Heating Up!

NOTICE : As my adventure here in Barcelona continues, the days and weeks seem to blend together the more and more this city feels like home. The activities and outtings are never ending and its tough for me to keep track of things here at a week by week basis, despite my attempts at creating a hand written time table in my journal here. Work is busy, and I'm buzzing around town as much as I can. I figured Barcelona is home now and, since I dont normally label my life in weeks in Boston, I can't structure my life so rigidly here. Let's just say I'll write, adventure by adventure, bit by bit. Thanks all who are keeping up! Hope you're enjoying!

Week.....?

It's finally starting to warm up here in Barcelona, though I've heard the weather has been improving back home as well. Things really are starting to blend together here. I spend most of my time at work, of course, but even just walking home from the office has become something I look forward to every day! I have made an effort to walk a different way home each day. It really opens the city up to the infinite possibilites it has to offer. I've probably eaten at a different cafe every day! That said, I also end up going back to my regular spots where the "camareros" (waiters/bar workers) are starting to know me by face. Though my clothing style doesnt really resemble "American Fashion" per say, and my grown out mane (and hair still growing!) doesnt give away where I'm from, everyone always hears my friends and I speaking english so Ive become the "chico Americano" around the neighborhood. No shame here! Ha ha.

This past weekend was Easter weekend and the weather was, for the most part really great! We were off from work last Friday and this past Monday which left me no choice but to lay on the beach all of Friday. A friend of mine from home, Susan, and her new husband Derek, were also visiting Barcelona this weekend on their honeymoon so I had the pleasure of taking them around the city and to some of my favorite spots. It was great to show them around my new city and congratulate them on tying the not! Congrats, again, to the two of them!!

Jess was back home in London for the holiday, leaving Emma and I alone in the city for a few days. It was, in all, a relaxing weekend of laying on the beach hoping to get rid of our pale winter skin. Relatively successful, I'd say, but in the next few weeks the temperature is supposed to sky rocket so bring on the RAYS!! I cannot wait for some steaming hot weather and swimming in the ocean!

I did some more flower shopping (and guiltily clothes shopping) this weekend as well. Since the weathers been so nice I just couldn't help but spruce up my little flat with flowers to up the spirits. I am also pleased to say that I have officially written over 130 pages in my book. Yes, along with my blog, I am writing a book. I started it back when I was studying abroad in Italy in 2008 and have slowly continued a little bit at a time and, since there was a lot of free time during the holiday (and a rainy Sunday), I sat down to continue with my writing. Happy to say that I have written so much and am happier to say that I still have a ton left to write about!

I can't stress it enough. Living abroad is more of an inspiration than any other experience I have had thus far. I never want it to end!..........but there is time. Lots and lots of time left! Pictures to come!

Las Fallas y mas!

LAS FALLAS Festival! Valencia, Spain

weeks 5 & 6

week 5

These past two weeks have been really exciting and full of adventure. Jess, Adam, and I traveled to Valencia on Friday for Las Fallas Festival. It was a single day trip to experience a once in a lifetime event and it was completely worth it. 100 percent!

Las Fallas is a yearly festival held on the city streets of Valencia, another city located about four hours south of Barcelona. Six months before the festival, the people of Valencia construct HUGE sculptures, some up to 4 stories in height!

Each sculpture represents something important from the previous year. We saw sculptures representing Nationalization, Globalization, monetary crisis, cultural aspects, etc. The real exciting parts of the festival begin late at night when all of the sculptures are burned. "out with the old, in with the new!"

We began our adventure on a four hour bus ride to Valencia filled with other students from all around the world. The bus left early afternoon on Friday and we entered Valencia around 6pm. The bus let us off directly in front of the famous Santiago Calatrava building located near the waterfront coast of the city. The building is an incredible architectural feat and is indescribably beautiful. We took tons of pictures of the building while it was both still light out as well as while the sky darkened and the lights of the building began to turn on.

Star Wars? or Calatrava?

After exploring the Calatrava building we ventured around the city laughing and enjoying our bottles of sangria. Fireworks, fire crackers, laughter and parades filled the streets of the city and every corner we turned led us to another sculpture at an intersection filled with people, food, music, and fireworks!

some really fun girls!

Eventually we made it to the city center which was jam packed with people to the point where once you stood still there was no turning back and no leaving the crowd. It was prime real estate because as the festival truly begins the sculptures are suddenly lit on fire and every intersection of the city is set ablaze as the sculpture begin to burn. People cheered and screamed and sang songs; bands played, people hugged each other and loved each other.

I was in love with the churros stands on every street!

It was an experience that I will never forget and am SO happy to have been a part of! Jess, Adam, and I even walked in the parade around the city! At 3 o'clock in the morning after all the excitement we were back on our four hour bus ride to Barcelona. We got in at 8am and it was straight to bed for me.

week 6

This past week was the week when my parents were supposed to arrive however there was a airline strike with British Airways and my parents flight was cancelled and they were unable to come to visit. :( Not happy but they will be coming in June so all is well. My dad had originally purchased tickets to an FC Barcelona Futbol match here at Camp Nou - the main stadium in Barcelona. Since mom and dad were M.I.A my dad offered to give me the tickets and to take some friends to the game. Jess, Emma, Adam, and I ventured to Camp Nou after work and were thrilled to get to the stadium and....HAVE FRONT ROW SEATS to the game!! We were literally on level with the grass, in perfect view for all the action of the game, and right up close to all the soccer players. The emotion in the stadium was incredible! There is so much passion in Barcelona for futbol and the Barcelona team is one of the best in the world. Everyone in the stands were so excited, and like any sporting event, the stadium was filled with horns, and screaming, flags and noise. Sitting in the front row we were amongst many of the most passionate fans, screaming right behind us and of course we joined with them in the rants and raves! Barcelona won the match 2-0 against Osasuna, of course, and we all had a blast at the game. We ended our night with a celebratory beer at a nearby bar and went back, passion-filled about being part of Barcelona and also very tired.

Work this week has been eventful as well. Ingrid and I completed a model that is being given to a client, and we were praised on our craft which was relieving. We have been working on the model for over a week now and to see and hear our work being appreciated was really nice. I have been moved onto a new project which is a complex of apartment buildings in Punta Cana. I have been put in charge of setting up the masterplan layout and helping design some of the landscape features around the site. The responsibilities I have at DNA keep growing but I'm doing my best work and still learning. Also great to hear my efforts on the new project are being appreciated as well!

Unfortunately the week has been incredibly busy for everyone and we have not had time to get the pictures online from Valencia or the FC Barcelona game but stay tuned! The pictures will be up as soon as possible! Thanks for reading! Keep it up!

BARCA BARCA BARRRCCA! *CLAP CLAP CLAP*

vamos a jugar!

week 4

This week has been really exciting for me! Of course, it was filled with lots of work at DNA Architectos but I was put in charge of building the two models of the Punta Brava houses which turned out looking very nice and my project managers were really pleased with my (along with the girls') work! It felt really great go hear that all the work we put into the models was appreciated! The drawing set and models were completed on time and will be flying out with Aryanour (the CEO!) tomorrow (Monday). I hope the presentation goes well and the client picks one of the houses to be built on Costa Brava!

Emma and I had to work really late on Tuesday and we decided, that since they gave us the morning off on Wednesday, that we would go out dancing. I convinced her to try out a club that I had heard was really fun and had good music. She gave in and we went dancing and had a really awesome time! We ended up making friends with a guy from Paris, Alexis, who was really nice and chatted with us for a while. He was on holiday in Barcelona with some friends and since Tuesday night I have been hanging out with him and his friends which has been really fun.

Alexis during our Sunday exploration of the city with his friends!

Thursday night was WANTED DJ's and of course Jess, her friend Ingse from Norway, Adam (our new co-worker from Hungary) and I all went to hear the DJ's at Mix Club. The show was, as usual, really fun and there was tons of dancing. We were talking to a group of people, one guy who owns a few restaurants here and his friend who is a movie producer here. I hope that sometime soon I can go meet them at the restaurant and try out some of their traditional tapas! SUPER delicioso!

Today (Sunday) Alexis and two of his friends and I all walked around the city taking pictures and exploring a lot of the churches, tiny Placas, and shops.

Cathedral of the Sea!

We had lunch down in Barceloneta, the neighborhood by the ocean and sat at a waterfront restaurant and had seafood paella, artichokes, and prawns. The food was really really delicious - Barceloneta is known to have the best seafood in the city because it is so near the water.

It was a beautiful day as well - lots of sun and warm enough for a t-shirt. Alexis and his friends mostly spoke in French which was funny since I don't speak a lick of french, but the conversation was really fun and I put in my two sense when I understood what was going on or when we were speaking in english. Haha! Tomorrow all of them go back to Paris but in two weeks I may fly there to visit some old friends and Alexis offered to take me around Paris. We will see what is to come ahead!

There is a beautiful little Placa tucked away in the winding streets of the city, but the church inside is...well...culturally quite grim. When someone dies and the service is held at this church, the body of the person is brought back out into the Placa and people can..."re kill" the body again which is why there are so many chunks missing from the wall of the church. The display of this is public but it only happens on one occasion during the year.

These musicians sit in Placa Catalunya, really close to my house. They just absolutely make my day with the piano on the street and the banjo. The singer (playing Banjo) sings so much like a souther blue grass singer with the twang and everything. I absolutely love it!

around town and making new friends!

week 3

This week has been full of wandering the winding streets of Barcelona, working, exploring, shopping, and eating! Apart from working my normal hours in the office I was lucky to have Monday off (due to working Sunday for a deadline) so I used my day off to get lost and see where I'd end up!

There are tons of cafes and small markets to wander through full of smells of delicious produce. Meat markets, fruit vendors, flower shops, and chocolate stores fill the street fronts of the narrow roads around the city and every store has something different to offer! You can even buy an entire leg of pig to take home and shave into salami which is an excellent addition to any breakfast plate!

If its sweets that you're looking for there are incredible chocolates and candy stores sprinkled throughout the city. Si o Si is one of my favorite chain candy stores to stop at on the way home from work to grab some sugary snacks to munch on during the walk home! But of course, there are also super nice chocolate stores with all sorts of mixes of coconut, fruit bars, chocolate covered anythings, and indefinite possibilities to indulge the sweet tooth!

The area I live in, Raval, has two really incredible things. One is MacBa, the art museum as well as the San Antoni Market which has produce vendors on the weekends that are great for getting fruits and veggies to eat during the week! MacBa is quite the architectural turn - on. I have yet to visit the inside but will definitely be going in soon when a new exhibit is ready for viewing!

MacBa!

Mm so much to choose from!

Here's a bonfire on the street in Barcelona. They open every Placa up for bonfires and open cooking. All you have to do is bring your own meet and roasting stick!

Jess and Emma have been here for a month longer than I have so they've been showing me the ropes around here and taking me to some of their favorite local spots. The other morning Jess and I went to a cafe/bar called Quizo and had crepes and cafe con leche (coffee with milk) for breakfast. We walked up Las Ramblas and I bought some flowers to add a little more of a homey feeling to my flat!

at Quizo!

flower shopping on Las Ramblas!

DNA Architectos - a quick update to the present

Of course, the real reason I am here is because I am currently on co-op through Northeastern University, working as an architecture intern at DNA Architectos. The firm is small, consisting only of 15 people or so, but there are a million things to do! It´s quite a change from the 150 person firm I was at before, HOK back home in Washington. It truly is a new perspective on how things are not only done at firms abroad but also how things are done depending on the scale of the firm. This small office certainly has it's hands full and is always up for a challenge.

week 1

I was first put in charge of designing the layout, text, and images for an already completed project in Punta Brava on Costa Brava just south of Barcelona (in San Feliu de Guixols). The project was essentially a book that will be given to clients of DNA who are interested in purchasing the multi-million dollars flat that is up for sale. If DNA allows, I will be certain post images of the project but laws and restrictions, etc, could potentially be a problem. The house is gorgeous and I´m hoping I´ll get to take home a copy of my booklet.

I have made a few friends in my office as well. Jessica (from London), Emma (from Scotland) and Ingrid (from Italy). All around my age, we've gone out a few times since I've been here.

Jess and Emma!

Emma and I spent some of Friday shopping around the city after work. Of course, I was celebrating my new love for my new home of Barcelona so I ended up making some very quality purchases which I can not wait to bring back to the US. Before during which we enjoyed a relaxing glass of wine at my new favorite cafe downstairs from my flat!
After a quick rest and some delicious food Emma and I went to see DJ Calvin Harris (a shared favorite of ours) at a discoteca called Razzmatazz which is down by Port Olimpico. The clubs here amaze me - this one in particular was a three floor (more like six though!) shopping mall of club rooms with smaller bars and dance clubs branched off all spinning different music. The connecting terraces looked over parts of the city and the port. Todo erá fantastico!


week 2

More recently I have been back at work helping out with a huge Resort and Commercial complex going up in Tunisia. The Hammamet Resort is a multi-use complex consisting of apartments, sports complex, aquatic zoo, commercial center, etc. I have been thrown on all programs from AutoCAD to Photoshop to model building and have even had my hands on some small design portions. It´s a really exciting project to work on, though working 930am to 7pm (Mon - Thursday, only until 2pm on Fridays!!!!) is tiring, the work is exciting and Ive learned so much only having been here for two weeks now.

This past weekend Emma, Jess and my new friends Natalia (from Poland), Xristina (from Cypress) and Sabrina (from France) all went out to a DJ event at a bar here called Marula. DJs WANTED is a duo of two guys who spin a weekly Samba versus Funk dance party which we were invited to. The dancing was incredible and I ended up running into Juancho's friends who helped me improve my dancing skills. Haha! Called it an early night (at 430 - which is VERY early to Spanish culture!) and headed home.

Saturday all the girls and I went to an Erasmus party near Plaça Jaume. The Erasmus program is similar to the US co-op program but is much more common amongst architecture students in Europe. We went to a house party hosted by some Erasmus students, at which we met a few guys who took Jess, Emma, and me to an underground squat party - pretty much at a venue rented by the "party throwers". The DJ there was spinning all sorts of Spanish music from Salsa, to Funk to Rap, to Electronic. The dancing was fantastic and the entire event was free!

We also got invited on Saturday after the Squat party to go back to our new friends art gallery from some drinks and extra late night dancing. The art was really cool and now the artists are our new friends!

a look in the rear view mirror

It´s official! I have become a Barcelonian! I have landed myself a flat in the Raval district of the city, minutes walking from the city's heart and only one block away from the Museu d'Art Contemporani di Barcelona (MacBa). Things are absolutely gorgeous here. Perhaps my first encounters with the city were inevitably going to be positive since I left three feet of snow behind in my hometown of Washington, DC but it has already been forgotten and I am living life in the 65ºF sunshine.

It began with my flight being delayed approximately three times due to inclement weather keeping vehicles and pedestrians, alike, off the street. Eventually when roads became driveable things looked up and I was (slowly) en route to Washing-Dulles International Airport in a neighbors four wheel drive SUV since my poor little VW Jetta certainly would not have survived the trek. And before I knew it, it was cheers, goodbyes and goodlucks from Mom and Dad and I was in line for security.

It was quite a rush of emotion, memory, and keeping my chin up and head faced forward realizing that I had gotten through security and was sitting on a plane to Barcelona, alone. Quite a process indeed. After a restless plane ride in the third to last row (no complaints thanks to Bose noise cancelling headphoens!) I arrived in London's Heathrow airport to mentally stabilize and prepare myself for a nine hour layover during which I gained a self-induced coffee addiction as well as the realization of "No Stephen, just because you are London does not mean buying that Burberry trench coat in the store window is a good idea."

Problem number 1 of Stephen White venturing through Europe alone: Fashion addiction, heavy shopper.
Status thus far: Succesful in both spending AND avoiding!

Eventually, I was on flight number two, on my way to my final destination (for the time being). I ended up meeting a woman from Australia who I sat next to on my flight, Natalia. She had been living in Barcelona for a few years and offered to help me get to my hotel so we shared a taxi and off I went. I arrived at my hotel only to receive a message from a friend of mine, Juancho, who lives here in the city. It was his friends birthday and I was invited to come out and celebrate and though I had no idea where I was in the relation to the city center or how to go about getting there I told myself "Well, you're here. You might as well have some fun!"

Before I knew it I was out the door, -26 hours of sleep under my belt, but up for the challenge. I grabbed a quick bite (proudly ordered in Spanish!) and headed out to find El Congrejo, a popular bar (for the locals!).

First night in Spain and I danced until 6am with Juancho and his incredible group of friends who I am happily still hanging out with today.

at El Parc Zoologic!

Second day in Spain I slept until 5pm on account of the jetlag and night of dancing but alas, the relax and rest was well deserved. And although I may have woken up somewhat late, I got out of bed and was out the door to explore Parc Zoologic and Parc de la Ciutat, which were both absolutely gorgeous.