sooner or later, it all has to end

As it goes, everything eventually comes to an end. My co-op semester at DNA Arquitectos in Barcelona is over. I have completed my work there, made connections, met friends, learned a lot, and had the experience of a lifetime.

At the moment, and I mean this very moment, I am multi-tasking between writing this post and packing up my apartment here, along with some tears. What can I say? I'm a sensitive guy. But as I pack up my things, my clothes, my mementos, etc, I have to take a break to stop and write down my feeling. It just doesn't feel like it's really ending. It doesn't feel like I'm supposed to be going home but with a feeling like this I know that I'll be back. Back to live in Barcelona again. Someday, some unknown day. But I can swear on it, I'll be back.

It's hard to explain the feeling of leaving somewhere that have called home for so long. Not to say that six months is an eternity, but to come here alone, not knowing anyone, barely speaking the language, the minute you find your cave to dwell in, it instantly becomes home, and the minute it's time to leave the cave and go back to whatever there is to go back to, it's a bit disheartening. But whoever comes to live in this apartment, whoever comes to experience here what I have experienced, they will love this home. And when they leave, it will still be home to me and them and whoever has and will live here. Barcelona will always be home for me.

But with an experience like this, are there supposed to be closing words or actions that really define the end? I think back on my time here. What I have done, who I have met, what I have learned. I have become a new person. I'm still the same Stephen White I was before I came here, but I've grown in ways that are actually unable for me to speak about or even grasp conceptually. My boss, Felipe, told me he thinks I have taken on a wonderful transformation from living in Europe. On my last day of work at DNA we ended the day with some champagne and shared stories about working, the city, life, etc. Felipe told me he thinks I have had one of the biggest transformations of interns in the office. I agreed.

I came from a city further away than any of the interns. I came alone. I was nervous, I was biting my fingernails the entire plane ride over. The first few days living in a hotel were strange. I felt lost and a bit scared. I found a place to live. I met people. I made friends. And I learned to live by myself, to do things for myself, that being on my own is actually a good feeling. I've learned to never give up, I've learned that throwing your whole self into something completely unfamiliar can give you the biggest breath of satisfaction and proudness. I've learned to never say never, to never turn down an opportunity and to always take a chance. I've learned new culture, I've tried new and different food, I've (sort of) learned to balance a check book and be cautious about money. I have grown up, learned more about myself than ever, put a focus on the path in life I'm aiming at, found who I am, gained a sense of self, and become able to find beauty and positivity in just about anything. I've been frustrated here, I've been lonely, I've missed my friends and my family and even school. But I stuck it out and pushed through.

After this experience I feel like I can say, "I can do anything."

Even though I'm leaving 2 weeks early, I know that it's time to go home. It feels like the right time to go home even though I'm sitting on the floor crying as I stare at my empty apartment and packed suitcases. The tears are just relief. I'm going to miss this place a lot.

I'll miss the city, the culture, the food, my friends, working, my yoga studio, the beach being 15 minutes away, clara, Estrella Damm, Sugar Bar, Sub Rosa, Moog, Montjuic, the architecture, Razzmatazz, Oviso, Siddartha, Manchester Bar, the Dog is Hot, Yoga Studio, Penultima, Zelig, AMBAR, Catalunya, Gaudi, Carrer de la Lluna, Barceloneta, Shoko, Opium, festivals, parades every day, DNA, Euros, poopy pants, Shubra II, my balcony, La Rambla, overhaul of tourists crowding the streets, Sonar, bingo at Queen Vic, motorbikes, the guy who sells Gasoline every morning, the fashion, the culture, the exotic parrots and palm trees everywhere, making new friends, everything being smaller, washing machine in the kitchen, laundry hanging outside everyones houses, GP, Don Simon, harira, fetoosh, mixing pot of people from all over the world, speaking spanish, learning polish, catalan, la Boqueria, fresh juice, ice cream, Cathedra of the Sea, tapas, paella, seafood, the amazing coffee, the music, soccer fans, fireworks, the W Hotel, soccer tournaments, only have 3 channels on my TV, the nightlife. Everything will be missed and that list barely sums up "everything".

But, alas and all this said, it's time to go home and I'm more ready than ever to take on what life back at home in DC and back at Northeastern in Boston have in store for me. Watch out USA, Stephen White is back in town!

BARCA BARCA BARCCCAA!!! Barcelona: a 2010 adventure. The time of my life!

a photo of some building artwork around the corner from my house

Sonar Music Festival 2010

Dancin' it out at Sonar!!

Sonar Music Festival is a massive thousand person festival that takes place annually here in Barcelona. The festival is 3 days and two nights of music filled madness, making friends, meeting new people, and of course, dancing the night away to some of musics greatest names. The major hits this year, for my personal tastes, was an endless list of electronic to hip hop, to minimal tech, and beyond. It was tough to run between the three venues, Sonar Lab - Sonar Pub - and Sonar Club, wanting to see two artists who were playing at the same time. I had the pleasure of seeing Sugar Hill Gang, Booka Shade, The Chemical Brothers, Claude VonStroke, Hudson Mohawke, the LuckyMe Showcase, Dizzee Rascal, Air, LCD Soundsystem, 2manyDJs, Joy Orbison, etc. It was a once in a lifetime experience and anyone who has the chance to go should really take the opportunity and go! Here are some photos of the festival!

gotta stretch with Birgit and Benita before dancing for 7 hours!

two really awesome French guys we met!

Emma's friends, Dom and Doug, from London!

really cool girl from Valencia!

The festival was massive. Thousands and thousands of people pouring into the venues to see the notorious artists. People from all over the world were there. I made new friends from all over Europe, Australia, ran into some people from home, some friends from California, etc. Can't even explain what this place was like but if this gives you some scale...and mind you, these are taken at 3 different venues....and yes, that is a massive crowd of people.

walking to take the train home...and alas, architecture! A Toyo Ito hotel!!!

..and heres a photo of the train ride home at 7am...

visit from America!

And I thought time was flying by before! June has gone by without notice. I feel a little bit guilty for not having written more in my blog this month but let me tell you, this month has been a whirlwind of adventures! From work being crazy, to seven friends and my parents all visiting within a three and a half week period, to barely sleeping because life has just been too enjoyable to do so! It's finally time for a nap I think!

But either way, I have been all over town playing tour guide, enjoying the beach (more!), continuing my practice in yoga, and learning more about the history here, etc. First, my two friends Kendra and Hetta came to visit. They had been studying in Sevilla and were backpacking through Europe. They decided to stop in at Barcelona to check out the scene and I hosted them at my house. Such a fun time! Here is a picture of us out at a concert in a club called Moog!

we were attempting to get a cool affect with the fog machine buttttt it didn't really work so well...clearly.

late night yoga with Hetta and Kendra!

Emma and I swimming at Barceloneta beach!

two of my oldest friends, Aliza and her sister Zoe, were visiting Barcelona. It was a childhood reunion after not seeing each other for almost 6 years!

My best friend from back home in DC, Ellie, visited Barcelona too! She has been studying in Valencia and came by for a weekend with some friends! An excellent night of dancing at Shoko Beach Club!

So needless to say, I have been incredibly busy running around playing tourist and entertainer. Back to work this week as well as catching up on sleep that I have missed out on while having everyone visiting!

two more things.....

1. It's June 1st. Where has the time gone? I can't tell if I've been here for four months or four years. I only have two months left here. Whhhat?!

2. If anyone reading my blog is interested in either coming to Barcelona or learning about its history (which is very compelling), pick up the book Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones. I started it before coming to Barcelona and finished it about a month into being here. I couldn't put it down!

Wiring in old Buildings

It's inevitable to rent a flat in one of Spain's gorgeous old buildings and not run into a few problems. Don't get me wrong, the flats are nicely put together, plenty of room, with amenities included. The hallways may be deceiving with their cracked and uneven stairs, rise and run changing with every step to climb, hitting 90 degree turns every 4 or 5 stairs since the stairwell core is only about 2 meters by 2 meters. There are no elevators, and the wiring for the lighting runs along the depths of cracked-plaster corners where wall and ceiling meet. Every door is different in shape, molding, color, and direction facing towareds the stair core. The light from the ceiling barely reaches the second run of stairs and if you forget to hit the light switch on your way to the stairs when its dark out, well...walk with your hands out front because these stairs will surely grab your ankles and pull you down in the dark. It's a tricky climb when you have to lift your legs at different heights just to maneuver your way to your home. And I love it.

The character of each building here is different. Each building feels like Spain, but depending on where the building is, it feels like a different Spain. I live in Raval, Emma lives across the street. My stairs are crooked, beaten and battered but retain 90 degree angles where the walls of the stair core direct the stairs to turn. Emma lives across the street from me. Her stairs are nice new marble, always clean, not a chip in sight. But every she has no right angles in her stair core, and the width of each flight changes as you approach the top floor. Jess lives on La Rambla, in Barri Gottico. Her stairs are narrow but of appropriate size. The run back and forth up a rectangular stair core AND she has an elevator. A friend of mine, Natalia, who I met on the flight over way back when, lives in Borne, and has a gorgeous spiral staircase in her building that screams "Expensive!" when you walk up it.

The point of all this is not only to give you an image of my own building, but to say that, wiring in a building that wasn't built with wiring in mind often means trouble. English translation: I haven't had internet for about a week and a half and just got it back two days ago! Hooray! Back to blogging!

I just wanted to take a minute to talk about the architecture in the city and how impressive it is. Impressive not only because the buildings themselves are visually appealing but because the ways in which the modern architecture is imposed on the archaic city and it's urban fabric in such fluent ways. I feel like my blog has been talking mostly about my adventures here, which have been incredibly exciting, to say the least. But as a young architect on co-op here, its important for me to take time to talk about what I have learned just by living in Barcelona as well as what has inspired me. And, I think I have said it before, but this place truly is an inspiration at great lengths.

This city just has so much character, constantly changing, and constantly evolving. The movement of people, the hustle and busltle of traffic against the urban landscape, the materials, everything is alive and thought provoking. After living here for a few months now I can walk through the neighborhoods and know exactly where I am purely by looking at the style of the architecture and the urban planning of the neighborhood. The city has hidden reference points that I have gradually picked up on that act as my map to get me where I need to go as well as get home from where I am.

But the separation of these neighborhoods by style and era isn't the only interesting thing about the mix of architectural beauty that Barcelona offers. In so many instances you see two buildings, clearly very antique, separated by a super modern building. A lot of times, this type of architectural move turns out to be more of a faux pas than an accomplishment and it turns out to be quite a difficult task to succesfully allocate modern next to old. However, Barcelona seemingly has a nack for meshing the old and the new in near perfect ways. The modern buildings around the city seem to be effortlessly inserted into their respective sites, as if someone just came in over night and slipped the building into its place and said nothing. Everyone woke up the next day and no one thought "well, that seems out of place" but rather, "wow, that looks beautiful". And it's true. As you wander around Barcelona, past antiquity and modernity, you both gain a sense of time as well as lose it.

Goodbye to a co-worker, hello to another year under my belt!

Work has been work work work. Pressing deadlines for a huge competition project that DNA has entered into. The Hammamet Resort, being built in Tunisia has kept the office super busy for the past few weeks with our CEO, Aryanour, flying back and forth between Barcelona and Tunisia while all of the employees are pushing ourselves to our limits with design choices. The company who we are designing for seems to be pretty unsure of what they want, constantly switching back and forth between two different design proposals, often causing double deadlines for the office! Lots of running around, printing, design charetting, etc. Certainly keeps us busy which is good! I've been designing the landscape for that project along with helping out some smaller residential projects. Lots of AutoCAD and Photoshop for me!

In the midst of all the confusion, one of our employees, Xavi (pronounced Chavi - hooray for Catalan!) has decided to leave the firm to pursue his own career. So we had a farewell on friday with some Cava at the end of work and a "Bueno Suerte" for him and his achievements flying solo in the architecture world. And along with him leaving came a new member, Josep, also a Barcelona native so with one gone, another comes! I've been doing some interior work for Josep the past few days as well and its been going great. He's proven to be incredibly organized in his work ethics and its been nice to stray away from logos and marketing and get back into the nitty gritty of architecture.

In other news, I celebrated my 22nd birthday on May 5! 2-2 for me. I'm starting to feel old but am still 22 years young :) Feels great. My friends took me up to the W Hotel Eclipse bar for celebratory drinks. The lounge is on the 26th floor of the hotel which floats across out on the ocean looking like a shark fin gliding across the water.

everyone at the W for my 22nd!

The bar itself is super posh and the drinks were absolutely delicious so pictures to come from that adventure as well! My parents were nice enough to throw me some extra cash for a present which I decided to spend on yoga classes. This past week was my first week of classes and, as though as they have been, I have really really enjoyed them and they are not only improving my body and general health but my spanish as well! Jess decided to join me in the classes too so we are going 3 times a week now which has been great for us. Super excited to continue the classes throughout my stay here!

The weather has been so-so. Pretty rainy, cloudy and not as warm as I had expected it to be by May but hopefully it will improve soon so I can continue to catch some rays and keep my tan! Lots of friends are coming to visit soon which I'm very very excited about! I'm really missing my crew from back home! Also - congrats to all my 2010 Huskies who graduated last week as well! You guys are awesome and I'm really proud of all you!

Marketing?

Work has gotten quite hectic here in the past few weeks and I've begun to take my work in the world of architecture to a whole new level. With architecture comes marketing, presentations, etc, however my recent tasks in the office are of a breed that I have little knowledge of.

An older project for Nice Fruit, a fruit company who has recently pattented a new technology of freezing fruits (lasting up to 3 years!), has just been reopened to the office and yours truly has been put in charge of the marketing aspects for the company. Although I have little experience with branding, marketing, etc., the other architects here in the office seemed to have confidence that I would be capable of developing a logo design for Nice Fruit so off I went.

I reopened the files of logo designs that had been completed previously by other architects in the office to gain a little perspective on what Nice Fruit really was asking me to design, but was told that the old logos werent exactly what Nice Fruit was looking for. They wanted something modern, chic, bright, colorful, childish, funny, witty, etc. So many words to toss into one tiny design for a logo.

Within the first few days of preliminary sketches I think I probably designed 40 different logos in various programs on the computer, some simple, some complex, some with bright colors, some black and white. I really didn't have much of a clue what I was doing so I went with my gut and designed variation after variation until I told my boss, Paolo, that I honestly was designed-out and I couldn't possibly think of fruit or logos for one more day. He laughed and took a look at my work and was surprisingly very pleased with what I had been doing. I was pretty much winging it due to lack in experience but he was happy with what I had done, so I was happy with it. And out of all the logos I had designed we chose two that will be presented to Nice Fruit tomorrow (April 30).

I still laugh about my first few days on the job because I literally designed myself to death. I would leave work unable to think about anything except logos. When I'd walk down the streets of Barcelona all I would see is logos and color choices, and I would ponder to myself about why the logo worked, why it didn't, what the design process could have been. Branding had officially taken over my brain.

The funniest part about it is, after the preliminary design process, and having to make the choice between all two hundred trillion designs, we ended up deciding on two of the most simple designs I had, one of which took approximately 3 minutes to construct on the computer.

But that's really what I have gained from this experienced in the world of Marketing. In a design field you design and design and overthink and plan and redesign and make hundreds of itterations of a design until it boils down to the most simple of forms and thats what you're looking for. In my eyes, my mind throughout this experience worked the same way as my mind when designing for studio back at Northeastern. I design and design and overdesign and think and rethink until my architecture boils down into something that is both functional and beautiful in its simplicity. Sometimes I get tired and lose sleep over the design of my building, just as I lost sleep over design of a logo about fruit. But at the end, I am always pleased with my work.

I find simplicity in design to be beautiful. I find simplicity to be sleek and modern. Though I have been working on designing a logo, I have simultaneously been training my brain to think simply, to not get ahead of itself, to make secure design decisions that are both easily comprehendable and understood by the masses.

(I would love to post my logo design for everyone to see, however, due to copyright laws, legally I cannot do so until my logo is released. And after all my hard work the last thing I want is for someone to steal my design!!!)