Ciutat Comtal - Tapas

                My first experience eating tapas was at a well known restaurant called Ciutat Comtal near Passeig de Gracia.  The restaurant came very highly recommended for tapas so I was excited to eat there.  A friend of mine and I went for lunch one day after classes.  It was very crowded when we got there and we almost didn’t stay.  It is a nice restaurant with a long wooden bar that curved around to the corner of the restaurant.  The bar was lined with an assortment of different tapas.  Behind the bar, waiters in white jackets served plates of tapas to customers who couldn’t get a table and instead stood or sat at the bar.  We finally got a table outside and ordered some Pilsner Urquells.  When the waiter came back with our beers we ordered a few different tapas.  I forget the name of my favorite one but it was French fries covered in fried eggs and ketchup.  It was mind-blowing, I had never tasted anything like it.  I basically licked the plate clean.  We also ordered tuna and red pepper sandwiches were also really good.  I also tried an avocado pasta salad that they called the California salad.  However, my favorite by far was the fried egg and French fry mixture.  Also, the experience of sharing tapas is very different from normal American customs.  I think the Spanish custom of sitting for a long lunch and sharing what you ordered with everyone at the table is much more enjoyable then eating quick meals on your way to work or in the car.  I have to admit that tapas is easily my favorite part of Spanish food culture because you get to eat a variety of delicious little meals instead of one dish of the same thing. 

Tapas

Osama Bin Laden's Death

Osama Bin Laden

Americans rejoicing outside of The White House

There have been a lot of memorable international news stories that I have read and heard about since I have been in Barcelona.  The one that is easily the most significant for me is the one that occurred yesterday in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.  The death of Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, has brought relief and rejoicing to all Americans.  U.S. officials say that they located Osama using intelligence and the observance of a high security compound that they believed would be used to shelter a high profile terrorist target.  They learned about the compound in August of last year and said that construction on the compound began five or six years ago.  Intelligence officials learned about the compound by tracking couriers that they believed were within Bin Laden’s inner circle. Officials said that helicopters were used in the attack which quickly turned into a firefight.  Bin Laden and three other men were killed as well as two women who the terrorists used as human shields.

                The news of his death brought rejoicing to cities all around the United States, especially in New York City and Washington D.C. where people took to the streets at Ground Zero and in front of The White House.  This is a very emotional event for most Americans.  Growing up twenty minutes from Manhattan and having friends and family who lost their lives in the September 11 attacks, I am especially joyful and looking forward to my return home to New York on Saturday. 

Ovella Negra

Me at Ovella Negra

With friends at Ovella Negra

Tables at Ovella Negra

One of my favorite nightlife spots in Barcelona is the Megataverna Ovella Negra.  It is an enormous and rowdy drinking hall in an old factory warehouse in the Poble Nou area. When I first walked in the atmosphere was reminiscent of a German beer hall with long tables and groups of people drinking from large containers called “toros.”  Normally, a few people sit around and share a toro at a table.  A toro is a large cylinder filled with beer with a nozzle at the bottom so that people can fill up there glass from it.  I was immediately excited when I walked in because there were a lot of Spanish people in chanting in unison and I knew that this was going to be a fun environment.  We got our first toro from the bar and struggled to find seats before finally getting a table that we could all fit at.  There were some drunken people chanting and standing on the table next to us.  One guy tried to hop of the table and slipped and crashed onto the floor in front of everyone.  Ovella Negra was unlike any other place that I had been to in Barcelona and maybe Europe in general.  In the back room they have pool tables, foosball and ping pong.  Every time that I have been there it has been very crowded, loud and rowdy – the perfect atmosphere to start a night of drinking.  Another benefit of Ovella Negra is its proximity to Razzmatazz, the biggest club in Barcelona.  Razzmatazz is another enormous place that was converted from a factory warehouse.  We normally started our night at Ovella Negra and then walked around the block to Razzmatazz when it got later in the night.  Ovella Negra and Razzmatazz are two places that I will never forget about Barcelona because they are unlike anywhere I have ever been in my life. 

Somorrostro - Paella



Paella

 My second experience with Catalan food culture was my first time eating paella.  It was in late February when my parents came and visited Barcelona.  My parents, my roommate and I went to a restaurant a few blocks away from my apartment in Barceloneta called Somorrostro.  Somorrostro is a small seafood restaurant on Carrer de Sant Carles near the Barceloneta market.  We arrived a little early for a typical Spanish dinner so the restaurant was almost empty when we arrived.  It was a dark restaurant with a kitchen connected to the dining room so you could see the chefs cook while you were eating.  I had to act as translator between my parents who spoke very little Spanish and the waitress who spoke very little English.  We looked at the menus and the daily specials and my parents ordered two bottle of white wine.  There were a few things on the menu that I didn’t think people ate, such as kangaroo.  I thought for a while about trying the kangaroo because I was definitely intrigued but I felt obligated to get paella because I was eating at a seafood restaurant in Barceloneta.  As a table, we shared a platter of tapas for an appetizer.  It was an assortment of seafood – calamari, octopus, shrimp and other things that I ate without really knowing what they were.  It was a large platter so I was almost full by the time the paella came out.  My roommate and I split the paella.  It was a large black plate with rice, large shrimp and shellfish.  It was extremely filling because the rice was very thick and mealy.  The shrimp was also different then I had ever had it before because it still had all of its skin and whiskers on it.  I could barely finish my plate but it was a delicious experience and the wine complemented the rice and seafood very well. 

Torres Winery

Barrels of Cava

Vina Esmeralda

On the way home from our Valencia field trip, IES bought us to the Torres Winery in the Penedes region outside of Barcelona.  The Torres Vineyard is a traditional Catalan cava producing winery.  Our bus drove through the fields and pulled up to the main building.  It was an overcast day and the vines had just been clipped so the fields looked barren and dead.  Our group gathered in the lobby and we were escorted into another room where we got to try a glass of cava.  The cava we tried was called Vina Esmeralda.  It tasted young and fruity, dry but floral.  After everyone tried a glass we were escorted to a tram.  We all loaded into the tram cars and were driven around the winery listening to a recording that explained the process of producing and bottling the cava.  This was the first time that I had ever been to a vineyard or a winery so I was interested to see how the wines were produced.  The recording explained that the vines are clipped every winter so that they can bloom in the spring.  This explained why all of the vines looked dead on the drive in.  The tram took us through the factory and we learned how the grapes were crushed and fermented and how impurities, such as sediments were removed from the bottle.  This was one of my favorite experiences in Spain because we got to see the inner workings of a winery and try a glass of cava that was originally from the Penedes region.  I was especially interested in this field trip because my father owns a wine store and I was able to talk to him about cavas, the Penedes region and the Torres wine specifically. 

Bar Marsella

A crowded Bar Marsella

Glass of Absinthe

One of my favorite nightlife spots is a very old bar in El Raval called Bar Marsella.  El Raval is not the nicest place in Barcelona and it can be a little bit seedy at night – there was a group of pimps and prostitutes hanging outside the first time that we went.  When we got there it was very crowded and we barely found a table.  It is an old wooden bar with shelves that run along the ceiling with bottles of liquor from 19^th century.  They are all discolored and covered in cob webs which give the bar a historical feel.  Bar Marsella is popular for its absinthe.  Absinthe is a highly alcoholic beverage from France that was popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  A glass of absinthe was about eight Euros.  They give you a glass of absinthe, a sugar cube, a small fork and a bottle of water because there is a process to drinking absinthe.  First, you dip the sugar cube in the absinthe and place it on the fork that is laying flat across the rim of the glass.  Next, you light the sugar cube on fire but I am still not sure why you are supposed to do this.  Next, you squirt the sugar cube with war until it dissipates completely into the glass of absinthe and then you stir until the absinthe is a cloudy green-yellow color.  The absinthe is very strong and tastes a little bit like black licorice.  Absinthe is also known because it is said to have hallucinogenic properties.  While I did not hallucinate, after two glasses the absinthe gives a sensation similar to being high.  Two glasses was enough for me, but it was rumored that Bar Marsella was frequented by Ernest Hemmingway, Salvador Dali and Antoni Gaudi who would sit and have five or more glasses in a night.    

FC Barcelona vs. Atletic Club Bilbao

Before the game

FC Barcelona

Crowd

Cute girl sitting in front of us

On February 20, 2011, I went to see FC Barcelona play Altletic Club Bilbao at Camp Nou.  Being an American, the experience was very different from any other sporting event that I had been to.  The first thing that I noticed was the sheer size of the stadium.  With a capacity of 98,787, Camp Nou is the largest stadium in Europe.  In America, only college football stadiums come close in capacity.  At the start of the game, all of the players are introduced by name.  Each the announcement of each name, the crowd yells “Rey,” meaning King in Spanish.  The FC Barcelona team also has an anthem that the entire stadium sings before each match.  The anthem, “El Cant del Barca” sounds like a very old song that speaks about brotherhood and unification.  I also noticed that there was no alcohol served in the game which is very different from any American sporting event where everyone is usually drunk.  Nevertheless, the game was an enjoyable experience.

                The game was very close all the way through.  The action started right away with a David Villa goal in the fourth minute.  The game became quite stagnant afterward with a lot of change of possessions.  In the second half, Bilbao made things interesting by stepping up their offense and controlling the ball right away.  Bilbao’s Andoni Iraola tied the game up with a goal only five minutes into the second half.  Things really heated up after this and the crowd was getting very loud.  The game started getting quite aggressive after two yellow cards for Barcelona in the second half alone.  Then in the 78^th minute, FC Barcelona’s savior, the young Lionel Messi, scored a goal putting Barcelona up 2 to 1 with only 12 minutes to play.  The crowd roared and bowed their heads to the most talented striker in La Liga.  Overall, I was very impressed by European futbol and I will have a new perspective on sports when I return home to the United States.

               

Tarragona Field Trip

Me at the Roman Amphitheatre

Roman Building

Ruins of a Roman Villa

View of Amphitheatre and Sea from our balcony

Roman Amphitheatre

One of the most culturally enriching experiences for me while I was abroad was when I went on the IES field trip to Tarragona.  Tarragona is a Catalan a few hours south of Barcelona.  During the Roman era, Tarragona was a thriving city with a great fortress and amphitheatre.  Today, the ruins of these structures are for the most part still intact.  We stayed at gorgeous hotel on the water – the Husa Imperial Tarraco.  Our room had a balcony that overlooked the water and the Roman amphitheatre.  On our first tour of Tarragona, we went to see the Roman wall that used to encompass the city for protection purposes.  Like Barcelona, Tarragona followed the same layout and construction with a surrounding wall and a center market.  We saw a model of what the city used to look like.  Next, we walked around the enormous wall and she explained when it was built and what different aspects of the wall were used for.  For example, there was a main door with a large entrance to the city, but there were also various smaller doors around the wall for emergency purposes, such as fires.  Towards the end of the tour, we were taken into the amphitheatre.  We learned that it was free for all of the citizens but the lower class sat in the bleacher seats while the wealthier and aristocratic classes sat in the front rows.  We were told that a Christian bishop was burned alive there and that when the Visigoths took the city they built a chapel in the amphitheatre to commemorate his death.

                The Tarragona field trip was especially enriching because it was a school field trip with guided tours and it was definitely a more academic atmosphere then when I travel to other cities with my friends.  I learned a great deal about the Roman occupation of Spain and it was nice to see the Roman influence that we had been learning about in Catalan Cultural Studies. 

Calcot

Calcots

My first gastronomical experience with Catalan culture came on our IES field trip to Valencia.  On the way home from our field trip, our bus stopped at a restaurant in the countryside.  Our bus guide explained that during this time of year, it was a Catalan tradition to go to the countryside  and have a Calcot.  We were informed that in a Calcot, you eat long onions dipped in a salsa onion sauce.  This would then be followed by an assortment of grilled meats and potatoes.  We entered the restaurant to find that we were one of the last buses to arrive and most of the program was already seated at long tables.  I took my seat, put my bib on, and had my first glass of red wine from a pitcher with a long spout.  The atmosphere was very lively and even our professors and administrators were drinking wine right from the spout of the pitcher.  Soon a waiter appeared and placed a platter of onions and calcot salsa in front of us.  The onions did not look like regular onions but instead were long and burnt black from the grill.  I peeled off the burnt skin of the onion, dipped it into the salsa, and had my first bite.  It was very greasy and the onions had a very strong taste.  I was not a huge fan of the onions so I mainly dipped bread in the salsa until the meat arrived.  Another waiter appeared with a platter with racks of lamb, potatoes and a variety of sausages.  This was more my game.  I stuffed myself on succulent lamb, greasy potatoes and juicy grilled sausage.  After lunch I was in a food coma and slept the entire bus ride back to Barcelona. 

Vinyetes Al Front

The Dream and Lie of Franco

Minotauromachy

I visited the Picasso Museum to see the Vinyetes Al Front exhibit.  Vinyetes Al Front is Catalan for Bullets in Front.  The exhibit was a collection of propaganda posters from the Spanish Civil War.  These posters were very important during the Civil War because it was during a time where most people did not have access to radio and visual forms of propaganda were the most influential.  These posters were created by the Republicans, and the Fascists, as well as foreign nations to try and bring favor to their cause.  In general, these posters were large, colorful, and had exaggerated representations of the enemy.  I thought that it was very interesting to see how propaganda was displayed back then because I can compare it to propaganda in the wars that I have been alive for.

                Some of the more interesting aspects of the exhibit contain work by Picasso.  I was not aware that besides Guernica, Picasso had done a quite deal of other work about the Civil War.  In 1937, Picasso created a comic strip or series of satirical etchings about the military uprising of General Franco called The Dream and Lie of Franco.  I learned that proceeds of the sales of the production of the comic were donated to the Republican cause.  Personally, my favorite work of art in the exhibit is Picasso’s Minotauromachy.  It is a highly symbolic etching that depicts the sorrow and violence of the Civil War.  Two of these symbols are an enormous Minotaur and small girl holding a light in the air representing peace.  This was one of the most culturally enriching experiences for me because I was able to see a traveling exhibit containing rare work by Picasso and other artists.  These posters related directly to what I have been learning in my Catalan Cultural Studies and Spanish and English Voices of the Civil War courses.

Roman Barcino

View from outside of the Roman Barcino field trip

Harp and Guitar player in the courtyard

Roman contraption outside of Roman Barcino ruins

We went on a field trip to the Roman Barcino in the Museo de la Historia de Barcelona.  We left the IES building and walked to the museum and I took some pictures of the architecture outside.  In the courtyard, there were many people standing around and there were two guys playing instruments – the harp and the violin.  I took a picture of them because they reminded of the musicians in New York who play on the streets and in the subways.  We took a tour of the museum and unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of any of the artifacts or roman architecture.

                At our first stop, we saw sculptures and pieces of foundation that were dated to the first century A.D.  They were made of sandstone and marble and I was surprised to see that they were still in such good condition after almost two thousand years.  There was also some small pottery that was dated to before the Roman Empire.  Next, we watched a video that took us through the history of Barcelona and the expansion and layout of the city.  Most of the information backed up what we had already learned in class.

                The next part of the tour was the most interesting.  We took an elevator down under the museum and saw structures and artifacts from 100 B.C.  There was a tower that was originally part of the cities wall.  Roman cities normally consisted of a similar layout, with a central market where business could be conducted and a fortified wall around the city to protect from invasions.  It was interesting to go inside the tower and imagine that Roman soldiers were standing in the same place two millennia ago.  We saw the layout of the typical roman villa for the upper class.  The most interesting part of the field trip was seeing how their life was to life today.  The women used make up that we saw in little bottles, the kids etched tic-tac-toe into the pavement and they drank wine that was similar to the wine drank today.  We also saw the remains of a Roman bath where it was typical for people to bathe in public with many people.  We learned that small children were taught about everything, including sexuality, while bathing with their professors.  This concept was hard for me to grasp but I understand that it was part of their culture and was completely normal for them.  Overall, the field trip was extremely enlightening and I learned a lot about the daily life of roman society in Barcelona.

Maritime Museum

Maritime Museum

The arches from the original shipyards in Barcelona

On our second field study we walked through El Raval on our way to the Museu Martim de Barcelona (The Maritime Museum of Barcelona).  This was one of the more interesting field trips because on our way to the museum we got a brief tour of El Raval.  El Raval is one of the regions of the city that IES specifically tells you not to visit at night because of prostitution, drug dealers and other petty crimes.  I have been there a few times at night to go to Bar Marsella, but it was interesting to see what the area looked like during the day.  The alleys were very narrow and there were a lot of little shops that I would never have found if we had not gotten a tour.  We learned that El Raval was once known as one of the worst parts of the city.  In the 1990’s, there was a movement to restore El Raval as one of Barcelona’s artistic and cultural centers.  The construction of the CCCB or Centre de Cultura de Contemporania de Barcelona and MACBA or the Museu d’Art Contemporani were two major projects that they hoped would enrich this area of the city.  We saw that outside of the MACBA was a local hangout for skateboarders who used the steps, ramps and rails surrounding the building as a skate park.

                My favorite part of the field trip was an artistically colored apartment building in a square in El Raval.  The building was apparently empty and some people, I believe they were students, who now live there for free painted the façade of the building with eyeballs and different colorful designs.  This is the type of building that I think is very unique to Barcelona.  I have seen a lot of graffiti because I live in New York but I have never seen an entire building painted with colorful, urban designs.  I took a picture of this building and also of a large cat sculpture.  I am not sure what the meaning behind the cat was but we were told by an old man to touch the cat’s balls.

                The field trip ended at the Barcelona Shipyards near Port Vell and Barceloneta.  The Shipyard is an enormous stone gothic style building with great pillars and arches.  The size of the building was breathtaking and it is obvious to see why they have been preserved and made into a museum.  We learned that the aim of the museum is to promote and protect the heritage of Catalan seafaring structures. 

The Guilds

Small rooms were added on top of the Guild houses for lower classes.  This can be seen by the small window on the top of the building



Typical Guild House



View of Santa Maria del Mar

To get a better idea of the history of Barcelona and how its industry and economy developed, we took a field study through El Born region and saw where the guilds were.  El Born is located on the right of Via Laitana if you are traveling toward IES from Port Vell.  Via Laitana was built in 1981.  Its purpose was to be the host of Barcelona’s financial district.  Today, you can see the many financial institutions, union and political buildings there.  The old guilds are located in the small alleyways behind these financial and political buildings.  Each alleyway or street was home to its own guild.  For example, Placa de la Llana translates to Plaza of the Wool.  This was the location where wool was prepared and sold at market price. 

                The guild houses were built very simply, most of them in the late 13^th century.  The basement of the guild house had a big window in the front.  The basement room was the workshop and all of the workers lived above it.  Next to the large window, there was a small door with stairs that led to the upper levels and in some cases to gardens and terraces behind the building.  The guilds were trades of industry that had very strict rules.  In order to become a member of a guild, you first had to become an apprentice and spend a period of time learning your trade.  For example, in order to become a shoemaker in the Barcelona guild, you had to be an apprentice for three years.  The ironsmith was one of the most important guilds because it was the guild of industry – iron was the most important material of the time.  We also learned that the guilds set all of the prices for the products.  Another interesting thing that I learned about the guilds were the rooms that would add to the top floor if they needed more room – see picture.