el resto de la Placa de los Glories: the rest of Plaza de los Glories

While I have a ton of photos of the site and surrounding areas, they aren't much to behold aesthetically as they are mostly buildings being torn down and the photos were taken with the intent to portray information for site analysis more than for your viewing pleasure...instead I've just dropped in a few images of the area near and dear to the site, itself.

PLACA DE LES GLORIES

EL TEATRO NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA

L'AUDITORIO: THE LANTERN--an exterior space that is open to the sky above; this reminded me of my project for a loft space sophomore year and also of Rich's sacred space project, but with completely different context! Overall an amazing space, even if uninhabited aside from the occasional passer-by or architecture class!

After coffee next to the lantern, we were turned loose to find our way back to the studio where Christi was waiting to give desk crits on the boards for our first project. We sent Bob on a dinner-buying expedition and surprised him with donuts and "Happy Birthday" on his return just to let him know we didn't forget ;)

Rob brought home fishsticks...LITERALLY; the guy at the store took the frozen fish that Rob wanted and cut it up with a saw (bones, guts, and all...) good thing I'm not a huge fan of fish, huh? It's cool, though, because Bob and Bri did up an all-star meal of fish sticks (from the box), corn, and homemade potato chips...outstanding!

Baloncesto y el sitio: basketball and the site

We got up early today and played basketball in the park across the street from the apartment...not even 2 minutes into a game of 2 v. 2 I fall an smack my head on the pavement...ROCKIN'!

Aside from that, though, team Aldana (plus Mon) was "en fuego"--we just couldn't help ourselves, we were THAT good! lol.

For studio, we met at Torre Agbar, the Jean Nouveau building next to Placa de los Glories. It looks like a rocket ship or something, but I really like the colors, and from up close it is neat to see the multiple layers that go into the facade, from the screens, to the colored panels, and then the light wells that are lined with mirrors to reflect light deep through to the interior...I found it quite impressive.

...a continuacion:...continued

EL ESTUDIO

From the top of the stairs...

Looking from my desk toward the rest of the space

Un dia tipico: A typical day

So...I just realized that after all of the commotion of "home-hopping" I neglected to share the place(s) where I am ACTUALLY residing these days. These include namely studio (who knew?!) and our apartment on Calle Aldana in the Eixample near Raval.

I suppose I'll just leave you with a heading and some shots--self-explanatory, of course.

EL APARTAMENTO

Las Escaleras

La Cocina

Mi cuarto

La Sala

La linea

CITY HALL Teatro y Restaurante: CITY HALL Theater and Restaurant

Not too much to speak of in the past 24 hours or so.

We went to studio, as per usual, to get some work done, then went to another great group dinner at Gran Via before heading back to Aldana to get ready for a night out on the town at a club, for which the title of this entry is named.

TEAM GRAN VIA-in the kitchen after the group meal

(Sean-Victoria-Billy-Gisela-Monica)

We booked our place on the guest list through Barcelona-Home, our rental agency, and showed up around 1:30...all 12 of us...only to find that, while in the US no one goes out until midnight, in Barca...the party doesn't begin until 2 or 3 am! We had a good time entertaining ourselves until more people showed up. We attempted to branch out by spreading ourselves between the main downstairs dancefloor and the downstairs patio, but once we were seen as a group it was difficult to remove the "big sign." It is also harder to spread out at clubs as a group because almost everyone has a b/f or g/f back home, so none of them really want to leave the group in this type of situation anyhow.

Needless to say, however, I danced my way into the path of a guy from Colombia. His name is (don't laugh) Alfredo, a 23-year-old mastering in Cinematography here in Barca, and he's a killer dancer. No worries, all, my big brothers kept an eye out for me and I was completely aware of my surroundings, etc.

So...6 am comes really fast when you are dancing the night away in Barcelona! Here's hoping we've officially managed to make a friend here in la ciudad!

Habia enfermedad y Absenta: There was sickness and absynthe

Woke up this morning feeling really sick again. It's Friday, and we didn't have class, but we decided to visit the remaining studio placas to allow us a free day Monday. SO we all got ready, myself included, and got on the metro toward the Forum. Half-way there I had to get off to avoid throwing up--I know you wanted to hear this, right? Bri and Rob stayed with me until we could get onto the next one. I managed to hold my own until Christi noticed I wasn't feeling well and sent me home in a taxi, where I attempted to speak spanish with the driver and then gave up.

I got back to the apartment and used Aunt Donna's bubble bath stuff to take my first bath in...years?! Then climbed into bed for a few hours and woke up feeling MUCH better.

After the boys got back, they told me we were all going to dinner at a pizza place called Veronica's in the Old City near Christi's Aptmt.

Bob and Tom were ready to go...

Ben and Bri had their game faces on...

Then we headed to Placa Reial to meet the group.

We got a ton of different types of pizza, which were all really good, then headed down the street to a bar Christi knew of. The following is an excerpt from my journal: "Our huge group walking anywhere is like a "DO NOT APPROACH" sign, not to mention walking into the bars here with 12 people is like putting an elephant in the refridgerator."

Absenta was the alcoholic-hallucinogenic drink of the night...so Monica Tom and I had a funny time walking all of our little participants home through the back alleys, Las Ramblas, then along Gran Via! We were safe, no worries--and we have yet to get eggs, or pee thrown at us from windows...I guess we'll save that for a big outing!?! haha.

Sangre y Plazas: Blood and Plazas

I got up today at 7:15 to meet Christi at the metro so that we could go to the Hospital where Teresa Vidal works. My liver function tests from vacation were 10 times higher than the norm, so I had to get blood drawn. Teresa had everything set up for us. We went right in, got to see the lab area where they actually do the tests, and then we only waited about 3 minutes before I walked in, layed down and had Teresa's friend (and sister-in-law) take about 5 viles of blood. YAY!?

I was really thankful that I didn't have to wait along with the mounds of other patients in the hospital! It was packed, even for 8 am! Medical care here is free, which I think is cool and allows everyone to be taken care of and healthy!

Afterwards, Christi and I got breakfast, then we went to MBM to get a package, then on to studio where Christi and I spent a few hours trying to be translators to get the wireless set up in studio with one of the guys from MBM (who just so happens to remind me a ton of Kevin Krueger [hi kev!])!

I went to meet everyone at the university to get supplies for model-building. Chipboard here comes in small, expensive pieces! Our normal sized, 1mm thick chipboard is 2 Euro here! That is almost 3 times as expensive as in DC! Luckily, the funds we gave the school are footing the bill...at least for now!

After the supplies, we returned to the apartment for a ton of food such as pizza, grilled cheese on baguettes and fresh pineapple! Then, we headed to studio where we toured some more plazas for our projects!

PLACA ST. JAUME-This is a statue of St. George, the Patron Saint of Barcelona

CATEDRAL-Nighttime shot

VIEW FROM PLACA DE LA CATEDRAL-Notice how the towers of the old city wall are now filled in by a modern facade. The tents at the bottom are an evening market.

PALAU DE LA MUSICA CATALANA-Undoubtedly my favorite of the night...this building is stock-piled full of candy for the eyes! The decoration through color, sculpture and detail is just awesome; and this view is only ONE aspect of the whole building!