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

San Pol de Mar

On Friday I went to this cool beach town called San Pol de Mar. Here are some pictures.

After arriving to the town, I climbed up to the church tower, where I got the shots of the town in its entirety, and then I went to the beach, which I can't lie, was my primary goal for this day. I learned a lot about the town, but for a majority of the day I really just chilled out.

When getting back though, I noticed a lot. I came back, and waited on the train back to Barcelona around the station, and I saw that it seemed to be the main meeting place for everyone in the evening. The plaza and boardwalk seemed to be the main place, were old and young alike were relaxing, playing soccer and board games. It reminded me a lot of histories of small rural towns in America before the development of the highway system and the rise of cars. Perhaps even Thurston once upon a time...

I dreaded the train ride back, but did it anyway. I really did not want to leave San Pol de Mar, but I needed to return and sleep. Riding back, the rails were right on the coastline until we hit Barcelona, but I saw the physical development of the city as the train pulled in, and really made me appreciate what small towns are left, and the culture that revolves around them. Especially the similarities between small towns in Spain, and small towns in the United States. They may have a different language, and different customs, but structurally speaking, people really all act pretty similarly.

My personal preferences for towns are pretty varied. I really liked the urban area of Barcelona when I got here, but I grew tired of it very quickly, henceforth why I have made many excursions to the outlying areas. I went to the small town outside of Tarragona called Altafulla, but I was quite disappointed because at the end of the day, the place was pretty deserted and quiet. There literally was nothing going on on a Friday at 7 in the evening. Barcelona I have found out is way too much for me, and I would like a place that is not as busy or crowded as the hectic always busy urban area. San Pol de Mar was the good balance for this. It was not constantly busy, such as Barcelona, but it had a healthy community with lots of meeting and participation. I know I can't go back while I'm here, but I really would like to revisit the medium size town sometime in the future...

-Nick Ford

Urban Life

When I applied for CIS and my study abroad, I stated on my application that I wanted to study urban life, and get a feel for what living in a huge city center is like. Well, I have surely gotten that experience here. Living on a avenue that is always busy and is always noisy, having people everywhere, and not being able to get away. With that, there are pickpockets, sketch people, and the ever drunken crowd of party people along the beach and along Las Ramblas. I've learned the reason behind why people call it a concrete jungle, and why I probably will never live in a city ever again in my life.

But with that said, it has its nice points.

I have instant access to supermarkets, cultural sites, and historical places. I have tons of people to watch and observe, and I have access to anywhere without a car, which is nice, and I'm getting a lot of exercise. I am living on my own, faced with my own decisions, but my apartment mates will not clean their dishes, which is one downside to the whole collective side of living. My classes are a perfect gateway to look into the urban lifestyle, and to see how it connects with everyone around and their lives. It explains a lot, and how to deal with that in a modern context.

Yet, I've explored all of those routes.

I've observed all that I can for now, my brain is full. I've seen a lot of places, and I'd like to see more, but they always cost to get in, which I can't afford. I sort of miss driving my car, and I don't like having to depend on a system (even if it is wonderful and fast). My classes are an entirely new view of academics, but everyone in them is not, and that gets on my nerves a bit, because I know they can just throw around five to six thousand dollars for a "vacation".

This is not a vacation. This is an active participatory event, one which you must use to your fullest potential. But you know, whatever, to each their own. I just wish there were more people like me to hang around, and possibly talk with in Spanish, yeah?

But with all of that said, I still have three weeks in this wonderful city. Three more weeks to go see what I can, and see all that I can. I need to get back on my regular schedule, because this weekend has thrown it off by a lot. This must be the slump that they say you go in during study abroad, but I don't think it is because of cultural misunderstanding and frustration between me and the Spanish people, I think its because of cultural misunderstanding and frustration between me and my classmates and fellow "students".

-Nick Ford

Tarragona and Its Outlying Regions

Today I decided to take an excursion to Tarragona and see what rural Spain is like. I got to the train station, bought my ticket, and headed down to the platform. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. It just so happened there was an "accident" (the metro and rails like to use this term in place of their own screw ups) and our train to Tarragona was delayed by an hour and a half. Whoopie. I ended up standing/sitting/ talking with people in Spanish, underground, waiting for this train to magically show up. It finally did, around 11 or so, when it was supposed to leave at 9:30, and I was well on my way. Getting to the city, I found it was not so "small" as I had hoped, but I ate some lunch and scrambled around for a bit. I actually did not see  much there, because I was in search of an isolated beach, far far away. So I took the train back one stop, and went on an adventure!

Getting off the train, I followed the signs to a nature reserve, with trails, a mountain, and an ocean. Hiking a long the beach, which was pretty sparsely populated, I was in search of an even more sparsely populated beach, so I kept going, towards this castle on the cliffs. I rounded the corner, and found these magnificent views!

After scurrying around the cliffs, and clambering up rock walls, I ended up finding a very, very secluded, tiny beach, which was perfect. I changed and put out my towel, and enjoyed a nice day of relaxation to myself in a secluded cove. It looks something like this:

So finally, I returned to the train station, after a wonderful day, and observed some of the tiny town of Altafulla. It was a medium sized rural city, but everywhere was dead. Completely deserted. Nobody was hanging out around the placas, nobody sitting on the benches, no one. It was even a Friday evening, you would have thought something was happening. I eventually found the train station, and hopped on the last train to Barcelona, and had a wonderful ride of only coastal views all the way back to the city.

-Nick Ford

Some More Academic Ramblings

So I came up with an epiphany yesterday when I was half asleep and awake. I came up with a setup for my capstone/thesis. I was waiting for this to happen, and it was formed because of my study abroad and the thoughts I had from exploring and observing the region.

Here's the idea:

The process of history have shown a pattern that evolves, and proves the large and grand changes which have taken place today. In the modern day, 20th century onwards, we have seen a pattern so far in the history of Catalonia. Barcelona, the main city on the Mediterranean coast, experienced major growth until the Spanish Civil War and the conquest by Franco and his dictatorship. The growth stopped, and many people stayed put. The economy did not improve, and the urban area stopped receiving immigrants. Once Franco's dictatorship fell in the 1970's, industry and growth resumed, and Barcelona flourished, bringing in many immigrants and migrants, especially from the outer lying rural regions. Technology and universities blossomed, and attracted all the young people, and explains tourism in the city, especially after the 1992 Olympics, which were held in the city.

As for the rural areas, at the end of the 19th century, industry had been set up for local demand, and produced only that. Once Franco's rule came in, the rural areas lost their growth, and most culture found security in the isolated rural areas, where a lot of Catalonia was kept in secret. After Franco's fall, the rural communities were free to express Catalan culture, and much of it migrated back into Barcelona, and reestablished itself. The method of movement was through the young people, who left the small rural villages for better possibilities in the new liberalized economy of the city. Brain drain is the proper term for this. After this, all the rural areas had to rely on was tourism, because what industry had survived moved to Barcelona for the advantages it offered.

Phew. That is a lot. But here is the point: This change had one major factor, the rule of Franco and his disruption to the growth of the region. Henceforth, since I am in economics, in equation form it is:

NG= Growth
G= Growth
Disruption Event= E
Rural= r
Urban= u
Industry/Development= D
P= Population

G= uD+rD
when E is introduced
NG= uD+rD+E
G= uD-rD-E
2G=uD+rP y G/2= rD-rP

Okay, well that was a horrible explanation of it in formulas, but anyways...

Substitute Catalonia with Appalachia, Barcelona with a major northern city, say Chicago, and Franco's rule with the Depression. Make sense now?

-Nick Ford

The Peculiarities of Life in a Catalan Town

I know that it has been a while since I last posted. There is good reason for this.

I took a trip to Costa Brava this past weekend, and I have gained so much insight from it. But first:

I have been busy with classes. Henceforth, why it has been a week since I have posted. The classes I am taking are really sucking up what little academic motivation I have left from initiating my capstone. Observations seem to not suffice for what I am learning here in Catalonia. My classes have been going quite well, and I am liking them more everyday. I recently completed some homework for them, which took me on a completely different route then I would have probably taken at Warren Wilson. I had to work with real life concepts of economical productivity, exports and imports, welfare, and manufacturing, and remember a completely different list of terms that I will probably never use at Wilson. I am working with algebraic equations and graphs that show real life situations, and how to prove them using numbers. What a life an economist must have.

My international business class is still not what I thought it was going to be, but I am modifying it to fit my needs and wants for my studies. Once again, there are terms and processes I have never used, and gives me an entirely different prospective on globalization, and the businesses that participate in globalization. We research many different countries for right now, and we will probably move onto companies later on in the semester. I really appreciate my professor's dedication to showing how important culture is in international transactions, and how important it is to keep in mind for doing any kind of business abroad.

As for my individual studies, this is a third realm I need to work on, and organize some of my thoughts in. Catalonia is simply a wonderful place, and brings to mind so many questions and so few answers. I say Catalonia, because I believe that is where I am, not exactly Spain. A friend and I had a conversation today in class about how she wanted to go see "the real Spain". I replied with "What exactly is the 'real Spain'"? Spain is made up of many autonomous communities. Catalonia is one of them, along with Valencia to the south, which also speaks Catalan, along with the many other areas of Galacia, and Basque Country, to name a few, which both have the Galacian and Basque languages, respectively.

So what is Spain? Is it just an assembly of autonomous regions? And why are they not their own countries? It seems like they would all be good being their own countries, but is that too much? How have they stayed together for so long? I will continue to research these, and try to find an answer, and see how identity has played a role in the history of the regions.

As for immigration... I plan on trying to see why and how people think about living in Barcelona, see when and why they moved here, and I am going to try to travel out to examine more of Spain and its rural communities. I completely fell in love with the Catalonia countryside this weekend when we went to Costa Brava. I'm not sure why, maybe it reminded me of home, or maybe it was just something I prefer to the bustle and congestion of the big city?

What do other people think? Do they like urban living, especially in Barcelona? Or do they like rural areas where there are little tourists and calm lifestyles? I think I'm going to start by trying to ask the bakery lady downstairs. She and I have started to get to know each other, in Spainsh, so maybe I'll be a little adventurous and go out on a limb. Who knows what I'll find?

-Nick Ford