Madrid
Cordoba
Granada
Cordoba
Granada
Seville
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Homeless Culture of Barcelona
As i have been walking around the city, one thing has caught my eye more then anything else and that has been the activities and habits of poor homeless people. I was so moved by how they lived here compared to DC.
My feelings caused me to Fast for two reasons....first i wanted to know how it might feel to not have the freedom to eat to fuel my body and understand how this would affect my life in every aspect. As i walked by them i felt their pain just from looking at them and seeing how they lived. They would do things i would never do such as looking through the trash just to find anything they could, so with this i wanted to Fast, also, to take the money i would have spend on myself to eat and give it to them so that they would be able to. I Fasted from February 18th to February 22nd, which consisted of not eating from sun up to sun down. This type of Fast would give them money from my breakfast and lunch.
I must admit that it wasn't a easy thing to do. I would come and sit in studio and see others eat and think about it, but then i realized that is something homeless people so; they would walk the streets and see people in restaurants and would want to eat, but economically couldn't.
In my next two months in Barcelona i would like to take time out of my work and sight seeing to start to answer a few person questions of my own:
1) Why do the people chose certain places to sit to try and get money to live off of?
2) Why does it seem like there is a specific nationality to the people (Middle East)?
3) How do people react to them asking for money or just sitting there waiting for the money?
4) Why do some seem like its more of a scam then a censer asking?
5) Where they chose to sleep during different weather conditions?
6) What they seem to get out of the trash when they are looking?
7) What is the most common thing for them to find in the trash?
...and other questions that might build off of them.
My feelings caused me to Fast for two reasons....first i wanted to know how it might feel to not have the freedom to eat to fuel my body and understand how this would affect my life in every aspect. As i walked by them i felt their pain just from looking at them and seeing how they lived. They would do things i would never do such as looking through the trash just to find anything they could, so with this i wanted to Fast, also, to take the money i would have spend on myself to eat and give it to them so that they would be able to. I Fasted from February 18th to February 22nd, which consisted of not eating from sun up to sun down. This type of Fast would give them money from my breakfast and lunch.
I must admit that it wasn't a easy thing to do. I would come and sit in studio and see others eat and think about it, but then i realized that is something homeless people so; they would walk the streets and see people in restaurants and would want to eat, but economically couldn't.
In my next two months in Barcelona i would like to take time out of my work and sight seeing to start to answer a few person questions of my own:
1) Why do the people chose certain places to sit to try and get money to live off of?
2) Why does it seem like there is a specific nationality to the people (Middle East)?
3) How do people react to them asking for money or just sitting there waiting for the money?
4) Why do some seem like its more of a scam then a censer asking?
5) Where they chose to sleep during different weather conditions?
6) What they seem to get out of the trash when they are looking?
7) What is the most common thing for them to find in the trash?
...and other questions that might build off of them.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Field Trip 1 - Southern Spain
Madrid:
Our first stop on our amazing trip was Madrid. We all were dead tired and had no idea what to expect from this trip. As we get of the plane my first reaction as that it was a lot colder then Barcelona since it didn't have the Mediterranean warm winds blowing on it. We check-in to our rooms then head to Plaza Mayor. We entered this grand plaza from a ascending street. It had a very unique style with 4 major towers rising up from the facades. I later found out that all the streets leading out of the plaza lead to some landmark around the city which if its true would be a very unique and appealing design. As we started to draw a marching band of men and women dressed in matching clothing; yellow hair wig, blue skirts, white blouses and red shoes. After our first sketch myself and a few fellow students stayed in Plaza Mayor to watch a street performer. He was daring I will give him that much; he climbed a light post until he noticed police officers started to come over to get him, so he ran into the crowd to finish his performance as the officers waited in the back till after his performance to get him. This first night a group of us went to a local oriental restaurant and then called it a night. The next day we woke to a very cold and rainy day which caused a lot of people to have a negative reaction toward the city if felt. We traveled around and saw an amazing park and I would have loved to stay in for hours and hours, but had to move on. We later traveled to the Prado and then we freely walked the city before heading the the hotel to get ready for an soon to be amazing time at a bar to watch the NFL Super Bowl live, congrats New York Giants!! Then it was off to our next location...Cordoba!
Cordoba:
We took a train, my first time on one, and arrived to a completely different life from anything I have ever known. The weather was beautiful and the city was small, but grand in my eyes.
As I got out of the cab an older women approached me with a piece of tree in her hand. Not knowing what to expect I just went along with it, but then found that she wanted to read my palm to get money in return. Luckily I had no money on me and got away from it with all my money and luggage. We got our rooms then were free for lunch, but Matteusz and I decided we were going to take a look around the town since we were only there for one night. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up walking at least 3 or 4 miles trying to get back. We arrived late, but jumped right into our next drawing assignment which was to sketch the inside and outside of the Mezquita. What a grand structure that was. It went through construction by 4 different rulers, but started by a 17 year old prince who's family was murdered. After that we relaxed until the real fun began...Arab Bath time! After a relaxing bath we all called it a night to wake up for our next stop on the Great Adventure...Granada!
Granada:
To get to Granada we took a 3 hour bus ride across beautiful terrain that seemed similar to a desert with mountains surrounding you. We arrived at the bus stop and cabbed over to our hotels. As we traveled through i wasn't sure what to expect, but little did I know there was beautiful and amazing sites around every corner. We walked to the Cathedral of the Annunciation then traveled into the old town for lunch. I ate a Spanish Omelet which consisted of potatoes and egg topped with sliced tomatoes and mayo...amazing! After eating we were given an assignment to get lost in the town and sketch something interesting to you. I walked around and came across this small lookout, but yet was unknowing to its grandness. I meet up with some people to return to this spot...wow...what a sign it was of the mighty Alhambra. We returned to meet up with the rest of our class to show what we did and to relax before our night time adventure back to the lookout which I discovered earlier to watch the sunset over the Alhambra. After experiencing the sunset and the personality of the town is when i realized that Granada was going to be my favorite city of the trip. The next day the class spend the majority of the day at the Alhambra looking around and learning about all the history it had. I was very moved by the beauty and the history and I never wanted to leave but I had to and as I descended the mountain Jesse and I went to look at art, we stopped for a quick yet relaxing drink in a local tea house and proceeded to walk around till we could by a fountain pen. Later in the night a large group of us went to a local bar/flamenco were we got a first hand experience with the musical life style of Spain. After we had an amazing time at the bar we returned to our room to sleep of the alcohol for our final destination....Seville!
Our first stop on our amazing trip was Madrid. We all were dead tired and had no idea what to expect from this trip. As we get of the plane my first reaction as that it was a lot colder then Barcelona since it didn't have the Mediterranean warm winds blowing on it. We check-in to our rooms then head to Plaza Mayor. We entered this grand plaza from a ascending street. It had a very unique style with 4 major towers rising up from the facades. I later found out that all the streets leading out of the plaza lead to some landmark around the city which if its true would be a very unique and appealing design. As we started to draw a marching band of men and women dressed in matching clothing; yellow hair wig, blue skirts, white blouses and red shoes. After our first sketch myself and a few fellow students stayed in Plaza Mayor to watch a street performer. He was daring I will give him that much; he climbed a light post until he noticed police officers started to come over to get him, so he ran into the crowd to finish his performance as the officers waited in the back till after his performance to get him. This first night a group of us went to a local oriental restaurant and then called it a night. The next day we woke to a very cold and rainy day which caused a lot of people to have a negative reaction toward the city if felt. We traveled around and saw an amazing park and I would have loved to stay in for hours and hours, but had to move on. We later traveled to the Prado and then we freely walked the city before heading the the hotel to get ready for an soon to be amazing time at a bar to watch the NFL Super Bowl live, congrats New York Giants!! Then it was off to our next location...Cordoba!
Cordoba:
We took a train, my first time on one, and arrived to a completely different life from anything I have ever known. The weather was beautiful and the city was small, but grand in my eyes.
As I got out of the cab an older women approached me with a piece of tree in her hand. Not knowing what to expect I just went along with it, but then found that she wanted to read my palm to get money in return. Luckily I had no money on me and got away from it with all my money and luggage. We got our rooms then were free for lunch, but Matteusz and I decided we were going to take a look around the town since we were only there for one night. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up walking at least 3 or 4 miles trying to get back. We arrived late, but jumped right into our next drawing assignment which was to sketch the inside and outside of the Mezquita. What a grand structure that was. It went through construction by 4 different rulers, but started by a 17 year old prince who's family was murdered. After that we relaxed until the real fun began...Arab Bath time! After a relaxing bath we all called it a night to wake up for our next stop on the Great Adventure...Granada!
Granada:
To get to Granada we took a 3 hour bus ride across beautiful terrain that seemed similar to a desert with mountains surrounding you. We arrived at the bus stop and cabbed over to our hotels. As we traveled through i wasn't sure what to expect, but little did I know there was beautiful and amazing sites around every corner. We walked to the Cathedral of the Annunciation then traveled into the old town for lunch. I ate a Spanish Omelet which consisted of potatoes and egg topped with sliced tomatoes and mayo...amazing! After eating we were given an assignment to get lost in the town and sketch something interesting to you. I walked around and came across this small lookout, but yet was unknowing to its grandness. I meet up with some people to return to this spot...wow...what a sign it was of the mighty Alhambra. We returned to meet up with the rest of our class to show what we did and to relax before our night time adventure back to the lookout which I discovered earlier to watch the sunset over the Alhambra. After experiencing the sunset and the personality of the town is when i realized that Granada was going to be my favorite city of the trip. The next day the class spend the majority of the day at the Alhambra looking around and learning about all the history it had. I was very moved by the beauty and the history and I never wanted to leave but I had to and as I descended the mountain Jesse and I went to look at art, we stopped for a quick yet relaxing drink in a local tea house and proceeded to walk around till we could by a fountain pen. Later in the night a large group of us went to a local bar/flamenco were we got a first hand experience with the musical life style of Spain. After we had an amazing time at the bar we returned to our room to sleep of the alcohol for our final destination....Seville!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Tres Weeks In...Still Going Strong!
Tomorrow the group leaves for Madrid and we are all so excited! This will be a great chance for me to see the major cities of Spain and see some amazing architecture with some great people. This trip is very life changing for me; I finally feel comfortable here and am excited for the months ahead. It has taken me awhile to get to this level, there has been ups and downs to this trip but I'm understanding that they are all part of this experience.
Our first project was presented yesterday. Eric and Christi made this jury very relaxing for us which is nice because as much as I like to dress up to present i feel that the relaxing attitude made me understand what is important in this trip. I feel so privileged to have Eric Jenkins and Christi Cole as our teacher, even though Christi is new to this kind of teaching, they both have so much to teach us and are great at what they do. I personally enjoy the drawing side of architecture and always looking to learn more and hope to perfect my technique.
I'm really enjoying this city. I have learn that it has a very old feeling for two reasons, one because it has old buildings and its very historic and two is that it is very behind on the same things that America has done like music, transportation, etc. I have been exposed to so many different American cities but i have never seen anything like Barcelona and I'm loving every minute of it. Though I'm missing friends and family a lot I have been trying to understand that need to enjoy this once in a life time opportunity. I finally got to say hello to my new niece told, one word..."WOW". She is beautiful and so small, I am so proud and luck to have the family that I do and this makes it much harder. Well its time for me to go and pack for the trip!!!!
Our first project was presented yesterday. Eric and Christi made this jury very relaxing for us which is nice because as much as I like to dress up to present i feel that the relaxing attitude made me understand what is important in this trip. I feel so privileged to have Eric Jenkins and Christi Cole as our teacher, even though Christi is new to this kind of teaching, they both have so much to teach us and are great at what they do. I personally enjoy the drawing side of architecture and always looking to learn more and hope to perfect my technique.
I'm really enjoying this city. I have learn that it has a very old feeling for two reasons, one because it has old buildings and its very historic and two is that it is very behind on the same things that America has done like music, transportation, etc. I have been exposed to so many different American cities but i have never seen anything like Barcelona and I'm loving every minute of it. Though I'm missing friends and family a lot I have been trying to understand that need to enjoy this once in a life time opportunity. I finally got to say hello to my new niece told, one word..."WOW". She is beautiful and so small, I am so proud and luck to have the family that I do and this makes it much harder. Well its time for me to go and pack for the trip!!!!
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