Best Place in the World

Honestly, I cannot express how much I absolutely love it here. It is like nothing I've ever experienced in the United States. I know I haven't posted in a while (because I've been so busy) so I'll try to catch up for my parents, aunts, uncles, etc. The first night was orientation, and Morgan (my friend from UW) and I stayed in the same hotel room with a girl from Colorado University, Boulder, Jordan. She's awesome and is in our "GA group" (or Guardian Angel group, which is 7 study abroad students that are paired up with a local university student).

Our first night, we were so jet-lagged and tired that I passed out within 5 minutes of returning to my hotel room, so me, Morgan, and Jordan all stayed in (as did most of the program), but we did have a couple beers (Estrellas, which is brewed in Barcelona) with a few of the guardian angels who go to school here.

The second night was club night (as is EVERY single night here except for Sundays and Tuesdays). Honestly, this culture is crazy! Monday night is "pub night" and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, EVERYONE goes to the bars and then to a club until 6am. Also, being an American girl isn't bad, as we've gotten into every club for free and have had to pay for no drinks (you typically get a VIP bracelet which not only gets you into the club but also gets you free drinks all night, which is very nice considering cover for the clubs is usually 30 euro and drinks are 17 euro a piece).

Our program has a promoter within it, so all 140 study abroad students all go to the same bar and club every night, which while it's completely fun for the first week, we're all hoping to branch out from "Kike's clubs" within the following weeks.

The clubs here are amazing. We've been to Otto Zutz, Opium Mar, and one other club since we've been here, and it's nothing like I've ever seen in the United States.

I'm living in the residencias which are AMAZING. I have my own room, own bathroom, huge closet, and a flat screen TV mounted on my wall. I share the floor with 8 other students (most of which are from UW, and all of which are study abroad students). I went into this thinking that at least half of my floor would be local Spanish students, but most of the college students in Barcelona live with their families (it's part of their culture) so we don't have any local students. There are definitely positive and negative sides to this, but by far, it's been mostly positive. I know one concern people who stay in residencias have is that they won't be immersed into the culture enough. Let me tell you, I feel like I have been plenty immersed into the culture. In Barcelona, their first language is Catalan, which is spoken by more people, surprisingly, than even Dutch. It is not a dialect (they'll get really offended if you call it that), but actually a completely different language similar to a combination of Spanish, French, and Latin. The way I explain it, I understand about every third word when Spaniards speak Spanish to me, and about every tenth word when they speak Catalan. It is a little similar but also very different. The 9 of us share a kitchen lounge which is also very nice, has a 10 person table and a giant flat screen TV. Also, we have a cleaning service every day for our kitchen and once a week for each of our rooms, so they change our sheets and towels and clean our rooms every week (my room is 10X cleaner than it has ever been in the states). That is especially nice since laundry is super expensive, 3 euro to wash and 3 to dry (converted to US dollars, that's more than $6 per load).

Although everyone here (besides those who are very old) speaks Spanish as well as Catalan, they will sometimes pretend to not speak Spanish. This is because the Catalan people have been trying to get independence from Spain for quite some time and form their own country so they don't like being grouped in with the rest of Spain (I compare it to the Canada vs. US). Therefore, communicating can sometimes be VERY hard. I never expect anyone to speak English to me, after all we are in Spain, but the chance of me actually understanding when people speak to me in Catalan are very slim. Hopefully, I'll pick more up (especially from our guardian angel, Roman) while I'm here.

What have I been doing here? So far it's just been a lot of going out. Our classes don't start until Monday, and Barcelona has a huge going out culture so we've been doing a lot of that. We were joking that we'll probably return to the US with 10 hours maximum sleep for the whole 4 months (obviously an exaggeration) but really, the young people of Barcelona don't sleep. As far as my class schedule, it got completely messed up, but thankfully for us, classes are really easy to switch, so I think all of my classes should be able to transfer. I've definitely been really close friends with my guidance counselor at UW lately to say the least.

Other than that, although we haven't had much free time, we've really been trying to explore the city. We went to Segrada Familia yesterday and on a bus tour of Barcelona and then we went to an absolutely amazing park in the center of the city today, which is by ESCI (where half of our classes are) and is amazing to run in. We're also learning how to use the metro (or subway) which is hugely popular in Spain. Everyone takes it, and it is so cheap.

Although everyone has warned me 94856 times about pick-pocketing, it is a little overrated. I haven't heard or seen anyone be pick-pocketed unless they're being completely ridiculous. Also, they don't allow any kind of weapons here (including guns or knives) so they don't have the big crime like we do in the states, it is only petty crime.

Other than that, I am beyond excited to start my intensive Spanish course (so I'll feel more confident using verb tenses, etc) and the rest of my classes on Monday. Even though I surprisingly do remember a lot of my Spanish from high school and first semester college, I still feel a little like a preschooler when I try to speak it, or I rehearse what I'm going to say in my head for so long and say it perfectly, and then whoever I am speaking to thinks I'm local and starts speaking very fast Spanish to me and, once again, I revert back to only understanding every third word or so. Nonetheless, I feel like in these 3 days, I've used so much Spanish, whether it be in the taxis, the tapas bars, or learning how to flamenco in the clubs, that by the end of this, I will have no problem understanding or speaking Spanish at all.

As far as homesickness, I haven't really felt any at all (although I'm not really the homesick type of girl) although I do have times when I feel so overwhelmed and frustrated that communication is so difficult that I'll go back to the residencia and listen to "Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band (embarrassed) or another American song and take a nap to relax. I absolutely love that they take naps here between 6pm and 10pm. It perfectly adapts to my sleep schedule =) The clubs also play mostly American songs, which I was very surprised about. They even play old school 90s songs from our junior high dance days, which if you know me, is totally my thing.

Other than that, I would say my main takeaways from these past few days have been:

1. Spanish men are a little creepy, compared to American culture, although they don't mean to be. Being a little rude (in relation to American culture) is sometimes necessary.
2. Young people go out 5 out of 7 nights of the week...until 6am. Not exaggerating. This city is crazy.
3. If you're not acting like an obvious, oblivious foreigner, pick-pocketers won't steal from you. They're not aggressive, they just look for opportunity. 
4. Americans (especially girls) who are studying abroad in Barcelona get VIP treatment at every club through the promoters that promote all the different clubs. Although all the bars here make most people pay cover, not only have I not had to wait in a line or pay cover anywhere, I don't pay for anything once I get in, either, as with most of the girls in our program.
5. Yes, I live in a residencia, and yes, I feel completely "immersed" in the culture. Many of my friends live in homestays in the program, and although a couple of them like their families, most do not. Most of the families don't speak any English at all and aren't overly welcoming, and most of my friends in homestays are not only feeling completely overwhelmed from the language barrier, but also feel left out and isolated (as they are located all over the city). Getting home is also dangerous, since they have to take the metro home by themselves or attempt the impossible feat of explaining to a taxi cab driver where they live (literally impossible unless you're fluent AND memorized the Barcelona map). Unlike Chicago taxi drivers, you can't just tell a taxi the address of where you're going. Most of the time, they have no idea where it is, and you also have to explain to them how to get there. 

All in all, though, I love it here. I've definitely had my culture shock moments (like in Corte Ingles...which I'll explain better in the next post probably) but I'm trying and I'm loving it.