St. Peter's Square.
St. Peter's Basilica.
La Pieta in St. Peter's.
Ceiling shot of St. Peter's.
Dome of St. Peter's.
The Vatican Museum.
hundreds of ancient sculptures.
ceiling shot in The Vatican Museum.
The Vatican Museum.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Day 3: The Vatican
Even though set a day for The Vatican, it still wasn't enough time. It's unbelievable the wealth of history that belongs to The Catholic Church. Unfortunately, I did not get to see Pope Benedict. But I did pick up some Pope bottle openers!
St. Peter's Square.
St. Peter's Basilica.
La Pieta in St. Peter's.
Ceiling shot of St. Peter's.
Dome of St. Peter's.
The Vatican Museum.
hundreds of ancient sculptures.
ceiling shot in The Vatican Museum.
The Vatican Museum.
St. Peter's Square.
St. Peter's Basilica.
La Pieta in St. Peter's.
Ceiling shot of St. Peter's.
Dome of St. Peter's.
The Vatican Museum.
hundreds of ancient sculptures.
ceiling shot in The Vatican Museum.
The Vatican Museum.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tarragona
Hola Familia.
Classes are now in full swing. My schedule for the semester includes a full load of five classes. Three classes in Spanish-- Advanced Grammar, History of Catalonia through the Arts, and Barcelona: Past & Present-- are taught by teachers through CIEE (my study abroad program). Therefore, these classes are with other American students. The two classes in English -- Marketing Management and International Trade II -- are taught by ESCI ( Escola Superior de Comercial Internacional) teachers. ESCI is a specialized international business school for international students that are fluent in English. Therefore, these two classes are a mixture of American, Spanish, and international students from all over the world.
The world, however, is not that big! A girl that was in my class at MSJA is in my Marketing Management classes (seriously, what are the chances).
Besides classes, this weekend we took a trip to Tarragona with CIEE. Tarragona is the capital of Tarragona, one of the four provinces of Catalunya along with Barcelona, Lleida, and Girona. The ancient city of Tarragona dates back to 218 B.C. and ancient ruins fill the city. Julius Caesar even had a brief stay of two years in Tarragona while conducting a war with the Celts in northwestern Spain in the early 1st century A.D.
Following are some pictures!
Besos de Barcelona.
ry.
Las Muralles. The ancient walls of the city.
The Cathedral.
Roman vaults.
The amphitheater.
Inside the amphitheater.
Classes are now in full swing. My schedule for the semester includes a full load of five classes. Three classes in Spanish-- Advanced Grammar, History of Catalonia through the Arts, and Barcelona: Past & Present-- are taught by teachers through CIEE (my study abroad program). Therefore, these classes are with other American students. The two classes in English -- Marketing Management and International Trade II -- are taught by ESCI ( Escola Superior de Comercial Internacional) teachers. ESCI is a specialized international business school for international students that are fluent in English. Therefore, these two classes are a mixture of American, Spanish, and international students from all over the world.
The world, however, is not that big! A girl that was in my class at MSJA is in my Marketing Management classes (seriously, what are the chances).
Besides classes, this weekend we took a trip to Tarragona with CIEE. Tarragona is the capital of Tarragona, one of the four provinces of Catalunya along with Barcelona, Lleida, and Girona. The ancient city of Tarragona dates back to 218 B.C. and ancient ruins fill the city. Julius Caesar even had a brief stay of two years in Tarragona while conducting a war with the Celts in northwestern Spain in the early 1st century A.D.
Following are some pictures!
Besos de Barcelona.
ry.
Las Muralles. The ancient walls of the city.
The Cathedral.
Roman vaults.
The amphitheater.
Inside the amphitheater.
Monday, September 28, 2009
La Merce & The Fireworks
La Merce eventually had to come to a close (womp, womp, womp). What better way then with the most amazing fireworks show ever!
Not only were there fireworks the three previous nights over the beach BUT tonight to end La Merce there was a massive fireworks show in front of the fountain and the Museum of Catalan Art on Montjuic.
What's even better you may ask? Well, the show was coordinated with music and every person was given a sparkler and a lighter to light at a certain time during the show.
Que bueno!
Besos de Barcelona.
ry.
p.s. - classes actually start tomorrow (womp).
Amazing.
I even held a sparkler by myself.
Fireworks +music + thousands of people with sparklers = awesome.
Not only were there fireworks the three previous nights over the beach BUT tonight to end La Merce there was a massive fireworks show in front of the fountain and the Museum of Catalan Art on Montjuic.
What's even better you may ask? Well, the show was coordinated with music and every person was given a sparkler and a lighter to light at a certain time during the show.
Que bueno!
Besos de Barcelona.
ry.
p.s. - classes actually start tomorrow (womp).
Amazing.
I even held a sparkler by myself.
Fireworks +music + thousands of people with sparklers = awesome.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
La Merce & Its Specialties
Hola.
The days of La Merce were filled with some crazy things.
Here are some pictures of the giants which are paraded through the streets. A person is actually under them!
Also, there are some pictures of the famous Catalan Castellers or human towers. This is a specialty of this region of Spain. Competitions were held in San Jaume Plaza. Enjoy!
Besos.
ry
The Giants.
Me and a giant.
The Giants in action. (taken from my friends camera).
Los Castellers
Los Castellers.
The days of La Merce were filled with some crazy things.
Here are some pictures of the giants which are paraded through the streets. A person is actually under them!
Also, there are some pictures of the famous Catalan Castellers or human towers. This is a specialty of this region of Spain. Competitions were held in San Jaume Plaza. Enjoy!
Besos.
ry
The Giants.
Me and a giant.
The Giants in action. (taken from my friends camera).
Los Castellers
Los Castellers.
La Merce & The Fire Parade
Buenos.
Last night for the celebration of La Merce, a parade of fire took place in the Gothic Quarter. The street was completely shut down to traffic and was opened to Los Diablos. Local people dressed in costume of devils holding pitch forks.
This was no ordinary parade, however. Instead of giving out candy and waving like in Los Estados Unidos, there were fire-breathing dragons and sparklers flying into the crowd. I cannot get this point across how terrifying it really was. Los Diablos were literally spraying firey sparkles into the crowds. It was certainly a sight to see.
Besos.
ry
The fire parade.
Fire-breathing dragons (literally).
Dragon.
Spraying sparkles into the crowds.
Dragon.
Last night for the celebration of La Merce, a parade of fire took place in the Gothic Quarter. The street was completely shut down to traffic and was opened to Los Diablos. Local people dressed in costume of devils holding pitch forks.
This was no ordinary parade, however. Instead of giving out candy and waving like in Los Estados Unidos, there were fire-breathing dragons and sparklers flying into the crowd. I cannot get this point across how terrifying it really was. Los Diablos were literally spraying firey sparkles into the crowds. It was certainly a sight to see.
Besos.
ry
The fire parade.
Fire-breathing dragons (literally).
Dragon.
Spraying sparkles into the crowds.
Dragon.
The Start of La Merce
Hola.
It has been a long week of festivities here in Barcelona. All week long we have been celebrating the festival of La Merce or Our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of Barcelona. Every day and night included some sort of entertainment and celebration. The following pictures were taken from the opening parade of La Merce. More posts and pictures to follow.
Besos from Barcelona,
ry
Los diablos.
Very strange.
Our Lady of Mercy.
Opening ceremony in front of La Catedral de Santa Eulalia.
It has been a long week of festivities here in Barcelona. All week long we have been celebrating the festival of La Merce or Our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of Barcelona. Every day and night included some sort of entertainment and celebration. The following pictures were taken from the opening parade of La Merce. More posts and pictures to follow.
Besos from Barcelona,
ry
Los diablos.
Very strange.
Our Lady of Mercy.
Opening ceremony in front of La Catedral de Santa Eulalia.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Montserrat
Hola familia.
Like most everything else in Spain, the internet is very slow. It takes me a while to upload these photos.
But a this past weekend, I went to Montserrat, a Benedictine monastery in the Mountains above Barcelona (a simple one-hour train ride and a cable car). The monastery holds one of the Black Madonna's of Europe known as La Moreneta. The day I visited happened to be some sort of celebration so the plaza and church were filled with people shouting "Viva La Madre de Dios" with banners.
Here are some pictures that hardly do Montserrat justice. The views from the mountains are absolutely breathtaking.
Besos de Barcelona.
ry.
The View from below.
Cable car to get up the mountain.
Me over 4,000 ft. up.
The very oddly shaped mountains.
View of monastery from across on a pathway.
The main plaza of the monastery.
The facade on the outside of the basilica.
Lighting a candle at the shrine of La Moreneta or "The Dark Lady"
La Moreneta
A celebration of the Virgin Mary
Like most everything else in Spain, the internet is very slow. It takes me a while to upload these photos.
But a this past weekend, I went to Montserrat, a Benedictine monastery in the Mountains above Barcelona (a simple one-hour train ride and a cable car). The monastery holds one of the Black Madonna's of Europe known as La Moreneta. The day I visited happened to be some sort of celebration so the plaza and church were filled with people shouting "Viva La Madre de Dios" with banners.
Here are some pictures that hardly do Montserrat justice. The views from the mountains are absolutely breathtaking.
Besos de Barcelona.
ry.
The View from below.
Cable car to get up the mountain.
Me over 4,000 ft. up.
The very oddly shaped mountains.
View of monastery from across on a pathway.
The main plaza of the monastery.
The facade on the outside of the basilica.
Lighting a candle at the shrine of La Moreneta or "The Dark Lady"
La Moreneta
A celebration of the Virgin Mary
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