(almost) week 1 in Barcelona
By Tamika Whitenack
How to explain the new life I am living? I had the grand idea that I would share by the week, so that I wasn't writing every day, but now I'm not sure where to start because I feel like there is so much to share? I'll attempt a chronological-ish narrative and then add extra stuff and reflections.
I arrived into El Prat, Barcelona's airport, early Monday morning after a slightly delayed flight. Upon retrieving my baggage from the (quite large) carousel, I waited and then found the CIEE group. There are about 90 students in total, but not everybody was there for the 10 AM airport pick-up. We loaded up onto a bus and then headed into the city.
It felt a bit surreal as we entered the city, the new environment combined with my complete lack of sleep heightened the dreamlike effect. We arrived at the hotel for orientation in our dazed states and went through some basics before meeting our host families. I was greeted by my host sister, Clara, who is the same age as me. As we took the taxi back to the apartment, she explained that her mom was finishing up a vacation in Portugal and would be back that night. We arrived at our home, which is just a few blocks from the Sagrada Familia (the huge church designed by Gaudi that is still in progress). She gave me a tour of the house, and I truly love it!
My room is a quaint, colorful nook, very cozy and happy. The general layout of the house is that there is one long hallway that leads to the dining room, and near the entrance there's an offshoot to the kitchen and near the dining room there is an offshoot to the bedrooms. There is also a giant patio in the back, full of plants. And turtles! We have 2 land turtles and 1 sea turtle. They are cuties.
After unpacking, we had lunch: grilled cheese, salad, and gazpacho. My host sister is a vegetarian and the family doesn't eat much meat in general, which is perfect for me. We also have a lot of fruit in the house because my host mom works at a fruit/vegetable store. I'm quite pleased with this situation.
After a much needed afternoon nap, I managed to get up to go to a little meet-up organized by the CIEE program. It was a get-to-know-you session with the other students in homestays in my neighborhood, along with a Spanish college student. I got a little lost on the way there and ended up circling around La Sagrada Family a few times, but eventually I found my way there and got to meet the other girls living nearby. I was surprised that it definitely seems more of the students in the program have chosen to live in shared apartments than homestays, but I'm really, really glad that I'm in a homestay. Since many of the other students in the CIEE program are taking their classes in English, there isn't a norm to speak in Spanish for CIEE activities so the homestay is one of my best options for speaking in Spanish. So far it's going pretty well, I can understand and speak decently with my family. I really think all those phone conversations with Daddy have helped a lot!
For dinner, my host sister and I made pan con tomate and we also ate pepino, tortilla espanola (egg and potato thing) and some cheese. We eat dinner quite late here, usually at 9. In general, this week has been a lot of readjusting my time/life schedule, but I think it's working out okay. We also had a little cake for my birthday, which was cute. After dinner, my host sister and I went out a bit for my birthday, she just showed me around the neighborhood which was fun, we got some drinks and met an adorable kitten one of her friends found! Me gusta los gatitos.
Tuesday was another day of orientation in the hotel. Especially with the large group, I am reminded a bit to much of first-year orientation and learning all the new things. We talked a lot about safety and security things like how to not get robbed and also what do in emergencies, as well as bystander intervention. However, this crowd is very different than my Vassar community; because CIEE has 4 programs. I am in Global Internship language immersion, but there is also an internship program without language and two programs that are just taking classes, most of the classes are English classes and one of the programs is specifically business focused. So there are a lot of students here who are interested in business, and a fair number who came in groups and are staying together in apartments. Not too many small liberal arts school types. After orientation, I wandered around a bit with a group of girls, stopping to take pictures at the Barcelona Arc de Triomf and after, going to a place for some tapas. I wasn't crazy hungry so I just had a spinach empanada. When I returned home in the evening, I went on a small run and then we had dinner. It was the first dinner since my host mom returned, and she made zucchini noodles with a tomato sauce, it was quite delicious. We also eat fruit for dessert, which I really enjoy.
Wednesday was another big group activity, a hike in the Collserrola Hills. These hills remind me a lot of the Bay Area in terms of foliage, kind of similar to Tilden. The hike was nice and of course I was very glad to get out of the city, but I am not a fan of hiking in giant groups of 30+ people. It felt a bit like a middle school field trip. When we stopped for lunch, we saw some wild boars! This was not a huge surprise because there was a sign advertising that such a sighting was possible, but everyone was quite excited and there was a lot of picture taking and attempts to feed them. Yikes?
Once we got back from the hike, it was only around 3pm or so. When you don't eat dinner until 9 and the sun doesn't set until after 8, the days are very long! So we still had time to explore. I went around with a new friend from CIEE (Kirby, also from the Bay Area), and we explored down Las Ramblas, a major tourist street in Barcelona with lots of little shops and my personal highlight, La Boqueria. It is a huge market, tons of stalls and fun snacks and foods. We made it down to the waterfront from Las Ramblas and decided to go to the aquarium. Monterey definitely spoils me for aquariums, but there were some fat sharks and eels which were fun to look at. Again, the waterfront area also really reminds me of California. I guess we truly are imitating that Mediterranean climate. On our walk back up from the waterfront, we came across a couple of the famous Gaudi houses, Casa Batlo and La Pedrera. I must admit I knew nothing of Gaudi before this trip, but Barcelona is a treasure chest of his work and it is certainly noteworthy and picture friendly. We also stopped again at La Boqueria for a small snack.
Dinner tonight was also quite yummy, open faced sandwiches of sorts with aioli, eggplant and peppers. The vegetables had a very smoky flavor, cooked with fire. I learned a new word, berenjena=eggplant.
On Thursday we finally had our first day of class. I took the bus; I'm about a 25 minute walk away which is totally doable but since I already bought a transportation pass I've been using it when it makes sense. The Metro is also close and I am better at using the Metro, but I'm trying to learn to use the bus because it's more fun to be able to see where we're going (I'm really trying to get to know the city, I hate having to use my phone to navigate) and because I think it is a bit safer than the subway.
For class, I am taking an Advanced Spanish class. There are 16 of us, 7 of the people in my program (with internships) and the rest from the other programs. It doesn't seem like it will be too tricky of a class, the emphasis is on conversation and practical skills. I think in some ways my past two Spanish classes might have been a bit more difficult but I think that is because of the way Vassar does language in that my classes were basically just normal classes in Spanish, whereas this is a Spanish class specifically for learning the language, so I think I should get a lot of useful vocab and grammar structures. I also have an internship seminar once a week, which is basically just to supplement the internship work and to think about what we are doing. I don't start my internship until Tuesday, but I'm very excited to see how it goes and what exactly I will be doing!
After class, Kirby and I went to a little cafe/restaurant for lunch and after this she had work so I just walked home and finally managed to go on a longer run! I must say I am not a huge fan of city running because of all the stoplights, but I went down one of the big streets (Ave Diagonal) that has a sort of treelined walkway in the middle until I reached the water, and then I ran along (but not on) the beach for a while. After my run, I had a very relaxed evening, reading on the patio until dinner time. Dinner was salad, fruit, croquetas de espinacas and more tortilla.
Friday was our first day without sun, and it was a little bit sad. After class in the morning, a larger group of us went to a bakery for lunch and then after that we walked down to go to some museums. We went to the Museum of Modern European Art. There wasn't a lot to see because the top two floors were closing for an event, but what we did see was pretty impressive. There were a bunch of extremely realistic oil paintings of people that truly looked like photographs. After the museum, we ventured over to another market, Mercat de Santa Caterina. This one was inside and not as full as La Boqueria. There were a bunch of giant bell peppers and I was quite intrigued, and wanted to take a picture with one. When I touched it, the vendor immediately thought I wanted to buy it, so he weighed it and sold it to me. I wasn't originally planning to buy it, but I like peppers a lot, so I went along with it. LOL
The walk back from the market was long and rainy, but I'm enjoying walking around the city as much as possible. I like the exercise and I like trying to figure out where I am. Most of the day it had just been a light drizzle, but as I was heading back towards my house it really started to downpour and I got quite wet, despite the borrowed umbrella from my host family. Oh well! I spent the rest of the evening doing more research for places to explore and then my host sister and I had dinner, pizza and salad, while we watched a movie (Un Monstruo Viene a Verme). My host parents are in Valencia this weekend, so the house is somewhat quiet.
Saturday! First full day with absolutely no obligations. I slept in a bit, and then I went on a longer run, down Ave Diagonal in the other direction. I was glad to see at least a few other runners out and about, I definitely don't think it is that common here. Or at least not on the streets, possibly moreso in the parks? After the run, I met up with Kirby for late brunch at a small cafe and then we headed over to Montjuic. It was still pretty cloudy today, but we had a fun time wandering around the various gardens and going to the MANC, which is the national art museum of Catalonia. The museum is a beautiful building, but there actually aren't that many works of art inside. I think maybe I got used to the crazy scale of museums in the UK. We managed to get to the rooftop for some nice city views, before heading back into the city for a late afternoon snack: calamari, churros con chocolate, and crema catalana (basically creme brulee). After this, a quick stop to this giant cat statue named Botero's Cat and then back up the hill towards home. I do still have to consult maps more than I'd like, but I think I am finally starting to feel somewhat more comfortable with the layout of the city, especially once I get closer to my home. We're not even a week in, so there is still plenty of time.
Apologies for the lack of humor or typical Tamika shenanigans in this post...there's just so much to share, I feel like all I can manage is a play-by-play! I'll have to hire someone to be my wingman and add in creative stuff next time.
Pictures are coming! We've been taking most of them on Kirby's phone because her camera is better, so I still don't have all our pictures from today, but I'll share tomorrow in a separate post.
How to explain the new life I am living? I had the grand idea that I would share by the week, so that I wasn't writing every day, but now I'm not sure where to start because I feel like there is so much to share? I'll attempt a chronological-ish narrative and then add extra stuff and reflections.
I arrived into El Prat, Barcelona's airport, early Monday morning after a slightly delayed flight. Upon retrieving my baggage from the (quite large) carousel, I waited and then found the CIEE group. There are about 90 students in total, but not everybody was there for the 10 AM airport pick-up. We loaded up onto a bus and then headed into the city.
It felt a bit surreal as we entered the city, the new environment combined with my complete lack of sleep heightened the dreamlike effect. We arrived at the hotel for orientation in our dazed states and went through some basics before meeting our host families. I was greeted by my host sister, Clara, who is the same age as me. As we took the taxi back to the apartment, she explained that her mom was finishing up a vacation in Portugal and would be back that night. We arrived at our home, which is just a few blocks from the Sagrada Familia (the huge church designed by Gaudi that is still in progress). She gave me a tour of the house, and I truly love it!
My room is a quaint, colorful nook, very cozy and happy. The general layout of the house is that there is one long hallway that leads to the dining room, and near the entrance there's an offshoot to the kitchen and near the dining room there is an offshoot to the bedrooms. There is also a giant patio in the back, full of plants. And turtles! We have 2 land turtles and 1 sea turtle. They are cuties.
After unpacking, we had lunch: grilled cheese, salad, and gazpacho. My host sister is a vegetarian and the family doesn't eat much meat in general, which is perfect for me. We also have a lot of fruit in the house because my host mom works at a fruit/vegetable store. I'm quite pleased with this situation.
After a much needed afternoon nap, I managed to get up to go to a little meet-up organized by the CIEE program. It was a get-to-know-you session with the other students in homestays in my neighborhood, along with a Spanish college student. I got a little lost on the way there and ended up circling around La Sagrada Family a few times, but eventually I found my way there and got to meet the other girls living nearby. I was surprised that it definitely seems more of the students in the program have chosen to live in shared apartments than homestays, but I'm really, really glad that I'm in a homestay. Since many of the other students in the CIEE program are taking their classes in English, there isn't a norm to speak in Spanish for CIEE activities so the homestay is one of my best options for speaking in Spanish. So far it's going pretty well, I can understand and speak decently with my family. I really think all those phone conversations with Daddy have helped a lot!
For dinner, my host sister and I made pan con tomate and we also ate pepino, tortilla espanola (egg and potato thing) and some cheese. We eat dinner quite late here, usually at 9. In general, this week has been a lot of readjusting my time/life schedule, but I think it's working out okay. We also had a little cake for my birthday, which was cute. After dinner, my host sister and I went out a bit for my birthday, she just showed me around the neighborhood which was fun, we got some drinks and met an adorable kitten one of her friends found! Me gusta los gatitos.
Tuesday was another day of orientation in the hotel. Especially with the large group, I am reminded a bit to much of first-year orientation and learning all the new things. We talked a lot about safety and security things like how to not get robbed and also what do in emergencies, as well as bystander intervention. However, this crowd is very different than my Vassar community; because CIEE has 4 programs. I am in Global Internship language immersion, but there is also an internship program without language and two programs that are just taking classes, most of the classes are English classes and one of the programs is specifically business focused. So there are a lot of students here who are interested in business, and a fair number who came in groups and are staying together in apartments. Not too many small liberal arts school types. After orientation, I wandered around a bit with a group of girls, stopping to take pictures at the Barcelona Arc de Triomf and after, going to a place for some tapas. I wasn't crazy hungry so I just had a spinach empanada. When I returned home in the evening, I went on a small run and then we had dinner. It was the first dinner since my host mom returned, and she made zucchini noodles with a tomato sauce, it was quite delicious. We also eat fruit for dessert, which I really enjoy.
Wednesday was another big group activity, a hike in the Collserrola Hills. These hills remind me a lot of the Bay Area in terms of foliage, kind of similar to Tilden. The hike was nice and of course I was very glad to get out of the city, but I am not a fan of hiking in giant groups of 30+ people. It felt a bit like a middle school field trip. When we stopped for lunch, we saw some wild boars! This was not a huge surprise because there was a sign advertising that such a sighting was possible, but everyone was quite excited and there was a lot of picture taking and attempts to feed them. Yikes?
Once we got back from the hike, it was only around 3pm or so. When you don't eat dinner until 9 and the sun doesn't set until after 8, the days are very long! So we still had time to explore. I went around with a new friend from CIEE (Kirby, also from the Bay Area), and we explored down Las Ramblas, a major tourist street in Barcelona with lots of little shops and my personal highlight, La Boqueria. It is a huge market, tons of stalls and fun snacks and foods. We made it down to the waterfront from Las Ramblas and decided to go to the aquarium. Monterey definitely spoils me for aquariums, but there were some fat sharks and eels which were fun to look at. Again, the waterfront area also really reminds me of California. I guess we truly are imitating that Mediterranean climate. On our walk back up from the waterfront, we came across a couple of the famous Gaudi houses, Casa Batlo and La Pedrera. I must admit I knew nothing of Gaudi before this trip, but Barcelona is a treasure chest of his work and it is certainly noteworthy and picture friendly. We also stopped again at La Boqueria for a small snack.
Dinner tonight was also quite yummy, open faced sandwiches of sorts with aioli, eggplant and peppers. The vegetables had a very smoky flavor, cooked with fire. I learned a new word, berenjena=eggplant.
On Thursday we finally had our first day of class. I took the bus; I'm about a 25 minute walk away which is totally doable but since I already bought a transportation pass I've been using it when it makes sense. The Metro is also close and I am better at using the Metro, but I'm trying to learn to use the bus because it's more fun to be able to see where we're going (I'm really trying to get to know the city, I hate having to use my phone to navigate) and because I think it is a bit safer than the subway.
For class, I am taking an Advanced Spanish class. There are 16 of us, 7 of the people in my program (with internships) and the rest from the other programs. It doesn't seem like it will be too tricky of a class, the emphasis is on conversation and practical skills. I think in some ways my past two Spanish classes might have been a bit more difficult but I think that is because of the way Vassar does language in that my classes were basically just normal classes in Spanish, whereas this is a Spanish class specifically for learning the language, so I think I should get a lot of useful vocab and grammar structures. I also have an internship seminar once a week, which is basically just to supplement the internship work and to think about what we are doing. I don't start my internship until Tuesday, but I'm very excited to see how it goes and what exactly I will be doing!
After class, Kirby and I went to a little cafe/restaurant for lunch and after this she had work so I just walked home and finally managed to go on a longer run! I must say I am not a huge fan of city running because of all the stoplights, but I went down one of the big streets (Ave Diagonal) that has a sort of treelined walkway in the middle until I reached the water, and then I ran along (but not on) the beach for a while. After my run, I had a very relaxed evening, reading on the patio until dinner time. Dinner was salad, fruit, croquetas de espinacas and more tortilla.
Friday was our first day without sun, and it was a little bit sad. After class in the morning, a larger group of us went to a bakery for lunch and then after that we walked down to go to some museums. We went to the Museum of Modern European Art. There wasn't a lot to see because the top two floors were closing for an event, but what we did see was pretty impressive. There were a bunch of extremely realistic oil paintings of people that truly looked like photographs. After the museum, we ventured over to another market, Mercat de Santa Caterina. This one was inside and not as full as La Boqueria. There were a bunch of giant bell peppers and I was quite intrigued, and wanted to take a picture with one. When I touched it, the vendor immediately thought I wanted to buy it, so he weighed it and sold it to me. I wasn't originally planning to buy it, but I like peppers a lot, so I went along with it. LOL
The walk back from the market was long and rainy, but I'm enjoying walking around the city as much as possible. I like the exercise and I like trying to figure out where I am. Most of the day it had just been a light drizzle, but as I was heading back towards my house it really started to downpour and I got quite wet, despite the borrowed umbrella from my host family. Oh well! I spent the rest of the evening doing more research for places to explore and then my host sister and I had dinner, pizza and salad, while we watched a movie (Un Monstruo Viene a Verme). My host parents are in Valencia this weekend, so the house is somewhat quiet.
Saturday! First full day with absolutely no obligations. I slept in a bit, and then I went on a longer run, down Ave Diagonal in the other direction. I was glad to see at least a few other runners out and about, I definitely don't think it is that common here. Or at least not on the streets, possibly moreso in the parks? After the run, I met up with Kirby for late brunch at a small cafe and then we headed over to Montjuic. It was still pretty cloudy today, but we had a fun time wandering around the various gardens and going to the MANC, which is the national art museum of Catalonia. The museum is a beautiful building, but there actually aren't that many works of art inside. I think maybe I got used to the crazy scale of museums in the UK. We managed to get to the rooftop for some nice city views, before heading back into the city for a late afternoon snack: calamari, churros con chocolate, and crema catalana (basically creme brulee). After this, a quick stop to this giant cat statue named Botero's Cat and then back up the hill towards home. I do still have to consult maps more than I'd like, but I think I am finally starting to feel somewhat more comfortable with the layout of the city, especially once I get closer to my home. We're not even a week in, so there is still plenty of time.
Apologies for the lack of humor or typical Tamika shenanigans in this post...there's just so much to share, I feel like all I can manage is a play-by-play! I'll have to hire someone to be my wingman and add in creative stuff next time.
Pictures are coming! We've been taking most of them on Kirby's phone because her camera is better, so I still don't have all our pictures from today, but I'll share tomorrow in a separate post.
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