First day in Barcelona
Arrived safely without much hustle. Bueno, maybe the luggage are too heavy, but what is there to lose with you have 2 free check-in luggage? These days, airlines do rip customer off by charging a whole lot of luggage fees.
Met a young woman, Denise in the plane who is a child psychologist. My mind was wandering, ‘grieving’ the fact that I have left Hanover, that I didn’t talk to her until 2 hours before landing. We were talking about children behavior problems and problems of peace in the world, and we reached a conclusion where peace is hard to achieved when one ( person/ country) over identifies him/herself. What might cause such action is fear of change, fear of losing power. Think about why locals hate immigrants? Why Globalization can be ‘polluting’ one’s culture and identity?
Upon finish admiring the interior of the Barcelona airport, I arrived at the baggage claim area and met my first classmate, Breanna. None of my classmates are friends with me in Dartmouth before this Language Study Abroad (LSA) trip, and I am the only non-American student. Amanda joined us half and hours later. Both of them have their mom helping them with packing. Reminds me of my first trip abroad with similar situations….four years ago.
After hours of waiting for more students arrived, we decided to give up and meet the rest of them in the city. It was an easy bus ride to Barcelona, a place that is going to be my home for 2 .5 months. We dragged our luggage all the way from the central station to the University Plaza, which is situated only a few blocks away. Doesn’t feel near when you have 2 big luggage and 2 carry on. Later, I stopped regretting bringing too many clothes because Barcelonans do dress up fashionably and I have to keep up with them! (so far, I think I did a good job:P)
8 of 12 students met and we started to stroll along the famous La Rambla street after we put down our luggage. We had 4 hours to spend before meeting our host family. From the street entertainers to different animal stalls, La Rambla in mid-September is full of energy. September is one of the best time to be in Barcelona and many tourists know not to miss the chill Mediterranean weather. I get the feeling that my group of classmates is trying to avoid doing touristy activities. Contrary to that, I love to just explore this particular street more than once just to observe the different people. I sensed danger (me dropping out from group activity).
At 5 pm, we finally met our host families. These families have been hosting Dartmouth students for years since the program first started. We are rest assured that we will be good hands ( its true!). Pepita, my host mom, greeted me with kisses on both my cheek. Ah, I am back to the ‘huggy & kissing’ culture that reminds me of my UWC friends. We were ‘warned’ not to be surprise about strangers standing in close distance, guys starring at girls when talking, closer ‘normal’ distance between people….yada yada yada (that’s why pickpockets use this culture to their advantages!)
I lived in a lovely apartment just slightly off the centre of the city. I could easily take a 20 minutes bus ride to classes daily. Public transport is the shit here! From the bus ride, I could see why Barcelona is one of the best city in the world. It accommodates EVERYBODY: The old, the young, the traditional, the modern, the locals and the foreigners. It is so easy to get around that old people do not need to depend on their son or daughter to meet up with their friends.
Extremely jetlagged and tired the first night, I did not unpack and slept without finding my toothpaste…..hahaa
Sept 19
Got our sim card first thing in the morning. For some reasons, Prof. Aguado, our trip leader was extremely panicky about us not letting our cell phone switched on 24/7. Guessed many students in the past did get lost a lot.
Epic failure looking for WIFI: we walked from Starbucks to local café and could not find any free WiFi. Dartmouth really spoilt us with 24/7 Wifi. At the end, I gave up and went to the Internet café few blocks away from my home.
For those who asked me about guys: yes, they are cute!! Come in a package of huge sideburns, soft curly brown hair and difficult to tell whether there are straight or not! (just had an experience in the bus, where I observed two cute guys caressing each other on the lap, talking to a pretty lady who was sitting in front of them at the same time. No big deal!) *one more fun fact, our university IS situated in the gay zoneJ
Observation of the day:
- the elevators of my apartment is where neighbors catch up
- supermarket cashiers flirt(or communicate) with people loudly (Cashier to customer:Hola Caliente! Hey sexy)
- older couples do not give way to the young ones when it comes to holding hands and kissing each other in public. So sweet….
Sept 20
An account at 4am :
Just back from my first nightlife experience in Barcelona. A city that never sleeps!
Bars and Pubs run till 1 am and clubs only start receiving crowds at 1 30 am and all the way till dawn.
The house music gotten a little boring after a while when none of us are willing to pay much for drinks. Most of us were sober :P Sexy bitch by Akon is the only song I got excited dancing to. The rest of the time, I am avoiding bumping into the person next to me. Have I grown out of this? In one of the most notorious night scene, yet I was spacing out?
Woke up at 2.30 pm the same day and still didn’t miss lunch. Did I mention lunch only take place at 3.30pm? This will be the most difficult culture adjustment for the whole trip. Haha. Consciously made up my mind not to join the rest to the beach, because I did not want to be too tired before my first day of class. Instead, I joined my host sister, Maria del Mar and her friends for a Spanish movie called “Gordo (fat)”. (no I did not understand everything, but I got the idea)
The movie is nothing along the lines of ‘slim is good’ BUT about living in our most comfortable self. It started with a therapist trying to ‘cure’ the fat people who came to him: A lady who fears her long distance bf found out about her weight gain; an ex promoter of slimming pills who turns fat and became gay (inferior to woman); a guy whose from a whole ancestry of fat relatives and never know the word slim, and a religious couple that consist a slim guy and a plump pretty lady.
Turns out there are really nothing wrong with the clients but the therapist. He is obsessed with PERFECTION, that when his perfectly slim wife got pregnant, he did not even dare to neither look at her in the eyes nor touch her at night. He even missed his baby’s birth by hooking up with the first lady I mentioned.
Most of the clients lose some weight and at the end gain back the weight, because they were convinced that ‘fat’ is what preventing them from happiness. But at the end, happiness is right in front of them that they do not have the guts to appreciate.
The first lady found her happiness by having affairs with strangers; the ex promoter found his happiness with a woman who did not care he was gay (of course he wasn’t just too scared); the fat guy got back together with his wife after a huge fight of questioning whether he is the father of his thin son; and after breaking up with her bf due to her weight loss (thinking that she can find a better man), the plump pretty lady realized that her ex is indeed her true love.
At the end, the therapist went out of business and his wife stopped talking to him. Despite the ‘horrendous’ sex scene of fat people, (European movie have lots of nudity!) the movie is truly inspiring.
Went back home for a 10 30 pm dinner! Help!
That marks my first few days in Barcelona. Happy Belated Birthday to my dad and mom!
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