Jan 6, 20011 Barcelona Day 1

---

January 6, 2011

Landing in Barcelona: “First impressions”

After landing and getting our luggage we made it to the hotel Le Meriden Barcelona. Driving to the hotel I was getting my first glimpse of the city. It’s quaint, beautiful, and gothic in nature. There were people bustling about but it wasn’t too crowded. We learned at the hotel that we had arrived on “King’s Day,” a holiday celebrated after Christmas. Most of the locals were not out and about as they were with family. What I noticed most on the first day was that this city that I thought would be full of life almost seemed shut down. All stores in Barcelona have metal garage doors that cover the storefronts and most of the shops were closed. Walking through the streets one saw a lot of garage doors covered in graffiti. In Barcelona graffiti is an art form. My first impression of the city was that it was designed with beautiful old architecture that it was somewhat barren and the graffiti made the city look a bit run down. Walking around I was happy to be in Barcelona but it wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be. Expectations… well let’s talk about that for a minute. A wise man, my husband 😊, during a moment of clarity once told myself, my brother Adam and his wife Kira, don’t expect anything, and then you’ll never be disappointed. So was I disappointed, not entirely, because I knew had had more time to explore the city but my expectations were defiantly not met.

We needed to find a place for the group to have dinner, which was not so easy since most of the restaurants were closed due to the holiday. So my first impressions of the city were also experienced while searching for a place for dinner. This search took about 2 hours. After much exploration and menu searching we found a place called The Attic and made our reservation. Around 6 everyone gathered in the lobby and we had a nice meeting going over the syllabus and rules of the trip. In talking about the videos and blogs the students began the creative process. We went to dinner and had wonderful discussions. Walking La Rambla at night was beautiful. Because of the holiday the trees that lined the street were lit up with white Christmas lights, some of them were animated and it made it almost look like it was snowing in the trees. Weather was quite enjoyable for myself; a nice cool breeze. Most of the locals were in winter coats and scarves, gloves and hats, the way people in south Florida dresses when the weather hits below 70 degrees. The street was alive at night with locals, tourists, street performers, and vendors. It was full of color and light. We walked around. A few of the students got gelato and waffles, which they can’t stop talking about. Adam wants to try when we get back to Barcelona, but as for gelato, I shall wait for Italy! After walking up and down La Rambla for a few hours Adam and I sat at the end of La Rambla in Café Zurich. In one of the Barcelona books it is apparently the place to be and the place to be seen. We sat outside for a little and enjoyed watching all the people walk up and down the streets.

---