Unlike in Madrid,

upon my arrival in Barcelona, I was on my own to make new friends and find my way about the city. Fortunately, this was no problem.

Having mentioned to Christina’s friend, Ian, that I was interested in learning about the Barcelona jazz scene, I arrived in town with a list of clubs to check out. JazzSi was top on the list and so, on Tuesday night, I and a new friend from the hostel, Thomas, ventured out to see what sort of show would be happening. To my great surprise, the night’s show was a tribute to one of my favorite jazz bassists and contemporary composers, Dave Holland, performed by a quintet of university music students from Barcelona. The show was phenomenal. The band had transcribed two full sets of Holland’s original compositions and performed them excellently. For the first time, I got to hear one of my favorites songs on record, “Prime Directive”, played live.

If you’ve got a few minutes to listen to a fantastic quintet chart, check out the Dave Holland original: "Prime Directive"

After the show, Thomas and I stuck around to chat up the band. Upon learning that I was a musician myself, our new friends Vitalik, Philippe, Marc and Laura were eager to talk and it was determined that we should go out for drinks. Discussing our favorite players and records and the ups and downs of music school and life as a professional musician, we barely noticed as the restaurant’s clientele slowly dwindled down to just us. With closing time upon us, numbers were exchanged to facilitate future musical adventures and everyone went their separate ways.

Laura had mentioned that on Wednesday there would be a jam session in a small club near her apartment and that she would show it to Thomas and I if we would like. Embracing this fortuitous development, I showed up to the session with trumpet in hand eager to play. After introducing myself to the guitarist leading the session and explaining my musical background, he invited me to sit in for a tune. And, after the trio burned through a number of standards, I sat in for a blues. Following the conclusion of the night, the session leader invited me to comeback anytime. It was unfortunate, I had to tell him, that I would be leaving Barcelona in just a few short days.

The following day, I attended the internationally acclaimed popular music festival Primavera Sound which I had learned was taking place in Barcelona upon my arrival at the hostel from the many travelers who had come from all over North America and Europe to attend.

The festival was held in Parc del Forum, a large public gathering place on the coast of the Mediterranean which was originally built for the “Universal Forum of Cultures” exhibit in 2004. One of the park’s many fascinating architectural features is a gigantic sculpture of a solar panel made up of solar panels.

According to some sources, this panel of panels is the largest solar panel in the world.

After purchasing my ticket to the festival, I was fortunate enough to be chosen by raffle to attend the most anticipated and exclusive event of the festival, the performance of Sufjan Stevens at the Museu Blau natural science museum next to the park. Sufjan Steven’s work has been an inspiration to me since high school and I firmly believe that the his compositionally sophisticated, emotionally gripping, genre-bending, 2010 album, The Age of Adz, is a modern musical masterwork. Apparently other people like his songs quite a bit as well.

Needless to say, the show was one of the most amazing performances that I have ever seen.

Closing out my week in Barcelona, I took the metro to Plaça Catalunya on Friday afternoon only hours after police forces had stormed the square to clear protesters.

The New York Times report on the breaking up of the protests by riot police (which includes videos of the event itself) can be found here: "Police Clash with Protesters in Barcelona"

It was apparent that the police efforts had been in vain as the square was filled with thousands of people carrying signs, rebuilding shelters and chanting slogans by the time I arrived in the early evening.

I guess it is only time that will tell what the effects of their committed efforts will be.

Below are a few of my favorite photos that I took at the protest gathering.

A protest sign featuring the "Nuclear? No Gracias!" logo.

The communal kitchen assembled in the square by the camped-out protesters.

A wall covered in notes posted by protesters.

The raising of hands in a moment of silence before cheers and chants.

On Sunday, May 15,

I arrived in Madrid. After dropping my backpack off at the hostel at which I was staying, I met up with Christina and her friends.

It was fortunate that I had arrived when I did, they told me. The 15th of May is the Feast Day of San Isidro, the patron saint of Madrid, and throughout the city celebrations of the holiday were underway. In addition, a Manifestacion (demonstration) had been organized to coincide with the celebrations and we were going to see it.

Traditionally, crowds gather to celebrate the holiday in Puerta del Sol (the Gate of the Sun), a large plaza in the center of Madrid where the gate of the city once stood. This year, in addition to the celebratory gathering, there was to be a march into the square by the young and disenfranchised of Spain.

My first day in Spain and I was already in the midst of a national political protest.

I knew this was going to be a good trip.

Leaving the tumultuous uproar of the city square, we walked south to the river where a firelight display had been installed in celebration of the holiday. We gazed at the flames floating on the river until it was too late to stay up any longer.

On Monday, I spent the day walking about the city - first on my own and then with a walking tour. While walking about, I saw my first solar powered piece of Spanish infrastructure:

If only I’d been able to read the manual…

After the walking tour, I visited the Reina Sofia with two new friends that I had met that day, Billy from Holland and Iyad from Germany. The museum’s collection was stunning. To gaze upon the masterworks of Dali and Picasso in Spain was an experience that I will not forget.

After a day trip to Toledo, the former capital of Spain, on Tuesday with Billy, I had my first solar energy technology meeting on Wednesday with Tomas Diaz of the Asociacion de la Industria Fotovoltaica, a private non-profit organization that serves to lobby for and promote the growth of the Spanish photovoltaic industry.

The discussion with Mr. Diaz was very illuminating and was a fantastic chance to discuss the current state of the Spanish photovoltaic industry.

After another day of walking about in Madrid on Thursday, on Friday I visited Carlos del Canizo Nadal, the director of the Instituto de Energia Solar at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

The Institute’s building had solar panel window shades

and was surrounded by testbed projects such as a solar powered home and various types of solar concentrator panels.

Meeting with Professor Canizo was a great opportunity to learn about the history and accomplishments of the oldest photovoltaic research center in the world and to hear about its current areas of endeavor.

Later on Friday night, my time in Madrid came to a close as it had begun, at the protests in Puerta del Sol.

Unexpectedly, some of the marchers from Sunday evening had decided to camp out in the square on Sunday night and by Monday had begun setting up temporary shelters. On my walking tour that day, I pondered how things would develop.

A few television stations were curious as well, apparently.

By Thursday, thousands had gathered in support, and by Friday night, tens of thousands had gathered in the streets and squares surrounding Puerta del Sol despite the potential ban on political gatherings as a result of the elections on Sunday, May 22.

Symbolic of the generation’s breaking from their previous political apathy, the crowd took a moment of silence before midnight and then shouted out at the stroke of twelve.

Every few minutes, chants would ring out from the crowd expressing distaste for the current politicians and for the way in which the financial crisis has been handled.

I was honored to have the opportunity to observe and participate in such a gathering.

After a short night's sleep, I checked out of the hostel in Madrid and boarded a train to Barcelona.

Tomorrow I Leave

on the trip of a lifetime.

My bags are packed and my tickets are purchased. Some meetings are set up and some are yet to be set up. I will have to embrace this uncertainty; learn to live with it and thrive off it.

I have learned so much already just by preparing myself for this journey. I can only imagine how much I will learn by actually taking the trip.

My first stop is Madrid. Upon my arrival, I will be meeting up with Christina Clancey, an old friend from the Arizona State University Epsilon Beta chapter of Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical and computer engineering honors society, to obtain my introduction to the city and culture. By the end of the week, I will have visited the Solar Energy Institute at The Polytechnic University of Madrid and the headquarters of Asociación de la Industria Fotovoltaica. Hopefully, I will have picked up enough Spanish phrases to get me through the following week in Barcelona on my own.

Travel successes of the day include:

• my first international phone call
• the attachement of my trumpet case to the back of my backpack

Have a look:

And with that, I'm ready to go.