Cosas de Sevilla #7

27 February 2020

Dear Friends and Family of The Texas Tech University Center in Sevilla,

¡Hola from Sevilla!

This week Myriam is unavailable to send Cosas de Sevilla this week, so I am going to talk about everything that has been going on here in The Center! Don't worry, she will be back next week to tell you more about our adventures here. I am Lidia McDonald, Program Coordinator here at The Texas Tech University Center in Sevilla.
It has been a busy week for our students here in The Center. They finished their midterm finals and projects. This weekend is a free weekend to relax before the second term of the semester starts. There have been other activities in The Center such as Study Abroad Day and a tile workshop. Last week, the Architecture program went to Barcelona!

Last Wednesday morning, the Architecture program met up at the train station to get the high-speed train from Sevilla straight to Barcelona. When they arrived, they went to the hotel. Then, they all met to walk around Barcelona and get to know the city. Dr Martínez and professor García showed them some of the tourist sites, like the Gothic neighborhood, or the Ramblas, as well as some interesting buildings like the Contemporary Cultural Center of Barcelona. The tour ended at the Barceloneta Beach.
On Thursday, the group went to the Enric Miralles Foundation. Enric Miralles was well-known architect from Barcelona, who designed one of the most popular markets of the city, the Santa Caterina market. We saw some of the art that he had produced, and there was an exhibition of his daughter while we were visiting the Foundation. The students visited the studio of the architect, where he worked and how he designed the building where the studio was. In the Foundation, they give scholarships to architect students so they can do their internship with them. After visiting the Foundation, we went to Santa Caterina Market, to see the structure of the market. It is an interesting building, which has a wavy and colorful roof and the same structure on the outside as the building was a convent before being transformed into a market. Later, the group went to the traditional market of Barcelona, La Boquería, which had food stands. On the afternoon, they visited the Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudí. It was an experience that it is difficult to describe when they entered this majestic Basilica it was interesting for the students to see how Gaudí resembled nature in the inside structure of the Sagrada Familia. It was breathtaking.

On Friday morning, the Architecture program went to Montjuic to visit the Barcelona Pavilion, also known as Mies Van Der Rohe Foundation, which is a 1980s reconstruction of the original built in 1929. It is a Modernist building, yet minimalistic. Later, they walked through Montjuic seeing the outside of the National Museum of Art and some stadiums which the 1992 Olympic Games took place. They then went to the Joan Miró Foundation, which was a gift from the architect Josep Lluís Sert to the artist. The building has approximately 10.000 paintings and sculptures of the artist. On the same afternoon, the group went to see two other buildings from Gaudí: La Pedrera and the Batló House. The first one mentioned was the last house that Gaudí designed and it was for the Milá family, one of the richest families at the time in Barcelona. There are different interpretations of the natural references that are represented in the house. For most students, it resembled the ocean. The house is monochromatic because Gaudí wanted people to put their attention to the shape of the house rather than the colors. The house Batló is more colorful than the Pedrera with a lot of different shades of blue to represent the sea.

On Saturday, the final day, students had free time to enjoy their last hours in Barcelona, some stayed in the city, to do some shopping or just walk around the Ramblas or Passeig de Gracia. Other students went to Park Güell to see an incredible view of the city. Students enjoyed the city and had so many ideas for their final project with this trip.

This weekend some students will travel to London or Morocco. A group of students will be staying in Sevilla to relax after this busy week. Soon, you will hear more about our event on Study Abroad Day and the tile workshop.

That's all for this week, you will have more news on next week edition of Cosas de Sevilla!

¡Hasta luego!

Lidia

Enjoy the pictures from Barcelona!