Contact!

The Barcelona Institute of Architecture just got back to me about my request for a tour of their school and some faculty interviews, and they seemed interested in making a connection between BIA and UMD.  How exciting!  If nothing else it will be nice to meet fellow colleagues of the city I'm studying-- I'm sure they'll have more insight into Barcelona architecture than I might ever glean from reading books.  It will be interesting to see how Spain's pedagogy compares to the US, as well as getting to know the sort of academic environment that comes about when designers don't have quite as much fear of litigious reprisal and can therefore take bigger risks.

Finding a home abroad

Here's the big secret to staying in Barcelona: apartments!  For about the same cost as a hotel room you can get a bedroom, small sitting/living room, kitchen, bathroom, and an all-in-one clothes washer.  My experiences in Rome on a prior study abroad trip left me with the notion that you really can't experience a place unless you not only visit local restaurants, but also visit local markets and cook your own food. 

Filling in little boxes

The blank canvas is the most difficult to draw upon.  My experiences with drawing and designing have taught me this, but it also seems to apply to planning.  When you have to fill 48 days with meaningful work, and an entire city to work with, where do you start?

Building a class

Up to now I've been busy writing, then re-writing, and writing again a proposal to study architecture in Barcelona, ES.  It's been difficult managing a full class load while putting a self-taught class together.  Thankfully Luis, my faculty mentor, has been around to pile on even more work than I had imagined.   

Introducing...

Hi everyone, pleased you decided to stop by my blog.  Feel free to comment and say 'hi'!  My name is John, and I will be traveling to Barcelona between May and July 2010 for a study of the architecture of Barcelona, and I thought it might be helpful to blog about the trip while I'm at it.