Week 1: Settling into My New Life in Barcelona

As of today, I have been in Spain for exactly one week! My time here has been very eventful and while I can’t relay everything that I’ve done and seen, I can share some of my most memorable moments and initial thoughts. 

First Impressions

Walking around Barcelona has been what I’ve been spending the bulk of my time doing. I’ve seen many different parts of the city, but not all. Every time I step out the door to go shopping for clothes, get food, or visit new friends, I am amazed by this city. There is so much everywhere and most things feel close together but at the same time, the city isn’t too crowded or dirty feeling. 

One of my favorite parts of the week was when I went to the store to get groceries with one of my roommates to cook dinner. We didn’t even have to walk a full block away before we reached two grocery stores with exactly what we needed to cook dinner and have drinks. The chicken, zucchini, potatoes, onion, and lemon that we bought for a meal to fill two (and with leftovers) cost us less than 8 Euros. I am still amazed by this and it’s encouraged me to cook more here!

The food that we’ve had from restaurants has also been very good (in my opinion but I tend to like almost everything). Jamón ibérico and patatas bravas have been the most common Spanish foods that I’ve had and I like them both a lot. I still haven’t tried paella somehow, but that is a main dish as well. There are also just a lot of restaurants for the other types of cuisines that have all been really tasty. For some reason, I didn’t expect to be able to find Japanese or Mexican food but I’ve had both here and they were really yummy. Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the food but I also did have low expectations coming into this.

Also, I took the metro for the first time on Sunday and will be utilizing it much more from now on. I really appreciate their use of the bus and metro here and the metro has actually been really easy to navigate. The only problem is that it’s hard to get started with the three-month pass but once I get it, I’ll be all set! 

Daily Life

First of all, I don’t think I’ll ever go to bed before 1 a.m. in the next four months of my life. In fact, I’ll probably go to bed after 4 a.m. more than three days a week. I think that my parents and I go to bed and wake up at the same time but with a 6-hour time difference between us. If you know me, you know that I am very strict about getting 8 hours of sleep a night and I’m also an early bird. I can kiss that habit goodbye though. I haven’t crashed yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen eventually and I say bring it on! I got great advice from my friend that finding comfort within the uncomfortable is all part of the growth that I’ll be enduring during this experience. 

But seriously, waking up at 12 p.m. and getting dinner no earlier than 8 p.m. is very different for me. I actually can’t believe this is my life now. Something that we were told during orientation was that in the U.S. time is money. Here it is not. I needed to hear that because it helped me come to terms with the fact that I’ll just have to accept that things are not what I’m used to here but that’s fine. I’m really enjoying learning and becoming accustomed to this culture. I may regret saying this later, but I’m already feeling like four months here isn’t enough. So far, I just truly love it. 

History Lesson of the Week

One thing that I’m sure my grandparents will be happy to read that I’ve done is visit the Casa Batlló by Gaudi. I did a tour of this landmark on my second day here and it was beautiful. The architecture is all about bringing nature to life and it was really fun to learn about. Now, I’m even able to point out some other spots of the city that were designed by Gaudi. I’m going back this week with my abroad program and I’m planning on listening to the audio tour in Spanish to practice more! 

Notable Quotable of the Week

“Always carry a deck of cards with you wherever you go.”

One of my roommates here taught me this and for some reason, it really stuck with me. I think the phrase not only has a nice ring to it but it also is a great piece of advice. Cards are a great way to keep everyone entertained and you may need them when you least expect it. We’ve run into many nights where cards were needed. Also crazily enough, my roommate knows how to play Euker and I’ve never met anyone else who knows that game! That just reminded me of home and my family which was nice. Maybe I will try to teach my other roommates how to play so that all four of us can play together.

I will admit, having time to get on my computer and work on my blog has been hard. But I’m still determined to keep up with this! If you have anything you’d like to hear from me whether it be about UCSD, books, or my experience here, leave that suggestion in a comment below!