The First Four Weeks

Yesterday marked the end of my fourth week in Barcelona, so I put together a post of my highs and lows, favorites and firsts of my time here so far.

First time...
• living in a city
• traveling by public transportation on my own
• eating paella, "la mona" (chocolate cake for Easter), and crema Catalana (a dessert kind of like vanilla pudding)
• swimming in the Mediterranean
• running an international road race with 60,000 other people

On top of the World (aka Montserrat)

Best View:
• This is definitely a tough one. The view of the entire city with the sea in the distance from Parc Guell was hard to beat.
• The 360˚ view from the top of Montserrat was phenomenal. In one direction, I could see the snow-capped Pyrannes all the way on the French border and in the other direction, I could see the sea. Absolutely amazing.

Best Field Trip:
• Our class trip to Sant Pere de Rodes and the Salvador Dalí museum in Northern Catalunia was fantastic. The views from the monestery were absolutely gorgeous and the art at the Dalí museum blew my mind. I've really enjoyed all of our Friday trips, but this one is my favorite so far.
• My trip to Ibiza during Easter weekend was awesome too. Our hotel had a little porch in the sun overlooking the Mediterranean and it was warm and sunny every day during our stay.

Best Meal:
• The best tasting meal was definitely the paella that Amparo made for lunch today.
• But the most fun meal was definitely the night Amparo, Alicia, and I made pizza from scratch.
• And I have to mention the lunch we had at the Sant Pere monastery on our excursion last week in Northern Catalunia. We had three courses of amazing food, while overlooking breathtaking cliffs that dropped off to the Mediterranean sea.

Best Run:
• Getting lost near the port and then happening upon a view of the entire city from the top of Montjuic.

Most Touristy:
• Taking pictures of ourselves on the lion statues at the end of Las Ramblas.
• Eating at an outdoor restaurant near Plaza Catalunya where the only language was English.

Best Nighttime Adventure:
• Going out on a Thursday night with a group of French students visiting for the week. We met this group of 6 University of Toulouse students on Wednesday afternoon outside UB and arranged to go out with them the following night. My friend Grace and I ended up spending 4 hours roaming the streets, getting some ice cream, exploring the city, laughing, learning a little French, and making other European friends. It was an awesome night and it inspired us to try to make more international friends!

Best Photo:
Definitely the photo of Eve and me in a two-person T-shirt we found in Ibiza haha.

Favorite Class:
• Conversation class. The professor is this quirky, old woman. She has spiked orange hair and wears animal print leggings most days. We talk about all kinds of things that are relavent to our lives in the city and the different customs here. I've never taken a class that has such a direct influence on my quality of life by improving my conversational Spanish skills.
• I never thought I would say this, but grammar class is a close second. The professor has wonderful energy and, like conversation, the material has a direct impact on my day-to-day life.

Most Embarrassing Moments:
• Spending ten minutes trying to unlock the front door of my apartment building on my first day in Barcelona. Turns out, Rocafort 118 and Rocafort 120 have very similar front doors, and my key wasn't working because it wasn't my building!
• Arriving 45 minutes late to a group dinner after riding the metro two stops in the wrong direction with my friend Grace. Oops.

Things I Miss Most About Home:
• Tap water! I never realized how much water I drink until now. Amparo always has a stash of big bottles of water, but I feel weird that I drink so much.
• Big dogs. People here only have small ones, maybe because it's a city.
• Hamburgers on a bun.

Biggest Challenges:
• Cashiers, waiters, people on the street immediately start speaking to me in English, which has been frustrating. I respond in Spanish, they keep speaking in English and we generally continue conversing this way.
• Many signs in store windows and such are in Catalan, which is kind of like a hybrid of Spanish and French, which crazy accents and lots of Xs in the words.

My AWESOME host mom, Amparo, in the kitchen

Biggest Accomplishments:
• Watching (and mostly understanding!) game shows, cooking shows, movies, and the news in Spanish.
• Making our flight on the way to Ibiza, an accomplishment that involved cutting to the front of several lines and running through the airport barefoot.
• Using the subjunctive mood properly in a conversational sentence for the first time last week.
• Planning and executing a weekend trip to Ibiza with four friends.


Goals for the Rest of the Term:
1. Make more Spanish friends! Which depends on....
2. ... have more confidence when speaking Spanish.
3. Go hiking in the mountains outside the city.