Barcelona

Hi everyone,

I spent the previous 10 (11? Idk) days in Barcelona, learning about Spanish and Catalan culture and history, and meeting with some awesome adventure therapy practitioners. Enjoyed tapas, sangria, paella, flamenco shows, museums, architecture, and making friends from people I met at the Picasso museum and a city tour. La Basilica de la Sagrada Familia was incredible to gaze upon, and walking around Park Güell was lots of fun, and I love the colorful mosaics. I really wish I knew Spanish. And Catalan.

I probably should write more about all the observations I made and things I learned but I've already journaled about it all and I'm not in the reflective mindset right now, so that's all the reflection you're going to get from me today! Hopefully the pictures make up for a bit of it. I wanted to write an update before I start my solo nature training tomorrow morning at the Lluc Monastery in Mallorca.

The streets of Barcelona are old and narrow and beautiful. The remains of the citadel wall that the Romans built around the original city is still standing in some places! 



Probably my favorite Picasso painting out of all the ones in the museum. This is his take on Velazquez' 'Las Menninas'.

He made a lot of these versions of Las Menninas. 

These are all based on the same painting! 




Inside La Sagrada Familia. There are many architectural innovations found inside, including how the columns are actually tree trunks and split off into branches! Gaudi was inspired by nature and you can see lots of nature symbolism throughout his art and the basilica. Apparently the basilica's height is just a few meters short of the height of Mont Juïc nearby, because Gaudi said that natural wonders are more sacred than man-made wonders. 


At Park Güell

The view of Barcelona from the Park

Look how beautiful! 

Look how beautiful! (; 







bye bye
-Andi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter to Self from Freshman Year

A few weeks ago I received a letter in my mailbox from myself, written on the last day of my freshman year orientation trip. Reading it was a truly strange experience, and I laughed at how perfectly appropriate my past words seemed to be for my present self. I wanted to share what my letter said, because through reflecting on it I've been reminded that this entire Watson year I'm about to embark on has been in the works of my life for quite some time, even if I didn't know it. 8/22/15 (in the chapel by a window at night-- bell rang right at 9 as I finished this letter)  Well, Andi. It's Saturday night and I'm on my Freshman Orientation Trip at Hamilton. It's still hard to believe I'm here. I ended high school so well and I was so  excited to go to Hamilton. Remember how happy you were when you got accepted? It was the best feeling ever.  Hamilton is full of so many insanely smart people. There will probably be days over these 4 years where you'll f...
Read more

What a month...

Image
It's been a while since my last blog update, I've been quite busy! After the AABAT Forum, I traveled to Mullumbimby with the director of Human Nature and I lived in a caravan on his property for about a week and a half before the expedition. I had barely any phone service while there, so I spent lots of time reading and drinking tea, which was delightful(: Although once I opened a cabinet in the kitchen area of the caravan and saw a HUGE spider, I'm talking the size of my hand. I surprisingly haven't encountered many terrifying bugs/creatures in Australia even though that's one of the things it's known for, but this spider made me want to burn the whole place down. But, seeing as I didn't have another place to live, I merely closed the cabinet door and never opened it again, praying that it wouldn't come out and kill me in my sleep. Andy's family was so kind to me and welcoming, and I really enjoyed and appreciated spending time with all of them. O...
Read more

hello hello!

Image
Hi everyone, Well- it's May 17th! A little over a month and a half until my Watson year is wrapped up. I've begun an ecotherapy course and as part of an assignment I found a place to sit along the ocean and worked on connecting with it and myself. Visit 1: Afternoon. The place I’ve chosen to connect with is a collection of rocks that jut out into the Pacific Ocean, along the southern cliff side of Crowdy Head, NSW. Being a traveler around the world for the last 10 months or so, I do not have a specific place to keep coming back to for more than a month or so at a time. Even so, I’ve been learning how to find a home within myself and to temporarily extend that home to whatever space I’m physically in. For the last 30 days, Crowdy Head was my home. In a few days, Dungog is my home. Next month, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA will be my home, and the months after that Boston, Massachusetts. Back to the present- I just went walking around and was curious about this area since I’v...
Read more