Today was great! I saw four architecturally significant buildings, and an Andy Warhol exhibit. The world famous exhibit was at the Caixa Forum, an old textile factory which was converted into a museum.
When I started studying architecture, I was shown the Barcelona Pavilion as an example of modern architecture. I never really thought I would get to see the Barcelona Pavilion in real life, but today after my class went to sketch at the Caixa Forum, I went and walked around at the Barcelona Pavilion and sketched for a while (and of course took pictures) It's hard to believe that people actually live in a city that is an actual piece of history. For example, within two city blocks, there were no less than four historical monuments. The Caixa Forum was across from the Barcelona Pavilion, which was half a block away from the National Art Museum of Catalonia, and a block away sits the historic Barcelona Arena. America is a beautiful and historic country, and it really is full of national historic monuments, but for whatever reason, there aren't 14th century buildings lining the streets. I never imagined I would be in someplace so full of history. The beautiful thing about historic spaces here is that you can go right on in to these buildings and touch them and become part of history. In the US, if you go to a historic monument, you're put behind glass and not allowed to touch anything. But in Barcelona, you walk into buildings and can take a seat in Barcelona chairs and touch the walls and the decorations and the water. But that's how it is here. Adults and children are expected to be behaved enough to mind themselves and not break anything. As much as I like Spain for the access to history, I really do miss home. The public transportation system here is great, but I miss my car. It would be so easy to hop in the car and drive to another city or even country for the weekend. I am looking forward to getting my car back this Christmas. Did you all know that I have yet to see a single pick up truck in Spain? I've seen moving trucks and semis, but other than that, only little tiny cars.
On a less architecture-y note, I have joined the soccer club/ team thing at my residence hall. We play Monday nights against each other just for fun. So if anyone is bored and wants to fly 8 and a half hours to Barcelona to watch some futbol, come on over and watch us run around! While I kind of suck at soccer, I love to run and since gym memberships here cost like 50 euros (~$60) a month, running around a field chasing a ball (even though I suck at kicking it) seems to be just the right amount of running for me.
