It’s been one week since I arrived in Barcelona. Since then, I’ve tried to see as much of the city as I possibly can. I’m beginning to realize that even though a month sounds like a long time, I’ll have to leave without seeing a lot of things, and this is probably the only time I’ll be here.

Nighttime near the Ciutadella/Vila Olympica region

I’m happy to report that my jet lag is mostly gone by now, I don’t get lost nearly as much (I found my internship today without getting lost at all!), and I’m feeling more confident and comfortable about exploring and doing everyday things like shopping. My roommates are all really friendly and I like hanging out with them.

The view from my apartment

So far, I’ve been to the Gothic Quarter, Passeig de Gracia, Las Ramblas, Plaza Real, Plaza Catalunya, Urquinaona, the magic fountain, Sagrada Familia, the Arc de Triomf, and the Picasso museum. I’ve gone shopping (it’s rebajas, or sales, season!) and taken a Catalan cooking class with some of the other interns.

Basilica de Sagrada Familia. Ignore the construction in the background.

The Arc de Triomf (arch of triumph), which I found by accident because I was lost

Plaza Real, where my roommates took me to dinner my first night

Oh yeah, and there’s this internship thing I do every day between exploring the city.

Barcelona is an interesting city. It has a rich, multicultural history and is very proud. Catalan (which is like a combination of French and Spanish) is widely spoken here, to the point where a lot of the signs are in Catalan. Some of the people here identify so strongly with their Catalan heritage that they consider themselves more Catalonian than Spanish.

Here are a few things I’ve noticed about Barcelona/Spain that are different from the US:

– siestas. Things tend to be pretty quiet in the afternoon. The clinic I work at isn’t open between 1:30 and 3, which isn’t unusual for businesses here. People use the afternoons to nap, relax, and eat lunch. I like this concept because it gives people time to recharge for a while before getting back to work Because people rest in the afternoon, they tend to work and stay up later.

– eating. People rarely eat on the go. You don’t see people sipping lattes on their way to work or eating sandwiches on the Metro. As far as I know, there’s only one drive-thru in the entire city. Food is meant to be savored while sitting down.

Wouldn’t you want to savor this paella?

– buildings. My apartment is labeled as being on the third floor, but it’s technically the fifth. I still don’t quite understand how the numbering here works.

– what is considered appropriate. While I was shopping the other day, I noticed that stores don’t censor out swear words in songs. (These were stores geared toward teens and women, though; a kids’ store might be different.) People also tend to be more relaxed about nudity than Americans. For example, I saw a poster last week with a woman’s naked butt, but the image wasn’t meant to be sexual or anything. Also, most of the beaches here are topless. It really makes you think about how arbitrary some of our society’s rules about what is appropriate are.

All in all, I’m having a great time in Barcelona and am gradually working through the (very long) list of places I want to see before I go home. It’s crazy that I’m already a quarter done with my internship!

Adios for now!

~Cicely