4 posts tagged “barcelona”
I'm glad I held off on some of these Barcelona posts because now it feels like I'm revisiting my trip. So, the most famous building in Barcelona is Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, which we usually see in pictures like this:
But I have to say that my visit to Sagrada brought a lot of different insights, ones that, I'm sorry to say, seem to get overlooked but that I think are much more interesting than the usual, "Whoa...that's, like, so weird."
I took it upon myself to copious photo-document everything so you could see exactly what I'm talking about.
I think Gaudi's genius is actually in his design philosophy. We look at these to pictures above and think "surrealist" like Dali or something. No clean lines, symmetry that we can't recognize. What I found fascinating is that Gaudi's work directly comes from organic design. He draws so heavily from natural forms and shapes that they're almost absolutely unrecognizable to us. He turns nature on it's head. How? Check these out.
I love the shifting from cool to warm tones. And as any stained glass, when the sun shines through it literally lights the white stone within, allowing it to take on these intensely jewel-toned colors. If we talk about evoking the feeling of something transcendent or sacred, this to me does it. This type of lighting is stunning. (I'm doing another post just on stained glass because there's so much of it that's amazing).
I will absolutely go back to see that. This is the most fantastic (in the literal sense) place I've ever seen.
Despite the conventional wisdom about taking a trans-Atlantic flight to a brand new, hoppin' city that speaks another language and, arguably, carries out life in a way far superior to our own, I needed some sleep. As the loyal readership of this blog knows (hi guys), I was pretty much a bear to deal with since, oh, January. Part of the problem was a real serious lack of sleep. Not because I was choosing not to sleep. It was honest-to-god sleeplessness: the inability to slumber that was actually making me crazy. Not only was I restless and agitated but physically things were not good; I was always achy, I couldn't eat, I was inexplicably losing weight (and thanks to cruel karma it wasn't really apparent...it's not healthy but when life gives you lemons...), and even a walk to the gym was so taxing it was hard to bring myself to step on the machine.
Given the fact that we were in Barcelona for 4 days prior to the sweet, sweet day of sleep, I didn't feel the least guilty about it although I have told some people and they've been nothing but appalled. As much as this was a business-slash-vacation trip, it was also the deadline of a lot of anxiety. When that was over, my body was doing the talking and my mind just had to go with it. There was a crash and it was wonderful. But allow me to tell you exactly why. It's a little place called Hostel Girona.
But wait, this isn't a travel blog and I'd like to get back to the sleep I had. After presenting at the conference on Saturday morning, I returned to Hostel Girona, sala numero cinco (#5) and proceeded to lay down on the bed and literally sink into the bedrock-like mattress. Months of worry and stress just cascaded out and for the next 8 hours I drifted in and out of the most wonderful, ethereal dreams and truly weighty sleep. And this was the view I continually woke up to. And then fell asleep to...again.
Part of the reason I went to Barcelona was to uncover some of the mysteries swirling around our very own Lauren Langman. Knowing him as we do, it's hard to imagine what kind of influence he could have on a grander scale. Would his boob jokes stand up to the wider audience? Would he wear the same time-tested outfits (i.e. the leather vest) and keep the same demeanor? In short, what could people from other countries make of this person when even we, ourselves, continually scratch our heads?
Armed with the primary mission of observing Lauren outside the context of Chicago, I was preparing myself for anything and everything. To be sure, I wasn't disappointed but not in the way you might think. My most broad conclusion: People love Lauren. I can't say I was surprised as I find Lauren fairly likable. But I expected that he would change his tack for a different audience. The answer to that was clearly no. Walking into the hotel that nearly the entire Marxist section was staying in with its sleek black and white, polished lobby adorned with expensive mahogany details and a bar with translucent seating, I thought, "Yep, this is Lauren." As I was direct upstairs to the Sala Miro, I could hear the familiar barking-slash-wailing of Lauren proclaiming, "I need a beer for the next session." I was actually relieved.
The rest of the afternoon, Lauren proceeded to do what he does: drank a beer and whisper noisily during 3 of the papers, proceed to fall asleep only to wake up for the questions portion during which he asked the first question (of course having to do only minimally with the actual presentation), and make perverted-bordering-on-completely-inappropriate jokes. But people love Lauren. They totally gave him the space to do it. He was the king of the RC 36 for that weekend and, by association, I was something like a princess. I would tell people I was Lauren's student and they'd be throroughly impressed. Before I even presented my paper, on this basis alone, people were offering to work with me. It was weird.
And then, there was his presentation. He made a point of coming to mine, "to hold my hand" (which he actually physically did at one point...not during the session but before...it was actually kinda sweet although my initial reaction was a mix of horror and awkwardness due to his shocking soft palms...he must moisturize...god, I'm hoping that's it). So, I went to see what he was like presenting papers himself. I walked into this room to see Lauren sitting on the far left.
The lesson learned here: People love Lauren. I think mostly because he's got a niche, he works it, and his life is pretty goddamn good and that's evident. I will also say this...no matter what I've heard about him around here, he ran that whole sectional conference...he planned everything and chaired about 5 sessions and presented 2 papers himself, one a major featured presentation.
But people love him anyway.
So I've been a little incommunicado about my recent trip to Barcelona. There's been no real particular reason, except for lingering jet lag and my first week at work. The trip itself was great and I managed to take more pictures than I've EVER brought home before. That means, for you my four loyal readers, that at some point within the next couple weeks a full-out "tour of Barcelona via Katie's pictures" will likely take place. Yes, you'll be bored and yes, you'll just have to deal. Someone has to visually celebrate the greatest that is Spain and I'm appointing myself. Hunker down and get ready.
But, what I realized is that a summary of this trip is not simple. There was a lot going on:professional development, travel intrigue and fun, travel minor nightmares, general personal growth, a spiritual journey, Lauren Langman as international man of...well, just international man is enough, I think. So, to fairly treat the whole trip (and pushing the bounds of aforementioned readers' patience and graciousness) I'm going to devote a couple different posts here to this trip. I think it'll be worth it in the end.
First up on the list of topics: Lauren Langman: The Man, The Myth, The Legend
