OVIEDO

BARCELONA to SANTIAGO to OVIEDO

farewell to studio and la playa

al Torre do Agbar

return to Montserrat

Since Fridays are our days off as part of our three-day weekends, we got up at 7 am because we don't want to be considered perezosos or anything.

Actually, today was our group trip to Montserrat. Professor Vidal organized the trip for us and was able to set up a tour at the monastery with one of the monks. They usually don't give tours, but Professor Vidal apparently has some pretty good connections. We went to a late morning mass in the church on the mountain and then we met a couple of the monks. We watched an short video on Monetserrat and then we were taken on a tour around the monastery and the church. We were able to see the behind the scenes of the monastery and some "never before seen fotage." We then went up to some of the tallest peaks of the mountain range and ate lunch looking out onto a world far below us. We wandered on the mountains, climbing the rocks and trying to take in the breathtaking views. After looking at my pictures, I realize that they do not do the scenery justice. The mountains we were climbing and the mountains on the other side of the winding river created such an image that cannot be captured with a camera. It was a very surreal experience.

There were no seats left on the hour long train ride back so I had to stand. However, I was too tired to stand so I just sat on the floor and fell asleep. The people walking on and off the train kept waking me up, but I forgave them.

When we got back to Aldana, I fell into my bed and was out when my head hit the pillow. I needed a good night's sleep and that is just what I got. Thank you night time.

vamos a la playa

Today was out final regular class day of Spanish. It is hard to believe but we will only be seeing Andriana Montes once more and then she will fade into our memories as so many people tend to do. After spending all afternoon in studio, we decided to take a break and went to the beach for an hour. The sun had set, but we have a light-up frisbee, so it's all good.

We went back to the apartment for dinner, where Ben felt obligated to hackle us because of the five of us who ate in the apartment (all guys), four of our dinners came from a can. Only Ben had a "real meal." My canned raviolis could still beat up his chicken and sneeze-inducing herbs.

It ended up as another long night of architecture.

Jardi Botanic

This morning for our field trip class we went to the Jardi Botanic on Montjuic. It was a beautiful garden on the side of the mountain with a wide variety of vegetation. It also had spectacular views of the city.

Today is the most beautiful day so far in Barcelona. A perfect day to swim in the Med, we all went to studio for the rest of the day.

Abre los Ojos

We watched a movie this morning in Spanish. It was a Spanish film from 1997 titled "Abre los Ojos." Tom Cruise bought the rights to the movie and starred in the American re-make of the movie in 1999 titled "Vanilla Sky." The movie was a good suspense/thriller movie with a couple of good twists. I enjoyed it. Now I want to see "Vanilla Sky" so that I can compare them.

After class, a few of us went to the park and laid in the grass next to the fountain until it was time for our last history class of the semester.

After history, Tom and I went to studio to collect everybody's watercolor assignments and sketchbooks. We decided to work at the beach for the evening and maybe get a game of frisbee in there as well.

I stopped at the apartment to change and grab the frisbee and then I ran to the beach. It was a great day for a run, especially with the cool waters of the Med waiting for you at the end. When I got there, Gisela asked if I had just taken a shower. I guess I was glistening a little bit. We laid on some bed sheets that have become our beach sheets and worked on our watercolors and sketchbooks. We were able to get a game of frisbee going and a German guy even joined us. We told him we will be playing again soon and we exchanged numbers with him so we could let him know when we go to the beach next. The group broke up at sunset and Rob and I walked back to the apartment. After a few hot dogs in the apartment, I headed to studio for a long while.

sea before studio

We woke up this morning and went to the beach. So sue us. We enjoyed ourselves. The weather is so beautiful. We were only there an hour or so, but it was enough time to toss the frisbee around a little bit.

Brian and I went to the doner restaurant for a quick lunch during studio. Once again, I found myself staying in studio too long.

beach bums

Okay. So we woke up this morning...late. We went to the beach. We laid in the sun. We played frisbee. I dug a hole in the sand. We went in the cold water a little bit. We played more frisbee. It was a very relaxing day followed by some Cheers in the apartment. We did go to studio in between the two so we are not complete bums. I think it was a much needed day of rest and relaxation in the sun that we all needed.

los parques

We woke up this morning in the rain to meet at Parc Guell at 9 am. We visited five parks in the city, including on cemetery. It only rained while we were at the first park and the skies cleared up and it was sunny and warm by the afternoon. Even though I wish we would have done something more like this when we first arrived in Barcelona, I am glad Professor Vidal spent his Saturday showing us the important city parks and green public spaces.

Nick is visiting this weekend and he was able to meet up with us in Placa Catalunya. He just finished his semester in Brussels, Belgium and decided to pay us a visit in Barcelona. It's always good to see new faces.

Friday the 13th

We met at 3 pm to go to an architecture exhibit in the old city. It was ten projects by top of the notch architects designing a skyscraper for Paris. We had to analyze their board layouts and figure out each of the project's concepts.

I stayed clear of black cats and ladders all day. I don't think I broke any mirrors either...

who needs sleep

My sleep schedule is thrown out of wack. I went to bed last night at 11 pm and woke up at 1 am. I then went to studio where I worked until I had to go to Spanish. I haven't actually done any progress on my project because I have been fighting the "technical" battle. I am having difficulty with my computer and with printing...as always.

A week ago was the first time I ever used Illustrator and InDesign and I just started using ArchiCad on Monday. I have my project done in ArchiCad, we have a presentaion template in InDesign, and using Illustrator is similar to PhotoShop. I would be fine if I were learning the three programs at separate times, but learning them at all the same time, with such strenuous work loads and demanding time limits, makes things difficult.

This is the time when studio becomes personified and you start thinking abuot the best ways to terminate its life.

After Spanish, I laid down for an hour and then took a shower. I made a tuna sandwich to go and got to studio right at 4 00, the time our jury was supposed to start. All of our watches were off by an hour, we didn't start until 5 00. There were mini sandwiches and chocolate eggs, so I didn't complain. I was too tired to complain anyways.

We all went out to dinner afterwards (I am not sure if we went out to celebrate the jury or because Dave Shove is in town for a couple days) (Dave is the studio crit who is running the Rome program right now). We went to a Mexican restaurant in Gracia. Still not a huge fan of Mexican food.

old vs new

We found out this morning that our jury for today is postponed until tomorrow because the "council town" cannot make it until tomorrow.
We went to Poble Nou for Eugena's class today. The site we went to had old buildings next to new buildings and we were supposed to compare the two through watercolor. We were all a little too tired to sit and paint, especially since we walked past a restaurant that smelled amazing! We stoppped right next to the restaurant so that Eugena could explain the architectural importance of the space. All I know is that there was an important place in my stomach more important than where we were standing.

Almost all of us had stayed up the night before, and apparently Christi could tell since she gave us the afternoon off. I went back to the apartment and slept for five hours.

This is the time when no one likes studio.

more studio

More studio.

studio

Studio.

cheers to the beach

Ben and I walked to Santa Maria del Mar to go to mass earlier but decided to go to the 7 30 mass there tonight instead. So since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by to see our friend Med Sea. We don't see her as much as we would like, so we decided to have lunch with her. She was very popular today.

We walked along the beach and ate at a small outdoor restaurant right on the sand. I had a bocadillo mediterraneo since we were on the ocean and Ben had a seafood salad. We sat there for a while just watching the people, the waves, the sailboats... It was a very relaxing lunch. It's going to be tough to leave this place.

We came to studio (it is never tough to leave this place) and will be spending a while here. The McGuires are renting an apartment for the weekend and invited us all over for dinner tonight. Ben and I are going there after mass tonight, just in time to catch the end of the Sabres game. See you in the playoffs...

studio

Last night, I was eating some beef stew and watching an episode of "Cheers." Everyone came over to our apartment and, well, let's just say that Cheers is going to be playing a lot more here, I think.

I was in studio all afternoon today. Not too much fun. I don't think I am going to be able to do the daytrip I wanted to because I am still working on my floor plans. Why does school always get in the way of my life? You would think I'm a student or something.

I promised Meg and Jessie that I would hang out with them tonight. I wouldn't mind hanging out with my pillow right now though.

a Friday that is good

When you're up, you're up.
And when you're down, you're down.
And when you're only half way up,
You're neither up nor down.

That describes my run to Montjuic this afternoon. While my clothes were washing themselves in the apartment. I ran to Montjuic. I only got half way up the mountain and decided that half way was good enough for today. I had some tuna to get back to anyways. I ended up running to the cactus garden, which still is not open (sorry Mike). On the way back I passed the playground that we all played at on our first day of exploring Barcelona...memories.

Lunch was good to me. I had a bannana yogurt as an appetizer. The first course was a tuna with tomato sandwich washed down with a glass of cold milk. That was followed by a PB&J sandwich washed down with a second glass of milk. Dessert was a tasty episode of Cheers. I am now heading to studio to do some work and meet up with Ben and Victoria so we can go to mass later this afternoon for Good Friday.

the old man is snoring

It's raining. It's pouring. The old man/Meghan is snoring...but not here.

So last night I started falling asleep in my chair at dinner because I only had 2 hours of sleep the night before. I washed the dishes and then went to bed by 10 30 pm after watching an episode of Cheers. I woke up at 12 30 am wide awake. I could not close my eyes. I grabbed my laptop and went out to the living room where I found Brian working away. Tom woke up at 4 30 am and left for Belgium. I still wasn't tired so I stayed up longer talking to people on line, organizing my pictures, and doing a little bit of work. I was able to talk to my cousin Renee a little bit too which was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to see her in Athens in May. Que lastima. I decided to go to bed at 8 am and had a very difficult time falling asleep.

I woke up at 2 pm and realized that it was siesta time already. Not wanting to break Spanish culutre, I went back to sleep until 4 pm following the siesta tradition. I then fixed myself an omellette for breakfast and then grilled cheese for lunch at the same time (I didn't want to miss a meal). I talked to my cousin Jackie and she sent me a picture of "the cousins" when we were younger. It was funny to see all of us when we were so young.

So I haven't gotten dressed yet and I don't think I am going to. It is raining outside and I have no need to leave the apartment. I am just working and relaxing in the apartment. I just have to try and get back on a regular sleep schedule tonight.

pin up

Well, we had some issues printing today. We were all tired and frustrated to begin with from working a lot and on top of it we could not print our 24"x36" boards on one poster because the place we were supposed to go turned out to be closed for Semana Santa. Instead, we had to print our large poster on 9 small sheets at the printer around the corner. Then we had to tape the sheets together in order to create the 24"x36" poster. It was kind of ridiculous but I guess we have to make do with what we have.

no clase de espanol

Due to Semana Santa, we didn't have Spanish class this morning or history class in the afternoon. This meant that we could work in studio even longer. So after working all day in studio, I ate dinner in the apartment and took a half hour nap. I stayed in studio a lot later than I was hoping.

bon voyage

I woke up. I went to studio. It started raining. It started pouring. Brandon came into studio. I took Brandon to the Aerobus. He left. I returned to studio. I worked.

the annual day of fools

So I went to studio early in the morning and stayed late...working hard the whole day...APRIL FOOL'S.

Tom, Ben, Brandon, and I went to noon mass at the Cathedral for Palm Sunday. They must have changed the mass schedule because we missed the Liturgy of the Word by the time we got there, but we still stayed for the second half of the mass. We remained in the church and stayed for the first half of the next mass. We didn't do the mass in order but it all goes to the same place I guess. Kind of like eating your flan before your paella...right?

We went to lunch and the rest of the day was spent in studio. I gave Brandon a map and he walked around the city, seeing what he wanted to see.