A concert, a soccer game, and an airshow

On Friday night we went to an MTV concert near the Olympic stadium. Five bands played, and two of them were ones I am familiar with--Daniel Powter and Katie Perry. Neither of them headlined, so the other band (Pig Noise) must be fairly big in Europe, but I hadn't heard of them before. The concert was broadcast live on MTV throughout southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France) so all of the announcements/introductions were made in English, ironically, and then I suppose they were subtitled in various languages for each country.

On Saturday I visited the official FC Barcelona team store, and was going to buy a soccer jersey, but couldnt decide which player I wanted to get, so I didnt get it yet. I guess I need to watch a few more games and learn more about the team.

Saturday night FC Barcelona (typically called Barca--pronounced "barsa") played against the other team from Barcelona called Espanyol (Catalan spelling). Barca is a much better team than Espanyol, but this is still a heated rivalry and usually ends up being a much closer game than it should be. It was a violent game too, as a couple red cards were handed out in the first half. Espanyol had the lead for most of the game, and towards the middle of the second half they had to stop the game to let the police quiet down a riot in the stands and put out a couple of fires. Immediately after that, Barca scored two quick goals and ended up winning the game 2-1. Go Barca!

Today (Sunday) I went to a big airshow down by the beach at a place called El Forum. There were a number of stands set up with posters, pictures, etc about different flying clubs around here. I met a Spanish Air Force pilot, and told him that I'm a pilot and we talked about airplanes for a little while. There were a number of different planes flying overhead, some military, some acrobatic, and some helicopters too. The coolest thing was a jet that did a few maneuvers and then came back around for a low pass, hitting just below the speed of sound right above us (he didn't break the sound barier quite, or else it would have deafened everyone watching) but he got close enough that you could see the condensation ring around the plane form, which happens right before you break the sound barrier. I didnt get a good picture, or else it would make more sense.

As for the rest of the afternoon, I don't have a lot going on. I might go to the Hard Rock Cafe downtown and find out if they show football games there, particularly the Broncos game. I doubt I will be able to find anywhere to show it, but it's worth a try.

Click here to see my photos of the concert and airshow:

Concert and Airshow Sept 26, 28

Finnishing up the week of festivals

This week has been full of more festivities from the La Merce festival here in town. On Tuesday night I went to a couple concerts--one salsa/merenge band, and a British pop/rock band. Neither were groups I had ever heard of before, but both seem to be pretty big names out here and were fun concerts.

Wednesday was the final day of the festival. The final event is a huge "Piromusical" close to Montjuic. This involves a huge fireworks show, timed with live music and with the huge fountain at the end of the plaza in front of the palace. It was an amazing fireworks show, by far the most impressive one I have ever seen. We managed to get good spots not far from the fountain, but the entire plaza and surrounding area was packed to the brim--I think all of Barcelona was there. After the fireworks, there was no hope of getting on the Metro, so I walked one and a half hours to get home.

Today I had one class in the afternoon, then I went to see a new movie called "Che, el Argentino" about Che Guevarra. Although this is in no way connected with "The Motorcycle Diaries" it seems to pick up right where that one left off. It starts with Che being introduced to Fidel Castro when both were virtually unknown, and chronicles their experience as they assembled a guerilla army and successfully led the revolution in Cuba. Benicio del Torro plays Che, and most of the movie is in Spanish, but I am sure it would be available in the US in English. I would recommend seeing it to anyone who gets a chance.

Tomorrow we are planning to go to a concert that is only a few blocks from my apartment: among those playing are Daniel Powter and Katy Perry.

On Saturday is the big rivaly game between the two local soccer clubs: FC Barcelona and FC Espanyol. That will be a pretty big deal, and I am sure I will end up watching it somewhere, either at home or at a restaurant.

And, Sunday there is a big airshow here. I am going with a few other students, and will no doubt spend the day inparting my aviation knowledge upon them. And, maybe I'll make some aviation connections here in Spain.

Click here to see my photos of the Piromusical:

Piromusical Sept. 24

That's all for tonight.

Festival La Merce and a trip to Montserrat

Well the end of the week and this weekend have been busy for me so far...but in a good way.

Thursday I had another day of class--my first time in my advanced grammar class called Morfosintaxis. I really like the teacher (I have had other grammar classes from him already during orientation) and like all the other classes, I am looking forward to this one.

On Friday we had to take our first test over the history class we took during our trip to Leon and Burgos. I think it went pretty well, as it was just mainly an essay explaining the various Gothic architectural elements we saw in the places we visited.


Montserrat:

For Saturday, I made plans to go up to a mountain close to Barcelona called Montserrat. I let a few people know about it, and left an open invitation to anyone who wanted to join me on the day trip. As it turned out, we had a group of 9 students go, and I ended up playing tour guide because I was the only one who had done all the research on getting there and what was actually up there, but that was OK and fun for the most part.

There was a lot involved in getting up there: first I took the metro to the station where the Montserrat train left from, then we took a train that went to the base of the mountain (about 50km outside of Barcelona), where we got on a mountain tram that took us half way up the mountain to the basilica and monastery of Montserrat. Montserrat is actually the oldest music school in Europe, and has a world-famed boys choir that puts on a free concert daily at 1pm, but sadly we couldn't see them because there was a wedding going on in the church instead. We did get to see the inside of the church, and waited in line for 40 minutes to see the black Madonna--I will explain this in the next paragraph--and went into the art museum. The museum was a lot of fun, as it had paintings by Picasso, Monet, Dali and quite a few others.

The black Madonna is a statue of the patron saint of Cataluna, and is particularly interesting because she is black-skinned. The story goes that she was not origionally made black, that she became black from the smoke from all of the prayer candles that were burned under her, but now she is just assumed to be a black saint and is a source of pride in the region. I'm not actually positive, but depending on who you ask she might be the only black saint ordained by the Catholic church.

Anyways, after visiting the church and the museum, we took another mountain tram up to the top of the mountain. The whole think was socked in for the most part by clouds. Although this took away from the view, it added a mystical or eerie air to the place. We hiked around for a while, going to a few of the small peaks and enjoying the cool air.

Click this link to see my photos of Montserrat:

Montserrat Sept. 20

Festival La Merce:

After we got back from Montserrat, we each went back to hour host families for dinner, then I met up with three others to take in some of the festivities of La Merce. This is a city-wide festival that goes on from Friday through Wednesday--every major plaza or attraction hosts free concerts and events all week. It is really something to see. For the second night in a row, we went down to the beach to watch fireworks. After we saw the fireworks Saturday night, we found a little cafe that specializes in chocolate. They offer 23 different types of chocolate, which comes in a cup, but you eat it with a spoon--the consistency is something between pudding and hot cocoa.

Tomorrow I plan to take in a few more of the free concerts or events, and see what else the day throws my way.

First day of classes at the UB

Today I started my actual classes at the Universidad de Barcelona.

My first class was at 10am at the Facultad de Economicas, called Organizacion de Economicas Internacionales (or Organization of International Economics). The Economics campus is a 30 minute ride away on the metro. I got there a little early, and it took me a little while to figure out exactly where I was going, but I made it to class on time and all was well. I sat next to a girl who said she is taking the class for the second time (she didn't pass the first time) and she also said that typically only about half of the class passes this class. So, I am a little intimidated by that but I think for now I'll stick it out and see if I can't be part of the half that passes it.

It does, however, sound like a really interesting class. Today's professor (there are three different ones that rotate throughout the semester) was very easy for me to understand and had a good sense of humor and made it sound like we will be talking about a lot of current issues that could be very interesting. Out of the 50 or so in the class, there were about 8 or 10 or so that raised their hands when he asked how many exchange students were in the class.

After that class, I went home for lunch and my host mom cooked me an alfredo pasta and baked fish...yumm. Then it was time to head to the Facultad de Historia--which is only a 15 minute ride away on the metro--for Union Europea and Psicologia Politica (European Union and Political Psychology).

European Union sounds like it will be a very good class as well. The professor talks very fast and with a very thick accent, so of the American students in the class I was one of the few who actually can understand him. But this class also sounds like it will touch on a lot of current issues and good topics.

Political Psychology was a class I was intending to audit rather than take for credit. The professor talks slowly (which almost put me to sleep) but he is easy to understand and again the curriculum sounds very interesting. I am not sure if I will audit this class, or take it for credit instead of taking the beginner Catalan class. This one would fit better into my schedule, and Catalan will be relatively useless to me once I leave Barcelona, so this might be a better class for me to be taking for credit. We will see.

This afternoon I am just taking it easy, catching up on blog and photos and email and such. I might try to find something fun to do this evening since my only class tomorrow is at 2pm, and then I dont have class on Fridays (3-day weekends all semester!!).

That's all for now. Peace.

Leon y Burgos (y un rato en Zaragoza tambien)

I just got back to Barcelona from our 5-day trip to Leon and Burgos--two very old and culturally-rich cities in the northern interior of Spain. We spent the first two nights (Friday and Saturday nights) in Leon, then the next two (Sunday and Monday nights) in Burgos.

We left early Monday morning for a long bus ride to Leon. We were told that the trip would take 12 hours, but I think it only involved about 6 or 7 hours of actual driving and the rest was due to the stops we made. We had a 2 hour lunch break in the outskirts of Zaragoza, where I went by myself through some winding streets to find a cafe where there would be locals instead of hanging out in the touristy places. This was a lot of fun, and I ended up drinking coffee with two older gentlemen from the area, one of whom was glad to tell me all about the various tapas that they had there.

We arrived in Leon at 7, and checked into our hotel about 3 blocks from the main cathedral and central plaza. Then we went out to explore. I dont remember how much I have talked already about "tapas," but they are a tradition in Spain, particularly in the interior of the country. The concept comes from way back when bars would serve drinks, but would carry them to the table with a piece of bread or toast on top of them so that bugs or dust wouldn't get in the drinks. Hence the name "tapa" which means "lid" in Spanish. Now, tapas are often much more extravagent than a simple piece of bread. They can be anything from a few olives, to a skewer of shrimp to "tortilla de patatas," and everything inbetween. It is customary to spend an evening on the town hopping from one tapa bar to the next, ordering one small glass of wine or beer and sampling the specialty tapas before moving on to the next one. In some places, it is even considered rude to order more than one drink or tapa at one place. In most places in Spain, you have to pay for all of your tapas individually, but Leon maintains the tradition of offering free tapas when you buy a drink. So, you can order a small glass of wine, beer, soda, water or juice for about $1.50 Euro and sample the tapas for free. And this is exactly how we passed the first evening in Leon--I started out with a large group of people, but we quickly realized that that was not the way to go, so Adam and I went on our own to explore. We had a really great time, as most of the bartenders were more than willing to explain their specialties, and even advise us on where would be a good place to make our next stop. The neighborhood where we spent most of the evening is called Barrio Humedo (which means humid neighborhood) but not because of the weather, rather because it is just packed with bars everywhere you look.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel then went for a walking tour around Leon. I should mention that our tour guide for the trip was Gustavo Vega, a senior art professor at the University of Barcelona, well-known artists throughout the region who's art is displayed publicly in a number of places, and a native of Leon. We went into three places before lunch: San Isidoro de Leon, el hostal de San Marcos, and el Palacio de los Guzmanes. (I will add more details about these later)

We got food at a supermarket for lunch and made sandwiches in the plaza. After lunch, we visited the Catedral de Leon. This is the main one on the central plaza, and it is enormous. Most of it is currently under restoration, so the entire right side is covered with green mesh, but the parts that we could see were magnificent. The inside had huge vaulted ceilings, lavish tributes to various saints, and tons of huge stained-glass windows that made for a very colorful look. We got to climb the stairs up to the back balcony for a view from above, where a guide explained all of the stories that were told with the stained-glass murals around the church.

After visiting the cathedral, we were free for the rest of the evening. We spent this time going shopping (I have yet to buy any clothes--I'm trying to hold off as long as possible) and had a few tapas before returning to the hotel to go to bed.

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel in Leon and took the bus to Astorga for the morning. Here we visited a building that was designed by Gaudi called el Palacio Episcopal de Astorga. When the church wanted to build a residence for the bishops of the region, they called upon a well-known Catalan architect--Gaudi--to design it. Gaudi, however, was not from the region and didn't know how cold it was in the region during the winter, so he didn't take into account heating when he designed it. The building is gorgeous, but nobody ever lived in it because it was too cold. Oops. Also, Astorga is only 50 km away from a couple ski resorts in the Pyrenees mountains, so I will have to keep that in mind once ski season begins here.

After the tour of the Palacio Episcopal we went next door to the Catedral de Astorga. This also is a very important catherdral to the early catholic church, and was lavishly decorated inside. We took the bus back to Leon to have lunch, then got back on the bus for a 3-hour bus ride to Burgos. Burgos is one of the oldest cities in Spain, and had all kinds of fascinating architecture as well.

When we got to Burgos we had the afternoon free to explore the downtown area. Like Leon, tapas bars were a dime a dozen. But here it is no longer tradition to offer many free tapas, so it was a little more expensive to fill up on them for dinner. When I got back to the hotel, I watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (with Sean Connery) in Spanish.

Monday morning we visited the Cartuja de Miraflores. A cartuja is a monastery. In this particular monastery, all of the monks take a vow of silence. The only time that they are allowed to speak is during the Sunday church services when they read scripture and sing in the choir. Just to get a taste of what that is like, a couple of my classmates and I took our own vows of silence during the 3-hour tour. That was hard enough to do--I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without ever talking.

After lunch we did our last group tour of a cathedral in the Catedral de Burgos in the center of town. This one was even more impressive than the others that we had seen, as it was painted with vibrant colors and murals all over the ceilings and walls. There was also a very interesting art museum attached to the cathedral that we spent a lot of time in. After our group tour of the cathedral, a few of us hiked up a hill to where there was supposed to be a castle overlooking the city. When we got there, the castle didn't look interesting enough to justify the $3.50 Euro to go in, so we just enjoyed the view of the city and the valley before going back into town. We ate dinner at a Greek restaurant and then stopped for a tapa on the way back to the hotel for dessert.

Tuesday morning we packed up and got on the bus for the long trip back to Barcelona. For lunch we stopped in Zaragoza, a town about three hours outside of Barcelona. It is built around the Hebrero River, and has another very interesting cathedral along the river. I decided to go inside the cathedral during our lunch stop, and with a few classmates we used our recently acquired knowledge of the time periods of architecture to analyze the structure and art. We ultimately decided that it must be a Neoclassical church, built a little after the Baroque era. We never got that ultimately confirmed from anyone who would actually know, but I feel pretty confident in our analysis.

And now, I have just finished dinner back with my host family. They are watching a "telenovela" or TV drama in Catalan and I am working on blogging and getting my pictures onto my computer. Classes at the University start tomorrow, so I will definitely have stories to tell about that. Tomorrow I have Economics at 10am, then European Union at 2pm, and I am planning to audit the political psychology class at 4pm, so I should have a busy day.


Something I wanted to add about our trip to Leon and Burgos:
The Camino de Santiago is a very popular Catholic pilgrimage, and it passes right through the region we were in. In fact, I could see people with backpacks hiking the trail from the highway during most of the drive. Santiago de Compostella is one of the three Holy Places of the Catholic faith--the other two being Rome and Jerusalem. Those of you who have read the Da Vinci Code or any similar literature, remember the Knights Templars who were charged with protecting the pilgrims along this very road that goes from Rome through Spain to Santiago. Now, the trail is used by persons making the trek for both religious and adventurous motives. The part of the road that goes through Spain takes approximately 20-30 days to walk in its entirety, and some pilgrims who begin up in Germany take 45 to 60 days to complete the one-way journey.

That being said, I would like to extend an invitation to anyone to join me to hike part of the Camino de Santiago, possibly in January. I have had some interest in doing this trek ever since I read a book by Paulo Coelho called The Pilgrimage (I would recommend reading it if you get a chance). This interest only became stronger as I saw and experienced the road and some of the sights that it passes along. I don't think that I would want to undertake the entire trek--maybe a week or so of walking would be more sensible--and I would rather do it with someone else, so let me know if you have any interest in getting to know Spain and experiencing part of the Camino de Santiago.

Click this link to see my photos of the trip:

Leon, Burgos, Astoria and Zaragoza (Orientation and Art History trip)

Well, that's all for now. I will have more after I start classes, either tomorrow or Thursday.

Peace.

Finnishing up Week 2

Yesterday we had our last day of language/grammar classes at the UB. Tomorrow we are leaving (early) for Leon in the region of Castilla--this is in the northwestern corner of the country. The weather is supposed to be much cooler and maybe rainy there, so that could be a nice change of pace from the constant hot and humid that we've had in Barca so far.

Last night a group of us went to a nightclub called Bikini. It is the second biggest club in Barcelona, next to the Razzmatazz (which is only three blocks from my apartment). The Bikini, however, is where more Spaniards and fewer "extranjeros" go. Most of the group went at 10:30, but following the advice of my host family I didn't head out till around midnight. This was fine, since it was still fairly empty at that time, as most Spaniards start heading to clubs around 1 or 2 am. There were three big dance rooms, each with its own DJ--one for techno, one for American and Brit hip-hop, and the other for Spanish House music. We spent most of our time in the hip-hop room. I had a lot of fun, and surprisingly met a lot of people there too. The club was open until 5am, but I took off around 4am. I had a lot of fun, but I dont think I'll be able to go back there very often at all, since the cover alone costs 18 Euro (about $28 USD).

Luckily, today is a holliday, as I mentioned in an earlier post (a holliday celebrating when Cataluna was defeated by the Spanish). This means that everything is closed, and there is no class, but fortunately also all the museums in the city are free. I went with Lexi to Montjuic (the Jewish Mountain) where there are three or four different museums. Since they all closed at 2:30, we only visited one, but it was fascinating. It is called the MNAC, or Museu Nacional D'Art de Cataluna. It has various exhibits, including Romanesque art, Gothic art, Renaissance/Baroque art, and Modern art. There are also two seasonal exhibits, but we didn't have time to see those. It was fascinating to see, especially the Romanesque and Gothic exhibits, becasuse we saw pieces that we had just talked about in our Art History class, and pieces from some of the Cathedrals and buildings that we are going to see on our upcoming trip to Leon. I will definitely be going back up to Montjuic when I get a chance, to take another look at this museum as well as to see the other museums that are close by like the Joan Miro museum (he was a surrealist artist similar to the likes of Salvador Dali).

So I just finnished lunch, and am planning a relaxing afternoon of either reading here or at the beach. We have to meet the bus tomorrow at 7:30am for the 12 hour drive to Leon. I will have another update when I get back from that trip in 5 days.

Peace.

First Post (add-on)

Just a few things I wanted to add to the first post.

I mentioned I am taking a Beginner Catalan course. Catalan is a language that most people from Barcelona speak rather than Spanish. Everyone knows Spanish because it is the language of commerce, but Catalan is the native language that most kids grow up speaking, and is a major source of pride for people from Cataluna. It is a beautiful language that sounds a lot like French or Italian, but has its own grammatical structure independent of other European languages. This is also a major reason that the region of Cataluna has been and still is fighting to become independent of Spain and become a sovereign state. I just want to learn some basic Catalan to be able to better understand it while I am here. For example, when I went to the mall to buy my phone, the saleswoman spoke both Catalan and Spanish, but all of the brochures and descriptions of the calling plans were in Catalan, and no Spanish copies were available (hence the fact that I am not 100% sure exactly what I am paying for each call, although I have a pretty good idea).

Also, Mom pointed out in a comment that my full phone number if you are calling from the States is: 011-34-69-019-2811.

Today I had more language classes in the morning, then the afternoon free, and an Art History class in the evening. This art history class is primarily to prepare us for our trip to the region of Castilla this coming weekend. We will be visiting a number of cathedrals, mosques, synagogues, etc. to examine the architecture and art associated with each one. Some of the places I visited two years ago, others will be new for me.

Tomorrow will be the same as today, then we have Thursday off for a national holiday. It is the day when Catalunans celebrate (ironically) their defeat by the Spanish military when they were trying to gain independence a number of years ago. Interestingly as well, this holiday falls on September 11th.

On Friday we leave for 5 days in Castilla. I am not planning to take my computer with me, and I dont know if I will take time to get online and update this blog, so I might not have another post until next week sometime, at which point I will definitely tell about the trip.

Anyways, more later.
Ciao

P.S.
I will post only a handful of pictures on my blog. The rest will be available on facebook (for those who have it), and I will try to find a way to get pictures out to everyone else who doesn't have facebook some other way.

First Post

Well everyone,

I arrived in Barcelona on the 1st of September 2008. And now, a week later, I am setting up my blog. I will try to get everyone caught up on what I have done the last week, then I will do my best to update at least once or twice a week, or more if I have enough things to talk about.

I left Wichita early Sunday morning, and flew to DC via Dallas. In DC I met up with most of the BCA (Brethren Colleges Abroad) students and we flew to Paris, then to Barcelona together. We arrived Monday afternoon in Barcelona, and moved into a hotel in an area just outside of Barcelona called Castelldefels. Our hotel was about two blocks from a gorgeous beach, and there were plenty of shops, bars, cafes, etc. in the area. It was all geared towards tourists more than to locals, but since it was outside of Barca it was easier to adjust and get over the jet lag there than to jump straight into the hustle bustle of downtown Barcelona.

The BCA group has 35 students, from a number of different colleges across the country. There are 7 guys and 28 girls, so it is a little lop-sided.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday our schedule was a bit like this: we would get up at 8, have breakfast then sit in two classes in the morning (taught by Univ. de Barcelona--UB--professors) one on language and grammar, and the other a conversation class. We were divided into groups based on our level of Spanish, and I was placed in the most advanced groups of both classes. These classes took place in the lobby and garden of the hotel. After the two classes, we had orientation sessions which usually lasted until 2, when we at lunch in the garden of the hotel. After lunch, we were free to spend the whole afternoon and evening exploring the area. I became well acquainted with the walking street close to the hotel which had a number of internet cafes where we went to get wireless, and a really good Greek restaurant that I visited a couple times. I spent most afternoons on the beach, then came back and slept until dinner (at 9pm) and then we spent the rest of the evening exploring the night life of the area.


On Friday, we packed up and took a bus to a hotel downtown where we waited in the conference room to be picked up by our host families one by one. It felt a little bit like being a dog at the pound, as we wondered and joked as families came in who would be going home with them.

I got picked up by a woman named Maite (short for Maria Teresa) Munoz. She lives with her 30-year-old daughter, Ingrid, in an apartment in downtown Barcelona. The apartment is not very big, but it is a penthouse apartment about 5 blocks from one of the nicest beaches in Barcelona, and has a very large patio that overlooks the city and a bit of the ocean. I think it will work out perfectly.


Maite and Ingrid feed me well. Most meals begin with a big salad (lettuce with everything like corn, olives, crab, shrimp, boiled egg, celery, goat cheese, beets, carrots etc.), followed by a main dish like tortilla de patatas (very similar to an American quiche) or a fried zucchini and mushroom dish. This is followed by a course of fresh fruit, and finally an ice cream bar.

Meal times are very different here. Typically breakfast is bigger than what I am used to simply because it has to last until we eat lunch, typically around 3pm. Dinner at the house is usually not until 10pm.


On Saturday, we went in the morning to El Corte Ingles (which is the main chain of shopping malls here) and I got a cell phone. Phone calls are very expensive here (nowhere near as cheap as it is at home, even if you have a plan with lots of minutes and get charged for making too many textmessages--sorry Mom and Dad). I believe I can call the States between 8pm and 8am for around 15 euro-cents a minute, and local calls are smiliarly priced. But it adds up. It is free, however, for me to recieve calls, so if anyone has a really cheap international calling plan and feels like giving me a call, my number is 69-019-2811. I believe the country code for Spain is 34, but I'm not positive. Also remember, that I am 7 hours ahead of Kansas time, and 8 hours ahead of Colorado time.

After getting my cell phone, we went to Maite's sister-in-law's house for a birthday dinner. We ate a 5 course meal, and sat around the table and talked from 3pm until 8pm. There were about 9 of us, and I had a great time talking with them. I was not sure how much I was going to enjoy this, but I was a little sad to leave when we finally did.

Saturday night, I walked around Las Ramblas with a friend from BCA named Adam. Las Ramblas is a street right next to old town that is full of clubs and bars and cafes of every size shape and color. Off the large street, there are dozens of small, winding streets that are likewise full of interesting people and places. We wandered around until almost 3am and felt like nothing else was ready to go to bed yet when we were.

Sunday I slept in in the morning, then took a walk by myself in the afternoon to La Sagrada Familia. This is an enormous cathedral, still under construction, that was designed by a number of very notable artists, namely Gaudi. It is unique in a number of ways: one, because it is one of (i think the only) churches that has a statue of Jesus on the cross fully nude, and also because of the mix of abstract and modernist art that is present. The very tips of the spires are detailed such that someone once asked Gaudi why he would put such detail in a place that nobody would see, and he replied "well, the angels will see it." The church is not likely to be finished until well into the 2020's, and is further complicated by plans to have Spain's new high-speed monorail train pass directly underneath it. A number of locals are worried about what will happen to this arquitectural marvel once a tunnel is built and a train passes at 300 km per hour underneath it. I guess we will see.

On Monday, we got our first glimpse of the actual UB campus. We had classes (the same Spanish classes I mentioned earlier) in classrooms in the Facultad de Historia (School of History). Then we took the metro to where a number of us will be taking classes, such as the Facultad de Economicas (School of Economics).

There are over 90,000 students at the UB. Universities in Europe are structured much differently than American ones. A typical Spanish student would take all of his or her "gen ed" classes in high school, and from day 1 at the UB would take nothing but classes geared towards his or her major. The concept of "liberal arts" or "elective" classes is completely foreign here. This means that a student accepted into the Facultad de Economicas would have no reason to ever set foot on the Factultad de Historia, for example. This is what is so cool about the BCA program. We can take classes from any school/department at the UB, and opportunity not even granted to the national students here. Also, we are the only study abroad program allowed to do this, as well as the only program allowed to hold classes on the actual UB campus. BCA functions as a department of the Facultad de Historia, rather than as a separate entity.

Speaking of classes, here is what I am currently planning to take, although this could change:

In the University:
World Economics
Introduction to Catalan


BCA courses:
European Union
Morfosintaxis (advanced grammar class)

I am also hoping to audit one or both of:
Political Psychology
History of Spanish Art

The BCA classes are ones that are the same as what would be taught to national students, taught by UB professors, on the UB campus. The only difference is that we take them with other BCA students, and the schedules are more convenient for our program.

Well, I think this brings us up-to-date on what I have been doing this last week. As I mentioned, I will keep this blog updated as often as I can and as often as I have interesting things to tell you. I will include a mailing address later, but remember that my email is jordanbar@bethelks.edu. And you should also be able to post responses directly on this blog page as well. I have not yet experimented with posting pictures on here, but I will do that soon too hopefully.

Until next time, peace,
Jordan