As many of you may know, there is currently a lot of tension in Catalunya because of the political situation. The region of Catalunya (where I live and where Barcelona is located) is fighting for independence from the country of Spain. I am not a political person, even in America, so I really don't know anything about the situation. We have been told that as Americans, we need to stay away from the situation and not become involved in any way, and really, that's no problem for me.
So in light of the referendum that was held on October 1st, the UIUC students left Catalunya for the weekend, starting on the evening of Friday the 29th, and not returning until Monday morning! We headed about 4 hours North to Zaragoza in the region of Aragon on an (practically) all expense- paid trip! We went to the Aljafaria in the morning and the Caixaforum Zaragoza in the afternoon as class on Saturday and then we broke off and explored for the evening at the Pablo Serrano Museum. We had a free day on Sunday to explore. My friends and I went to la Iglesia Parroquia Santiago El Mayor, the Goya Museum, the Roman Theater ruins, and the Basilica de nuestra Senora del Pilar.
We got up and on the road back to school by 6 am on Monday because of class and Visa appointments, so all of us have been running on empty for pretty much the whole week since our last trip to France.
In a strange turn of events, we don't have class today for the most part because our host university is participating in the governmental strike. Classes should go back to normal tomorrow, but most of the students of the university (not the UIUC ones) have been participating in a strike and haven't been attending classes, which is making our joint studio group project go not as smoothly as one might have hoped. All in all, this is a piece of world history that I am here experiencing first hand, even if we have been told to stay home and stay out of the action. I am still hearing a lot that is going on and might possibly be in a newly former country at some point this year.
But here's some Zaragoza fun. And the Where in the World page for Zaragoza is also in the process of being updated with more pictures and details from my adventure, as has the Eat page.
On a sunnier note, before our Zaragoza adventure, we went on two field trips in one day to la Hospital de Sant Pau and the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. Sant Pau was once the best, most modern hospital in Spain. Now, it looks like a beautiful gingerbread village. The Basilica was an amazing experience in itself. We actually got to go all the way onto the roof and could see all around the city.
