La montana-dia 1: The mountain-day 1

The mountain greeted us this AM after taking a bus into Soldeu, grabbing Tom's rentals, then getting ours -- which I did in all Spanish (score!). We put some stuff in a locker that we have for two days, bought lift tickets (which are electronic, so you keep them in your pocket instead of attached to your jacket), then jumped in an 8-person gondola up the mtn.

Ben and Tom...on a lift...going up...up...up...

The mountain was HUGE! There are tons of different sections. We would go up one side, down another, back up, then up again before coming back down! It was nuts. I didn't do much falling--Cait would be so proud. I wish she and Rachel could have been here.

It was a really tough mountain for snowboarders--they have a ton of flat spots. Tom helped me out a ton since he was on skis so I didn't have to keep unstrapping and whatnot. I held the boys up a bit, but hopefully not too much. I was working on my mad carving skills, and going straight down the mountain facing sideways is not exactly my style!

Bri was totally rockin out in his gray outfit...fist pumping whenever we passed by some music blasting on the slope.


Ben was being a surfer on snow...he could have been on waves and I wouldn't have known the difference!
That's Brian falling in front of me, and me...carving? or falling? You decide!

Bri, Ben, and I taking a break

After our day on the slopes we hit up a grocery store to make chili and grilled cheese, came back and showered, then did a family dinner! We even had dessert and home made hot-cocoa! True ski/boarders!

STUDIO IN ANDORRA: We can't seem to get away!

We did a bit of work, but it was a long day and another one is coming at us tomorrow! Yay for snow, boarding, good food, great friends, and tv shows in french!

Nieve o no, vamos: Snow or not, we're going

We took the 1 pm bus to Andorra from the Barca bus station, got dropped off at Andorra la Vella and went in search of the bus to Soldeu. We got lucky and caught one right when we got to the stop, and it took us into Soldeu...definitely a ski town...almost, if not all, tourists and employees.

We had to wander in search of our hotel--apparently the google map literally had a cloud covering the whole town--but when we arrived it was nice out. We came upon a travel shop manned by a cute Brit who informed us that our hotel was 5 minutes up the road...way to go us! SO we grabbed a taxi and arrived safe and sound in the hotel, which is really a bunch of apartments. Ours has a futon and two beds, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room (the last two are combined into one room.

We ate our dinner and did studio work, then watched game shows in French...THAT was entertaining! I'm nervous about boarding tomorrow since I haven't gone since Sr. year...oy! I'm here, so I guess we'll see what happens!

We tried to "go out" to a bar in one of the 3 hotels next to ours, but that ended within 5 minutes when we realized we are basically the only human beings in this little area outside Soldeu! It was cool by me; I just grabbed a mint hot chocolate from the cafe in our apart-hotel...it was DELICIOSO! Consistency of melted chocolate with some milk...yeaaaaaa. haha.

Boarding tomorrow! Yay physical activity! Boo being nervous!

La manana antes de Andorra: The morning before Andorra

When we got home at 4:15, the GV kids were passed out on the couches, the apartment smelled like wax and there was an empty bottle of Absenta on the counter...

Bob came shuffling down the hall with a goofy grin...apparently the first thing he said to Brian was: "We built a campfire." GREEAAAAAAT! The mom in me is glad I wasn't there to have been worried about them all.

I woke up later than planned this am, but Tom and Ben had everything done on the Base Map so we borrowed Bob's comp to email it to the group. I ran to the sports store to buy snowpants and a jacket because we're leaving on a SKI TRIP this afternoon! Then I ran to studio where I met Felipe. No sign of Victoria, though. I guess I'll just see her when I get back Monday.

For now, I am off to the train station to meet Tom, Ben, and Brian. We are leaving the country for Andorra (tucked between Spain and France), where I plan to snowboard my butt off for the next 2 days! SWEEEET! I'll have to depend on the boys for pics--my camera still won't work.

4 de la manana: 4 in the morning

Got up around 11 yesterday and hit up studio for graphic design. I'm really excited about the book we are going to be making of our experience here in Barcelona, but it's going to be a lot of work!

We have design class from 2-4 on Thursdays, now...right before studio--which is tough. I wish I had more classes in the am so I'd be forced to get up early and use the daytime hours after class to explore the city. I "wish" a lot of things; that we only spoke in Spanish, that I could find some time to go to Font Magica, that I'd motivate myself to go running...there's always something.

Studio was dedicated to discussing analysis and then attempting to DO analysis. Ben and I offered to do the group work again. He gave me a revised map of the site with buildings. It took me until about 4 am to finish a little more than 1/2 of the base map. Luckily Tom decided to jump in and help so most of his half is already done. We're going to finish the rest when we wake up before I come back to studio to meet with my group (Felipe and Victoria).

En la ciudad con Alfredo: In the city with Alfredo

We were supposed to go see Babel tonight, but instead we ended up just walking around the Gracia area. It's crazy how far down the streets you can see because of the champfered corners of the Cerda city blocks. I caught a glimpse of Sagrada Familia from about 8 blocks away. When I told Alfredo I hadn't seen it, he was like, well clearly you are an architecture major and now you need to go down there. haha...so we did. This is the only picture my camera took before dieing once again--there is something seriously wrong with it...not cool.

This building sparked a really interesting discussion about whether the building is art or architecture or sculpture or what? I think my opinion may have changed a bit as a cause of this. While I'm a Gaudi fan, I can't say that was is currently built should be considered architecture: It doesn't seem to be carrying out its intended purpose/function, which is the point of good architecture. It should also be for the use of people, and presently it is not being used except as a tour site in order to raise money to continue construction. Which really just brings me back in a circle, because it can't be finished to meet the intended use without being an object until money can be found to complete it...*sigh.*

Caminando por L'Eixample: Walking through the Eixample

Today we did a bunch of walking for sketching class as we began to discover l'Eixample. Below are a collection of shots along the way, until about 3/4 through Eugenia's tour (and literally as we got to the buildings I was assigned to photograph) when my camera battery decided to die on me...awesome.

Here's a glimpse of L'Eixample on our tour, though, from La Universitat, to the bike path which always reminds me of Gram and Gramp McGuire, to crazy art, to modern architecture, to churches that were moved from completely different parts of the city piece by piece...pretty cool.

Nueva clase en mi horario: New class on my schedule

Today was our first day of Catalan class! Our teachers name is Xavi (pronounced "Chobby"). We learned how to introduce ourselves, the alphabet, numbers...it's difficult because it is similar to spanish in a lot of ways, and completely different in others! Hearing words and trying to spell them out was a funny excercise...because not only is the pronounciation of the individual letters different, but they each represent multiple sounds, the way our "c" can be like a "k" or like an "s."

After Catalan, Gisela and I met up with Ben, Mon, and Felipe to grab some food, then headed over to the university where we had an interesting lecture on L'Eixample (the city plan done by Cerda in Barcelona), and how it addresses hygenic issues, etc.

Dinner was tuna bocadillos, Aldana style.

Studio was mostly spent researching flights to Germany for Spring break...5 or 6 hours of starting at a computer trying to figure that out by yourself will drive you nuts! Don't try it.