Prepare yourself .

This post isn't going to be like the others. In fact it's not even related to Barcelona at all... It shouldn't come as a surprise that I love writing, and every so often I get really inspired to write. I'd like to start writing short stories and eventually a novel, but I already write poems often (in my book I call them lyrics, but same deal) and of course I'm always writing on this blog. I think in time I'm going to start another blog (I know, you're thinking, whattttt, a THIRD one? It may or may not be an addiction..) that I will post literary works on; things that I'm proud of that I've written, or whatever. Honestly if I do start another blog there probably won't be new posts very often, but that's okay. Anyways, I got inspired with this one, and before you click the 'read more' button I'd like you to clear your head and really try to forget about everything, because I don't think you'll get the full effect if you don't. I'd love some feedback on this one... so hit me up. Enjoy this; hopefully there will be more to come in the future. Also, keep in mind this is still a work in progress.

Music Monday #36

This week's song is If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns.

Barcelona: Day 33 : Reality setting in .

It's been over a month since we've arrived, the festival ends today, and the 4 guys that we hosted who were littering the floor of our tiny flat are on their way back to San Sebastian. It's been pretty nuts so far, but it really is beginning to feel like home, if it hasn't already fully made that transition.

Barcelona: Day 32 : Rainy Days .

Today was the first day in forever that it rained! And it wasn't just a sprinkle, or a short pour for about 10 minutes. Coincidentally this was in the heat of La Mercé, which means that there was a bit of a damper put on festival activities. However, I certainly didn't let it ruin my day. I found it a perfect opportunity to just leave the windows open and listen to the pitter patter of the raindrops on the roof, while lounging around the apartment.

Barcelona: Day 31 : A Night of Failures .

Today we didn't have any class which was so nice. I feel like we've been so busy lately, and it's night to just have a little time off with a three day weekend! La Mercé is this weekend, which is apparently a really big deal, though we haven't been able to figure out even what it's for. However, regardless, there are a lot of things going on, and apparently the entire city is packed! We had some guys come in who were also studying in Spain who were friends of a friend in architecture, and they couldn't find room in any of the hostels in the area. It's really pretty insane.

Barcelona: Day 30 : Real Studio ?

Today was the first day that we had an actual real session of studio. You know, something typical and normal, as opposed to completely out of the ordinary. I was beginning to wonder if we would even have normal studios. They hadn't asked for much today, they just wanted to sort of begin a type of understanding of mapping and some general decisions based on our particular space.

Barcelona: Day 29 : Back to Normal .

So classes resumed as usual today, and we had our European cities class, where we presented an introduction to the public spaces that each group had begun to research. Ryan and I chose the space around the W-Hotel on the coast, also known as Hotel Vela. From the moment you fly into Barcelona, you see it outside the plane window, and it's visible literally from any point on the beach, like a big half moon slice poking up into the sky.

Music Monday #35

Well, lately there have been so many songs that seem to constantly get stuck inside of my head. Recently though, it's been this one: The name is Late Night Special by Ground Up Sounds. Despite the fact that it's easy to find the song anywhere, I can't seem to find the lyrics, which is a total bummer because I definitely wanted to be able to rap along to this.

Barcelona: Day 27 : Row Your Boat .

***Music Monday will be postponed until tomorrow because of the Madrid trip***

Unfortunately, today was the last day in Madrid. I think we've all come to like it quite much here, and it's not just the weather. Today was going to be a short day -- and then we were going to be able to have some free time before we hopped on the train to head back to Barcelona. We ate once more at La Mallorquina for breakfast, which honestly has been the best breakfast we've have so far -- it's literally like eating dessert for breakfast. Kendall and I kept liked our first meal so much that we had it all three days while in Madrid (after all, Clemson was footin' the bill...) And then we moved on to the activities of the day!

Barcelona: Day 26 : Cooler Weather and Gorgeous "Sites" .

Today was great, as the first thing that happened when I walked out the door was the rush of cool air in my face. Oh, how I long for it to be in the 60's everyday! I was almost tempted to go and put on jeans or something of the sort, had it not been for my lack of cooler weather-wear, as I had assumed that Madrid would be just as toasty as Barcelona. However, this day would be yet another great day of exploring. I had my presentation to do, on the Buen Retiro Park, which really held some interesting facts and buried secrets.

Barcelona: Day 25 : Madrid Unwrapped .

So today was our second day in Madrid and we started if off right with some serious breakfast. Food always seems to be super expensive and more often than not I will forgo the desires of my rumbling stomach for fear of spending too much money on things. Breakfast for us was paid for by Clemson, but they limited us to 5€, which, let me tell you, is certainly not very much. However, I must say, what I ended up with was absolutely delicious and quite filling at the same time.

Barcelona: Day 24 : Madrid .

This morning we decided our first official travel trip that would bring us to the center of Spain and Madrid for 4 days. We were traveling by train, taking the new high speed Renfe train from Barcelona to Madrid. Immediately upon arrival, we walked straight into the Atocha Train Station, the main station in Madrid. This was a humbling experience, because this was also the place that the terrorist bombings occurred in 2004. Just as with the September 11th attacks, it was amazing that that was so long ago.

Barcelona: Day 23 : Montjuic .

Today we had studio which was pretty slow, but the real highlight of the day was the materials class. We went up to Montjuic, which is a place that we had already been. But today we got to see a brand new part of everything. We began by taking the subway and the funicular train up into the Montjuic area, and then got up and began the trek up the side of the mountain. We walked alongside the castle in the shade and really got a chance to enjoy once again the sea breeze and the glorious views.

Barcelona: Day 22 : A Couple of Days .

We are soon leaving for Madrid on Friday, and excitement is plentiful. That's not to say it hasn't been up until this point -- but perhaps more than usual, eh? This one is going to be short and sweet. Today we had European Studies and Spanish, both of which seemed to drag on endlessly, but more importantly a group of us decided to go and visit the site of our big studio project.

Barcelona: Day 21 : Beginning to Mesh .

Today we decided to kick off the morning with a beach trip, which turned out to be an excellent decision. The waves were virtually nonexistent, which meant that the water was crystal clear as far as you could see! It was unbelievable seeing water that clear. It was definitely cold, but after laying out for awhile and getting really hot, the water felt extremely refreshing. There was also virtually no wind, which meant that we could finally throw the disc around a bit. It was just the three of us; Ian, Ryan and I, but it definitely was a great kickstart to the morning. There was also no one at the beach, and for a long time there were no illegal vendors bothering you about massages or 'mojito, mojitos' or 'fanta cerveza beers.'

Music Monday #34

This week's song is a new addiction, called Illmerica by Wolfgang Gartner.

Remembering 9.11 .

Every time this day comes around it is always difficult to talk about. I can't believe that already we have hit the 10th anniversary. I could swear it feels like it happened yesterday. The years truly do fly by. And though there is a popular phrase that 'time heals all wounds,' this is one that I don't think will ever fully go away.

Barcelona: Day 18 : Spanish = Death .

Today was the second session of our Saturday Spanish class. And yes, that means 4 hours of Spanish on a Saturday morning. I'm not sure that could get any worse. I suppose we were semi lucky because Barcelona celebrates a holiday on September 11th, when Catalunya got its freedom from its oppressors. It's a big deal, and was tomorrow, so we went out and practiced our Spanish while also learning some things too.

Barcelona: Day 17 : Squeezing the beach .

The only class we had this morning was European Cities, although unfortunately unbeknownst to most of us, this was going to be a serious walking day. The temperature was supposed to be mid 80's, aka a perfect beach day. The plan was to get out of class by 130, grab a pizza and head straight to the beach from class. Things didn't exactly go according to plan... they were seriously delayed by Kathrin, who turned our 4 hour class into a serious 6 hour class. Yikes... Anyways, here are the stories from the day's travels.

Barcelona: Day 16 : Biking in a City .

Today was another day of studio class and today was the day where the professors had set up for us to rent some bikes and ride through the city to various spots of interest, particularly those that exemplified well the creation of public space. There were a couple of things wrong with their thinking. First, having 40 people try to ride through sidewalks and little bike lanes without getting lost, disconnected, or almost completely eating it, is very very hard. Second, there is no way to ensure that you will be done in the allotted time for the class. Needless to say we ran over the mark by an hour... Another thing is that the sites that they took us to didn't really seem to be super extraordinary in any way, except for 1 or 2. Sometimes people would get left behind and a professor would start talking and you'd miss a lot of what they would say.

Barcelona: Day 15 : The Contemporary European City .

Today was the first day of a class I like to call European Cities, even though it's something much more complex and longer than that. European Cities is certainly enough words to say... The class is sort of a mix of a lecture class and the travel class that we have. Often it seems as if we start things in class and then get out there and go see them. Thus, today, we began taking a virtual walk through the city, starting from the east and moving west.

Barcelona: Day 14 : Travel Class 2 .

So today we had our second travel class. I can already tell that this is the class that I will look forward to the most. I really like the professor, as she is extremely knowledgeable about so so many things. She seems to have an endless reservoir of information to pull from, even though she has only been living in Barcelona for 5 years or something like that. She noticed that I like to write a lot of the information down (when the history is right there in front of you and you're taking a million pictures, it'd be nice to go back and see what all of the stories behind the pictures are right?) and sometimes will give me little tidbits about random things, which is great. Anyways, on to the sites!

Music Monday #33

This week's song is Holiday from Real by Jack's Mannequin. However, I chose the a cappella version.

Barcelona: Day 12 : Sunday Freeday .

First thing that was interesting about today was that we tried attending an international church here in Barcelona. It's called ICB (International Church of Barcelona) and is only about 20 or 30 minutes walk from our residence. The service is held in English, but that doesn't mean that everything was perfect. However I wasn't the biggest fan of the service... it was okay though. I'll probably go again simply because it is a real church and is probably better than just watching some stuff online. It was very DCF-ish, for those of you who are in the Clemson area. Being my northern self I found some parts to be weird and a bit in your face and pushy... but I'm sure they were just attempts to be welcome. I think I may actually give this one a shot though.

Barcelona: Day 11 : Castellano .

Today was the first of the dreaded Saturday Spanish classes. I don't think they are technically mandatory but since I am not fluent and certainly nowhere near the fluency of a native speaker, it would make sense to go. There are probably close to 10 classes in total throughout the month of September, and I am relieved that I have had a good amount of Spanish classes that I've taken throughout the years -- I certainly don't feel too lost.

Barcelona: Day 10 : Travel Class

I'm writing this a day late -- you'll have to bear with me some days because we were out pretty late and I was exhausted when we got back -- not to mention we had to get up pretty early for class the next morning. And alsoooo I have a ton to write about!

Barcelona: Day 9 : The Studies Begin .

So today we had our orientation session with the professors in addition to walking to our studio space for the first time. It's quite close, it's really only about 10 or 15 minutes away tops; I suppose in some ways that sort of depends on how busy La Rambla is when you have to cross it. It's in a basement of some building, and on the way over, our main foreign supervisor, Kathrin, pointed out some other design schools and print facilities along the way.