Cultural Project de España

As part of our final grades, we had to choose a part of Spanish culture to research and present. I chose Flamenco. Check it out:

Pretty cool, huh?

Loca, Loca, Loca- Barcelona 2011

As my time in Barcelona is winding down, I find myself looking back on my weeks here and planning for the final one. 

If there could be an anthem to the trip, it would have to be Shakira's "Loca." This trip has been a crazy life-changing experience for me and has made me crazy for the city of Barcelona. 

Coincidentally, the video for "Loca" was shot in Barcelona, and as you watch, you can see many of the places I have come to know so well. 

This is Barcelona: my home for six weeks and one of the most amazing places on earth. Me encanta Barcelona. It has made me loca, loca, loca. 

 

 

Also one great memory of this song and this city: dancing and singing "Loca" with a little Spanish girl when we stopped in a restaurant after coming from the beach. So cute:)

Parc Güell... the face of Barcelona

In 1900, the famous Spanish and Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi was commissioned to design a project on the plot of land that is now Parc Güell. 1922, the Barcelona Municipal Court purchased it and made it into a public park.

If you have seen any movie that has filmed scenes in Barcelona, then I guarantee that you have seen parts of Parc Güell.  A fan of ANTM? Remember Cycle 7 Season Finale runway? That was Parc Güell...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPNwpFhes_g&feature=related

Some movie's that have scenes of filmed in Parc Güell:

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

 Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem filmed a scene in front of the dragon statue at the beginning of the park.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona                 barcelonamovie.com

Me by the same dragon statue

Disney Channel's The Cheetah Girls 2

The movie takes place in Barcelona, with certain scenes shot in the park, including the video sequence for a song in the movie. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZpSOSfymV4

L'auberge Espagnole- The Spanish Apartment

This movie mentions and shows views of the park many times throughout the movie, including scenes in which the characters sit on the plaza bench. 

L'auberge Espagnole             http://been-seen.com/archive/3015.jpg

 

Besides being an amazing location for movie scenes, Parc Güell is full of amazing sights, hiking trails, and at the top of the hill, one of the most amazing panoramic views of Barcelona. On the park grounds lies Gaudi's house where he lived with his niece for many years. The house is now a museum, Casa Museo de Gaudi. 

Entrance to the Park

View from the plaza

Casa Museo Gaudi

Costa Brava, Day 3

After a long day and night, I had to get up early in order to join the group and watch the sunrise over the Mediterranean. We met along the walls of a castle by the beach and anxiously awaited the glorious ball of light slowly rising above the mountains. The glow reflected off the water, making the most beautiful pink streak of light. 

 

After witnessing this glorious sight, I went back to bed for a couple hours. Later that morning we checked out of our hotel and had the rest of our days to ourselves. A group and I went to a small beach (that must be relatively unknown to tourist) just below the castle. After a few hours we found a place for lunch, then went back to meet up with he rest of the group to return home to Barcelona. We loaded up the bus and after about a two hour bus ride, we were home--exhausted, but home. 

After our great weekend, reality hit in, and I had to finish up some last minute homework and reading for Monday.

Costa Brava, Day 2

I spent the day on the beach of Tossa de Mar unable to even walk through the bundles of bodies lying on the rocky sand. The beach and the water was so crowded, our group could hardly find a spot to lay our towels out. The course sand was hard to walk on and felt like knives cutting the bottom of my feet. Lying out on my towel, however, was nice, feeling the hot sun. On the beach I was surrounded by people: topless women, men in Speedos, and tons of kids running around, many of the little ones naked. 
After a while, I went into the water, slowly at first, feeling the sting of cold take over my feet with each wave. Then I just let it all go and jumped in, head first. The energy of the waves pushing against my body felt incredible. When I came up, I realized how salty the water was; it had gotten into my mouth, nose, and eyes. While the super salty water made it easy to float, it also made it hard to stay in the water for very long. 
We spent hours on the beach and then went back to our hotel to rest, eat, and plan for the night ahead. Later a small group and I went out to a local bar called Don Juan and had a good time talking and drinking Sangria. Afterward, we went to the beach to lay under the stars.

Dalí, Empúries, y Tossa de Mar

This morning I woke up after a night of studying for a quiz at 9am this morning. After finishing with class, our group loaded up on a bus and headed toward Tossa de Mar. 

After about an hour of driving, we stopped in the hometown of artist Salvador Dalí, Figueres. Dalí built his museum on the ruins of an old theater bombed during the Spanish Civil War. It houses many of his works, including some rather strange pieces of artwork that could only be Dalí. I was in heaven. Walking through the maze like building surrounded by his surrealist art was a dream. Also, I got to see the artist himself, considering his crypt is located within the museum. I loved it:)

After our stop at the museum, we got back on the bus and next stopped at the ancient town of Empúries, founded by the Greeks and later occupied by the Romans. We took a tour through the ruins from a very charming tour guide. I sadly only understood a fraction of what he was saying about the history of the structures because he spoke Spanish, but it was interesting nonetheless. At the city gates, our guide pointed out the figure of a huge pene (I'll let you translate that one on your own) carved into the wall. He said this was used as an intimidation factor to tell enemies that the city was well-endowed and prosperous. 

A statue of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, found at the ruins

The tour was long and informative, but most of us couldn't absorb the information. Right next to the ruins was the most beautiful beach with powder fine sand and the bluest water. After some time there, we loaded back up onto the bus and headed to our final destination Tossa. Finally reaching our hotel was a welcome relief because even though it was only dinner time, we had had a busy event-packed day. But there was no time to rest. We had a huge dinner at the hotel and then explored our area. The streets here are a tourist paradise filled with shops upon shops of souvenirs and beach apparel. As the sun was setting we headed to the beach and spent the night relaxing under a blanket of stars next to the beautiful Mediterranean with a lighted castle along the shoreline illuminating the dark.

Things I've encountered in Spain...

On the Metro, when the doors close, people will start announcing, "Señors y Señoras..." They go on to explain that they are unemployed and don't want to have to beg on the streets or steal our belongings. They ask instead that we buy their tissues. They then walk through the train car until the next stop. 

 

There are a lot of bikes, and people ride them everywhere. This is a picture of a bike rental dropoff/pickup spot.

A cry for Cataluña independence.

Spain has different languages in different parts of the country representing very diverse groups of people. After the Spanish Civil War, la guerra civil, general Francisco Franco took power. During his 40 year long dictatorship, regional languages, including Catalan, Euskera, and Galician, were outlawed. The only permitted language was Castilian, Castellano (Spanish). 

Because of this even today, Cataluña and Catalan speakers separate themselves from the rest of Spain and Castellano speakers. Some Catalans want complete independence from Spain. They see Spanish as the language of Spain, a country they are not, and do not want to be, a part of. 

While here in Cataluña, I have experienced that some people, traditional Catalan speakers, would rather talk to us in English than in Spanish. One of our GTAs, Elizabeth tried to talk to a taxi driver in Spanish, but he would only talk to her in English. He then asked if she was from Spain. She replied no, that she is from Mexico. The cab driver then would talk to her in Spanish. He had first thought she was from another part of Spain, perhaps Madrid.

Sign translation: "F*** the police"

Translation: "We all have witch's eyes"