Daily Life In Barcelona

The weather here in Barcelona has brightened up, and it makes everyday much more enjoyable. I am definitely one of those people whose moods are largely affected by the weather, so when the sun is shining I am too. Since we have arrived, we have had some nice days, but mostly the weather has been overcast and chilly. However this week it has been sunny and WARM! Tuesday was such a spectacular day. After class got out at 11:30am I walked throughout downtown for a couple hours and ended up at Port Vell located at the end of La Rambla in the heart of all the tourist attractions. At Port Vell I put my backpack down, took off my jacket, and laid stomach-down on the wooden platform, soaking in the sun and reading my book “El Relato De Un Naufrago” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is a semi-autobiographical account of the journey of a seaman lost at sea after a shipwreck. I am reading it for my Practica Spanish class and am required to write an essay and answer some short-answer questions about it. I love the story and have a difficult time putting it down. However, reading it also proves to be discouraging because I constantly come across words that I do not know, which just repeatedly reminds me that I am never going to have a full grasp on the Spanish language, and that frustrates me so much! Whenever this happens I just remind myself that I have to look up words in English as well, because no one can ever really have a 100% grasp, understanding, and use of a language…I am convinced! Anyways, the weather is gorgeous and it makes me realize that I am truly going to miss Barcelona when I return to the U.S. Don’t get me wrong though, I am definitely thrilled to return home to sunny, relaxing Santa Barbara, my fabulous boyfriend and friends, my stressful but rewarding job, and my exhilarating studies. I absolutely love this city, but without a doubt miss America and our over-portioned meals, Taco Bell, Large sized coffees and fattening espresso drinks, cars, and population of men that KEEP TO THEMSELVES…for the most part. Anyone that thinks men in America are annoying and perverted will appreciate them so much more after visiting Barcelona. Some of my friends refuse to leave their apartments because they are so fed up with the cat-calls, comments, and whistling. I ignore it for the most part, and don’t really get bothered that much because I blend in more with brown hair, but it definitely is annoying having to hear it all the time. It’s really strange though because a LOT of people have asked me if I am French. My Spanish teacher thought I was French the first day of class and told me it is because I look it and because Nicole is a French name (which I never knew). The whole point of that rambling was to say that I don’t get bothered as much as some of the other people in the program. One of my Spanish teachers, the Grammar teacher, is hardcore Catalan. Basically this means that she strictly follows the “Spanish way” of time, meaning that she is always at LEAST 15 minutes late for class. In Barcelona people are granted a 15 minute gap to get where they need to be. For example, if you tell someone you will meet them at 7pm you really shouldn’t expect them to be there until 7:15pm at the earliest. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she teaches class that begins at 8:30am, so on these days I really don’t have to leave my apartment until 8:30am if I want to be “on-time.” I am frequently disappointed when I leave even 5 minutes earlier than that because I end up waiting in class until she casually arrives at 10 till 9am. It is an interesting concept that is difficult for me to understand- why don’t they just say that class starts at 8:45am? I guess that would mean they wouldn’t get there until 9am. Whatever, it is just weird  For my Practica class I am each student is required to give a 10 minute presentation about whatever they want, just as long as it is in Spanish. People that have gone have talked about their countries (Mexico, Brazil, Ireland were a few). I still have not decided what I want to do mine on, but I have narrowed the topic down to one of two topics- Arizona or the ear. I don’t want to talk about the U.S., especially right now when the dollar is so low and there is so much hype about the presidential candidates, so I figure I can either talk about the ear and how we hear, or talk about Arizona (tourist facts, etc…). I’ll let you guys know how it ends up going. One of my regrets about my decision to study here is that I didn’t stay with a host family. There are many advantages and disadvantages about staying with host families, and frankly I was terrified to stay with a host family when I began researching study abroad programs (I still am), but I feel I really would have learned the language faster, better, more efficiently, and more colloquially if I was forced to speak it as frequently as I would have had I been staying with a host family. If you really want to learn the language, you must stay with a family, there is no doubt about it. It’s just a bummer though because it really is a toss up- you can get placed in a great house with an exceptional family, you can get placed in a house that affords a long metro ride to school everyday, or you can get placed in a great location with a not-so-great family. This is the reason I chose to stay in a student apartment, however I regret not sucking it up and staying with a family because my language and cultural experience would have been enhanced immensely. My finals are rapidly approaching, as is my departure date, which makes me nervous! I have been spending more time trying to master things we are learning in class, but it proves to be difficult because we are learning such advanced and confusing material. Deciding to spend time studying rather than time outside enjoying the gorgeous weather is rough, but it is necessary to master the material. The next few weekends are going to be busy with travel, so I must make the most of my weekdays here!