Hey there, Collegiettes™! I’m writing to you this morning from my dorm room in one of the beautiful residences of the University of Barcelona!
Complete with in-suite kitchenettes and bathrooms, the residence sits near the top of a hill surrounded by local markets. It’s a short walk to the metro, putting the entire city at the tip of my fingers—a dream location for anyone looking to really get to know Barcelona.
The journey from the airport to my home for the next few months was a lot smoother than I expected. My cab driver jokingly asked me if I had a “muerto” (dead person) in my overstuffed suitcase, but luckily was able to find Passeig dels Til·lers (Catalan!) with ease…and without any casualties.
I’ve been in Spain for almost a week now and the time has absolutely flown by. One of the first things I’ve noticed about the city is how different its schedule is from my normal one in college or even at home. Las Ramblas—a wide, picturesque street that cuts through the oldest part of Barcelona, separating el Barrio Gotic and el Raval—is full of pedestrians every night until at least four or five in the morning (possibly even later, but as of right now I can’t confirm). Interestingly, these late nights don’t stop people from waking up much earlier than someone, like myself, whose earliest college course last terms started at 11am, can begin to understand.
In what seems to me like an effort to compensate for the presumed sleep schedule of many residents (but probably actually has a lot more to do with the heat in the middle of the day), we have the glorious concept of the “siesta.” Yup, those are real: naptime is planned into each day here. Although I’m not sure if people actually sleep during this time, Barcelona takes its siestas seriously. With a few exceptions, it’s basically impossible to find an open market, store or restaurant during those precious afternoon hours.
My class schedule follows this model as well. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, we meet in the university for a two-hour class at 11 and have a large lunch/siesta break until reuniting for “itinerarios,” which are longer, student-led group exploration sessions focused on the part of the city we talked about in the morning. My favorite stop on these tours so far has been the visit we made to the Catedral de Barcelona, which was absolutely breathtaking. The picture at right doesn’t do it justice. Perhaps not surprisingly, the church was strict about allowing people inside, requiring skirts that are at least knee length and covered shoulders for entry.
My first jet-lag-free weekend in Barcelona happens to coincide with the Festival of San Juan. In celebration of this festival, thousands gathered on the beaches at Barceloneta last night to take in the scene—complete with fireworks and bonfires—and ring in the summer solstice. Though the sunrise over the Mediterranean was less spectacular than it might have been due to a lot of cloud cover, festival activities gave me great way to spend my first Thursday night in Spain.
One thing a lot of my classmates have been talking about since we got to Barcelona, other than how amazing it is that we’re actually here of course, is the possibility of making a weekend visit to another European city. We have a group trip to Madrid planned for the end of July, but I’m currently debating a venture to either Paris or London…any thoughts?
On that note, I’m about to make the quick trip to the coast to soak up some sun at the playa; it’s a beautiful beach day here and I have pretty solid chunk of reading to get through before Tuesday. I’ll write with more updates on everything Barcelona next week. Thanks for reading!