Reflection

It has been a couple of months since I have been back from Spain. Being in a different language setting really helps thou learn a language, I realize that now. Life in Barcelona seemed such a whirlwind compared to my life at Warren Wilson College. It went by so quickly, 6 weeks, yet it felt as though I was there for a lifetime. I really want to go back, speak Spanish, buy café con leche from the café beside the apartment. Keep up with school, ride el metro en la cuidad todos los lugares. Es muy difícil a hablar inglés cuando tú conoces poder español muy bien. Pero, es un otro país, y yo necisito a hablar en inglés porque es el idioma usar más que español. So yeah, feeling lost without such a romantic city to run around in, and such a new and wonderful culture to experience... Perhaps I will go back at the end of this year... Who knows?

Epilogue

Nick returned safely to his home in Ohio after a nice 9 hour flight and a transfer from Atlanta to Columbus. Upon his arrival were his parents, though a little late coming to the airport, but all matched up anyway.

Being back in the United States, after six long weeks abroad in Barcelona, Spain, Nick began the readjustment period. The jet lag wore off after the first two days, and the dietary dishes upset his stomach, but overall, the period was smooth and easy. Yet, there seemed something was missing...

I feel as though I left something in Barcelona, something I cannot elaborate on. I hiked up to Park Güell on the morning of my departure, and reflected and thought for a bit. I watched the sunrise come up, but it was not as spectacular as I thought it was going to be because it was cloudy and overcast. I couldn't stop looking, I had a 360 degree view of the city from the point with the three crosses. I kept looking over towards the El Prat area where the airport is, and I kept thinking to myself I would be in the air in a couple of hours, soaring back to the United States.

Once the sun illuminated a lot of the skies, I headed back down to the main entrance to get some gifts, and learned that none of the shops were open. I decided to wait, but learned that none of the shops were open in time for me to pick up souvenirs, a point that I regret, that I did not pick up any from before hand. I know I will be back, I simply don't know when, so until then, my stories here and pictures will have to suffice. I apologize to everyone, none of the stores were open and I was simply out of options.

On the flight I was relatively comfortable, and enjoyed some sleep and music, along with a movie and a half, along with nice conversations with a nice person in the seat beside me. Landing in the US, I went through customs, back through security at Atlanta (something very ridiculous) and waited on my flight to Columbus. I was glad to be back when I did get back, but I felt like I was missing something, and I still feel that way to this day.

I am working on adjusting back to the US culture and mindset, although it is really hard. Barcelona and urban life were so radically different that I feel as though I need it back again, simply for security. I miss the Metro and the adventures in an endless concrete jungle, but I like the open space, and the freedom I have now back in the states. Maybe I can find a nice combination here in a bit.

As for my Spanish skills, hopefully I can still practice them throughout the year, I really don't want them to vanish, and hopefully at Wilson I can speak Spanish with lots of people. Well, I'm back in the humid forests of Appalachia for a couple of days, and then its back to Ohio, then probably back to Appalachia again, and onward with my last year of college. We will have to see what happens after that, maybe I'll go back to Spain?

-Nick

Conclusion

Este es mi día final en España. A celebrar, yo quiero a escribir mí entrada de blog final en español. Qué un increíble tiempo aquí en España. Este ciudad es un lugar muy interesante por a decir lo menos. Barcelona es un ciudad muy grande, tiene un millón y media personas. Un millón y media personas en un zona urbana, fluentes y integrados. La gente tienen un identidad de orgullo y nacionalista para Cataluña y este parte de España. Fui al la Sagrada Familia ayer, y yo vi la trabaja de Antoni Gaudí. Es un lugar a reflectar y contemplar en mí vida y en mi experiencia aquí en España. Yo siento muchos sentimientos, y es posible que hablo con un dio en la basílica. El arte de la iglesia fue un buen conclusión para mi viaje. No voy a traducir mi entrada en inglés para todos, pero voy a pongo más en inglés para mi sentimientos porque no sé muchas palabras para mi pensamientos profundos, y yo necesito a poner estos pensamientos en mi reflexión final. Fui al playas, montañas, a las iglesias y al parques y naturaleza. El mundo total es asombroso, y mi tiempo en Barcelona me ayudó contextualizar mi lugar en este mundo.

Barcelona is an absolutely beautiful city. Sitting down by the beach tonight I realized this. The ocean waves crashed upon the shore as the sun set on an overcast evening. People wandered about the beach, enjoying their lives, going about what they wanted to do. I saw the many people who live here most of their lives, who call Barcelona home. What a place to call a home. Where is a home in a city like this? Is it in the city? Or is it in the many small neighborhoods that make up the city, such as Gracia, the neighborhood I live in? The urban influx of all pulls and flows across the landscape, calling people towards it as a perfect haven. All are one, but one is all. A society is built up across the barriers, forming a place.

And I have become a part of this place.

At first I was reluctant. I was simply an observer, only watching, contemplating, taking it all in. But slowly I became a participant. I bought the food, rode the Metro, and enjoyed the nightlife and daylife. I still had longings for home, but I felt welcomed in this place, as a citizen, and simply not as a sightseer. I went to the beaches, the outlying towns, got a feel for the rest of the area, and the people who live here. I call this city home. It is a part of me now. I know the neighborhoods, the people who live there, the types of cultures that exist, and great of all, I not only know this, but I participate and actively shape it. Because culture is not passive, it is constantly evolving, always demanding new and respecting old. And I am a part of that new, that new that has come in and changed, mixed, and absorbed into the old.

Who knows where I will go from here? Barcelona has earned a place in my heart, much like it did with George Orwell back in the 1930's. The feelings I have had, the mixes of the good and the bad, the best and the worst I have seen, it all comes together to form my experience here, and what it means for not only me, but for you who read it.

I thank all of you for reading my blog up to this point, and I thank you for keeping with me in this wonderful journey. I posted in a video a quote from The Grateful Dead: "What a long strange trip it's been", and you, my reader, have hopefully gotten a small grasp of what that is and how it has actually been a great trip and a wonderful experience.

As I walk down the platform towards the airport tomorrow many thoughts cross my mind. The city flies by me as I race around the roads to the airport, the point from where it all started. The point from where a magical view of all Barcelona was presented to me from the window of a taxi, and my eyes were as wide as saucers as I took it all in. The city will fly by me again, out the windows of a bus this time, as I contemplate it, the culture, and the people who reside here, and once again, my eyes will be filled with wonder as I depart this amazing place for home. As the plane takes off, who knows what will cross my mind as we soar to thousands of feet, but I know that the city will leave me behind, and a new, and familiar realm will welcome me with open arms.

This whole experience is closing like the end of a book, and I know it will have a happy ending.

Urban Integration

The city has a way of absorbing people. It fascinates at first, drawing your eyes skyward. Luring you in with all the modern amenities, innovations, opportunities. For the two weeks you are overloaded with new new new everything. The lights, the noise, the cars, the people. All around is what you want. What you need.

The new new new gets old. Gets annoying. It starts to go right at your conscious. You run away to other places. Places that remind you of where you once were. Where you want to be, and how you want to go back. Nostalgia sets in, and your senses get blurred. You learn to hate the city. Its people, its bustle, its constant sense of go. The senses become a bad overload instead of a good one. Life sets in and you want to just escape and go back to normalcy.

Then you find your niche. Sitting by yourself, people watching, among a spot you claim as your own, you realize there is a whole. There is a self within a whole that you have been thrown in to, whether you like it or not. The feelings of ebb and flow come and go, and it all begins to make sense. Like the waves of the ocean, the urban area pulls you, but you pull it. The collective selves pull the entire whole. And you may not like it at times, but you learn to find your place, your eccentric spots, your corners in the gardens.

Walking among the people you realize all is well with the world, like you have felt so many times before. Calmness comes over you in a time and place when you thought calmness was unapproachable. You synchronize, become one, not with a god or the earth, but with the people. A mass of collected people all bunched into a unbelievable small area, one nature had not intended us to experience.

Yet it works.

Everyone exists, all together. The guy playing Beatles songs in the Metro makes your day a bit brighter, while the bakery lady always delivers the best cafe con leche you can ever order. Characters arise, people integrate, and you find a sense and purpose among all.

This really must be the strangest, yet most beautiful feeling I've felt in a while. What an experience.

Adventures in La Caixa Forum

My adventures today included coming home, buying tons of frozen food for the next week or so at a place called Sirena. Why it has that name I have no idea. After that I headed out for a place called the CaxiaForum. I've noticed a lot of places called "Forum" around Barcelona. I think it is a recall to Roman times when the Forum was a central gathering place and event place. The CaixaForum was housed in an old winery that was designed by Modernisme artists, which gave it a very peculiar look and feel. The roof was curved and had a very interesting setup. The buildings were all set up with different corridors, which housed the art museums and exhibitions.

I went into an exhibition called Towers: From Babel to Dubai. It focused on the different skyscrapers and structures that changed the way humans organized and perceived the world. It had a lot of Spanish, which I mostly understood, and it highlighted the thoughts and history about skyscrapers and our constant reach to the heavens. The whole exhibit was really awesome and gave a good perspective about urbanization and the new ideas that are coming to light in this modern global age. One good example of this was the the explanation behind the برج خليفة‎ (Burj Khalifa) in United Arab Emirates. The exhibit said that the tower was a sign of the urban area welcoming globalization and modernization, and showed the world that Dubai was not afraid to welcome the new age ahead of us. Pretty deep stuff behind a skyscraper. There was also this cool piece of artwork titled "Winds" where the artist had superimposed an image of the tower of Babel on top of a modern city. It sort of gave me chills.

After seeing the exhibit (the only one open) I went to watch a dance performance for free on the lower level. I enjoy dance, but I am certainly not cultured in the many different ways of dance or its origins a lot. I liked watching it, but the announcer said everything in Catalan, which was a bit difficult, even though I got a bit of it. The audience participated also in some simple moves, which was really cool to see, and it really gave me a strange good feeling about everything. The dancers were all in average clothes, and seemed like regular people ranging in age from 20s to 60s. It all was interesting to say the least.

After that I returned to my apartment, and called it a night. As I will do with this post. Bon a Nit!

-Nick

Today I Got Lost Again

Getting lost seems to be something I like to do, which is wierd for me, because if I were a country on the Hofstede analysis of culture, I would rank high on the Uncertainty Avoidance criteria. Ohhhhhkay. My International Business class has started to go too much to my brain.

I took the Funicular up Montjuïc today, and wanted to explore some of the parks they have on the mountain. I got off the funicular, and waited by the bus stop to make the usual rounds. As I waited, two men from South Korea came up, and asked me for directions, in very very broken Spanish. I asked them, in Spanish, if they spoke English, and they said yes, much better than Spanish at least. They asked me where Park Montjuïc was, and how to get to it from there. I simply looked at them and magically waved my hands up and said "This is Park Montjuïc!" They looked a little confused. I then went on to explain to them that the entire mountain had many parks on it, and they all collectively were Montjuïc. They understood, and asked me how to get to the top. I told them that would be the castle, which I proceeded to take them to. Via bus. There is a cool cable car that goes there too, but it costs 10 euro for a one way trip, which is really ridiculous. (They also had Metro cards, so that was good, I told them it was included, and they were sooooo happy.) After I was on the bus with them to the castle I bid them farewell and good luck, and I continued on in search of the mythical Botanical Gardens...

After the nice guys from South Korea left, I stayed on the bus for a bit... And a little longer... Then I realized it had already gone past the botanical gardens... And I had a derp moment. I decided I'd just take the bus back to Plaça Espanya, and figure it out from there.

On the way back, I ran into some English speaking tourists. (Sounded like they were from America, but I'm not sure) They were really confused, and were trying to decipher the buildings around us on the way back, so I helped them and told them what was going down. The bus system here in Barcelona is so confusing, but that is what makes it so much fun! You just simply hop on a bus, and then you are somewhere you have never been before. Its like a game of Map Crunch, except its real life, and instead of the airport, you have to find the Metro station! (If you find a Metro station, you are golden, because that system is much, much easier, and your stop is usually within 30 minutes, if not less, of anywhere in the city)

After guiding the confused English speaking tourists, I waited for the bus to depart again, and took it this time around the first part of its route. The stop for the botanic gardens came up, I pressed the stop button, and got off. This place looks really cool, and after my long adventure, I walked up, and found out... It was closed. Oh well, it was fun getting there. (I also learned it is free after 3 PM on Sundays! Woohoo!) I decided to wander down the mountain from there, and see what was on the way. I saw some abandoned/under construction complexes, a school nestled away in the side of the rock, and finally made it back to the... Funicular!

But I wasn't finished. There was still 2 hours of daylight to burn. So I headed off into the park that was by the funicular, one that I wanted to see, but was too preoccupied to actually visit before today. It turned out to be this huge complex built in 1918, or so, to help improve Barcelona's image and reputation. I saw on the signs arrows that kept pointing to "Font d' Got", and I wondered to myself "What in the world does this mean in Catalan? Its a fountain of something..." After seeing some cool fountain waterfall things, and meandering around hedges and paths, I came upon the fountain. It immediately clicked on what it meant.

Off in the distance were some cats, actually a lot of cats, sitting on a ledge, just chillin' out. I looked at the name... "Font d' Got". I said to myself out loud "Font d' Got... Got... Gato... Cat! Its the fountain of cats!" And thus another chapter is fulfilled of my Catalan reading experience.

I then frolicked around some more fountains, and saw some cool sculptures. I eventually found the entrance to the park, and it had all these really cool sculptures in it too.

I eventually found the cats again too. They were doin' their thing.

After my adventures around the Font d' Got I decided to finally go back home. I made my way via Metro back to my apartment, cooked my dinner, and relaxed and reflected on a good day.

-Nick Ford

My FGC Adventures

Title Explanation: Usually I always take the Metro everywhere, which is the underground network provided by the city of Barcelona, and stays within Zone 1 of the city. But to get to Collserola I needed to take the FGC out to the very edge of Zone 1, so I did. It lead to these many adventures:

I took the FGC to the main office for Parc de Collserola, where I discovered a mini-museum devoted to the park, and how it helps with the environment and provides leisure area for Barcelona, and all the small cities around the mountain chain. All of it was in Catalan, so I couldn't read a lot of it, but I ended up asking the worker at the desk if she had a map, and she answered me in Spanish, and then gave me a Spanish map and walking guide, and also an English guide. She could just automatically tell from my non-Spanish accent. Oh well, at least I try and use Spanish and not revert to English! I then headed out and tried a trail to the dam.

The first hike ended up being a miserable failure of trying to stick to the path, so I gave up, and caught the local bus del barri to the train station again. From there I went out to see the "Fountain" trail, which consisted of a bunch of places where headwaters were contained for purity and you could drink out of them. Pretty cool. It also had a little bit of history, and a strange slab garden, which was very ominous and reflective.

I also learned at the park center that they manage the forests via burning, which is very interesting, and explains the strange single trees that are taller then the rest with only crowns. I hiked around to the town of Vallvidrera, where I caught a funicular down to the FGC. Yet, instead of taking the FGC all the way back, I transferred to a line that goes up Tibidabo. From the FGC L9 I took the nostalgic "Tramvia Blau" up to the top, where I descended into a park again to chill out for a bit.

After collecting my thoughts for a bit, I moved on, to home. I had some ideas during the day, and thought long and hard about many deep subjects in life. It was that kind of day. I wondered what the role of the city was, what the role of the country was, where the middle was, and the circumstances that have created this huge, beautiful, terrifying experience. In the end I was a significant part of a huge whole, but a huge whole with many small delightful parts. So the question is now... Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts, or are the sum of the parts greater than the whole? I guess it depends on who you ask.

-Nick Ford