despues dos semanas

Well two weeks in Barcelona and I haven’t quite managed to update this blog. Initially it seemed like staying in touch this way was a good idea, but now it’s daunting and difficult to explain these past two weeks to whomever is reading this. Instead of giving you the rundown of the first two weeks, I’ll let you guess that I came here, moved in with a family, started intensive Spanish classes, blah blah, and each day dealt with this culture a little bit better. Nevertheless, I spend every waking hour wondering how I got here and why everything works the way it does here. I thought studying in Western Europe was the path of least resistance when it came to studying abroad, but either a) I’m naïve to the number of differences between western Europe and US, or b) I’m less able to adapt to new situations than I thought. I will organize my thoughts regarding this strange city by providing a list of the things that I think are completely bizarre/ entertaining/ wonderful in this city.

First, here´s a picture of the city taken from the top of Sagrada Familia, a church designed by Gaudi that is still under construction.

1. For the first four days I was here, I was completely convinced that street signs do not exist. On the fifth day, a Spanish student named Elle who is paid to hang out with American students pointed out to me that the names of streets are located on little plaque about the size of a 8.5x11 piece of paper on the side of the building on the corner. Ultimately drivers in cars on the street would never be able to see a street sign. Furthermore, if the building happens to be rounded where the corner should be, or has windows, or deco, there simply won’t be a street sign. All streets run diagonally and random and I thank God every day that I will never have to use a motorized vehicle in this city.

2. There is a phenomenon of all things westernized and Americanized that has materialized in “Corte Ingles.” Imagine a beautiful old building in Barri Gotic (the Gothic Neighborhood/ Old Town) that is now a department store. But not just any department store. Imagine five Super Wallmarts stacked on top of each other in the middle of a Gothic Neighborhood. This place is insane. Five floors of mass chaos. I bet there are literally thousands of people in Corte Ingles at one time, right around 8:00 pm (rush hour) any given evening. You could live in Corte Ingles for your entire life and never be without a material object that you desire. There is a supermarket, a pharmacy, a post office, 3 restaurants, all the clothes you could ever need, a locksmith, a Hallmark, the equivalent of an OfficeMax and a BestBuy… and that’s just the part I’ve seen, floors 1 and 2. And you’ll pay too much also… a tube of toothpaste costs 5 euro, and you have to multiply that by 1.30 to figure out how much that is in American dollars. This place is by far the worst aspect of Spanish culture.

3. Every Spanish celebrity is a futbol player. When FC Barcelona is playing, every person from in Barcelona acts the equivalent of what I imagine my family would act if the Cubs were in the World Series. And from what I understand, when FC Barca beats FC Madrid, if you’re not partying and out in the streets you’re either senile or paralyzed… or foreign. A girl from my program touched Ronaldihno at a club on Sunday and my Spanish teacher said “she would pay a million dollars to touch him.” Creepy.

4. Spaniards are the laziest people I have ever encountered. Shops open at 10:00 or 10:30, if they feel like it, and promptly close again at 1:30 pm for siesta. Then they might open again around 3:00-5:00, but you can’t count on it. Restaurants serve lunch from 2-4 and dinner from 8-10 and if you want to eat when normal people it, you’re out of luck… only McDonald’s serves food throughout the entire day. On Saturdays about 60% of stores/restaurants are open, and on Sundays virtually nothing exists except sleeping and walking. I was out exploring last Sunday and it took me and a friend 45 minutes to find a place that was open and serving lunch. My host mom sleeps until noon and then takes a nap a few hours later, and from what I heard that’s pretty typical across the board for Sunday with all the host families of kids in the program.

5. If you suggest in public that Catalan is a useless language, you will get punched in the face. The region of Catalonia (Barcelona and the surrounding area) truly believes that they are not Spanish, they shouldn’t be associated with Spain, and their cultural identity is fierce. There is virtually no diversity (completely bizarre for a city!) aside from twenty-somethings studying abroad, and if you go to a café and ask for something in Castellano (standard Spanish) there’s a chance you will get blown off. I can only compare this to French Canadians trying to form their own country, and experiencing such intense nationalism and pride is sort of cool, but they also have a way of being very snooty and obnoxious about it. Someone suggested one of our professors was Spanish and he said “I’m certainly NOT Spanish, I was born in Barcelona, not Madrid, I’m Catalan, mi Dios (my God)” My host mom is French and she thinks Catalan is ridiculous, but if she said that to her friends she would be in trouble. (but being French she believes that the only city worth living in is Paris, so she’s got her own arrogance going on)

6. Order water at a restaurant and it’s $2.50. Order a latte (café con leche) it’s $1.50. Order a glass of wine (and here they fill up the glasses, no wasting time with half a glass) and it will cost you $1.00. So basically you could have two and a half full glasses of wine for the same it will cost you for some water.


Ok, I got a little caught up with expressing the strangeness of Spain. I will stop now, but first I’ll throw in some more pictures…



My bedroom:

I´m getting kicked out of the computer room, but I´ll add more later!