Manchester

As spring break approached all I kept hearing was my classmates speaking about traveling to different places during their break. Going from Ibiza to Paris to Rome sounded a bit exhausting. I opted for a different option, why not just go to one place for a whole week? It would give me much more time to get to know the city and I wouldn´t be rushed.

As a child I had always been a Manchester United fan. My brother who is two years older than me introduced me to Manchester United while I was very young. Although now, it isn´t my favorite team it still holds a special place in my heart. I grew up watching Manchester United games and dreaming about one day going to Old Trafford. I decided that for my spring break I would take a week long trip to Manchester.

Manchester was not at all as I thought. It wasn´t the way many of my friends described London to me. London  is much more of a touristic spot and Manchester, well Manchester doesn´t seem to have many tourists. In the week I was there I did not find one souvenir shop. Don´t tell me that´s not strange. I felt so at home in Manchester for a simple reason. It reminded me too much of Chicago. There were times where I would walk around the city center, look around and think to my self: Am I in Chicago?

As anyone can imagine my first stop was definitely Old Trafford. It is such a beautiful stadium, one of my favorites to say the least. And I´ve gone to many football stadiums in my lifetime. The whole experience was amazing, I can´t really point out a specific event that happened or a specific section of the stadium I liked because I loved it all. The museum was a lot smaller than I would have thought, its definitely not as big as other ones I´ve visited but  it is very informative. If you want to learn about the club´s history, the museum does a spectacular job in showing it.

I was so glad I spent a week, even though that week clearly wasn´t long enough, in that city. I can´t imagine spending just two days there and then having to go to another city. I enjoyed my stay. The only bad part? It was so cold! I was so used to the Barcelona weather and then I end up in Manchester. I will definitely be going there again, maybe this time when its a bit warmer.

Citizen Journalism

There are many journalists that do not like the term ‘citizen journalism.’ As journalists they believe that journalism is a job, a profession, a career. Journalism is something you need to go to school for and earn a degree.  I believe that citizen journalism is a kind of journalism. I wouldn’t call these citizens actual journalists but they are doing a form of it.

There have been many occasions where there have been tragic events that happen and the only witness might be a regular person who then decided to take out his phone and take a picture. They then posted it on the web to inform others about this event. To me, that is journalism but not on the professional level.

The picture to the left is he first picture of the Hudson River plane crash. It was taken by a citizen who then proceeded to post in online.

Valencia

This weekend my friends and I took a trip to Valencia. I didn’t know how beautiful that city was. It’s not as big as Barcelona. Valencia has about a lot less inhabitants but nonetheless its a big city. We stayed at a hotel near the city center that was only a few minutes away from the Valencia soccer stadium and from the beach. Although two days was not enough to really get to know Valencia I had a lot of fun and I hope to go back soon, maybe this time for a bit longer. During our stay we entered the Catedral de Valenica on la Plaza de La Reina. Our tour guide mentioned that was the place you could see the whole city once we were on the top. What we didn’t think about was the fact that there were no elevators. We had to climb more than 230 steps to get to the top and that’s when we realized how out of shape we were. Once we reached the top, it was definitely worth it. I was able to not only see he whole city but I was able to see the sea as well.

We didn’t know that during this time, Valencia was celebrating Falles. During the month of March they have fireworks every day a 2pm and then at midnight. It’s something everyone should see, I can’t even explain how great it was. On the last day they burn a huge papier-mâché falla. I want to go back during the burning of the falla, I’ve seen videos and its definitely an experience. The beach was also a great place to visit.

El Clasico

On Tuesday February 26th one of the biggest matches in the world occurred, El Clasico. El Clasico is a match between the biggest Spanish rivals, Barcelona and Real Madrid. This rivalry has been an ongoing rivalry for many years, traced back to the Franco dictatorship. Franco used Real Madrid as a way to advertise himself. He made sure Real Madrid became one of the best clubs in Europe so the Spanish had something to be proud of. And in that sense make himself look as ‘the good guy.’ He also used it as an excuse to oppress Catalans, banning their language and culture. Real Madrid became Franco’s ‘pure and white ambassadors.’ There have been different myths about Franco using his power to have Real Madrid beat Barcelona as well as other teams. Since then, Real Madrid not only represents a team it represents the suffering, the injustice, and hardships faced during that era.

I was lucky enough to find tickets to the game just a few hours before the game. They were very expensive but definitely worth it. I sat on the second level and was only a few rows away from the players. A Clasico is like no other game I’ve ever been to, you see the worst and the best in people during these kind of matches. Barcelona during this game was not the Barcelona I knew. They weren’t playing the way they always played. They made many mistakes and at times they seemed to be a bit confused on what they should be doing. Although Barcelona didn’t win, I had so much fun and I was so close to the players. It was an experience I will never forget.

A Taste from Home

Barcelona has been very welcoming to me and my roommates. I’ve settled in well, but there has been times where I miss food from home. This week my roommates and I set out to find a store that sold Mexican products. Since I’ve been here I haven’t been able to find any Mexican food products and every Mexican restaurant I’ve been to is anything but authentic. The worst part of it all is that I don’t have a blender, so any Mexican food I will try to make will be mission impossible.

Between Google and asking people who live here, I found a store 11 metro stops away from my house. As I read the reviews I decided I should give it a try since it was “every Mexican’s dream” and it was. But no one ever warned me about how expensive everything was going to be. I was finally able to eat a Mexican dish that wasn’t very much authentic since the products I used came in a can but nonetheless they were better than most Mexican restaurants I’ve been to. I probably won’t ever go back but I at least was able to have good Mexican food for once.