directions the horses can travel in. Horse and carriage was the mode of transportation hundreds of years ago, so the streets had to be organized in order to direct the traffic flow of horses. My favorite part of the trip was the Jewish Quarter since I come from a Jewish family. It interested me to learn how important the Jews were in dealing with the business and finances of the royal family until the Jews were expelled from Barcelona and/or forced to convert when the Catholic monarchs took their reign. Lastly, some of the grafitti was very cool to look at with incredible craftsmanship although I am not sure if it is legal or not. Before taking this class I never really focused much on grafitti artwork because I saw it more as defacing property than artwork. However now, I usually pay more attention to grafitti and realize that who ever is responsible for the artwork is extremely talented. There is no area similar to this where I come from in New York. It would be great if everything were not so renovated so that you can enjoy some of the history. If you go into New York City there are certain areas that resemble the Gothic Quarters, but definitely not as well preserved, and filled with many more loiterers and homeless people so many people cannot enjoy these kinds of areas.

Field Trip 1 - Barcelona History Museum

Our first field trip took place at the Barcelona History Museum. To get to the museum we used the metro and got off at the Jaume I stop. The museum was very interesting because it held all the actual remains of stone from the very beggining of Barcelona. It is displayed underneath the Plaza del Rey, which means the King's Square. It is located very close to the Cathedral as well. It was fun that you got in the elevator and got to see the years going backwards until you arrived downstairs almost 2000 years in the past. You basically can walk through the Roman Barcino. It was upsetting that you were not allowed to take photos in the museum. I was most interested in the fact that people used the urine as a cleaning agent when doing laundry before any form of detergent was invented. I also was interested to learn that Barcelona is not well known for their wine, and the container that wine is held in can change it's taste. This was another museum where I was shocked by the amount of detail that people from so long ago were able to put into their architecture. Furthermore, all the kitchen tools and the personal care supplies displayed in the windows never cease to amaze me. It surprises me all the time that people were able to have such great craftsmanship without any form of advanced technology. In general I do not sense much differences between a museum in Barcelona and a museum in the United States. They are very similar to one another. However, I was upset that this museum was not more hands on. I always enjoy when I go into museums where you can somehow interact with what is being displayed, or sit and watch a short movie clip that explains more or try something on, or get more involved rather than just observing.