Tarragona!

Hola!

Today I got up around 7:30, showered and ate desayuno. I left around 8, and met my class outside of Casa Battlo by 9. We got a late start because we were waiting for some students who had arrived late. We took the RNFE train, which is one of the trains that go throughout Catalonia and I believe other parts of Spain as well. The inside was very nice, equipped with comfortable seats and even had a bathroom. The ride was roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes and we arrived in Tarragona around 10:30ish. We met my professor, who actually lives in Tarragona which I didn't know before. He makes the commute to Barcelona every day, which is just crazy to me.

It would take me hours to explain all of the history surrounding Tarragona. I will just summarize some of the parts I thought were interesting. Well basically Tarragona used to be the capital of Catalonia, and has been around since the Roman times. Tarragona is now a major industrial port, but has preserved many remnants of its Roman past. Tarraco (Tarragona) was the first provincial capital to be established by Rome.

This entire city was just amazing, and I have never seen anything like it in my life. Some of the ruins there were from the 3rd Century B.C.! It amazed me to think about how old everything was there. Just think..in the US..our country is so young, and there is nothing like this there! I took 280 photos, so I obviously will not be posting all of them, but I will post my favorite ones and try to explain a little bit about them. I was there for about 8 hours, so I saw so many amazing sights that it will be difficult for me to remember them all.

This first picture is while my class was walking up the hill heading for the Roman amphitheater:



These next few pictures are of the amphitheater. Just to give some history it was build around the 2nd century A.D. This amphitheater was the venue for simulated animal hunts, gladiator flights, and also the occasional public execution. It amazed me to think that people had been killed where I was standing in the 2nd century!





This next photo is a great view of some of the remains of the seating area:



This next photo is of my professor explaining the importance of the amphitheater to the class:


These other pictures are just some other view of the amphitheatre:



This next photo is one of my favorites of the day. I was standing on the top of the amphitheater looking out towards the Mediterranean Sea:


After we left the amphitheater we headed towards the Museu Nacional Arqueologic de Tarragona. This museum was roughly 5 stories high and was amazing. This was one of the more interesting museums I have visited because of how old everything is. I took pictures of statues, rocks, sculptures, mosaics but there is just way too much to post. But this museum truly was a great sight to see. It was extremely helpful for my professor to be there..he knows Tarragona in and out.

This photo was on the way to the museum..



Some of my class outside the museum:



Very old Roman ruins..




Very old pottery....

A photo from the top floor, which had statues everywhere. If you play close attention to the mosaic on the ground, you can see the swastika. Very interesting considering the fact that these was centuries before the Nazi's were around..


These next couple of pictures are from the top of the museum which was a beautiful view:




These next pictures are of the entrance to part of the Roman Circus, and a small portion of the circus..



This next picture is another one of my favorites. I was looking through a tunnel that was closed off, that headed towards part of the Roman Circus. My camera flash made the lighting in the picture intense, the normal lighting wasn't like this..


After that, we traveled to the Cathedral which is the highest point of Tarragona. The Cathedral was overwhelmingly large. There were gargoyles outside the church to "scare off" the evil, and also many statues that were made in the front. Although we didn't have the time to go in, I hopefully will be able to the next time I travel to Tarragona.



This is an actual model of how Tarragona looked, and how the city was set up..


The next few pictures I took in the beginning of the Roman Walls..




Part of the Roman Wall....



This next photo is not from the Roman times, but just a theater that was built recently..


The following picture is a view from "La Rambla" (not even close to La Rambla in

Barcelona) it was an excellent view of the Mediterranean..




After the trip was over I was completely exhausted. Although I forgot to mention, we did get a lunch break around 13:30. I met some more people from my class which was fun, I definitely love meeting new people each day. Tarragona was my favorite trip yet because I have never seen anything like this before. We have nothing even close to this in the US, which really made me appreciate my trip to Tarragona. The cities rich and important history explains itself and it was great to have the opportunity to see the first provincial capital to be established by Rome.

This next picture is my favorite of the entire trip. An amazing view of the Roman amphitheater and also the Mediterranean..



I definitely plan to go back in the summer, where the beaches are extremely packed. The Mediterranean cost is absolutely beautiful and very popular during the summer months. I talked with my professor for a while on the way back to the train station, and he is a real nice guy. He is originally from Belgium, but lived in England for many years, and met his wife who is from Tarragona, and has been living there for 4 years. He asked us many questions about the US, and how our education systems are different, and many other topics that I will not get into. I wish I could further explain my experience but it would take me too much time to write it all out!

Hola!

Hola!

This morning I woke up early pretty early, showered and got down to class early again. I signed up for the Montserrat trip again since it had been rescheduled for April. My history class was okay, just lecture and discussed out trip to Tarragona tomorrow, which I am excited about.

After class I met up with one of my friends from class and we went to the history museum! We actually made it there this time, which was a relief. We were there for maybe a hour or so, and it was definitely an amazing sight. This first picture is just of a little market that was set up outside of the Barcelona Cathedral, which had jewelry, souvenirs, books, and much more:




This next picture is just outside of the Museu d'Historia de la Ciutat:



Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but I managed to snap a few pictures anyways. This museum was extremely old and was filled with Roman ruins which was interesting. We listened to audio cassette players which explained the sights we were seeing. Some of the ruins in there were from the 2nd century AD, very interesting. This next picture is one of the only ones that turned out from inside the museum:




After the museum I went to the gym, relaxed in the sauna, showered and went to my oceanography class. I have a feeling that the field trips will be awesome, but the classes sure are boring. After class I went to the IES 2 center to print some PowerPoint slides and check my email since I had some time to kill before the wine class at 7.

I got to the class early, and they weren't ready for me so I just walked around for a half hour or so and went to the ATM. I exchanged the $45 USD that I had and was pleasantly surprised that the dollar was only 1.29 to the Euro! I went to the class and 3 of the girls from my Spanish class were all there which was pretty cool. 20 people signed up for the class, but only 6 showed up! This next picture is outside of the wine shop:



The class was very interesting and informative. Our instructor Jordi, knew exactly what he was talking about, and was a very cool guy. We tried Cava, which is similar to Champagne and is made here in Catalunya. Cava is very cheap here in Catalunya, but only because it made here. We tried some white wines, but the red wine was excellent. We sat around our table for a while and talked with each other before they closed.



This next picture is our table we had set up for 20!



After the class I went out for a little while to a small restaurant which was near the wine place. I got to know some of the people from my class a little bit more, which was cool. I called Anna and told her I would be eating, and home later...which I ended up not eating anything at all. I got home and told her the situation and she of course heated me up dinner. She really is the sweetest person. We watched the rest of the Barca VS. Espanol futbol game, and a lot of my friends were there. I wish that I could of gone, but I definitely don't regret taking the wine class. Barcelona won 3-2, and the end of the game was very exciting!

I'm very tired right now and have had an extremely long day. Tomorrow I will be meeting my history class at Casa Battlo at 9 in the morning. We are traveling to Tarragona to visit some of the Roman ruins there, which I am excited to see. I will probably be posting many pictures tomorrow and writing about my trip. Most of my friends are traveling to varies countries this weekend...Rome, Brussels, London, and Amsterdam just to name a few!

Bona nit!

Buenas Noches!

Buenas Noches!

Sorry I haven't posted in the last couple of days..I've been pretty busy. Let's see..the last couple of days have been pretty good. Classes are okay, some have been boring..but I'm hoping they will get better as the semester goes on. Yesterday I spent the day walking around the city trying to find the history museum of the city with a friend from class. We finally got there around 2ish and of course it was closed from 2-4:30. It was pretty frustrating, but we are going tomorrow and I heard that it's pretty cool. I took a picture outside of the museum, but I will take more tomorrow..



I also walked in front of the Generiltat de Cataluña:



Today I got up early somehow, and even had time to shower. It sure is a relief that I figured out how to get hot water..it makes it much easier to shower in the morning. I got down to IES 15 minutes early like usual and hung out with a few people before going into class. The class was basically lecture the entire time, but I talked to some other classmates about the History Museum and apparently it is awesome...so I'm definitely looking forward to that tomorrow.

After class I went to my Spanish class which was fun as usual. I got an A on my first preuba (quiz) which I'm happy about. After Spanish was over my friend Nick and I went to this nice little restaurant that supposedly had an excellent menu del dia, which is basically a lunch menu....they are very common during the day in Barcelona. These menus typically have a first dish...usually consisting of a soup, salad, fish, or pasta dish. The second dish is usually some type of meat..usually a choice between steak, chicken, or fish. The third dish usually gives you the option of a gelato, a piece of cake, or fruit.

My friend Nick's señora at his house made him a list of nice restaurants that had excellent lunch menus. This restaurant was very fancy inside, had a lunch menu for 9 Euros! I ate a pasta with pesto sauce as my first dish, a piece of steak as my second dish, and had an excellent banana fudge gelato (Kind of reminds me of the kind the had at Mandilies). Anyways, lunch was great and I definitely enjoyed my meal.

I have still yet to go to the ATM, and am going strong on about 17 Euros right now haha..so hopefully I will be able to stay strong. I have $50 USD, so hopefully I can exchange that to avoid withdrawing from an ATM.

I've been studying for the majority of the night, and just ate dinner. I ate pretty late tonight (9:30, which is still normal for most of the Spanish who typically eat between 9:30-11) and la cena was delicious. I had arroz con gambas, ensalada, pan, y pescado. The pescado (fish) I had was white, but Anna couldn't remember its name, but I definitely enjoyed it. The following photo is just my primer plato I had this evening, arroz con gambas, mi ensalada, y pan:



We'll my internet has been slow recently and it definitely has been frustrating but nothing I can really do about it! My trip to Montserrat got canceled this weekend due to a landslide on the road going up to the mountain. It has been rescheduled for April 18, so I still have a while until that trip. Tomorrow night I am taking a wine tasting class which will be fun, and then on Friday I am going to Tarragona with my history class.

Voy a estudiar...

Ciao!

Ciao!

Today I got down to my 9 AM class about 15 minutes early which game me some time to grab a newspaper and catch up on some of the local news. Of course the front page covered the tragedy that happened with the children who were killed after a roof collapsed in the gym they were in. The entire city seems to be taking this to heart as it was all my professors were talking about today. Last night when I was watching the fútbol game they had a moment of silence which was pretty cool.

One thing I have noticed out here is that on the Spanish and even the Catalonia news channels..they have international news. It really is interesting and I was very surprised about how much US coverage is out here. Last night I watched my first Spanish TV show and it was pretty good, but not as good as the US shows. However, every day there are American movies on or American TV shows which is crazy. I wasn't really aware of how global the American entertainment industry. In random restaurants there is American music playing, and even in the gym they play American songs. Maybe it is just because Barcelona is such a diverse city, but Anna was telling me about how popular it really is.

I actually was talking with my RA Irene who lived in the US for some time, and I asked her what she thought was the biggest difference between Spain and the US. Everything is obviously different, different culture, different food, different values...but I wanted to get a perspective from an española. Her response was that television was one of the aspects that was very different. She said that in Spain...you hear about the US and other countries..their politics, economy, culture, etc.. In the US she said that for the 6 months she was there she didn't see one thing about Spain on US television. Which is true..I was trying to think of a time I saw something about Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland? I couldn't think of any..I honestly couldn't think of one time I saw anything on television. It's always about America..I mean we probably have 10 different news stations..and they all talk about the same news. It really is interesting once you think of it.

Anyways, my first class today was a lecture..thankfully the class is interesting so it wasn't too bad. We have to go on a self-guided field study to Museu d'historia de la Ciutat, so me and one of my classmates are going tomorrow which will be interesting. We need to write a short reflection and analysis of the museum in our journal, and we get reimbursed which is nice.

I got a caffe at Il Caffe' di Roma and relaxed before class. I had my first Spanish prueba (quiz) today, which wasn't too bad. But since the class is 7 credit hours, and two classes combined..we move at a very fast pace. After class I went out to an American Bagel store with some of my friends from class, and we ran into some other classmates. The restaurant was filled with tourists, mostly American..but I had some sandwich which was pretty good. This is the only "bagel" place in town..so the prices are pretty high.

After lunch we all went to the IES 2 Center which is located down the street off of Passeig de Gracia. IES shares the building with other businesses and caffes, but I really am surprised how nice their facilities are. I just wanted to check out the center, and everyone else was staying to study because they had class in a couple hours, As I was walking down the stairs a woman approached me and began speaking to me. She works for IES and we walked to the IES 1 center together and talked. She was from Italy which I thought was awesome, and has family in Rome and Sicily. I tried speaking in my broken Italian to her..but she said it wasn't too bad.

Since I was done with class I decided to go to the gym and workout. After relaxing in the sauna and showering, I headed to the metro to return home.

Tonight we are ordering pizza (I guess that they deliver pizzas here) because Anna will be in the hospital visiting her brother. I'm interested to see what this pizza will be like, but I have yet to have food that I don't like. Hopefully I will get some nice pictures tomorrow that I can post.

Ciao!

Windy City in Barcelona?

Ciao!

I woke up this morning around 11 at ate my usual breakfast. I decided that I wanted to go down La Rambla to check out some of the sights I haven't seen yet. I really was looking forward to seeing Gauid's Palau Guell, but unfortunately it closed at 2:30 and I didn't get a chance to see it. Before I left Anna told me to bring my coat because it was very windy today. I figured I would listen and bring my coat, but wasn't too worried since it's windy every day at home.

Once I got home from La Rambla I went on CNN.com, and the front page headline was "Four Boys Killed in Roof Collapse as Storms Batter Spain". This happened outside of Barcelona, near a sports center. The Spanish media have reported winds of up to 160 km per hour (99 mph) in parts of Catalonia. The winds would accompany a Category 2 hurricane,ranging from 96-110 mph (154 - 177 km/hr). So as you can see, it was very windy today...which cut my exploring short.

Anyways I left mi casa around 12:30 and got down to La Rambla around 1ish. First Font de Canaletes which is at the beginning of La rambla. It is said that if you drink from the fountain you "will fall in love with Barcelona and always return".



I continued to walk down La Rambla and turned off a side street to try and find one of the art museums, which I never found. I walked around a small area called "El Raval" It is a very old-fashioned area but is slowly changing. There is a lot of medieval archictecture there, but I didn't want to spend the day there...so I headed back to Las Ramblas. These next couple picture are in El Raval, the one of me is small, I forgot to enlarge it.





We found a small caffe where we could eat outside, but the strong winds took away from the meal. We only sat outside because it was 4 Euro cheaper. For 8 Euros we got a variety of tapas...




And also a seafood and chicken paella, which was interesting. I still don't know how I felt about that paella because I'm pretty sure some of the seafood was still living, but I still ate it. This picture below is of the paella and if you look closely you can see the eyes and legs on the shrimp!

\

After lunch we headed down to the Monument a Colom where we admired this enormous statue of Christopher Columbus. Apparently there is an elevator that takes visitors to the top for a sensational view...but I definitely didn't see an elevator! This statue is very interesting and has engraving all over it. The monument is 262 feet tall, and was built in 1888.






This next picture I was standing on the Colom monument and looking towards the Port. It's too bad that the day was so crummy because usually it is an amazing sight.



The next photo is just of one of the buildings Port of Barcelona..



Frustrated with the strong winds, we decided to head back. Once I got back I strolled around Maragall for a little bit and checked out of the area that I had yet to see. It's definitely a nice area, and it's not far from the mountains either.



Tonight I might be going to Camp Nou again to see the futbol game..but it really depends on how expensive the tickets are. If not I will be going out to the city for another great night in Barcelona...hopefully the winds will die down!

Finally got to workout!

Today I woke up around 9:30 after another great night of sleep. I ate breakfast and headed to the university feeling very awake and energetic. Class went pretty well, and most of the students showed up late which was pretty funny. But I really enjoy my Spanish class, definitely my favorite out of the other classes that I have. I was planning on going to Sitges or Poblet tomorrow, but it doesn't look like it's going to end up working out. I think I am going to end up seeing some more of Barcelona, which will be good...hopefully I will be able to see some more of Gaudi. We talked to our professora, Marga after class..and she advised us not to visit Sitgest because there really isn't much to see.

After class I had to be home by 3 to meet with my RA (this is a standard procedure for home stays) just to talk about our experience and how we are adapting and enjoying the Spanish life. We talked for a little while, and then I took the metro with Irene to the city because I was finally going to workout. DIR is an interesting gym, and has free weights, machines, tredmils, saunas, hot tubs, tanning beds...pretty much everything you can think of. The free weights and machines are outdated...but it will be fine! After I was finished with my workout I headed home to eat la cena and ducharme (shower).

We had an excellent dinner, something that I have never had before. We had Arroz a la Cubana, which is rice, salt, tomato sauce, a fried egg, garlic, and some other items as well. This dish was very good, and was a combination of many different tastes.



The following photo is a picture of buitfarra, which is a meat that is eaten very often in Catalunya. It tastes like a normal piece of sausage, but much more rich.



After dinner I relaxed for a little bit and then talked to some people and decided that I would go out. I went to a place that was basically a mix of locals and Americans which was pretty cool. I met some people from England, and also a girl whose father was "supposedly" the captain of the US Navy, which is definitely interesting if it is true.

I just got home a couple of minutes ago and tomorrow I hope to either travel to another province of Catalunya or just see some more sights in the city. I hope to take some more pictures that I can post, but this is all that I have for now.

A domani

Browsing around town and my first field study...

Hola!

Surprisingly I got a great sleep last night, for those who know me..it is quite unusual when I get "great" sleep. I was feeling excellent this morning and even had a hot shower..definitely a good start to the day. I believe that I figured out the trick to get hot water..less water pressure. I got down to the university a little early and got a good seat in my class. This room is very small, and will definitely be brutal once the warmer months come. Class was pretty boring as the professor basically lectured for the full hour and a half. Next weekend I am going to Montserrat, which is a trip that IES organized and will be traveling with us. However my professor for my history class schedule a mandatory field study next Friday. Most of our class was upset since half of us made previous plans to travel, or are going on the IES trip. After talking with IES, our professor pretty much told our class that if we can't make the field trip on Friday, we must go on our own time? This is ridiculous because IES planned a trip next weekend, and you must pay in advance...the money is not refundable. Not sure how that is fair, but a group of my classmates are planning to do the study this Sunday instead.

After class I went to il caffe roma. I feel like I'm basically a regular there as I have been there each day this week. A couple girls that I met at orientation were having a caffe there so I sat with them for some time. Then I headed to DIR to finally get a gym membership, which I did! 200 Euros though, but it is a four month pass, which is nice. They have free weights, machines, classes, tanning beds, saunas, hot tubs..it's no Lifetime, but it will do just fine!

I didn't have any studying to do so I decided that I would go check out the Arc de Triomf which is an enormous arc that was designed in 1888 by Josep Vilaseca i Casanoves. The Arc de Triomf is one of the entrances to the Parc de la Ciutadella.



This next photo I am actually underneath the Arc de Triomf looking straight ahead towards the park...



I decided I wanted to browse around El Born, which is a tiny district with extremely narrow streets. While El Born still seems to be relatively medieval, it is slowly becoming more modern. I love that area because most of it is very local and the streets and alleys are filled with small tiendas and caffes.






The Picasso Museum that I previously visited is also located in the Born, which is a huge tourist attraction. This is also one of the reasons some of the tapas and caffes are becoming more expensive.



These next photo is the back of el Mercat del Born, which is a famous market here in Barcelona..



I found a nice little caffe to have lunch. I ate una bocidilla con jamon y queso (ham and cheese sandwich) and had una caffe con leche. I relaxed and read a chapter for my history class and then left to go to class.



I ended up running into a friend on the way to IES, and thankfully I did because I was a little bit turned around. I thought I knew my way around and tried taking some side streets, but it didn't work too well. I went with her to get a book since I had some time to kill, and then we headed to IES where I met my Oceanography class outside.

We met outside and followed our professor to the bus stop and took a short bus ride to the aquarium. As we got there I was surprised how big the aquarium was. According to my Barcelona Travel Guide, L'Aquarium is one of the largest in Europe. My professor guided us through the aquarium and I realized how intelligent this man is. He knew everything about the entire aquarium and although his English isn't amazing, he still was very impressive.





There were thousands of different species in the aquarium but my favorite part were definitely the sharks. I tried getting the best pictures I could, but we weren't supposed to use our flash so some pictures turned out better than others.





This next picture was in the octopus tank, and I believe it may have been eating a fish...



I am very content with my decision to take this Mediterranean Oceanography class. I really have no background in oceanography and am excited to learn about it. Our class has the privilege to go on these field studies which will make it much easier to learn. This trip to the aquarium was very convenient since I planned on going in my own time, but instead, I got to go for free with my class (it is usually 15 Euros).

I'm about to eat la cena, I don't know what we are having yet..but I'm sure it will be something great. Tomorrow I might go travel a hour outside of Barcelona to hangout with some locals that my friend met. Hopefully will be able to post tomorrow, but if not I will sometime this weekend!