Spring has come! Let's start it with a new festival: Brunch Electronik Barcelona '15

Spring has arrived, and with it a new great festival starts here in Barcelona! Temperature are rising, hot sunny days are coming, so it is the moment to put aside plaids and dvds and spend the weekend outdoor instead of staying at home.

The Brunch Electronik Barcelona offers you a different plan to enjoy this beautiful season of the year with music, cuisine and culture, so if you are bored of wasting your time on the sofa come and have some good fun! In fact in the Brunch Electronik Barcelona you will have the chance to join culture and leisure together, you can rest under the sun and at the same time you can be involved in a lot of cultural activities like shows, cinematic projections, flea markets where you can buy second hand books and vinyls, reading spaces, activities for children and more. Moreover, as you can understand from the name of the festival, you will find a tasty brunch menu if you're hungry, and you will have the chance to dance to the music of the best national and international djs of the moment.

The festival will be hosted at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, in the heart of the city, then it is an opportunity to visit it and get seduced by its beauty, since the entrance ticket will allow you to visit the museum as well.

So, from the third sunday of March, every two weeks, all the families with children, all music lovers, "nihilists", people that love culture, vintage markets addicts, but in general to all the people that want to spend a different sunday, you already have a plan for the weekend: the Brunch Electronik Festival.

For further information, don't waste time and visit the website!

Barcelona and the “Kosmopolis” Literature Festival (18-22 March)

This year I had the pleasure to assist the one of the most important festival concerning the contemporary literature, the name is “Kosmopolis. The Amplified Literature Festival”. It is a biennial literary event that takes place at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona. The idea that prompted its creation was offer a place to meet art and literature, inspired by the awareness that we are citizens of the cosmos, citizens of the world.

Why Amplified? It is “amplified” because it takes into consideration all the manifestations of literature: spoken, written, printed and digital. It wants to encourage the “contamination” between disciplines and interaction among writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians, actors, architects, designers and other figures on the culture scene. Such a way of presenting literature goes beyond the division between genres and accepts the evolution of the literature itself.

• The Program:

-          Dialogues and conferences: various Spanish and international writers have held dialogues on different topic concerning literature, such as the role of the contemporary narrator, what is making literature today, and which topic should it covers.

-          Journalism 21: A series of conferences about new styles of journalism, such as data journalism, investigative journalism and participatory one. New technologies make chronicles and personal stories a challenge for journalism; the conferences try to explain how to how to cope with it.

-          Alice turns 150: Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland goes beyond the bounds of children’s literature till to inspired artists, writers, linguists, philosophers, scientists and psychoanalysts. A series of conferences where held to explore its influence in the artistic world, to discuss about its versions and variations in the audiovisual world and about the interest it has excited in semiotics and linguistics, and its appeal for the field of quantum physics.

-          Alpha Channel: It was a programme of documentaries, shorts films, animations, videos and visual experiments inspired by literature. It explored the relationship between literature and the audiovisual. Every evening there was a film, while the whole Sunday was devoted to TV series inspired by genres with an literary origin: Shakespeare, Cervantes, Dickens, Poe, Carroll, Conan Doyle, Conrad, Borges, Hammett, Ballard

-          Wrinting Labs: Learning to write means learning to read and learning to think, but it also it is important to know the techniques, strategies and tools. For these reasons a series of workshop were proposed in order to discover the ingredients, the medicines or the poisons present in the creation of a work.

-          Traslating Europe: It meant building permanent bridges to develop a cultural project that goes beyond borders. It implied also discovering works and authors, understanding how a language is adopted and cultivating diversity.

It is in the “Translating Europe” that the Italian singer Vinicio Capossela decided to present his book: “Tefteri. El libro de las cuentas pendientes (Minúscula, 2014). 

The book starts with the idea of crisis “a concept related to rebetiko, a form of music that recalls the idea of separation or division, an idea that is related to Greece, from which Europe is trying to get separated”. Capossela was in the streets of Greece in the year of the financial crash. He made a musical and emotional journey around the taverns of Athens, Salonika and Crete where the Greeks were rediscovering rebetiko, the music that recall the powerful link between East and West, and touches themes like pain, absence and fury.

In Greece means what  is tango or the Argentineans, what is blues for Americans and what is Fado for Portuguese. It was born between XIX and XX Century, in the slums of Greek cities from outcast people which wanted to tell their sufferings and pain through music. Nowadays rebetiko has been rediscovered by normal people and sang in the streets of Greece in economic crisis.

The singer and writer was accompanied by the editor Valeria Bergalli and the Greek guitarist Dimitris Mistakidis. Caposssela has talked about his book and what Greece as meant to him. He explained how the country is still the source of universal questions and how now is bringing us face to face with what is happening to normal people in such an European crisis.

Here a rebetiko song singed by Capossela:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW1IaEMeQ7A

Día de Sant Jordi

Sant Jordi, Christian martyr, lived in the 4^th century and is famous for being the allegory of the good beating the wrong. In Barcelona, city of which he has been the Holy Patron since 1094, the legend says that some day, he arrived in a city where the population was terrorized by a dragon that demanded the daily sacrifice of two young people selected at random. That day, the king's daughter was drawn but through the Christ, Sant Jordi could beat the dragon and save the princess.

In Catalonia, Sant Jordi has been celebrated on the 23^rd April since the 15^th century and the women are given a rose during the day. At the beginning it was just about giving a rose to the women who attended Mass at the Sant Jordi's chapel at the Palacio de la Generalidad de Catalunya at that date, but the tradition was expanded over the years to all women. Nowadays, they receive from their boyfriend, fiancé or husband a rose that refers to exclusive love, red-coloured that is symbol of passion, and a ear of wheat that is symbol of fecondity.

In 1926, Vicent Clavel i Andrés, a catalan writer, offered to the Barcelonians booksellers to develop a day that would celebrate books. They aggreed on the day when Cervantes, the most famous Spanish writer, was buried: the 23^th April. Thus, from the moment when this day became the official “Día del Libro”, in 1929, people have been used to giving books as well. Today, women receive a rose with a ear of wheat when the men are given a book.

The tradition is so well known that UNESCO turned the day into Wold Book and Copyright Day from 1995.

Now that you know more about this day, that can be compared to Valentin's day in Catalonia, I hope for that you're being given a rose or a book on the next 23^th April!

Picasso and Dalí, face to face for the first time // 20.03 - 28.06

The museum Picasso is one of the most beautiful museum I've visited in my life. It is located in the Born neighborhood in Barcelona, and houses one of the most extensive collections by Pablo Picasso. With more than 4000 works, it is considered one of the most complete permanent collections in all the world.

The museum is organized into three different sections: painting/drawing, engraving and ceramics. All the works are disposed in order to appreciate the different periods of this great artist, from the early years, through the training period, until the Blue period. We can appreciate as well all Picasso's reinterpretations (more than 50!) of Las Meninas of Velázquez.

Moreover, the museum represents a good example of Catalan civic gothic style, composed by 5 different palaces date from the 13th-15th centuries.

Now that you have a general idea about this incredible museum, if you are planning to come to Barcelona on vacation, or if you already live here, you really should visit this great collection from 20th of March till 28th of June.
The Museum Picasso will house the exhibition "Picasso/Dalí. Dalí/Picasso", where we will be able to explore and appreciate all the connections and relationship between this two spanish artists. In fact, these two artists had a remarkable impact on each other. They were both involved in the Surrealist project, lived in first person the horrors of the Spanish Civil War by producing works expressing the human suffering and pain caused by the conflict. Moreover, after the Civil War, Dalí started to reference Picasso in his work.

As you can see, there are a lot of meeting points between this two main Spanish artists, and we will disocover them through paintings, drawings and sculptures from Picasso and Dalí - some of which really rarely loaned - from 25 museums worldwide. It is a great occasion to appreciate in an only museum two of the greatest artists of all time.

For further information visit the Museum Picasso website!

Fundació Joan Miró and Prophetia

Last Saturday, we interns at 1Global Translators decided not to dedicate our stay in Barcelona only to fiesta and Spanish food, so we visited Fundació Joan Miró, a modern art museum located on the top of Montjuic. 

The museum was founded by the Catalan painter and sculptor Joan Miró – born in Barcelona in 1893 and died in 1983 in Palma de Majorca – in order to encourage young artists on the path of contemporary art. Miró wanted to revitalize the Barcelonan artistic environment, supporting the birth of a new artistic generation. 

The collection was opened to the public on 10 June 1975, but its origins can be traced back to the Miró’s exhibition at Hospital de la Santa Creu in 1968. 

The building was ideated by Josep Lluís Sert, Miró’s close friend, and the city of Barcelona bore part of the cost. The style of the building is Mediterrean (low, white buildings with porches) and abstract, surrounded by the park.

Fundació Joan Miró

The Foundation comprises the majority of Joan Miró’s artworks; on the Foundation’s website are listed «14000 pieces: 217 paintings, 178 sculptures, 9 textiles, 4 ceramics, the almost complete graphic works and some 8,000 drawings». Most of the artworks were donated by the author himself to the Foundation.

Fundació Joan Miró: the collection

Moreover, the collection includes works of contemporary artists, representing a tribute to Joan Miró: there are artworks of Pierre Alechinsky, Balthus, Anthony Caro, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Julio González, Wifredo Lam, Fernand Léger, André Masson, Henry Moore, Robert Motherwell, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Antonio Saura, Yves Tanguy, Alexander Calder and Antoni Tàpies.

The Foundation hosts temporary exhibitions, too: when we visited the Foundation, we were able to see Prophetia’s one. It was dedicated to the foundation of the European Union and comprised works by 25 artists: they represent two aspects of being part of the UE, the initial sense of hope and enthusiasm and the actual uncertainty and disillusionment, due to the Economic Crisis of 2007 and to the Bundesbank monetary policies, especially towards the PIGs. 

Personally, there was a particular work I found particularly interesting: it was History Zero by the Greek artist Stefanos Tsivopoulos. On his website, he describes History Zero as a «film of three episodes alongside an archive of text and images. The film questions the value of money and the role money plays in the formation of human relationships by depicting the experiences of three very different individuals; an elderly art collector suffering from dementia, an immigrant trawling the streets for scrap metal, and an artist taking snapshots of the city […]

History Zero, specially commissioned for the Biennale, comes at a critical moment in contemporary Greek and European history. The artist views the culmination of the multi-layered crisis as an opportunity to interpret an alternative visualization of the future. History Zero implies not the end, but a point of departure, of recovery and growth: the beginning of something new. By approaching our relationship with money poetically, from a philosophical perspective, the artist proposes dynamic ways to reaffirm solidarity, cooperation and co-responsibility in response to the present crisis».

History Zero - episode 1

History Zero - episode 2

History Zero - episode 3

It captured me: rare dialogues, the strong prevalence of the photography and a heavy silence make it really expressive. You could observe as money are perceived by different point of views, at different ages and in opposite economic statuses. 

The exhibition Prophetia will be hosted until the 7th of June and, according to me, deserves a visit, especially if you are a young European citizen; moreover, if you appreciate abstract Surrealism, you will like Joan Miró’s collection, since it is the most complete in the world about him.

Carlotta Neueschwander

St Valentin newletter

That day, 14^th February when I arrived at the office, I wasn't expecting that Jessica would welcome me saying that the St Valentin newletter was sent to the clients, with the 3 hook articles chosen among those I wrote. I was then asked to speak about how I felt about it so here we are guys, let's speak about my feelings!

I firstly didn't really react, because I didn't really know what it implied for me, but I certainly felt as if my job was done in a good way.

Since I've been at 1Global, I wrote a lot of articles and I enjoy doing it, as my first profesional plan was to become a journalist. I like to investigate, read as much as I can about a specific topic, write about an up-to-the-minute piece of news and look for the best way to give the information. I'm never bored by this part of the work, and when I look back, that it does you a world of good when your boss takes a look at your job and believes it is good enough to show it to the customers. I also appreciate a lot that Jessica trusts us enough to let us work on an independent basis. It feels really good not to be watched over, and as for me, it stimulates me to work harder and do my best.

The more I work here, the more I feel like I am working on my future by doing what I am doing. Those articles are published in the blogs of the company and anybody can have access to them and notice who posted them. Moreover, it shows what I am able to deal with to the clients who may turn out to be my future employers. I'm constantly trying to improve my language skills by writting in Spanish as well as in English, so that I can turn into a very good translator, or even better - a very good journalist (nobody knows what the future is made of).

This also enables me to produce better articles on my own blog, on which I publish about who I am and what the possible bosses can expect if they hire me (once again, thanks Jessica for teaching all of us how to show our skills on the internet every Friday!). Here is my blog, in case you'd like to check it out.

If you want to see 1GlobalTranslators blogs, here is the Spanish one, here is the English one.

March 19: Father's Day

Hello everybody!
Today is the 19th of March and here in Spain is Father's day!

In fact, not in all the countries we celebrate this day at the same time. Today we celebrate our dads only in few countries in the world like Andorra, Italy, Portugal, Bolivia or Mozambique. Usually it is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but there are a lot of exceptions, in Russia for example Father's day is on February 23, in the Republic of Korea on May 8.

So why do we celebrate Father's day in Spain on March 19?

As we all know, in Spain there has always been a strong catholic influence, and inevitably nowadays we have many traditions that have their own roots in Catholicism. Father's day is no exception, given that March 19 is Saint Joseph's day, Jesus Christ's father.

The idea was born in 1948 from the initiative of Manuela Vicente Ferrero, a spanish teacher, that after many father's complaint introduced a day dedicated to all the fathers of her students. This day was characterized by a mass and a festival, where all the children performed in many poetry, theatre and dance shows. As I already said, the choice of the day is connected to St Joseph, Christian model of father.
This idea was really successful and became to spread in Spain, in particular through some articles in "El Correo de Zamora" and "Magisterio Español", until it truly became a celebration day.

So, it is a good occasion to have some good time in family. Let's all spend this day with our dads and celebrate them as they deserve!

Happy father's day to all the dads out there!!

Las Fallas - Beating Chilling Wind with Paella and Sangria

1GLOBAL TRANSLATORS MARKETING PICTURES PRESENTS

LAS FALLAS

OR

BEATING CHILLING WIND WITH PAELLA AND SANGRIA

STARRING: 

DANIEL RIBEIRO, PHILIPPINE LAROCHE, CARLOTTA NEUENSCHWANDER, SIMONA HOMRULAKOVA, AGATA OLESZCZUK, FEDERICA MERALDI, GIULIO BATTAGION

Las Fallas

A group of intrepid guys, all interns in a translating company, an improbable timetable (alarm clock at 4.30, not even on military service), a 25-hours trip and no rest.

This team of heroes, lead by enthusiasm hidden behind a comatose façade, will have a great adventure in the crowded streets of Valencia, for the festival called Las Fallas. 

They will face huge human crowds, quarrelsome elderly, evanescent buses, flash-forwards – such as maps for tourists claiming that it is the 16th when it is the 15th, insistent  and deceptive restaurateurs,  and fake Valencian paellas.

But the worst enemy, the monster they have to fight with, has name and surname: Chilling Wind. This 3-degrees cruel adversary will torture the fellowship during their voyage, and only with some beers as faithful companions, with their carefree youth as a guide and with the vigorous help of Sangria, a local goddess who assists the braves, they will be able to survive throughout this never-ending day.

They have to manage to enjoy the feast, discovering beautiful places and ending up dancing among real Spaniards (free, with cheap chupitos and nice music), escaping from an empty club in which the evil bouncers want them to pay.  

They have to find the way back to the bus, with the aid of travellers’ divinity, known as Google Maps. 

They have to find some rest, overcoming backache, stiff neck, sore feet and snoring people. 

Will they be able to do this, and even more? Will they arrive at the starting point, tired but victorious, dirty but shining with glory, when the sun is dawning on Plaça de Espanya? Will they be brave enough to defeat the very last enemy, the Metro on Monday Morning? 

The braves

IN THEATRES ON MARCH 15TH

Dapostar: a good fun

Have you ever been in Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona? If you haven’t, you really should! On weekends people usually meet in this fabulous park to relax, to have a beer on the sun or hidden under the palm trees while listening the music with and having good fun with their friends. If you go there, even just for a walk, you can notice many people having a good time, especially during the sunny days.

During an afternoon in the park, you can meet different type of fun. There are lot of artists and jugglers, playing with different tools. Hula Hoop, people playing bongos or other handmade instruments, some extreme yoga, slackline artists, and also those who play with this strange cloth called Dapostar.

In fact, what is it and how can you play with that?

Dapostar was born from a bright idea of Tai Dapero, who started to play with some kitchen cloths, then this practice developed for many years until it became very famous, firstly appeared in Barcelona, then in the rest of the world. Even now this game is in constant evolution, it is a new way of entertainment that improves your coordination and concentration.

Dapostar has a eight-pointed star shape, and it is made by good quality materials that permit a better grip. It is often characterized by a vaste range of colours and wefts, so you will certainly find the one you like the most.

But how do you play with it?

In order to be able to play with Depostar you have to make a rotating movement with you fingers, like tis showed on the picture. While rotating Dapostar will gain more and more speed and you will be able to pass it to another person or doing particular tricks. It is just a matter of practice! However, as I already said, Dapostar is always in development, so even you can find some new ways to play with it! For example, my friends and I started to play Dapo-volleyball, introducing some specific rules.

To better discover Dapostar world visit this site, or watch some videos directly from Tai Dapero’s Youtube page, where you can even find some tutorials to learn playing.

Barcelona + Beer = Barcelona Beer Festival '15

Nothing to do in the weekend? Temperature is rising and you are more and more thirsty? So, let's drink some good beers at Barcelona Beer Festival 2015!

From today to Sunday 15th of March you can enjoy more than 300 different craft beers, you can find a lot of quality food too if you're hungry, and a do a lot of activities! The BBF is a good occasion to start better knowing beer culture and appreciate the qualities of artisan craft beer to the general public.

The fourth edition of this very appreciated festival will be hosted in the Barcelona Maritim Museum, an institution dedicated to the maritime culture with over than 80 years of history. Moreover, in 2006, this museum was declared one of the National Interest Museum.

To attend the festival the only thing you have to do to start drinking is to buy the exclusive Festival's glass and coins to start filling your glasses with the beer you like the most. There are a lot of beers from all over the world, from strong beers (11%) to non-alcoholic ones if you have to drive, and even beers for coeliacs. However, at the entrance you will receive a booklet where you will find almost all the information you need to fully enjoy the festival: how it works, articles about the world of craft beer and reviews of all the beers. 

Moreover, you can even attend conferences, tasting sessions and workshops about gastronomy and meet the brewer that will answer you to all the question you want about beer and brewery.

So what are you waiting for? This is an unmissable occasion to join the magnific atmosphere of Barcelona with incredible beers from all over the world. For further information visit the festival's website!

To-do list in Barcelona

By now, it’s two weeks that I live in Barcelona. It’s the first time in my life that I temporarily live abroad and, at first, I was scared and excited at the same time just thinking about it. For years I have been thinking that I wasn’t strong enough to leave Italy, that being independent was a distant goal and stuff like that.

Now I know that it’s not true: I’m finding my place in this big city, I’m learning Spanish and I’m having my first intern at the same time. 

Barcelona attracted me from the beginning: it's a beautiful city, it really captures you: it’s multicultural, but with its own traditions (like Catalan), it’s big, but liveable, it’s full of people, but not suffocating.

Of course, there are some things that you have to put on your to-do list:

You have to get used to dine at 10 pm, when in your home country you dine at 8 pm, so you have to find tricks not to starve.

What time do people eat in Barcelona?

You have to understand that Italian and Spanish are not so similar: if you know Italian it does not mean that you know Spanish as well (final -s will definitely not save you).
You have to learn to use the metro, to discover the lines, to take the right direction: at first it will happen you to get lost, get over it.

Metro in Barcelona

You have to forget your beloved car – that’s especially for guys, but also for me, since I love driving: in such a big city, you need to move with public transports.
You have to fight with the language: forget about speaking English, here you have to learn Spanish, period. Actually, if you want to live here for a long time, you should learn Catalan as well, but for a short period Spanish is – luckily – enough.
You have to visit Park Guell, to get on Montjuic, to see Tibidabo, to hang on the Barceloneta and so on: stop saying “I have plenty of time”, up your ass and go.
You have to taste paella, tapas and sangria: Spanish cuisine is really good – even not as Italian one, of course ;)
You have to dance sardana at least one in your life.

Barcelona's typical dance

You have to party as only Spaniards can do.

There are a lot of things to do in this amazing city: I can't wait to do as many things as I can, in order to make my stay really special and fruitful.  

Carlotta

Meeting new people

So, what I have learned so far is: it is hard to become a real Barcelonian (at least for me).

Here are my top three reasons that cause my hardship:

1. I do not know the language

I mean, I understand some Spanish and some Catalan but I cannot really speak it. So it is always hard for me to try to fit in (except when ordering coffee - I can sound like a real Spanish while saying Cafe con leche, por favor!). I am still trying to learn Spanish using Duolingo - it is very useful - except you sometimes come across strange sentences like yellow elephants eat rice. My goal is to achieve at least level 10 (I am level 7 right now, hehe - yeah, I will not get rid of my gamer soul - I will reach higher levels!).

2.Different schedule. 

For me, it is still hard to get used to the fact that dinner is at 21:00 or later. AND it is a big problem for my diet!! You cannot really say no to tapas, even if you are about to eat them at 22:30 at night. So be prepared for some late night snacks!
(Here is a picture of my late night snack, hehe)
 

3.It is really hard to get to know some real Barcelonians. 

I don't know if it is just my problem (because of the language) or if the others have the same problem. I hope they will comment or talk about it in their posts. I was really fortunate to meet at least few of them through Meetup. If you are new in the city, you should really check out this page. You can find different groups depending on your interests. For exemple I went to a meetup for people who enjoy board games. They meet every friday in a shop Kaburi in the evening. After 21:00 they always go to a cool pub who has board games you can borrow - Firefly. If you are a nerd like me, this might be a good environment for you. People there are always very very friendly, they didn't mind explaining and playing the games in English. We always laugh a lot. I met my best Spanish friend there - Lis. She is really nice and smart and we always go out for a coffee or something when she has free time. I am grateful to her, she is my connection to te real Barcelonian life. She once took me to a "black market" (not literally, it was an outlet of all the big brands but it was only for the people who have registered). It was really exciting.

When it comes to knowing international students or other interns, you don't have to look that hard. There is usually a bunch of us in the office and there is a lot of groups on FB. Just join some event, it doesn't matter if you go alone. I have always been an introverted person. BUT living abroad taught me that you cannot be afraid of making new friends. If you just gather up your courage and try talking to someone there can be two outcomes - either you become friends or they ignore you. In the second case, you don't have to feel that hurt, you will probably never see those people again.
While using this despicable method (random chatting with strangers) I got to know some amazing people:
First, cute French girl Nina and her German friend Lara and Anika. We met at free international dinner party at Shoko. They were standing behind me in the queue and since they seemed nice, I just started a conversation with them. And we spent the whole night chatting and dancing and drinking and eating together ^^
Second time, I got to know a nice German girl Carla on my trip to Sitges Carnival. That palce was amazing! So many costumes, so many people, just dancing and having fun! The event was still not over when we were going back at 1 in the morning. And I made other friends in Sitges beside Carla. A group of three, very friendly Americans - Jordan, Justin and Aabesh. My friend, Evie, did not want to belive that such a thing as a friendly American exists (she had a bad experience with them), but I proved her wrong. After meeting them, she admitted that they are really nice and cool people. We are making pancakes some for them tonight ^^

The last thing I want to mention in this post is my visitors.

I have previously mentioned the visit of my friend Nika. It was an exhausting week and to my disbelief, it seems I will have more visitors. This weekend, my mom is coming with her friend and then my Czech friend Eliska (currently living in Nroway) with her Norwegian boyfriend. Afterwards, I am planning to go on a trip to Morocco. Soooo much to do and so little time. Barcelona is a beautiful city so, my fellow interns, be prepared to host a lot of visitors since I am sure your friends will be interested in seeing Barcelona.
Combing the old and the new is sometimes difficult, but belive me, it is worht it!

Having no time to sleep is probably also one of the things that makes you a true Barcelonian!

\^_^/ 

Bianka