As I said I would, I´m going to talk about my Barcelona experience. In two days, I don´t think we could have fit much more touristy stuff in (and it could not have been any hotter), but it was all worth it. If I had to describe Barcelona in one word, it would be: Gaudi. The way his art dominates the city of Barcelona is incredible. El Parque de Guell, la Pedrera, la Casa Mila, y, por supuesto, La Sagrada Familia. I have never truly experienced the ¨wow¨ factor until I saw this massive church. I can´t even comprehend how someone in the late 19th century and early 20th century could have come up with something so different, so grandiose. To give you an idea of its magnitude, it has been under construction since 1882 and will be under construction until 2030 (and they say it is only 50% finished). The most impressive thing about the building was that everywhere I looked, I saw something different and awe-inspiring. It´s obvious that this was his obsession.
The second thing I have to comment on is what we have learned all summer but have not been able to experience first-hand – la naturaleza independentista de Catalunya. On Sunday, we all wanted to go out and watch the soccer game, despite Ignacio´s warnings that it wouldn´t be as cool of an experience as we hoped. We went anyway, and he was COMPLETELY correct. We had to look 30 minutes for a bar with a television, and the few places that did have people watching the game was either too packed or crowded with Italy fans. We never found a place to watch the game, and we couldn´t experience the amazing finish to it. Then, when we were watching the news later, we saw the highlights and footage of the city of Madrid going absolutely crazy. I realized then, first-hand, that the people of Catalunya view the nation of Spain in a completely different way. There were plenty of Spain supporters out that night, but it didn´t even compare to Madrid. Barcelona is an intellectually advanced city that takes pride in their own culture and their own language, and only partly in their nation.
However, with a city as beautiful and as fun as Barcelona, who can blame them?
-Ryan
p.s. We hung out in the same place as Picasso and Hemingway, jealous?
Also, wordpress is not allowing me to put up pictures, so I´ll have to do it on Facebook.
1 response so far ↓
Jessica Sztaimberg // June 25, 2008 at 8:47 pm |
Hola!
Madrid definitely loves their soccer . I am not a big fan, so I did not experience a game first hand. I loved the culture in Barcelona, there is everything you could want, and more there with the night life, amazing food, great beach, awesome architecture, etc etc etc!
I studied Spanish there, and had an amazing time. I got plenty of chances to practice my Spanish, and people were generally willing to help me out with my conversation skills!
I love Gaudi’s designs too, so original, and shocking, I have great pictures from all his sights I saw!
Oh how I miss Barcelona! Barca barca!