Day 3 Barcelona!

Well well... originally I had planned on writing a post per night, but it must start from today! Every night I come home exhausted and so full from eating that I fall asleep right after a long shower.

Day 1: Arrived at the hotel at 10AM after getting off our flight at 8AM. After getting off we exchanged our money at the airport. Sadly the US dollar is no longer of high value. The exchange rate was $1.00= 1.43Euros. That basically means everything we buy here is almost 1.5 times what we can buy in the states. So sad. We decided to take the Airport shuttle to the train then take the train to our hotel since it is located right outside the stop. We went straight to the hotel and was met by a very friendly staff however check-in time wasn't til 3. So we decided to venture out and see our neighborhood. My stomach started rumbling and I looked around and found a restaurant a few stores down from the hotel. It was a pretty outdoor tent with a few people eating. Our first meal was a Paella- mixed seafood rice, and a Vaquero- thin steak with french fries and salad. Each of us had a bottle of water which came as a surprise because we expected just tap. The waiter also asked us if we wanted bread which we replied yes, thinking it would come with the meal like in the US. The food was decent but not amazing- definately not worth the 50 Euros aka $72.50. The Paella wasn't a large size so I felt really jipped. But hey you live and you learn right?

Afterwards we walked around the neighborhood to get a good feeling where to go and to buy some time. But truthfully we were DEAD tired. So afterwards my parents and I went straight back to the hotel and slept til dinner time where we later roamed around to find out where our tours for the next day would take place :) The city is simply amazing. Even at night everything is bumping. But we've been warned on several brochures that theft is very common here. We were sure to lock everything in our safe and bring out as little as possible.

Day 2: Woke up to have an AMAZING buffet at our hotel. Between my parents and I, we had maybe 15 plates of food =X I tried every since cold cut they had. Now when I say cold cut, I dont mean your regular ham and bologna. Oh no, this was delicious proscuitto di parma, the most delightful cheeses and italian salami and chorizo. By golly I was in heaven. We had delicious flaky and chewy croissants and the most amazingly sweet melons. Compared to the other guests, I think we ate all their amounts combined. Finally we set out to Placa Catalunya- a central plaza where major streets meet and shops are located. So we hopped on our Barcelona tour bus and headed to our first destination- the Sagrada Familia. As the site of the Catholic church came into our view I realized, nothing in any book I've ever read can make me feel the beauty of this structure. I think I will post picture after to really show how beautiful and incredible the designs of Antoni Gaudi really is.  As I climbed up the spire and took a picture on a balcony I realized, each nook and cranny of the 560 ft tall structure was so thoroughly planned. Agh I can't even explain it's beauty. I will definately add my pictures when I load it. My parents and I basically spent all day climbing up and down trying to soak up every last beauty. The sun piercing through stained glass would reflect different shades onto all the facets of the sculpted inner walls. It cost 2.50Euros to take the elevator all the way up on of the 12 spires. There, we got some pretty amazing sights of Barcelona. My parents had a great time all the way up the Sagrada Familia. As we walked down a few flights of stairs, we got a choice to take the stairs or get on the elevator. Well we decided to be different and follow the spiraling staircase- BAD IDEA. My mom got so scared but I could not stop laughing. She started grabbing on the railing with both hands thinking we went the wrong way. I even took a few pics because my father and I thought it was so hilarious. No one was behind us and no one was in front of us, which led us to think we went the wrong way (maybe an area of construction). But we kept on treking hoping the stairs would end sometime soon. (This was very claustrophobic) Imagine a spiral staircase approximately 3 x 3 with a foot of space in the middle. You can also see all the way down, I won't lie it was pretty scary considering we could see all the way down. Finally we got down and exited through this slim door. We found a couple right next to it who asked us, "Did you guys just get down that too? We thought we went the wrong way and were scared to death!" It was pretty hilarious.

We then left Sagrada Familia and headed to the Park Guell also by Antoni Gaudi. We got there a bit late and I was disappointed because my batteries died. Coincidentally, there was a music video being filmed there, it was a lip dub contest video thing for a song called Jonas? I think it was similar video on youtube filmed at a high school that was similar to it where the recording followed rows of students lip syncing to a certain song. Any who we then went to the Museum of Gaudi located above the Park and had very interesting furniture designed by Gaudi. All his buildings and furniture are influenced by organic objects and almost never have straight lines. It was a small but interesting exhibition that showed Gaudi's smaller pieces.

After a long day of walking and spending money on museums, we decided to try out a small chinese restaurant down the block of our hotel on Avenue de Parrallel. It was very simple and more "white people chinese food". We walked around and went to Las Ramblas and hung out there for a little while before headed back home to get some good sleep.

Day 3:  We took the red bus tour today again and continued on the West Route. This took us all the way up to Montjuic which is the high mountains of Barcelona where the Olympic games of 1992 were held. Located in the high moutains and tucked far away from the city, the area looked pretty abadoned. We got some amazing pictures of the olympic arena. We walked down the hills and headed to the Mies Van der Rohe Pavilion constrcuted in 1929 during the World Exhibition. It was a lot simpler than I thought, sleek and simple. It must have been revolutionary during that time, the sleek minimalistic design. My dad was disspointed saying how he expected more, but I explained to him how although this seems so common for us, the architecture back then was unprecedented. We continued our trek to see Gaudi's works and went to the Pedrera also known as Casa Mila. Gaudi's works are simply unexplainable. How did he think of these organic forms and ways to construct and design them? I definately feel that nowadays no matter what you do, every architectural structure is influenced from something already done. But Gaudi's work is absolutely unique and exclusive to his style. I will add some pictures with captions to explain exactly what I mean later on. Next we walked to Casa Batllo to take some picture but wanted to save it for tomorrow. We walked to Tapas Tapas (44 Placa de Gracia) because my mom's Taiwan magazine introduced the restaurant. Unfortunately the restaurant originally introduced there was gone already. We stayed and had a few traditional tapas, some anchovies over tomatoes and onions with olive oil, french fries with garlic mayonnaise, grilled octopus with olive oil and paprika, paella, seasoned pork skewers. It was pretty good but the service was terrible. The waiter was rude and would not help us. Finally after a few questions on the food and his eyes rolling, did he toss a international menu at us. We caught him right between his shift change so we hoped the next waiter would be nice- fat chance. He served us our paella after 20 minutes where we immediately said we asked for a full serving (instead of the usual tapas [taster size]). He later looked at the ordering machine and said "Oh okay I'll change it." Then came back a few minutes later with the printed order ticket and said, sorry I cant change it, and tossed it back our way. Either way we just ate it and asked for the check.The total was 33.50 Euros, and we gave him 40. He put 1.50 on the table and left. We looked at him oddly and thought he was going to get some bills. Nope I politely asked him wheres the change where he then gave me a odd look. I said, "We gave you 40, subtract 33.50. You owe us." He then fumbled around and never apologized. I noticed that this is common amongst service places. They try to jip you of your change if you look like a tourist. This happened at the first restaurant we ate at too, and at the convenience store we purchased a phone card from. After all this, we continued on the Hop on Hop off bus and went back to Placa Catalunya where we did some shopping at Corte Ingles. I bought a few pieces at Sfera which is similar to our forever21.

NOW I am finally finished writing my recap. I have so much more to say but I am so dead tired. Maybe I will edit this entry tomorrow. Okay I am off to bed! Good night Barcelona!

5/6 more to go!

SOOOO i have been so busy relaxing that I did not write a super happy post on finishing my first semester. I guess it still hasn't hit me that my first semester is finito! But finally the beginning is over. I'm supposed to be going to Barcelona tomorrow but due to a crazy snow storm that is supposed to hit, our flight has been canceled. I'm excited to see all the cool architecture there! From Gaudi's works to the amazing Mosques, it should be an awesome trip!

but back to my semester! I actually ended up getting SUPER duper sick my last week of the final critique.  I was really beginning to think that I could not make it, my body was failing on me. But by God's grace, he helped me make it through, seeing me every step of the way. I really felt that is was a miracle that I got through the week. Seeing how stressed everyone was did not help. The environment was so tense and everyone's mood was grumpy to say the least. The printers were a wreck, our professor last minute demands seemed like insanity. My project was not even complete till the last 12 hours. I was running on 4 hours of sleep every night. No matter what I did I always felt that there was not enough time. But here I am, still in one piece and happy to say the least. I know I tried and gave it my all, and now I know how to approach studios in my semesters to come. "You are your own worst enemy." That quote is spoken by many, but at that time more than ever did I see it truly affect my work. My self doubt prevented me from even trying. I would go back and forth debating what was "architecturally correct" since I did not have a background, and that would prevent me from making any real choices. Soon, all that time thinking equated to hours down the drain that I could have just made a decision and worked off of.

This taught me to trust my instincts. Even if it's not great, I can work it out later. In the design process, it's all up to the designer and how they can justify their choices. I'm not saying that you should go about and do everything arbitrarily (which actually just means to make a choice, and not simply random) but rather make a conscious choice and learn to work off of your choice. I will try for the next semester to have a stronger voice in the design decisions I make. All in all, I have learned so much and I am so thankful for everything that has occured this semester. From the professors, to my studiomates, to my roomate, to my parents- it all worked out. I hope that God continues to bless me and prepare me for this career that I have chosen. To end this semester in one word- THANKFUL.