final furniture project

our main project whilst being here as been a hybrid furniture project where we have to combine two actions and make one piece of furniture. this is my final portfolio for the project so shows my starting points to my final idea.

sister time...

My younger sister who I am very close to came to visit last weekend and so we had another crazy weekend of going around the sights and showing her everything I have come to love about Barcelona. It was also really nice to spend some time together just me and her as it had been 9 weeks since I had seen her which is the longest we have ever spent apart. She also brought with her some supplies which included yummy butchers sausages which she had frozen and packed in her bag for us to have for dinner. Me and becca had been wanting sausage and mash for ages and had been unable to find them anywhere and so we were very excited for dinner. Eating home cooked food makes you feel so much better! 

when in rome

 Me and becca managed to find some really cheap flights to go from Barcelona to rome over a weekend to go and visit benny who is studying there. I was very excited to go as I have only ever been to rome for a day and its somewhere I really want to visit but also it had been such a long time since I had seen benny so was exciting to stay with him. We arrived late in the evening so just had a quick drink and a catch up before going to bed. Benny lived in a very typical Italian apartment with the most interesting interior design I have ever seen but it was nice to be able to stay with him and the sofa bed wasn’t too bad once you found a comfortable position. 

The next morning when we were all finally ready to go out we went to a little nearly by coffee shop and had a cappuccino and coissant. Which was deliscious! Completely different to how the French do it as it was covered in some sort of lemon sugar and the coffee was the nicest I have ever tasted. We stood at the bar and drank it was it in rome it is a lot cheaper to have things to go which I found really interesting. We then got on a bus and ended to the centre of the city. We only had a short amount of time and so walked round going to all the main things you would want to see. We walked down the Spanish steps, and saw the trevy fountain, tasted the most amazing pizza ever, and then got icecream, went inside st peters bascilca and then climbed to the top! So it was a very busy and full weekend but it was nice to see rome with someone who really knew rome and like we have in Barcelona, benny seems to have really settled in and got to know his way around so it was fun to se his rome with him. 

So after a perfect weekend we had the most nightmare journey back to the airport. Somehow between the 3 of us we had massively miscalculated the time it would take us to get to the airport and how long we needed to arrive there before and so we suddenly found ourselves still in the centre of rome, with a 45 minute bus journey an hour before our flight was due to take off with the gate closing way before then! We debated not even trying to make it as it did seem impossible but after looking at the cost of replacement flights we thought it was worth a try. The traffic was on our side and we managed to get to the airport with 10 minutes before we were due to take off. We didn’t even know if they would have boarded and if they would even let us on so we ran through security, becca didn’t even bother putting her shoes back on! And then ran through the terminal to find our gate which was typically the furthest away, so we went running to the gate bags everywhere, completely out of breath to find everyone calming sitting waiting and starring at us. Our flight had been delayed and somehow we had just made it! Red faced we quietly joined the back of the que. I don’t think I have ever felt so relieved. 

standing in st peters square

inside the basilica 

weirdest shot i have ever had

incredible view from the top of the basilica 

breaking dawn

Being a massive twilight fan I was very worried when I realized I would be in Barcelona for the opening of the final film and might not be able to watch it until I got back and so was very very excited when I was informed that it was being shown in a cinema right by where we live and it was in English!! So on Sunday evening when we definitely should have been going to bed as we had a early start, we went and watched it and it was amazing!! There were Spanish subtitles but once I got into the film I didn’t even notice. It was also really nice to go to the cinema as it made us feel really like we were locals and it seemed a normal thing to do. 

a weekend to ourselves

Since being here every weekend seems to be filled with doing something or someone being here so it was exciting to have a weekend free to just do what we wanted and relax for a bit. We still hadn’t visited the art museum so decided to go do that for the afternoon which was really nice. The actual building of the museum is what impresses me most. I love it. And the inside was also very well done with a lot of thought being taken into the way the pieces were exhibited. Was definitely worth a visit.

In the evening we decided to go out ad have a nice dinner just the two of us and as becca had never been to a hard rock café before we decided it was time for her to go! We massively over ate and ordered the biggest cocktail I have ever seen but it was as always a very fun experience and something fun to do whilst here. 

IED vs Chelsea

With so much going on here and wanting to make the most of the time I have in such an amazing city I find it easy to forget the main reason I am here which is of course to work. The university here like Chelsea is just an art university and so the whole building is set up for being creative and as it is brand new this year there is so many amazing facilities for us to use which is amazing.

I am really enjoying the experience of going to uni in another country and seeing how different it is to home but I think there are a lot more differences than I thought. Our weeks here are very structured and we have a set timetable for each day and most days we are in for at least 5 hours which means through out the week we spend a lot of our time actually in uni. The way they structure the lectures is also very different. It a lot more like a lesson with the tutor standing at the front and teaching us how to draw, use computer programs etc. in way I do feel like I have taken a step backwards and gone back to school but for me being giving this much help with programs such as autocad and illustrator is amazing as im definitely not a natural when it comes to using a computer. So this is so helpful. After just two weeks I have been able to create the front cover of a frame magazine and make exact copies of icons. Something I never thought I would have been able to do.

The thing I find hardest is that there is several projects all running along side eachother and so you have to manage your time very well otherwise it is very easy to fall behind. The volume of work expected isn’t as great but having to think about and juggle so many different assignments is hard and each class sets homework for the following week so we are never without something to do. Here are a few pictures of what I have been doing so far…..

my work on photoshop

initial ideas for my funiture project

my final model

perspective drawing of my final design

magic fountains

On the Saturday evening I took them to the magic fountains, which run for several hours and are short fountain shows timed to music. They are very impressive and the setting in front if the art museum is just amazing. We ended up sitting there for almost the whole time just watching and enjoying the atmosphere. They are really amazing to watch and are a nice way to spend an evening together.

The time spent with mum and dad was really special and it was nice for me to spend time just me and them and just enjoy having them here and showing them around. The time always passes too quickly and it was difficult to say goodbye but I knew it would only be 5 weeks until I would be home for Christmas and time just seems to fly by here. 

sangrada familia

Having visiting Barcelona a few times before, there wasn’t many things they desperately wanted to do apart from visit and go inside sangrada familia. I was more than happy to do this as I still hadn’t been inside and it was something I was excited to do. When you arrive the thing you see is the resurrection façade which gives a detailed description into the final days before Jesus’s death.  This is probably the most important part of the Christian faith and I really felt the architecture did it justice. It showed the seriousness of the event but also the miracle of him rising again.  I hadn’t even stepped inside and I was totally in awe of this building. And when I did finally go inside I was pleasantly surprised to see the huge contrast to outside and it was totally unexpected.  The yellowing heavy stone from the outside was replaced with smooth white marble and the most overwhelming beams of colour as the outside sunlight shone in through the hundreds of handcrafted stain glass windows. I was nothing I have ever seen before, endless colour and light streaming in and consuming the church. It was amazing. And so was everything else about the inside. He use of nature and numbers is incredible and he has been successful in creating what he wanted to achieve. You really do feel like you are standing in a forest under a canopy of trees from the way he has created the coloums to rise up and branch out in the same way a real tree would. We were inside from hours but with so much to see and learn about the time passed by so quickly. I was very worth the visit and I hope to find the time to go again before I leave it is impossible to pick up on and see everything is just one visit. There are endless details to discover.

winter sun

The arrival of my parents was also the start of some fantastic weather here in Barcelona. It was the middle of November and we were sitting up by the roof top pool enjoying the sunshine. Definitely didn’t expect that and so it was a nice chance for us to just relax and enjoy each others company whilst topping up a tan!

we must remember them

the 11th of november is a very important day in Britain as it is when we take a few minutes to think about the people that lost their live serving their country. it was strange not to have brought a poppy this year and been able to support the British legion charity but as this day is not celebrated in spain i was unable to. with my parents here we decided to do the minute silence at 11am local time and then also and 11am british time as we could watch the ceremony on TV in their hotel room. it felt really special to still take time to remember them but also i felt it was very important for me not to forget this and carry on as if i was at home. it always makes me proud to be british and it was nice to share this moment with my parents.

family time!

I have grown up in a large family of four children and so being away from my parents and siblings for a long amount of time isn’t something I have done before. I am an independent person but do rely on my family a lot and would consider my brothers and sisters my best friends and so I thought the time away from them would be really difficult. Although it has been weird not having them around and seeing them I think it has been good for me to step away from them and do this by myself and as a result I think my relationship with all of them has grown. This last week I have had my parents to stay which has been amazing! They came bearing gifts of orange squash and Cadburys chocolate!! Which made everything seem so much more like home.

With them here to stay I had a very busy week and fortunately their arrival was timed well with some days off we had with uni which meant I was able to spend a lot of time with them and show them around the city I now called home. Was a good feeling to be the guide and actually be able to show them around like I really new the place. I have become more settled here than I ever thought I would and this experience feels less like a holiday everyday and more like real life. 

a pretty cool evening...

Like London, Barcelona also has an ice bar which they describe as ‘the coolest place in Barcelona’, and so we thought having experienced the one in London it would be good to go and see what their version was like and have a good evening out with some of the people in our flat. Although it wasn’t quite as big as the one in London it was equally as good and we all enjoyed drinking cocktails out of ice cube glasses! I had already experienced the Sangrada Familia made of chocolate but in the ice bar I also got to experience what it looked like made of ice which was equally impressive. It was a really fun evening and good thing to do! Even if I could feel my feet for a few days after!!