Foreign Affairs: Two Weeks in Barcelona...

Barcelona at last! Part of our study program entails the students to live in a different country for two weeks. Our professor, like many others in the past, selected Barcelona for the wonderful architecture and location. Last semester I was in charge of arranging an apartment flat for the eight of us to stay in for the duration of the two weeks. It is SO nice to live in a big space with a real bed and kitchen! If I have learned anything on this trip, it is to not take advantage of the everyday privileges I have at home. While we are here, we are studying the impact of the Barcelona Olympics hosted in 1992, which directly correlates with our recent studies for the London 2012 Olympics. Barcelona is my favorite city so far! It is very easy to get around in with the grid city planning—a nice change in pace after living in London for a while. One interesting thing about the urban planning in Barcelona is the chamfered street corners; each corner is essentially “cut off, ” forming a central square in the middle of each intersection. Although this adds walking distance to get from one street to the next, it makes it much easier to see oncoming traffic and it helps open up the overall space as well as add parking slots. The metro system is fairly easy to understand and it is very inexpensive. We have been buying ten trip passes for ten euros. A few days ago, we visited the Fundacio Vila Casas Art Museum as well as hiked up Montjuic to see the old Olympic Site. The site was built into the side of a small mountain overlooking the city and sea…definitely not something you would see in Kansas! We also walked the entire coastline and ended at the Olympic Port. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous! I have managed to wear several dresses without tights and left my coat at home during the day. Our professor arrived today and said that London had yet another cold front—too bad. This evening we experienced our first “tapa” dinner. It is custom to eat a huge lunch and a late appetizer dinner, or tapas. These are individual bite size portions that you select and eat as you drink wine or beer. The only problem with this style of eating is portion control—you never really know just how much you are eating! Now that I am caught back up on my blog, I plan to update my Barcelona pictures daily, so check back in. Evan will be arriving to Barcelona in exactly one week! I haven't seen him in nine weeks, so I am very excited. From there we will be visiting Paris, Athens, Santorini, and Istanbul. Missing you all.