Two weeks into Barcelona

So I've been in Barcelona for a little less than two weeks, and so far it has been excellent. The city is gorgeous, the weather is beautiful, and the people are great. At first it was tough to get the nerve to speak Spanish to some stranger, asking for help or directions, but now its become almost natural (though my Spanish is still far from fluent, or good for that matter). When I first decided on Barcelona I was a bit nervous about the fact that the official language is Catalan and not Spanish, but everyone here is educated in both, and there are so many people from other parts of Spain that Spanish is just as prevalent. But people up here definitely do take pride in their Catalan heritage, and in some smaller areas they'd rather speak to you in English than in Spanish.

I live with a single señora in a penthouse in the Grácia area of town - I lucked out to say the least. She's a great hostess - cooks great food, takes good care of me, helps with my Spanish, and she knows her way around town. She has been a DJ since she was younger and still does it from time to time. She's a hip lady to say the least, and we get along real well.

Anyway, what have I done while I've been here? The first week was all orientation things, though we'd probably only spend a few hours a day on that, the rest on tours and free time, walking about the city, looking at old cathedrals, seeing pleny of Gaudi designed buildings (and the Parc Guell, which was really cool). I must say that the architecture in Barcelona is spectacular - a mix of so many different things that blend together so well.

The weekend was a lot of fun too - people in Spain stay out LATE, though not just on the weekends. Its not all that uncommon to see an older couple strolling along a Plaza at 12:30 am during the week, or to see friends having a drink together at 1:30 am on a tuesday. But when people "go out" - they mean it. Some clubs are open till 8 am, and they aren't empty by then either. Saturday we went to a bar to watch the football (soccer) match between FC Barcelona and Espanyol. Unfortunately Barça let the lead slip away and ended up tying. The season is almost over, and a win last Saturday would have been crucial. The last games are tomorrow and Barça needs to win and have Real Madrid lose or tie in order to win the leage. Its a long shot but you never know.

With this week came the start of school. I'm taking two classes, a language course and one called "Cultural Encounters in Spain" which examines cultural changes since the death of Franco. The teacher is hilarious and I really like what he's laid out for the next four weeks. Should be very insightful. My language course has eleven people in it, and the culture one only four which is a nice change of pace from the way things work back home. In total, there are 25 people in the program, people from all over the place back home, and we thankfully get along real well. We all lucked out with a good group of people.

This weekend we're going to Madrid. The train leaves tomorrow (saturday) at 7:30 am. Not the most favorable time, but there will be plenty of time to sleep on the train. The trip should be a lot of fun - we have a pretty hefty itinerary with a lot of tours/museums, but we also have a lot of free time.

I'll post again sometime after I return, and will also post some more photos. Hope all is well back home, wherever home may be.

-Matt