Hola! This is my first entry from Barcelona, Spain J I’ve been so busy getting to know the city and settling in, but I would like to write a breakdown of my first couple days in Europe! A lot has gone on so it may be pretty long!

I left for my trip Monday, May 25 and my flight left JFK at 6:25 pm, landing in Barcelona around 8:45 am. I was pretty lucky to be able to find a direct flight right into Barcelona. Getting to the airport, I could tell my Mom was getting more and more nervous sending me off to a foreign country for 6 weeks. I’ve never been so far away from home for so long by myself. I was sad to leave my Mom especially because she started to get teary eyed! But I was all set with my luggage and ready to go, I will miss my family a lot though I wish they could all experience this with me! I am so lucky to have my parents work so hard in order for me to go on this trip and be able to study in Spain for 6 weeks which is a chance of a lifetime. I saw a group of kids at the airport who looked as if they were in my program, but I didn’t get the chance to ask until I was actually in Barcelona. The flight was not bad at all, just a quick 8 hours and I got probably a total of 4 hours of sleep. When I got there I was happy to find a couple more girls in my position to find the area we were supposed to be in. Then my best friend, Erin, who is staying with me arrived a couple hours later while we were waiting and I was so happy to see her! IN SPAIN!

We finally got to our homestay, which is a cute little apartment building outside the central city part of Barcelona. We were expecting an actual house, but it looks more like a flat. Our homestay mother is 63 years old and she does not speak one word of English! She greeted us at the door and showed us around our new little home. We both have our own room on one end of the apartment and she has her own bathroom and room on the other side. The living room is so nicely decorated and the kitchen is very tiny! We unpacked our stuff in our huge closets she gave us and into our desks which are nice as well. Then, she showed us how to get to the metro station from our apartment and how to buy a ticket then we were on our way to the city. I cannot tell you guys how lost we got on our first trip to the city! For almost 2 hours we were looking all over for our program building which we needed to be at the next morning for orientation. There are no street signs here and so many streets! The metro system is not too hard to understand, but there are a lot of lines and directions to go so thank god for maps! Finally we gave up, got a drink and headed home because we were so exhausted!

The next day we had an hour and a half orientation where we got some info on the city and what to look out for. Afterward, we met some girls in our class and went out for lunch in Las Ramblas which is the main street in the city and it is so pretty to walk through! Also filled with many interesting people, some dressed in costumes that don’t move until you put money in their jar! Our program also had a welcome party for us at a really nice hotel so we could eat a little and mingle and meet some new people. It was definitely an adventure navigating through the city the first couple days. I just like to follow the group because I’m so bad with directions! Tuesday was also the first night we went out. It was a lot of fun and we also met some more people in our program!

Thursday and Friday we only had one language class each day, which is a beginner level Spanish class, and our teacher seems awesome. She is very funny and it does not seem like it is going to be that hard. I haven’t been here a week yet and I already feel that my Spanish is getting better! Having dinner with our senora, Francisca, is tough because there is so many things we would like to ask, but we forget how to say a lot of things! It’s a lot like playing charades and pointing to everything, but she is great at trying to understand us and she likes to talk a lot! Communicating with her is going to be a so helpful when trying to learn the language and culture, so I am very happy with my decision to stay in a home of a local Barcelonian. Francisca has 2 sons that are 25 and 26 and do not live very close, but she says they visit her sometimes. She has been having American students living with her for years now! I can’t believe she hasn’t picked up any English, but I told her that by July I will be able to speak better Spanish. Also, I think me and Erin are the first girls she’s ever had! She is always so surprised when everything she has cooked isn’t finished at dinner! She can’t believe how little we eat, even though I think I can eat a lot of food. She also always has dessert which is very normal in Europe. She is a great cook and I’ve liked everything she’s made for us so far. She has cereal and fruit for us in the morning, we are on our own for lunch, and we always have dinner together, just the 3 of us, our nuestra familia J

Thursday we also went to the local supermarcado right down the street from our apartment. This was experience considering we couldn’t read anything on the labels! Even though our madre has most of our food for us, we wanted to get a couple things for ourselves because she is letting us have some room in the refrigerator. We picked up some yogurt, fruit, and bread for toast in the morning. The eating schedule is very different over here. They eat much smaller portioned breakfasts and lunches and usually a big dinner. They also have shops in town and everywhere around the city with little meals called tapas, which are similar to appetizers in the US and they have them for midday snacks sometimes. I’ve enjoyed many tapas so far including bread with tomato, fried asparagus, grilled onions and artichokes, and mixed grilled veggies. Then dinner is usually big with a starter, main meal, and dessert or coffee afterward. Over here, they eat dinner much later, around 8:30-10pm and they also take their time while eating and enjoying the company of family or friends who they are with, which I like a lot instead of always eating on the go at home.

Friday after class we had a tour called “Be a Gourmet in Barcelona” where our tour guide took us all around the city and showed us famous restaurants, good places to eat, local markets, and a little bit of history of food in Barcelona. I learned they invented the lollipop and the company Dannon was discovered here! We had a tiny sound system to carry around with us and earphones in so we could hear the tour guide, I felt like such an American tourist! After that, we also had a Sunset sea cruise where we took a boat ride for about an hour and a half around the harbor. The weather wasn’t that great, but it was definitely fun to be on the water and see the sights.

Friday night we stayed in and I slept for almost 14 hours! I don’t remember the last time I slept that long, I guess I really needed to catch up to the time change. Saturday we headed to the beach for the first time which was awesome, very pretty and I can’t believe I can say I’ve dipped my toes in the Mediterranean Sea! While down by the beach, we saw 2 men walking around completely naked, which was definitely very surprising! Apparently in Barcelona it’s legal to be naked on the streets and topless on the beaches, which may take some getting used to! Saturday was a vey fun night we got to go out to a couple different restaurants, bars, and clubs. We didn’t get home until almost 6 in the morning! The metro was packed with people going home from going out and I couldn’t believe it. At home the bars close at 2 a.m. and here that’s when the party gets started!

Tonight, which is Sunday, me and Erin walked around the opposite part of town near our homestay which we haven’t ventured to before.  It is actually a very cute neighborhood with lots of stores and little restaurants and small parks for kids to go to. We figured out a route so we can go on runs through this part of the city and I think it will be fun to run in such a pretty city. We also met our R.A. for the first time along with a bunch of other girls living in homestays. This was a good way to meet people because we’re all so spread out can’t really go out with each other at night because we’re all at different metro stops. We all went out to eat along Las Ramblas, it was a lot of fun and I had my first Paella dish which was very good!

I have my first week of classes starting tomorrow at 9 a.m. so I need to sleep it is getting late here! I have a lot of pictures to share in the next entry I do so I’ll try and update soon!

Adios,

Ali

Location: Barcelona, Spain