In my history class, Barcelona City: Past and Present, we have three different field studies where we go to different neighborhoods and areas throughout Barcelona and our professor conducts class on the site. On Wednesday, we went to Barcino, which is part of the Gothic Quarter and is composed of all the Roman Ruins that remain in Barcelona. Right outside of the walls is La Catedral de Barcelona (unfortunately the exterior is under construction). We didn't get a chance to go inside, but I will be making a trip back sometime this semester so I can go in. The area within the Roman Walls is very interesting and it's fascinating to see walls that were built by the Romans when the Roman Empire had control over the Iberian Peninsula in the 1st Century B.C. Even though we were able to see some of the Roman walls, the majority of the ruins are actually beneath ground and can be accessed by the Museu d'História de la Ciutat de Barcelona.
Also, in the main square in Barcino is La Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalunyan Government) as well as the Placa de la Constitución. This main square within the Roman walls is known as the forum and it has the main religious, political, and economic buildings in it. It is also the site where the two most important streets in any Roman city cross.
I'll definitely be heading back sometime soon when I'm not on such a time constraint so that I can go into the Museu and see the ruins that are underground.
This weekend was very quiet. My roommates went to Amsterdam and since I'm going a different weekend with a different group of friends, I stayed in Barcelona.
Friday was the first crappy day since I've been here; it was rainy and cold. Of course that didn't stop me from going out exploring and shopping. I went to the Born neighborhood which is in La Ribera. This area is right across the street from Barcino and ends at El Parc de la Ciutadella and it's very close to my apartment. It's a very popular area with a lot of small streets and a lot of restaurants and tapas bars. Also, in this area are: Museu Picasso and Museu de la Xocolata (Chocolate). The Picasso Museum is open all the time; however, the first Sunday of every month is free entry to the public, so that is where I went on yesterday.
I got to the museum around 3:00PM and there was a little bit of a line to get in, but nothing too bad. So with my free entry I was able to see every room in the museum. Picasso was born in Málaga and moved to Barcelona when he was young, this museum here in Barcelona captures Picassos learning period and his early year of art. In the first room I had a hard time enjoying his still lifes because he is so abstract; however, each room told a little biography on him and through the paintings in each room, I was able to appreciate it more. I found his later work during his learning years to be much more interesting, especially his meditation on Velázquez's most famous work, Las Meninas. This meditation is composed of 44 paintings where Picasso took aspects from each person in Las Meninas and adapted his own form of each.
Last night was, of course, the Superbowl. Yes, it'e very big here as well, and we all went to the Hard Rock to watch the game. Of course the game didn't start until midnight, but it was still a great time because of all the people who were there to watch the game. Unfortunately I didn't make it through the whole game, especially since they weren't showing ANY commercials :( so I went home and now I've been looking up the commercials on YouTube today.
This is the first week that I'm going to be having work, starting with a spanish presentation tomorrow morning, I'll try and write to keep you all updated!
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