Words of Wisdom

There will always be shoulda, coulda, wouldvas when reflecting on the past. Nevertheless, I have very few regrets from my semester abroad. I really got everything out of it I wanted and it was amazing (if the last four months of exuberant blog posts didn't convey that). So to end, I want to offer my advice on studying abroad to anyone out there who finds it relevant:

(1) Take as many classes at local universities
(2) Take ALL your classes in Spanish (they are actually easier than the English ones and they help your listening, reading and writing IMMENSELY)
(3) Live in a residencia, it may not be glamorous but there is no better way to meet and become close friends with international students (my one mini regret was that I didn't, although I still was really lucky with my living situation)
(4) Really try and stay away from American scene. You didn't spend all that time and money to hang out with other Americans, there is plenty of time for that when you get back.
(5) Take advantage of your new environment to let yourself go. Be as friendly and open minded as possible and don't be afraid to take risks and make a conscience effort to get out of your comfort zone.
(6) Do an intercambio program. Its awkward at first but really rewarding in the end.
(7) Respect the local norms and customs. May sound obvious, but you would be amazed at how disrespectful and arrogant many american students are (and then they complain that Spainards are mean or rude, ugh)
(8) Try to fight the inevitable deterioration of your Spanish when you return by finding channels of immersion, like spanish-language television, music, the language social networking site, Palabea. 
(9) Keep a blog ; ) not only is it an easy way to keep everyone at home updated, it gives you a great time capsule of your experiences that will always be with you.

Back to Reality

Looking back on the whirlwind semester in Barcelona is like looking back on a dream. Did it really happen? Did I really visit all those amazing places, meet all those interesting people and have all those memorable adventures? I still vividly remember the surreal feeling of getting off the L7, walking up to my apartment, and packing the last of my clothes before catching a cab to the airport to go home. I still remember the heart wrenching moment when I saw Barcelona fade into the distance from my window seat. It was exactly a month ago today.

Was it too good to be true? Being back in central New York makes Barcelona seem even more like a figment of my imagination. How did I survive going from a one stop light town to living in Barcelona? And how am I able to survive my return. Barcelona has spoiled me. Never again will life be that carefree, exciting and mind-opening all at once. Whether it was trying a new night spot, wandering through a new part of town, or meeting a new friend, everyday offered something unique. But life is not like that in upstate New York. Coming home brought me back to reality. The problem is what I used to be content with, just isn't enough anymore. I have not stopped feeling restless since my return from a life of constant activity to the doldrums of home.

What I have to thank Barcelona for most is my new sense of adventure. I discovered through various travels that I love finding my way around a city. Its like putting a puzzle together and every time you piece together a new section you begin to see the whole picture. While I have always dreamed of moving to a city after graduation, Barcelona has given me the confidence to know I can do it. So will it be Boston, NYC or Philly? I have heard good things about Chicago? Also, I have never been to the west coast. Who knows, maybe I'll find myself back over the pond? As the chapter of my life that this blog captured comes to a close, my hope now is to find my Barcelona again. What I mean is I hope to find a place and a life that not only offers me adventure and excitement but also that inspires me and leaves me feeling content. Not to much to ask for, right? Let's hope not.

To Have & To Have Not

At this time next week I will be back in the states. It's crazy to think about. I have been told everything will feel strange and somewhat foreign going back home. Although, I can't really imagine that being true. Leaving Barcelona is going to be so tough. I have said that studying abroad is somewhat like going away to freshman year of college, except you don't get to come back. However, at the same time there are somethings I am gonna be happy to go home to. Besides the biggies, like family and friends, here are some of the things I am looking forward to coming home to and the things I am going to miss the most.

Things I will be looking forward to coming home to:
>Good tap water
>The dollar
>12hour clocks
>American clothing sizes
>English speaking men
>normal sized beds and pillows
>having a cell phone
>saran wrap in sturdy cardboard

Things that I am going to miss dearly:
>The sun
>The metro, L7
>Plaça Joaquim Folguera
>Spanish tortilla
>Spanish men
>Legally being able to go to bars
>Hearing Spanish everyday
>Being able to use Spanish phrases all day and people not thinking its annoying
>City life & being able to do something new, fun and exciting everyday
>Everything...

Barcelona in Bloom

Getting on the metro in Plaza Catalunya after spring break, I glanced down Las Ramblas and noticed right away something was different - eveything was green! Yep, it is officially spring here in Barcelona. There are not many other hints that spring has arrived other than the greenery. The temperature continues to hover around 57 degrees, give or take five degrees, with full sun and cloudless skies. I am not sure if the Barcelonians know what a change of season really means.

Nevertheless, the blooming trees make the already gorgeous city that much more picturesque. The other day I took a walk to Parc Guell (because I live THAT close ::big grin::) and was just mesmerized by the view. It wasn't the first time I had seen it, but I could just stare out over Barcelona all day. I think the views are one of my favorite things about this city. Parc Guell takes your eyes down the lines of l'Eixample to the Mediterranean. Montjuic shows the city framed by green landscapes on all sides. Even the view from a tiny, little-know park next to Kelsey's apartment offers a new perspective of the city. The view makes the Torre Agbar and La Sagrada Familia, two of the cities most famous landmarks, look side by side. [It's interesting to note that the people of Barcelona don't orient themselves north/south/east/west, but by mountain or sea. So when they give your directions going toward the mountains or towards the see, you just have to look up to see what they mean.]

The one view I had yet to officially see is perhaps the most famous; Tibidabo. I have seen various views from on the mountain side at the restaurant Mirablau and Parc de Collserola, but not from the tippy top. There is an amusement park at the top that still looks very much like it did at the turn of the century when it was made. The name of Tibidabo comes from the story in the bible when the devil takes Jesus up to the top of a mountain and shows him all the pleasures in the world and says tibidabo: I will give to you. So fitting of the proud Catalans that they named the mountain overlooking their capital city after the name given to all the pleasures in the world. Although, I don't blame them.

I might be able to make it to the top of Tibidabo before I leave, but time is running out and I don't want to stress about jam packing every last tourist sight into the final week. My best memories from this city are not seeing the sights, but just enjoying the city. Plus, I can always see it when I come back. After all, the one thing that is keeping us all sane about leaving, is knowing this won't be the last time were in Barcelona. It just can't be.

I really felt like Barcelona was my home the first time found myself saying "damn tourists!" while trying to get to my metro stop near Plaza Catalunya at the top of las Ramblas. I can't imagine seeing your city taken over by tourists. Although you could say I am just part of the problem, I like to think I have truly made an effort to learn the city as authentically as possible. I know there are some students that come to Barcelona and still couldn't tell you who Sant Jordi is or even what El Born is, but could tell in a second the quickest way to Shoko or wherever Kyke's event is that night. Even our RA told us that were are unlike any other Americans she has met, meaning we have acclimated ourselves well enough that we could easily come back and live in the city. This was perhaps, the best compliment she could have ever given us.

BARÇA! BARÇA! BARRRRRRÇA!

So I finally made it to a Fútbol Club Barcelona game last night! Third time's a charm. For some reason my roommates and I have had horrible luck getting tickets this semester. On our first attempt we were told you could just buy tickets before the game, but they were sold out. The second time, I spent hours trying to figure out the servicaixa machines (ATMs that sell tickets) to no avail. We also tried buying online, but same thing happened (I think it was an American credit card problem). We even tried going all the way out to the stadium, but got to the box office just 10mins late, ugh.

Nevertheless, our persistence finally paid off (thanks to Paula & Ruben) and last night we went to see FC Barça play Getafe CF (yeah, never heard of them either. In fact Julia and I spent a good 10mins before the game trying to read the Catalán program to see where they were from) in a quasi important La Liga game. The game was a thrilling....tie...at 0-0... Yep, both teams walked off the field without scoring a single goal. A double bagel as we would say in tennis. Although, Barça did hit the goal post 3 times, if that counts for anything. I have to admit, (if you can't already tell) I don't think I could ever become a fútbol fan. It's a game of constant disappointment and overly dramatic athletes. Although, I do give the sport more credit than Baseball, because the athletes and their footwork is pretty impressive.

Was it worth the trouble you might ask? Absolutely. I am taking a Sport & Society in Spain course, and we visited the museum, watched a documentary, and wrote our midterm papers on FC Barcelona. Moreover, I just finished my final paper for Barcelona: Ciudad y Historia on the manifestations of Catalán nationalism (6 pages in SPANISH!) and a chunk of it talked about Barça. In other words, I probably know more about the history of the team than some of its members. So for this reason, It was great to actually see them in action at Camp Nou (the Barça stadium that is 11th biggest stadium in the world). Also, since it was such a bad game, I got to see the fans wave white scarfs and whistle signaling extreme disappointment which we had seen in a documentary about the team (although, I think booing is much more satisfying than whistling). ...Go Barça!

Tidbits IV:

Spanish texting tips:
>Its SMS, not text
>Phonetic spelling is popular (i.e. Gwapa)
>d q means de que
>Qtal means que tal (which is answered with bien, not nada)
>jajaja means hahaha
>Pasta means $ (kinda like bread in English)
>Finde is short for fin de semana and bici is short for bicicleta
(these are also common spoken as well)
>Must end every text message with besos, un beso, besitos, etc.

Other interesting language tidbits:
>Toma! is like good or yeah (Paula says it when playing wii)
>tomar is used instead of beber when talking about drinking alcohol 
>Semana blanca is spring break

North by Northeast

Spring break means fun in the sun, right? Well, maybe for the majority of college students, but for us it meant enduring all of the elements of winter we had avoided while in sunny, warm Barcelona. Nevertheless, our trip to Berlin, Prague and Amsterdam was fantastic and despite the cold, rain, sleet and snow, we had a great time. Here's a brief synopsis of what we did:

Berlin
On the plane from Barcelona to Berlin I happened to sit next to two young Berlin women. They noticed I was reading a guidebook to western europe and were very nice to give me some tips. By far the most important bit of information the gave me was when they said, "You know there is a public transportation strike, right?" Well, of course, we had no idea. Due to the compact nature of most European cities, this could have been a non-issue. However, Berlin is NINE TIMES the size of Paris. But don't worry they said, everything starts running again on Monday...to bad that was the day we left. However, it didn't seem to bother us the whole time we were there. The only possible drawback we experienced as a result of the strike, was that we only saw the neighborhoods of Mitte, the old soviet sector, and Kreuzberg, the old american sector.

So once we got settled we went out to find bikes to solve our mobility issue. Problem was we weren't the only ones looking for a bike to battle the transportation strike. Several hours, attempted phone calls and meters of walking later, we finally found a store that had two bikes left, phew. The guy at the bike store was from Chicago and extremely nice. He even let us rent without our passports. He also gave us great advice on where to go and what to see. It was all thanks to him that we made it to the Potsdamer Platz. Despite missing out on the best metro system in the world, I think Berlin by bike is absolutely the best way to go. Even in the raining cold days for mid-March. There are specific bike lanes on almost every road and the city is completely flat. Just follow the lead of the locals, and you'll be fine. Also, one last note about getting around in Berlin, nobody jaywalks. I suppose its good practice, and quintessentially German, to follow the rules, but coming from Spain, where the locales literally take pride in not following their own rules, we found it unique.

Berlin had the best food for the best prices out of our whole trip. I don’t think we had a bad meal in the city. We ate mostly on the main street of Kreuzberg called something like BergmannstraBe. Every time I would try to say any street or monument names I would just pronounce the first syllable then start to trail off, because it is rather impossible to the untrained ear. Overall, Berlin is a very modern city, drenched in history. If that makes sense? The gray skies, Soviet-esque streets and other reminders of the melancholic past of the city serve as a backdrop to a bustling metropolis. I also felt least like a tourist in Berlin. Maybe it was because of the blonde hair, probably because it seemed the locals far outweighed the tourists. There was no place completed taken over by tourists like Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona, and I liked that about the city. I felt like I had an authentic experience.

Prague
On the train from Berlin to Prague the conductor came on and we all looked at each other and said, “that’s definitely not German?” It was at that moment when we knew we had crossed the border into the Czech Republic; we were officially in Eastern Europe. After exchanging some of our Euros for Koruna we took a cab to our hostel (we never quite figured out the exchange rate, but we knew that 100 Kourna was practically nothing). In my personal opinion, the worst hostel I have stayed in, but the location was great. We were a “block” away from Old Town square, or Staré Město. (I put block in quotes because the entire city is a labyrinth, there is not a single straight street, I swear).

While waiting to reunite with Julia and Emily, who had spent the weekend in Barcelona and flew into Prague, we explored the Old town square. The square was full with booths of souvenirs, delicacies, goats being born (see photo album for story) and music/dancing on the stage. I assumed Old Town Square was just always like this, but then someone told me it was for Holy Week. So I am glad we came during this week cause this square was my favorite part of Prague. We would come and buy bratwurst, chocolate covered fruit, hot wine, stroopwaffles and especially a Czech version of a cinnamon, sugar and almond pastry-donut, everyday.

The weather in Berlin had been poor, but the weather in Prague was just plain schizophrenic. It would go from clear and sunny, to blizzarding, to raining, to sleeting within one hour, then do it all again. It was really insane, even with several layers on. At one point Julia, my roommate from Miami who goes to school in Nashville, asked Kelsey and I how we deal with living in a place like this. We gave the usual response of “Well, I guess you get used to it” and she responded by saying, “So you get used to being miserable?!” Let’s just say her point was well taken. So our entire trip was spent taking freezing cold walks from one sight to the next trying to get inside as much as possible. While having an amazing time, of course!

Amsterdam

On the plane to Amsterdam I noticed a guy wearing a Syracuse sweatshirt. Then when we were waiting for our bags he sat next to me, so I had to ask. Turned out he was from Brazil, was a foreign exchange student at Whitney Point High School and now lives in Madrid. Crazy huh? Although, it seemed like one of these places was not like the other…I’ll give you one guess. Still, he epitomizes just how international the crowds of tourists were in Prague and Amsterdam. Part of this was probably due to holy week, which at least in Spain, Italy and Ireland, the entire population has a week off.

Amsterdam was amazing because it felt like an enormous small town. Every street looks like a Main street, with quaint, tall, dutch houses on either side of a canal. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny, warm summer's day (don't worry, I won't continue to complain about the weather, cause I know most of you reading this are probably thinking welcome to freakin' club!). Almost everyone in Berlin spoke English, and due to big tourism focus in Prague we were able to communicate fine, but in Amsterdam everyone speaks flawless English. It really is amazing. Also, the dutch are very friendly.

We hadn't realized it when we booked our trip, but we had the shortest time in Amsterdam because we arrived late at night and had to leave early in the morning. But we made the most of the two days we had. We saw the Van Gogh Museum, a interesting photography museum, and the outsides of a bunch of other museums, like the Anne Frank haus and the Rijsmuseum. We also walked through the red light district, visited a few coffee shops, and I personally fell in love with hot Belgium waffles with melted chocolate on top (dad, you HAVE to try them!). Since it was at the end of our ten-day long trip, it was nice to just be able to relax, which is what we mostly did.

____________________

This trip marked the end of my euro-travels for the semester. I have a month left to soak up Barcelona, then back to the States (but we all refuse to think about that... yet). Seeing all the very diverse and unique cities was such a great opportunity. Although, there is no doubt in my mind that Barcelona was the best choice to spend a semester. It felt so nice coming back home. God, I love that the beautiful, sunny, warm, lively city of Barcelona is what I call home ::sigh of contentment::