Incios en la ciudad de Barcelona

Hola friends and family,

Because I am not so great at keeping up with everyone and because it may take me awhile to get the time change down, I have decided the best way to keep in contact to share my experiences and travels abroad is with a blog. While blogs and I have a rocky history (thank you very much Vanderbilt), I feel that keeping one for personal use will not only be beneficial for me, but for everyone back home as well. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up writing at least every other day in order to try to document, share, and ultimately capture the essence of Barcelona.

As you can know, getting settled into a new place can be quite stressful, crazy, and daunting. Moving to a new place where you don't know the language, the people, or the culture, is even more challenging. I would be lying if I said I didn't have multiple freak-outs on the plane ride over. Some thoughts included "Dear god, am I actually doing this?" to "The Atlantic really isnt that big, you not that far away from home" to actually shake-inducing panic. After I realized that I couldn't actually do anything about my situation, it was alot easier to cope with the anticipation and excitement. Ironic that when you surrender control you most often find peace. I consider this my first deep existential thought from abroad lol.

To tell the truth, Barcelona seems a city almost visceral, something more than I can ever put into words. I know that sounds cliche, but I truly was not expecting the self-confidence, magic, and charm that seems to pulsate from the lights, crowds, and streets of la ciudad. If I had to describe the city in one word is would be alive, viva. Just for the few days I have been here, I can say with confidence everything seems to vibrate and thrive with an inexhaustible energy. The pace of the metro (the subway which take you everywhere), the beat of the nightlife (ubiquitous and amazing), and the light of La Rambla (the world famous boulevard) defiantly takes some getting used to. More than anything I am amazed that whichever part of the city I find myself in is more beautiful and rustic than the next. All back roads and winding alleyways are characterized by hanging old mansions, and narrow local bars each more homey and unique than the next. So far I have only scraped the surface of the history, culture, and people of Barcelona, but I can't wait to keep ingesting the city little by little everyday (yes, and eating it's food in ridiculous amounts). Being the capital of Catlunya had endowed Barcelona with a individualistic mystic. I constantly find myself trying to figure out a combination of Spanish-Catalan which perpetuates all advertisements, directions, and menus. It is both challenging and refreshing. As you may know, the city is home of avant-garde individuals who defined the Barcelona through architecture and art (like Antonio Guadi and Joan Miro). In addition to its old-school charisma, Barcelona represents a progressive commercial center which continues to amaze me everyday. I figure there is so much to do and see I have to just be content with doing a little more everyday. To take in everthing at once would be overwhelming and irrational. Can you be in a relationship with a place? I feel like each day, I grow to love the city as I would a person.

So far, my program CIEE has done a great job at introducing all the student to Barcelona. They provided us all with Guardian Angels, aka Spanish students (who speak english too) who take us around the city the first few days. It was a great way to meet new people. While there are some Vanderbilt students here, I find myself surrounded most of the time by wonderful people from Tufts, Elon, Northeastern; etc. There are a ton of students here from Boston and the Eastern coast especially. I love that this opportunity is providing me the chance to meet so many new faces!

As many of you may remember, I was not exactly please to find out that I was staying in a homestay, with a family, rather than living in a dorm. However, my experience with my homestay family has been one of the best parts about being abroad so far, and I hope that it continues to be one of my favorite aspects about living in Barcelona. I live with two women, Inma, a older woman in her late forties (though you would never know it, she is very stylish) and her daughter Innes, who is 18. Both are vegetarians, amazing cooks (I am going to get quite fat from everything they feed me), bohemian hippies (my kind of people), and over all the sweetest, more welcoming, genuine people I have meet in Spain. I feel blessed CIEE placed me with them. When we had to meet our families at our hotel, I was shaking from fear of what was to come (A memorable Guatemala futbol game comes to mind, and dancing till 3 am-anyone??). I was so nervous that when they first picked me up, I called them both the wrong names which they thought was hilarious. Overall, their apartment/flat is painted in bright neon colors and consists of a kitchen, bathroom, living room and 2 bedrooms. It is tiny but cute and quaint, and right next to the paral-lel metro stop. As I said, Innes and Inma consistently amaze me with their hospitality, welcome, and flexibility. For example, tonight Inma was unable to make dinner for me, but she not only baked  fresh bread just for me (yes, homemade bread everyday) but left a complete dinner of shrimp and chickpeas, baked peppers, salad, bread and cheese, coffee, and dessert on the table for me with a note telling me what to heat up and listing what everything was. She even went out and bought peanut butter, cereal, Greek yogurt and chocolate! I found these waiting in the refrigerator when I came home today. Innes, her daughter is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is rather shy but really, really intelligent and beautiful. Yesterday was something called las robejas in Spain (the annual sales that only take place twice a year), and we compared clothes when we got back from shopping-ya girl bonding! She also speaks some English, which had helped when I totally blank on my Spanish vocab (which is almost every other sentence). Random things about my home and family: they have a dog Sooki and a cat Ramón. Innes painted blue flowers in my room. The back window of the apartment looks out over all other balconies (with everyone's laundry hanging outside it looks like a patchwork quilt of all clothes and patterns). and best part yet: There is hot water in the shower!! YAY!!!!!

My classes at the University of Pompeu Fabra don't start till Monday, and this past week has been kinda like a vacation, dedicated to exploring Barcelona bit my bit. I have visited Parc Guell (a free city park designed by Gaudi), seen the Sagrada Familia (the most GORGEOUS church in Barcelona, still being built according to Gaudi's divine master plan), and celebrated Día de los Reyes Magos (the celebration of the three kings that came to Jesus's birth. They are kind of like Santa Claus in the United States: all of the children believe that they come to their houses the night of the 5th and deliver presents to them). All so far has been memorias inolvidables (unforgettable). There are too many new experiences I have had in the past week to all write down here so to sum up I with a quick list of best moments so far:

1. Receiving my silver gem necklace from Innes, as a present for Día de los Reyes Magos. I almost cried I was so touched. Later, eating the cake typically shared by Spanish families with Innes and Inma (I forgot its name, but has a figurine in the center somewhere, similiar to the kings cake of mardi gras).
2. Waiting in front of the store Zara at 10 a.m. with my friend Shaun, along with 50 other Spaniards, before the opening of the doors for las rebajas. We later went on to do some of the most intense shopping I have ever experienced. When there is a sale in Spain, Europeans put America's black Friday to shame.
3. Finding a bar called Bar Paris at 2 a.m. and trying real Spanish tapas for the first time. Most notable tapas were a dish called Pulpo gallego (pot-cooked octopus). Maybe even more worrisome was finding out it was delicious, tentacles still attached nonetheless. The owner of the bar later performed for us magic trick throughout the night. Talk about entertainment.
4. Having cappuccinos and croissants near a mirador (lookout) called Tibidabo. While the amusement part at the top of the mirador was closed, the restaurant was offered a complete view of the city spread out below. With the sky and ocean fusing blue into blue, it was breathtaking.
5. Seeing the city lights put up in the city especially for Christmas. There is nothing more magical than a fast-paced night streamlined with neon and aglow with florescents.
6.  Buying a real, leather European motorcycle jacket. My one splurge up till now, many more to come for sure.
7. Practicing the traditional greeting of two kisses on the check with las amigas, Shaun and Grace.
8. Waking up to fresh baking bread in the apartment; I feel like I am living in a bakery-never a bad thing.
9. Visiting Gaudi's house in Parc Guell. The man was a genius, and master of modernista. He is kinda my new obsession.
10. Eating mango sorbet gelato and strolling along the beachfront Sant Sebastiá. Later, Shaun and I found a hole in the wall place called La Casita, where we able to dine like kings for merely 5 euro. A bargain lunch I must say, made even better by having a picnic in a nearby park.

Alright well that is all I can think to type for the (almost) first week in Barcelona! While I am sure there is so so much I am missing, I will work to try and keep up my thoughts as much as possible. I miss everyone MUCHO, and hopefully will talk to y'all soon!