I saw some Spanish Guitar!!!!

Last night I went to my first classical guitar performance with Mike and my French friend Bastian. Manuel Gonzalez was truly an international guitar master. He was born in Barcelona and famous for his skill in Spanish guitar. He played with such grace and was so smooth in his technique. Definitely one of the best performances I have ever seen. Most of his concerts are in the large classical music halls, like the Palau de Musica, but for some reason last nights performance was in a small church in the gothic district. This to me was better because the concert was so intimate. He was right in front of me. After the concert I shook his hand and he was nice enough to take a picture with us. Mike also got a nice video clip of one of his songs.



This is what the church looked like inside:



Here’s a video clip in case you’re curious. Video taken by Mike Galvez

Lemme give you a little update

Sorry guys. Ive been sick with the flu so my posts have been lagging, but I can assure you all that I’ll keep the posts coming.

Anyways let me update you all on my life. So school has been going great. Classes still interesting and I really like the cases we read. Also, I’m really excited to present my business idea in class tomorrow.

A week ago, my Spanish friend Jose from the program took me to my first ever Barcelona soccer game against Atletico Madrid. It was so incredible I don’t know how to describe it. The stadium was enormous, definitely the biggest I’ve ever seen, and it was packed with 85,000 people. And to top it off, we had great seats. They were so close I felt like I was on the field with Henry, Messi, Ibra, and the whole posse. When I first walked out to my seat it hit me and I had to sit back for a second. It was a moment I won’t ever forget. I didn’t really have time to take pictures because I was so into the game. The final score was 5-2 win for Barcelona and the goals were spectacular.



So, after a month in Barcelona I’m still wandering the streets looking for cool new spots to hang out. Recently I found this plaza outside Catalunya Square. Here are some pics:





Last week after class, Mike, Max, and I went to a park. Here’s a picture of me and my Spanish friend Max.



Last Tuesday the Vice Provost of USF, Gerardo Marin, came to visit the USF students in the JMGEM program. We all met for coffee in the afternoon before class and discussed the program and how much we all love Barcelona. Here are some pictures:

In case you’re all wondering, here’s a picture of the outside of my school in Barcelona and a picture of some of my classmates studying.





This is the library right next to my dormitory. They also have a nice little café. On a side note…. First library I’ve been to that serves beer on tap.



Saturday I decided to go on a solo mission and hike to the highest point in Barcelona. I saw this church on the peak of a mountain past Sarria, and made my way towards it. So I grabbed my skateboard and started my journey. On my way there, I passed by this cemetery that was nothing like I’ve seen before. The graves were stacked in rows like file cabinets. Crazy huh?



I kept walking higher and higher till I made it to this café where I could finally get some water. Then I continued upward.



Here is the church at the top of the mountain. It definitely looked more beautiful up close. There was so much detail in the architecture and the view of the city was priceless. After almost 2 hours of walking uphill… the Skate downhill was only 15 minutes!!!!

Festa Nacional de Catalunya!!!

So I just finished my first week of classes, and I have already learned a bunch. I love how there’s no textbook only a few cases to read every night and classes are all discussion based. Also I'm learning from a European perspective. In all my classes we talk about the EU all the time, which is surprisingly a new topic for me in class. Sadly, I didn’t even know that there were 27 countries in the EU or that the flag had 12 stars, and that Spain had a civil war in 1936 that then put them into isolation. All in all I’m excited to learn from a different point of view. Today is 9/11, the national holiday of Catalonia; we didn’t have any class so I cruised to the park with my friend Allison and rented a boat for 6 euros.



Later I ran into a southern blues / jazz ensemble that put on a great swing street performance over by the Picasso museum next to Las Ramblas. They were really good! Especially the guy on trumpet!

Orientation / Walking Tour of Barcelona

Yesterday we had orientation. We all took the metro to Catalunya Square for a city tour. Here is a picture of our whole program gathering around before we began our Barcelona walking tour.



Here are some of the girls in Catalunya Square. From left to right (Jessica, Jessie, Allison)



While on the tour, we passed by the famous Gaudi house. There was also a special house next to Gaudi’s but I forgot its significance and name. See if you can guess which ones Gaudi’s. (It’s pretty obvious) haha




My favorite part of the tour was when we passed the Palau de la Musica. This is the first large-scale classical music venue in Barcelona. I have to see a classical guitar performance while I’m here. I only got a shot of the outside, but the inside is breathtakingly amazing. If you look closely you can see the small ticket windows inside the pillars. I thought they looked like small pizza ovens. Too bad aren’t used anymore.




After we passed the Palau de la Musica, we stumbled upon a “fire celebration”/ Riot in the streets of central Barcelona … I was a bit confused on what was going on and the tour guide wasn’t very clear, so I just took a few shots of some kids and caught up with the tour.



Towards the end of the tour we passed by the square where they do all the soccer celebrations and on the corner there was this small bar called Obama. I had to take a picture….




On a side note… here is a pic in my dorm room with some girls in my program. Left to right (me, Jessie, Allison, Jessica)

Gaudi's wishes

After a needed sleep-in, I woke up and decided to go to the market again. I took the metro over to La Boqueria with Mike and Sami from my program, and got a strawberry banana fruit juice and a baguette sandwich.





After the market we decided to walk along Las Ramblas and let our food settle. We saw many tourist stands, street performers, and fruit carts. Overall it was a great time.





I saw the biggest McDonalds I've ever seen on Las Ramblas. It was 5 stories high!!!!



After Las Ramblas I headed back to the dorms, regrouped and walked to Parc Guell to see some Gaudi architecture. It was about a 20 minute walk from the dorms.




Parc Guell had an amazing view and was flooded with talented spanish guitarists. We walked around, but since it was Friday it was way too crowded.



After we walked around for a bit, we decided to hike to the top of Parc Guell for the spectacular view. Here it is:

Another ol Day in Barce

So this morning I woke up to jetlagged Allison knocking on my door at 9 am complaining about her AC not working. She said get up and lets go to downtown to the market and grab some fresh juice. So we proceeded to the Lesseps metro stop just a few blocks away. Here is Allison checking into the metro station.



This inside the metro where you wait for the train.



After one or two metro stops we arrived to Liceu on the L3 metro line. Right when you exit the metro you will see La Boqueria (huuggee open market) on your left hand side. According to my travel guide, It's actually the largest market in Europe. I was surprised how big and organized this market was. Its the San Francisco Embarcadero farmers market on steroids. Different goods are separated into different sections. For example they have the seafood, fruit, meat, and baked goods all in their own quarters.



This is inside La Boqueria. I got a nice pineapple coconut fresh drink for 2 Euro. I cant wait to go back and try some fresh fruits.



just a little side note on this last picture... This little piggie went to the market... This little piggie didnt go home......

Back in Barcelona!

Overall, Amsterdam was amazing. The dutch people were very nice and I loved all the bikes that swarmed the streets. It just is too crazy and I feel that 4 days was plenty. While in Amsterdam, I saw a great Rembrant exhibit at the Rijks Museum, live music, walked all over, rented a bike for a few days, and even saw the torture museum. Amserdam has a lot to offer ... maybe too much