After our first group meeting, we all took the day to walk around the city, learning to navigate the routes as the architecture of Antoni Gaudi and many others surrounded us. Residents and travelers mostly make their way around the city by walking and through other modes of transportation including the Metro, compact vehicles, bikes, and scooters. Walking the streets, it's hard not to find interest on every city block. Small shops and restaurants line the sidewalks with the residents living above. The culture of the city also dictates a very different daily schedule, starting in the morning, often taking long "siestas" in the afternoon, finishing out the work day in the late evening, and continuing the night-life into the early morning again.
Our last stop of the day included visiting the "Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau" (Catalan for "Hospital of the Holy Cross and Saint Paul"). This hospital was designed by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and built between 1901 and 1930. A further explanation will be provided later on during our ARCH 789 seminar course, taught by Professor Stephen Wischer. During this course, each one of us will be learning the history and architecture of various buildings around the city, in order to give a thorough presentation each week and really learn about the city we are experiencing. After each one of these student presentations, a summery of the information they researched will be posted.