National News: El Pais: spanish doctors perform the first 'domino' kidney transplant

Two Spanish hospitals have successfully carried out the first kidney "domino" transplant- a rare procedure involving the transfer of organs from several live donors- Health Minister Leire Pajín and Rafael Matesanz, director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT), announced on Thursday.

The Virgen de les Nieves Hospital in Granada and the Puigvert Foundation in Barcelona carried out the procedure, which involved six people, on April 6. The process was initiated by a so-called "good samaritan" donor, a priest who allowed his kidney to be transplanted into an unknown recipient. The recipient's wife then donated her kidney, which was flown to Granada and implanted in another man. This man's wife then donated a kidney to a woman in Barcelona. With the new system, the ONT hopes to maintain Spain's world-leading organ transplant rate.

-- i found this article interesting because when i had visited granada i learned that it had a wonderful medical school program. this was very odd to me because granada was such a tiny town and it did not seem all that forward thinking, but this article proved me wrong. This is great that spain is a wold leading organ donor transplant rate, because a lot of the time in america people have to wait very long periods of time to get the transplant that they need to survivie. This domino effect is so wonderful because say a certain person needs a certain type of kidney and can only get it from one person, that person is going to risk their life, now it is possible for a family, or relatives to share the entire process and pass them down until everyone is safe and healed. This is a medical break through and a huge advancement for the spanish culture. This will put them at the forefront of the transplant world and gain them a lot of success and admiration.

Local News; Barca beats Real madrid, april 27th

FC Barcelona won todays match 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, Spain. It was the 1st leg of the Semi Finals for these two clubs. although the first half was boring, it started to pick up after half time. Then, at half time, the fun started. A fight between the two teams erupted on the sideline, and Jose Pinto, the Substitute Keeper for FC Barca who was not even playing got a Red Card!(http://worldsoccerzone.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/fc-barcelona-wins-over-real-madrid-cf/)  Then, later on  Sergio Ramos got a yellow card, Dani Alves was injured, and Pepe was first shown a Yellow Card, then a Red Card after still not listening. The yellow cards did not end here,  Yellow Card for Messi and then  Ronaldo got a  Free Kick. While all of this was happening, this entire game became extremely tense Things got even more tense. King Messi, returned the ball and , kicked the ball past a defender and Iker Casillas into the goal. 1-0. Then, Messi got control of the ball, once again to bring it to a . 2-0, final score.

-- of course i do not know much about soccer so i learned all of this from a website, although i could hear from my aparently the cheers and chants and fireworks and jumping and screaming of the people in the streets. This is a great example of local news, because local barcelona fans are truly indebted to this sport and love it with all of their heart.It was really cool to be able to be here during these later legs of the champions league games, i know that this is a big deal to the people here, and getting to be in a bar and hear all of the chants during the first half was a really cool experience. 

http://worldsoccerzone.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/fc-barcelona-wins-over-real-madrid-cf/

International News from El --Lybia Ceasefire

The Barcleona newspapers heavily cover the situation that is currently going on in libya. one of the video modules i came across when looking at their website was about the leader Gaddafi- in summary what is going on is tha the Libyan leader Mummar al-Gaddafi has refused to leave the country. He was warned that NATO attacked hte Libyanns and libya can take the war to its territory and has urged others about a ceasefire-- my interpretatino is poor because i am having trouble translating the article to english, bear with me! Gaddafi has said that he will cease-fire if all other parties do. He recently said in a television speech that the "The Libyans are free to extend the war into enemy territory, they are right and I can not impose a veto if that is their decision, they are free to defend itself." The leader has flatly ruled out surrender power and leave the country. "I will not leave my country. No one can force me to leave my country and nobody can tell me not to fight for my country," he assured.The cease-fire issue: He stated:"We were the first to welcome a ceasefire and we were the first to accept a ceasefire. But the Crusader attack NATO has not stopped," said urging NATO to negotiate to end the bombing air on Libya, He also stated  "Either freedom or death"
Gaddafi has warned that if NATO states did not want talks, the Libyan people will not surrender and is ready to resist what he called "terrorist" attacks. He has threatedned the leaders of nATO that if they enter the city they will die.   he has also urged his peopel to put down their weapons and stop the internal fihting, he doesnt want brothe to fight brother and has been saying that the libyans are family and they are together in this common cause. 

Leisure activity # 3: George Paynes

Many of the nights here in barcelona were spent at an irish sports bar called George Paynes. This bar is really close to school so sometimes we even go to lunch there because it is buy one get one free lunch specials ! When the superbowl time came, we all packed into george paynes for the game it was so much fun. We all got 10 euro beer buckets and ended up singing Kareoke- this was a pretty enjoyable experience for the crowd, because we sang a horrible song, and got made fun of :) but it was all in good fun. Then just the other day, we all packed in their yet again to watch the champions league game three; Real madrid vs. barcelona. It is a great place to watch games because there are so many large screen tv's and a lot of catalal people. They liek to get rowdy and cheer at all of the goals or losses, which really helps you feel like you are at the game yourself. The people were screaming the BARCA chant, which was really cool to hear just one last time before we head back to the states. This bar is located right across from the Urqiuona so it makes it really accessible ! This bar is one that i am going to miss when i go home, they have the best pizza and nachos and have helped us cope with missing our american foods !!! Here are some pictures from our wonderful singing perfomance on the superbowl:

Important Location #3: Tarragona

Saturday, we went to Tarragona, the old city. It was one of the main cities in spain during the time of the roman empire. It has soooo many roman artifacts still intact like the coliseum, the circus, the forum and other various fortification walls and statues. It was cool to see all that, but i am done learning about roman history now lol it is getting a little bit old after all of these field trips. We got to go into the amphitheater, and walk through the tunnels of the circus so that was all really cool! It was very interesting to see all of these sights, because i had not been aware that spain was so influenced by the roman empire, not only did we get to see these sights, but our teacher taught us so much interesting stuff about each one of the places. We got to walk underground in the circus and learn how the fighters used to take residence under there until teh later years, when poor people would use the separate little rooms  to live in . We also got to walk along the streets and Wim ( our teacher) pointed out that a majority of the buildings we were seeing were actually physically made up of pieces of the circus or the ampitheatre, because in the past they were actually much larger. When we went to the forum, we got to climb up to the very top and look out over the city. It was a really cool experience in total and i got to go with a few of my friends in the class which made it a little more enjoyable. 

 

this is the amphitheater/coliseum!  the coast line was right behind it , it looked amazing

the town of tarragona was amazing as well, it was such a cute little town with a great personality. It looked  a little bit like the tiny winding streets of Italy with a Spanish flair 

Field Trip 3: Museu Maritima/Raval

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

FIELD TRIP--mandatory entry for class

On this field trip, our teacher brought us through an area called el rival, a university area filled with hospitals medical schools and some cute hangout spots, and then to a shipyard

- we started our journey at the ramblas, and took a turn down a really quaint side street that led to an area where children hung out , skateboarded and chatted with friends. We were informed that this area had not always been such a nice area, and at one point was full of bad kids selling drugs, doing drugs, and congregating at night time. The city had the idea that instead of trying to get the bad kids out, they would draw the younger people, families and students to the area, by sprucing it up, putting a museum and allowing people to spend time there during the day. How smart was that idea? instead of sending patrol men, liek we would have done in the states, they made some good use out of the space and now it is a cultural area filled with people! We went through this area, and made our way to a building that our teacher told us can reflect the city skyline at around dusk because it has a top portion that is bent up!

after this, we walked over to the university med school area. We got to see some old hopsitals, the one that Gaudi actually died in as well! He got hit by  a tram,and was sent here, unrecognizable. what a sad death! We learned about hospitals, and their originally function. They are called hospitals now, because back in roman times they were for " hosting" get it host- hos- . people would go there to sleep for a night or two if they were coming to barcelona, and could not get through the huge city walls. The history of hospitals date back to the roman times, and although their function has changed slightly overtime, it is easy to see where the idea came from...a place to rest and recooperate! 

--> an inscription on the wall of the hospital gaudi died in

--> the beautiful courtyard of the university

After this, we made our way to el rival, and area tht was sort of shady looking, but had a cool immigrant culture to it, and was filled with interesting buildings and restaurants. this is the place to come to if you want ethnic food ! One of the buildings pointed out to us was a sort of half way house, that people live in if they are homeless. they decorated the side of the building with a really cool pattern:

After this, we went over the the old shipyard. This is of great importance to the catalan culture, because of the heavy emphasis on mediterranean trade route. the sea was a huge resource for the barcelona people, allowing the infiltration of cultures, foods, spices, products, languages, even slaves who helped to build up roman barcelona to what it became. Without the trade routes, barcelona would never have become as prosperous as it did, which shows the importance of this ship yard. Additionally we got to see a submarine, that was created many years ago, before they were common. Apparently this design was one of the original designs and the first of its kind, although the person who made it did not get the credit for being the first--the british beat him to it.

and that sums up what i did on my field trip with catalan cultures !!!!

Leisure activity 2: BARCA GAME

Well this was one of the greatest days yet in spain.
my friends and i bought tickets to go see the Barcelona Malaga game in the beginning of the semester. This game was so much fun. It was so crazy to get to go to the stadium and see the famous barca team play in person. Although this wasn't a high scoring game or anything it was still a blast and the stadium is wonderful. There were so many cheering fans and you can just feel the craziness in the entire stadium.
Beforehand we went to this bar called Pippermints to pre-game " pre-party". This was so much fun. We got these 6 liter drinks which really are heavy duty. This was so much fun, we all got to sit in our own little section of the bar and share a huge drink with a bunch of different straws. We all wore our barca jerseys and went crazy before the game started!!!! We thought we could walk to the stadium , but we were sadly mistaken and had to take a cab. After the walk up what felt like a million stairs, we reached our seats in the nosebleed section ! It was pretty high up and hard to see the players exact figures, but it was still an amazing experience!

3 leisure activities: Ice Bar-celona/Opium

After a long week of classes, my friends and i went out to a bar called ice-Bar-celona, which is just a huge freezer basically, with chairs and a bar made of ice, and you go in and they give you these huge jackets and gloves and just freeze your butt off, but its really cool. You can only last like ten minutes before your hands go numb but its a good one time type experience!

 after this we went to a neighboring club ( all of this is right on the beach) called opium and had some drinks and danced until we got tired and came home around 4. It was so wierd going off of barcelona hours, and having to wait until 2 am to go out a nd come home at 6 am. Clearly this night i hadnt been used to the night life and only made it out until 4! Opium was a great time, the bar is filled with cool seating and outdoor patio that makes a great time for a quick dance break. There were various bars in the club, which also were quite interesting to visit--here in barcelona when you order a drink they give you a LOT of shots in a glass and then give you your mixed drink in a separate bottle! IN the states, you jst get it mixed right in there for you with a little amount of alcohol. Needless to say, it took us a while to figure this one out, and until that happened, we got a little too crazy at the clubs !!! Barcelona has a great nightlife though, and we have enjoyed it very much since

Cultural Activity 2: Park Guell/Block of discord

Saturday, January 15, 2011

GAUDI PARK

january,15th 2011

Just got home from a long day at Gaudi park. this is a free park , obviously designed by gaudi ...anddd he is clearly a genius...he said that the straight line is the line of man, but the curved line is the line of god, or something along those lines, so the entire thing looks like disney land...all the buildings and structures are circular or cylindrical and the paths are windy. the entire things is built out of a clay/rock like material with tons of ceramic collages everywhere. you can see pictures below. Gaudi park is a great place to go and a very cultural location because it shows his connection to barcelona. He was the major  Architect of bareclona, and was a hero here. It was very sad to learn of his death--being hit by a tram because he was a very special man with a unique vision. this park was built for Mr. Guell a very rich patron of his, and one who used Gaudi as his architect many times. he wanted the park to look like a forest and have the actual building look like it was growing out of the ground, and he definitely achieved this with park guell.

adittionally with my architecture class we visited another of gaudis works-casa batillo, and the other  2 houses on the block of discord--here is my blog to my parents about this visit

Block of discord:
with my modernism in architecture class, my teacher who is SUCH a sweetheart took us to the block of discord. This is a short block of three " houses" that are all made by the three most famous architects in spanish modernism. One of which is the famous Gaudi. These are called houses because they were built back in the day for a rich family who takes the first floor for themselves, the ground floor for their business and rents the top few floors to random people. These houses are extravagant and gorgeous, i will bring you to them. They are just a short 10 minute walk from the Ramblas. Here are some pictures of the houses

 casa batillo

Food 3: Cal Pep

I went to cal pep with my boyfriend not so long ago, this place was out of this world.
This is a typical tapas restaurant in Barcelona and it is very famous. We got there and as expected the line was out the door.  I got on line and i waited with a nice glass of white wine, and my boyfriend had a cold glass of the typical Estrella beer. Once we sat down we were lucky enough to get served some of the freshest fish i have ever had. I got a freshly caught fish (  i forget the name) which they gutted right in front of me as i got served. Then we had a well marinated steak meal served with thinly sliced potatoe wedges. Finally we ordered a fried calamari platter which came with a mayonaise aoili sauce that was to die for. since many of these dont have recipes, i will include the recipe for Patatas Bravas, another tapa which we enjoyed frequently through out the visit . And the Recipe for the mayo Aoli sauce we ate. We also ate this sauce along side the meats served with the Calcots in valencia, so this must be a typical side sauce here in Catalunya.

• 2 Large Egg Yolks
• 5 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 Cups Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Canola (or a combination)
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• Salt and Pepper, to taste 

Potatoes:
500ml (2 cups) olive oil (aceite de oliva)
4 large potatoes (patatas)
Salt to taste (sal)

85ml (1/3 cup) tomate frito (a tomato sauce made from pureed tomatoes, onion and garlic with a little sugar and vinegar).
2 tbsp mayonnaise (mayonesa)
1/2 tbsp white vinegar (vinagre de vino blanco)
1/2 tsp paprika (pimentón dulce)
1/4 tsp ground cumin (cominos)
cayenne pepper (cayena) or Tabasco sauce (salsa picante) to taste

Food 2: Paella

We all know that Paella is a typical dish here in barcelona, although when my parents came to visit we went to an amazing place that we got a perfect paella and a monk fish dish .this was called Cal Pinxo and it is right on the port. My entire family went got a wine and split two large portions, which easily filled us up. The paella was to die for, so rich and decadent and the monk fish was caught fresh and cooked to perfection. I would definately reccomend this restaurnat to another visitor although it was a bit on the expensive side. Paella is made up of:

• 1/2 pint of olive oil
• 10 mussels
• 10 clams
• 2 oz boneless pork, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 6 oz onions, chopped fine
• 1 medium tomato, skinned, seeded and chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
• 32 oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 24 oz lobster claws
• 24 oz rice
• 3 cups (48 fl. oz) chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron
• 2 chorizo sausages, cooked and cut into chunks
• 10 uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 oz peas
• 4 tablespoon capers
• Lemon wedges, to garnish

this was not my first paella though, i had my first paella in Valencia , which is known as the home of paella, i would say that they are pretty similar and Barcelona doenst have to try very hard to represent itself in the Paella world, cal pinxo does the job!

Food 1: Bo-Da-B

 Well, i know that bo-da-b is not a typical spanish food or a catalan dish, but it had to be added to my food blog because it has been my favy restaurant ! If you do not know because it is an american hang out it is the one with   ( the one with the HUGE amamzing sandwhiches where you choose your meat and veggies and sauces and it is this big saucy amazeballss mess.. This restaurant is always packed with american student, but alot of the time there are catalan and spanish speaking people there. the owner is catalan and it is the best sandwich for the price around!

yummmm

the ingredients are:

bread

chicken/steak/hamburger/salmon/vegetarian

lentils

lettuce

tomatoe

onion

pepper

cucumber

rice

cabbage

feta cheese

i may be forgetting other topings, but you get the idea, they are vegetables

then you get to top it off wiht a sauce either:

yogurt, hot sauce, balsamic, pesto, avocato

very delicios, very cheap and a good overview of the type of food i have been eating and enjoying here in barcelona!

Cultural Activity 2: Castelles/Barcino Sign/Gellato!!!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

sunday funday!

 February 13th,2011
Castelles, Gelato and Bo-Da-b's!


hey there you guys,so today was one of my most FAVORITE days thus far in barca. 
I  knew there was this festival today, not sure the name, so i woke up all the girls, we left around 12 to go to this square in town called placa sant jaume, its a really old part of town from ancient times

 so this festival that is super cultural goes on there, they have these people called castelles, who crawl on top of eachtoher until they form this HUGE human pyramid , standing on eachothers shoulders until they are 4-5 people (levels) high, as you get higher and higher the peopel get smaller so at  the  3-4 story level of peopel there will be these little gorgeous  toddlers standing on shoulders ! it is nuts, it seems dangerous, but my friends learned in class that they have a bunch of people standing around to catch if there in an accident, and they practice so much there basically never are falls : here are some examples

( one of the babies on top, zoomed in, but he is on 3 levels of shoulders! how gorgeous is he)

the HUGE pyramid 

then we went touring around by the church area and stumbled upon this sign that is made out of huge metal letters that spell out B A R C I N O which is what barcelona used to be called in roman times...so of course we used this as a photo opp, and climbed all over them etc,

then we got gelato as per usual, we are actually obsessed with gelato it is amazing, and headed home...but all day was just so realxing and warm and sunny probably mid 60's! It is so nice to just explore some days and walk around in the sun and enjoy the city. Sometimes you can forget that you are actually in spain, and its nice to remind ourselves every once in a while by just wandering around town for a few hours.

Field Trip # 2: El Born

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Field trip/catalan culture experience post

Today, my class went on a field trip to el born. this was only my second time in el born so it was very interesting to learn about it and its history.
when we first entered el born we learned about why the road were so close together and why the buildings all started with large ground floor windows, and went up to a tiny roof top window. We learned that all of the buildings in a certain part of el born were factories, the ground floor windows were a showcase for the products,and the ground floor windows were the floors on which the business owners lived. as you look up towards to the top of the building, each floors windows get progressivly smaller. this is because as the windows get smaller, the cost of living goes down and most likely this area was occupied by serfs or low paid workers. We also learned that all of the buildings we saw that had a plaster over them, had been re surfaced. the original surface of these buildings were all stone, which allowed the facades to breath and keep the temperatures of the buildings at bearable conditions. Many times in these gilds, young children came to work and learn here, they were apprentices hoping to break into the field once they had passed a certain test.
as we weaved our way through the small side streets, we came across a really cool old gild which still had its symbol on the outside. it is so interesting to finally know the history about the old parts of town, before everything was expanded and made so modern. We entered a few larger areas whose street signs had differet words llana which means wool, and various other materials for the gilds to use. these were areas of " stock markets" where people would come together to meet with the local wool distributors, etc and find out the prices that materials were going for that month. this way, they finally knew if the stores were ripping them off or not. This was an olden day economic system, that was actually quite useful and forward thinking.
we then made our way to the beautiful church santa maria del mar. we went inside and it was definately not what i had expected. i am used to seeing these huge churches so highyl adorned, but this was a more simple one. it was still beautiful in its own right though. it had beautiful arches and stained glass windows, and still had stones in the floors from the original church go-ers that gave money, or had there family buried there. Many people came to this church, in the upper middle class to get married here. it juxtaposed the other main cathedral of barcelona , where the nobility would marry. It was placed in a very unexpected place, and made me love el born ever more!

OUr trip ended at the old stock market building, it remained in use until just a few years ago which is crazy and shows how well made these 14th century structures were! It was a beautiful building filled with so much history, i will have to go back and take a second look one time

here you can see how the size of the windows get smaller as you go up!

a cool bus i saw in El born, such a funky part of the city

the entrance to santa maria

the inside of santa maria ! so beautoful

a stone inscription on the floor of santa maria

the old stock market building!

Cultural Experince 2: FAILURE OF CARNIVALE!!!!!

Carnivale

well well well carnival.

this night started out great, we all got ready, in our little princess costumes, got some wine with some friends and headed out to the carnival in sitges, a little beach town about 40 minutes from barcelona by metro.
well here goes the first problem: have we forgotten that rebecca has developed chlostrophobia since she has been in barcelona? or have i not told you about that yet? ohh well she has. i now am petrified of elevators, and think that there wont be enough air in the metro if for some reason it comes to a stop or breaks or electricity fails, and we will all die. I know, this fear of a lack of oxygen is totally irrational, as are most peoples stupid anxious issues.
so we take this train 30 minutes to sitges, and of course it is packed out wiht drunk people, literally at every stop people were opening the doors to get air into the cabins. As you can imagine, rebecca is now having a literal panic attack and yelling at people. not the best way to start carvinale you may add. you are correct :)  luckily we met some fun kids and got some food and hung out, and headed over to the beach. the beach area was really cool and had a nice live dj playing the 1s and 2s for all of us kids. We danced on the beach for an hour or so , until stephanie my roomate, got all of her things stolen. annddd the night takes a turn for the worse, now she is crying, i am stil panicked from the train and ami is just enjoying herself as per usual . We all decide to leave since steph is so upset * things learned in Sitges- WATCH YOUR PURSE!--so we walk  one in front of the other to the area where the busses are coming ( note: i dont have a bus ticket that were pre purchased, but i decided i was finding a way on that bus, or i was going to drown myself in the ocean because there was no way i was taking that train again! ) so we start walking, well all of a sudden i look back and ami is lost, so the other girsl are storming throug to the bus that was about a half mile away, and i couldnt leave without ami, so i stayed back to look for her. Now i am all alone, no phone and ami has all the cash. i look for her, she is no where to be found. panic attack number 2! . i find a kid who i knew was friends with a friend, so him and i banded to gether in attempts to find these magic busses. we take a cab with the 5 dollars he has and we get to the busses right as they are leaving, we hop on and all is well with the world you say..oh wait no , where is ami! well, i had to leave without her because i had no phone or no money, so i needed to go wiht the kid, at least she had the money and knew how to get home. so i go home, freiking out that ami is now dead in a ditch, btu she arrives right after me. luckily she knew i was probably losing my mind worrying, so she took the next train home and remembered my address and got here just fine.
PHEWF. worst night ever complete.

great story right ;) I do not really like carnivale now, but it is a really cool idea if you know what you are doing and where you are going ! It is a great holiday and i would liek to try again next time for a better experience!

Cultural Activities: Sagrada Familia/Palau De La Musica

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

cultural things i did in barcelona!

So this past week Amianka came to visit !! We did a lot of really great things liek explore el born, and go to a restaurant called little italy. The owner of that restuarnat was so nice and gave us these free amazinggggg mango mojitos ! After that, we made our way down to the beach to enjoy the beautiful barcelona harbor and then for a nice paella,  ( which was very overpriced)

another one of the days, we went to the famous sagrada familia, built by gaudi. I had been before, but this was my first time actually getting to go inside. it was so amazing, the large pillars were built to look like palm tree's and the way the light shined in through the stain glass gave a very bright colorful look to the entire center of the church. We werent able to go down into the crypt, but we got to see it through an opening, as well as the tomb that gaudi himself is buried in on the bottom floor of sagrada familia.

a few weeks prior, i got the chance to go to Palau de la musica with my dad. It was a beautiful building, built by Domenich y montaner, a very famous barcelona modernist/art nouveau designer. He was very into catalan symbolism and nationalism, so all over the building you could see roses and various symbols that stood for catalunya. This building was liek nothign i have ever seen before! His main interest in art was to do applied arts, with ceramics , mosaics glass etc and all of those elements can be seen as soon as you walk into the building. We even got to hear the acoustics of the place when they played some music for us through out the auditorium

the gorgeous inside of the auditorium at palau de la musica, the main chandelier is known as " the sun" and allows a natural light to flow through the room

the seating arrangements, this building actually fits over 3,000 even though it looks much smaller!

the inside of sagrada familia, notice how the pillars look like trees!

once again, the naturalistic floral looking ceiling!