dimanche, octobre 31

barcelona, part two

Today the large group of 8 traveled to Gaudis park, Park Guell....unlike the rest of my colleuges I did not really find Gaudi really exciting, It just seems to me that his designs are mostly sculptural and decroative than actually interesting forms. I wondered off from the group to still explore however and I found my way to a bookstore (i can spend hours in bookstores) and Ben later ventured there as well. I think we were seperated from the group for too long and we could not find them. I was not too upset by this. sometimes large groups are just too much, especially at the end of this long trip...so we went to go find the archery fields which are designed in a deconstructivist style by the firm Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos. We walked forever, and my feet were sore. at one point I was holding up my architectual guide book up to my nose trying to understand where to go. I moved the book away and then did a double take again...I realized that I was standing in the exact same spot as the picture in my book! It was odd but I was in awe for the rest of the day only because that this architecture firm was of a new discovery for me and I fell in love quite quickly. At one point I turned aournd completly only to find a project by Emili Donato! It is of one where a helf semicircle pertrudes out of the steep terain. It was just amazing to see and to go up to explore....I think I was also excited just because it was not gothic or gawdy er I mean gaudi. Then it started to pour. Rain always excitens stories...

The closest shelter were these 10 foot blades of grass that lied next to a wide street. We ducked under there for awhile, I attempted to sketch, but then the blades were giving into the drops of rain and my book was getting wet. So we made a run for it...to underneath the deconstructivist shelter that Miralles designed... part indians were having a dance party there, I do not think that we were wanted...so we ran up a hill and ducked under another bridge of deconstructivism. We waited out the storm and then walked to the nearest metro stop, heh only to find that it was closed down! I was so upset because at this point my feet were really sore (damn unsupportable shoes) and so we hopped on a bus, we had no clue where it was going. so we got off and then walked some more into some odd dead ends. We finally got to another metro stop...yep it was closed too! what is goign on? Ben thought that there must have been a train wreck...so we took a bus all the way down south but this bust really did not go into the direction we needed. But finally we made it to Diagonal Mar a contemporary park by Miralles (ill write more about them later). Ben and I ate crepes in a mall that was packed but no stores were open.
Ben said "what if the group was on the train wreck?" I still did not believe it was a train wreck so I said, "nah."
On our way home we ran into a few on our traveling group...it was ironic because no one else was really in the metro stop. They told us the story of how they were involved with a train wreck....
Supposedly thier train crashed into another and the train derailed. They were thrown across the seats and were stuck inside the car for a half hour and then they had to walk out through the underground tunnels. I felt really sorry and bad for them becuase of being the wreck but also because they did not get to see anymore contemporary architecture....i seriuosly was in awe and agony (the walking) all day.

vendredi, octobre 29

barcelona, part one

I've been in Barcelona for a day and a half. We are planning on staying for 2 more days. I'd have to say that Barcelona is an interesting city. It is made up of a variety of terrains. Part of the city climbs up the mountains that surround the area. Another side is bordered by the Mediteranean Sea. Imagine steep hills, mountains, beaches, highrises, gothic quarters, castles, olympic stadiums and the busy city itself and you have barcelona. Yesterday I went inside the Casa Mila by Gaudi and I looked at the Sagrada Familia from the outside. I spent my evening on the beach, staring at the waves and participating in one of those conversations when everyone speaks of their hypothesis of all of the wonders of the world.

Saturday I went to the German Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe. I have heard, read and studied so much of this man that it was almost awarding to see what i believe his best peice of architecture. I spent 2 hours there sketching away.

I went to the Olympic games stadium and large entrance way, when i say large I mean large...the staircases had to be broken up into smaller staircases. We walked aways up a hill to a medieval castle. The most fascinating part there was seeing the city in arial.

In the evening I met up with a friend from UIC who is studying in Spain for the year. She took us out to a plaza where we ate french food and watched these entertainers being goofy. A little later we went out to a jazz lounge which was modern and fun, later to a club in the plaza, but it appeared to be mostly ghetto. Somehow I got seperated from, the group here and I thought they all left, therfore I left. And when I returned back to the hotel I did not see the group. I spent a half hour looking for them at the plaza. And they spent a half hour looking for me in the club....in the end we all found eachother when we awoke the next morning in our hostel.

jeudi, octobre 28

Valencia.
It was stated in one of those guide books that Valencia has 360 days of sunshine per year...we must have been one of those lucky 5 days to get rain. This whole trip we have not had the best weather, or at least what we were expecting. The weather god knew that the UIC Arch kids were going to spain and wanted to try his best at making it a bad time for us...thus far tho, it is not bad. Yesterday we went to Calatrava world is what I like to call it. There are 3 large Calatrava structures in one park area along with his structure design for a bridge and for a drive. The opera house is still under construction, therfore I did not take too many pictures of it. The l'hemisperic, which is a planetarium, was amazing, yet its eye was not open (to understand what i mean go to www.calatrava.net). Along with Calatrava was a park designed by Felix Candela, which I had no clue existed. The park was an oceanarium, it was 17 euro to go in, so I just stood outside the park and sketched the buildings by a fence. If you look up a map up Valencia you will see that in the middle of the city is something that looks like a river bed, yet it is green. Yes, this is a park. I think that a river or canal may have dried up and in its place, on a level lower than the city, is now a park. It is interesting in that is is very elongated and it has a series of many smaller parks within itself. Today I also went to the Mediteranean Sea...it was my first time. I thought about swimming to Ibitza...going there was part of our origional voyage, yet because it was so expensive and a 3 hour boat ride there and 9 hours to Barcelona...it had to be weeded out.
Last night a few of the large group went out to a bar that is right down the street. They had a special of 10 tequila shots for 10 euro...we took advantage of this special 3 times. Therefore I had 5 shots...do not worry, the shots were half tequila and then half lime juice. So in actuality, I only had 2.5 shots spread over a longer period.
I have these shoes that I bought from the states before I came. They suck. My feet are in so much pain right now, I do not know how to explain this pain but it is killing me. I do not have blisters, but it is as if my feet are overly dry and over used. Tomarrow we are taking a train for 3 hours to Barcelona so I will be able to rest then, and if I need more time to rest I might just take it easy all day in Barcelona. Maybe only go to see things that are near our hostel.

Things shannon needs to work on:
- spanish, although my french is coming almost second nature to responses, it is not too helpful in Spain and the people stare at me when I say oui instead of si
- fllirting with the guys, any guys....im going broke buying myself drinks, I need to use what god gave me to my advantage
- sweet talking to the security guards...those damn ropes and gates stop my from seeing some of the worlds best architecture...and what is this no pictures? why dont you just ask clatrava if he is opposed to letting a young architecture student take pictures...yeah thats right.
- inventing amazing shoes that have springs on them...therefore there would be no impact onto the soles of my feet. note to self: do not buy kangaroos or anyother shoe with an artsy sole again.

lundi, octobre 25

seville
We got a head start on the day and walked oce to see the largest cathedral in the world. Christopher Columbus is claimed to be buried there...but who knows if it is all just a story for thier claim to fame... the alcazar was closed today, maybe tomarrow. We made our way to the remains of the 1992 Seville Expo. I had no clue that many of the great structures by famous architects were taken down. we searched for hours for pavillions that did not exist. we thought we have found the british pavillion by Nicholas Grimshaw, yet we later learned it was not it when I came back to look up the 92 expo on the internet...so sad to realize that i have 3 pictures of a building that i thought was grimshaws. we did however find a pavilion by calatrava.

samedi, octobre 23

Madrid.
We took the logesttrain ride ever, 17 hours...it was fun tho, we had a sleeper car of 6...finally when we arrive into Madrid we went out. Let me try to explain the typical night for people in Madrid.
6 - 9pm go shopping. everyone is very fashionable here, more so than in paris. everyone has some sense of style
9-10 dress up uin those ne clothes that you just bought and get readdy to go out
10-1130 go out for dinner in a spanish restuarant
1130-1am go to plaza mayor and meet up with anyone or just show up to be seen...pre drink with your own mixes
1am-2 make an appearance at your local bar or at some bar where you know everyone
2-6am go to a club and dance all night long
6-10am go to a cafe, bar or after club to wind down for the night.

vendredi, octobre 22

Espanga, here I come!

Just thought Id drop in and leave an itinerary of my travels. Come back here and check to see if I updated this thing, im gunna try my hardest, im sure i will have spanish stories to tell.

oct 23-24 madrid
oct 25-26 seville
oct 27-28 Valencia
oct 28-nov 1 Barcelona

learn some french: "qui sait?" --who knows and "depachez-vous!" --hurry up

jeudi, octobre 21

Now that this week is over, lets go to Spain!

This week was a hard week for studio and balancing it with my other two classes. For studio we have our site analysis due today...I had the idea of video recording the sites perimeters during different times of the day to try to capture the circulation paths, and so I did. However, I waited until last night to try to edit the video, that is when I came to realize that I left the cord, the connection from the camera to the computer at home, in west chicago, on a shelf in my closet...the disapointing part was disapointing my professor. She was very excited about my idea of using another media...I felt like a dumbass. In the end, she said I can have it to show everyone the next day that we meet, yet it is just not the same...DEADLINES ARE MY WORST ENEMY! I hate them! I have these ideas yet the hardest part is getting them out into a state that everyone can understand the genius behind them and I can never get to that state, there is always a problem. Usually with printing, and it is so annoying. Now take that variable along with being many miles away from home, and try reading directions in another lanuage....uh. Studio, such fun, I love it so much that it makes my life unliveable.

And now I get to drop all of my worries and stress and travel to spain for 10 days...Do we have directions to our first hostel?

mardi, octobre 19

I lost my voice due to second hand smoke.

or so I thought until today, when I woke up with a cold. Basically I partied too much this weekend, and I wore myself out. Friday night many people who are studying here with me in Versailles met up at O'Paris, an Irish bar that is literally a 30 second walk from where I live. It was a good time, we were being loud, roudy Americans. I woke up Saturday with my voice being abnormally low. It continued to get worse. Saturday night I stayed out in Paris all night long. We went to the Latin Quarter which is where the younger crowd in Paris hangs out. The first bar we went to was called the Frog and the Princess, it was an english bar. Everything was written in english, so it was a nice change from the french that I can not read. All bars close at two so afterwards we found a creperie, I got ham and cheese...mmmmm. and there just so happened to be a bar below the creperie. This bar was funky, once you go down the stairs it is as if you entered the medieval period. The interior was designed with cave like walls and had secluded, intimate areas for groups to chill on these comfortable red cushiony sofa beds. The dance floor was packed, and we danced until 4 am, I could not take it any longer, I was danced out! The first train back to Versailles was not until 515 am, I did not get home until 6. When I woke, I could not speak at all. It was scary. Today I can speak a little bit more, but I am more sick than I was on Sunday. The reason I thought I lost my voice due to second hand smoke is because the smoke here is unbearable. My hair will never be the same again, it wreaks no matter how much I wash it. Washing really does no good, so I have turned French already. I have gone days inbetween washes. eh, no one can tell. As long as I do not smell...well besides the smoke that is.

dimanche, octobre 10

So lets talk about the food situation here. Morning meal are quite mellow. The typical is a crossiant and a coffee, which is quite expensive, but do not fret, our school cafeteria or student run bar (literally they sell beer) has an espresso machine, however as of now they are not steaming milk...so I only get shots of espresso, which is way better than caribou coffee's and i know they do not take care of thier machine much, yet it is probably underused. back to what i was saying, lunches consist of mostly a sandwich if you are out, and it always comes on a foot long, or maybe longer really hard bread. Yes, I said really hard bread, like my jaw was hurting for a week straight because of eating this bread. But since I have built up Jaw muscle and I can tackle the baguette with ease. I have created a technique for eating this hard bread. I call it the baguette rip. It is as follows:
1. First, examine your baguette, try to measure the amount of force that needs to be applied in order to sufficiently bite into your baguette. Too much pressure will weaken your jaw muscle, and too little will not break through the surface of the crust.
2. Next, figure your strategy. By this I mean, will you eat your baguette from one end to the other, or maybe start from the middle. Maybe you might want to bite your baguette and then spread cheese onto the breaded part, for this you should have your cheese, and here cheese is a whole other topic.
3. Now, turn your head to the right and bite down into your baguette. As you pull your baguette away from your mouth, you must move your head from the right to the left. therefore using your whole head, and not just your jaw to get a good rip on your baguette. The turning of your head also gives you a clean rip. With a clean rip you could stop at anytime and just put your baguette away, with a bad rip; your baguette just looks mulated.
4. to finish, pull your baguette in the opposite direction of your head. Steps 3 and 4 should be done in one fluid motion. While you are still learning, it may be easier to put your whole body into this baguette rip. Just turn your whole body instead of your head. It might not be a good idea to try the baguette rip while walking until you get the hang of it. It takes a lot of cordination with the whole head and body thing. I'm sure after a few practice times, you'll be ripping your baguette like a pro...now go buy those baguettes!

learn some french: je voudrais un baguette s'il vous plait. <>
and my word for today is "vraiment" which means "really"

mardi, octobre 5

This past weekend I traveled to lorie valley with my classmates. I hosteled it up with a girl named Tiffany, shes fun, so it was my first time having a roommate since I have been here. We traveled to three different chateaus; clos luce (where davinci spent his last years of life so it acted as a museum of his inventions) azay le rideau, which was a special home for king francois the first. It was a smaller chateau with a beautiful exterior. We also spent half a day at Chambord, a large hunting chateau for francois and Henry the Fourth. This Chateau was surrounded by forest, I produced a pretty good sketch there. Besides the chateaus we saw two cathedrals. Because of all of the cathedrals that I have seen I make quirky notes like "odd organ player practicing during our visit...or acts as a training park for young skateboarders" I saw some contemporary buildings however, such as the vinci convention center in Tours by Jean Nouvel, a top designer today. The building had a cantilevered curve over a large public outside space. below the curve was a glass box with lights, upon noting the lights I came back st night to see the building lit up, the florescents were multicolor, I was a bit bummed by its result. The cathedral in Tours lit up at night was more impressive. They casted a blue light along the left side, with the whole building lit up in bright white, the result was astonishing. For fun, almost the whole group went out to a nearby bar in Tours known as sherlock holmes. After some point (maybe the point when people felt they drank enuf) everyone started to dance. I danced a little. I danced more when they randomly threw these glow sticks out to us...so i raved it up...i was told I was "impressive" but that was from a guy who drank a lot. People ( i will leave unnamed but yes from UIC) were getting up on tables and dancing with random french girls. I got a few pictures. What a fun night it was, in Tours, a more livelier city than Versailles.