(written at 11:30pm Spain time on 1/26/11, but due to bad internet connection, not posted until now)
Hola familia y amigos! I am now nearing the end of my third full day in Barcelona. It is so beautiful here, and despite the lack of sleep and occasional moments of homesickness and culture shock, I am loving the city thus far.
Everything here is so interesting and beautiful! You walk around and cannot help gaping at everything. My favorite building thus far is a Gaudi one.The architecture is based on a story about San Jordi (Saint George), who slayed a dragon and saved a kingdom. I heard the story in Spanish today and understood it completely, which is a good sign!
My Spanish skills have definitely been put to the test thus far. I can mostly understand people when they talk to me (unless they talk in Catalan, which is a totally different story) but my speaking skills are not quite where I want them to be. I think it's mostly a confidence thing because I can form sentences perfectly in my head, but when I'm put on the spot I stammer and can't remember. That will get better with time and practice.
My apartment is great, I just moved in this morning. I have one other American roommate, her name is Caroline and she is from Nashville. We're both Creative writing majors, which is cool, and we've been getting along great. I have two other roommates: Paula from Argentina and Cristina, who is from about two hours from here! Paula is getting her Masters in English right now, which is great because she can help with my Spanish and I can help with her English. Cristina's family lives under 2 hours from here so she goes home most weekends, but during the week she is taking classes at University of Barcelona.
The apartment is beautiful. We all have our own rooms, which is really nice. My room is huge compared to what I was expecting it to look like! My favorite part is the huge windowed door that goes out to a balcony!
The kitchen is tiny, which is the only major downside. It's tough to fit two people in there at once. We have a little stove top and a microwave. The washing machine is also in the kitchen (no dryer! The Spanish are very concerned with conserving energy and most people don't have dryers. We have a clothesline outside our dining room where we can dry clothes). There are two bathrooms so I only have to share with one person, which is really convenient.
Also convenient is the location. It's about at 20 minute walk or 5 minute bus ride from the Arcadia center where I have most of my classes. We have a shop right across the street that sells bread. One one side of us is an Italian restaurant, so if I ever get a pizza craving, I'm all set! On the other side of us is a store where they sell the basic necessities (milk, snacks, toiletries, etc). There is a giant supermarket just a block away that has really good prices (I got a ton of food for only 17 euros). There is also a shop that sells fresh fruit and veggies for insanely cheap down the street.
Our landlady is very nice, too. She works a couple blocks away. She doesn't speak any English but she gave Caroline and me a tour of the neighborhood in all Spanish and was very patient with our terrible grammar when we asked questions or made comments. (Sidenote: her phone went off at one point and she has a Jason Mraz song as her ringtone. I told her we were going to get along very well!)
Orientation has mostly consisted of information sessions and tours of the sites as well as practical tours to show us where the best places to eat and shop were near school. Today we went on a tour focused on the architecture of Barcelona followed by churros and hot chocolate (the hot chocolate here is literally melted baking chocolate. Delicious). Tomorrow we are off on a bus-top tour, weather permitting. It is supposed to rain, but we're hoping it holds off until later in the day.
There is still so much to write but I really need to get some sleep, it's going to be another long day tomorrow and I've slept maybe 10 hours in the last 3 nights combined!
Hasta luego. Espero que todo esta bien en los estados! (I'm too lazy to put in accent marks right now, forgive me!)
Nicki
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