Week in Barcelona!

Buenos Días!

Sorry that I haven't posted anything about this week, I have been very busy with projects and papers approaching. The week was a very eventful one, and of course flew by just like this semester has! I don't believe that I only have a month left out here, I wish I was able to stop the time.

I had the opportunity to meet with all of my intercambios this week, and also met a new one. Alexander, another Catalan, who has lived in Barcelona for her entire life. In my opinion, my local friends that I have met have been one of the best parts of my experience. I enjoy learning about each of my friends, and their lives...it is really interesting learning about the differences in our cultures. My American friends have a hard time understanding why I like meeting so many intercambios, but they all have a different experience in mind than I do. Unlike most of the people out here, I really wanted to come here to experience the culture..which includes meeting local people that live here, which I find so rewarding. It will be nice knowing that in the future I will have friends that will be in Barcelona, so that every time I return I can visit them, and vice versa if they every wish to visit the United States. Many of my friends talk about having a desire to visit the main cities...LA, New York, Chicago, Boston..but of course I have to talk up Chicago..because it is the best city in the US..haha in my opinion of course.

It was nice staying in Barcelona this weekend. I had the opportunity to experience some more of Barcelona's excellent night life down by the beach. Many of my friends here have had friends visiting the last week, which was fun meeting some new people from the US. My roommate went to Costa Brava this weekend with IES, I was alone this weekend. Friday night after I ate dinner, Anna, Casi and myself had a very interesting conversation about the differences in our cultural norms. We talked about the age restrictions here in Spain in terms of drinking, smoking, etc. 18 years old is the "legal" drinking age, smoking age, and driving age. However, the drinking and smoking ages are not that strict, one can drink in the presence of family in a restaurant without any problems at all. As I've mentioned, drinking here is such a cultural, and social activity. It is completely normal for children, 12 years old and up to have a small glass of champagne or cava in a special occasion, or even at dinner. I mean a small glass of whatever it may be, never to drink in excess. Another interesting difference is the legality of drugs, specifically marijuana, or "porros" as they call it here in Spain. With all of the recent speculations in the US about how legalizing marijuana would "help" our economy..I am indifferent on the legalization if it. In Spain, it is 'legal' to have an amount for individual use, and individual use only. By 'legal' I'm not sure if there is actually a law, but nothing ever happens if one is caught with an amount for individual use. If there is any intent to distribute then there are problems, but 'porros' really aren't looked down upon here. People will be smoking on the streets, futbol games, even on the metro I have witnessed it. Marijuana is really not looked down upon here, and individual use is not prohibited.

They became very interested about how it was in the United States. They had a very difficult time understanding how we are able to obtain a drivers license at the age of 16, legally buy tobacco at the age of 18, and enlist in the army at the age of 18 as well, but unable to legally drink alcohol until the age of 21. Anna and Casi previously were unaware of these laws, and were completely shocked by it. As we discussed, it simply is not logical that we are able to go to war but not 'legally' able to have a drink at a restaurant with our parents (depending on the state). It seems like the logical thing to do would be to have everything legal at the age of 18, the age of adulthood? It is very interesting because NOBODY that I have met here understands our laws at home. It really makes no sense to me whatsoever, but that explains the differences in our cultures. Although there are some speculations here in Spain because many teens have began to start drinking excessively, and drinking and driving has become a rising problem here in Spain, as it has been one in the US for a while now.

Well anyways, I thought that was one of the more interesting conversations that we have had.

I an unable to grasp the fact that I only have a month left here. My friends and I try not to talk about this, but it is becoming difficult to ignore the fact. We all feel like we have just gotten here, and it blows my mind that I have been here for three months. But then as I look back on my trip so far, I have had many amazing experiences and visited some awesome places!

Of course this weekend in Barcelona was rainy, and the weather has been the worst since I have been here....how convenient that it is the one weekend I have stayed in Barcelona in a while. At least Friday was pretty nice, but I had planned to be relaxing on the beach all weekend. I guess I can't really complain about one bad weekend..I hear Chicago is supposed to get 6-8 inches today? Oouch..I'll take the few days of raining haha.

Last week I met with an American woman that works for IES, Betsey about international experiences abroad. She gave me some very helpful insight on finding the right companies, or programs that offer internships, or even jobs abroad. From what I understand, it is very difficult to obtain a work permit in Spain, but there are companies, and even study abroad programs that offer them. I wouldn't mind interning in Barcelona for a summer? Haha that would be nice, and is definitely something I am going to research this summer, and next year. I would love to work out here, but as many people have told me..Spain is a place to come to in the end of your career, not the beginning. Right now finding a job in Spain is very difficult, and there have been many protests!

The protests, manifestaciones, as they call them here...have been very strong the last couple of weeks. Cataluña, historically has been very passionate about politics for centuries, especially during the civil war here, and during Francos rule. They are notorious for their protests here, and the last few weeks I have witnessed a few of them. By protests, I don't mean how we think of protests at home..at least in my experiences of recent US protests...we walk around with signs and megaphones..but they have to be organized, permitted, and peaceful as well. From what I have witnessed here, it is everything but that. The protesters must get permission to demonstrate, but they have gotten very, very violent. Recently there have been students protesting at the Universities, and professors as well..as the education system here is starting to be reformed, which has infuriated many people. Last Wednesday, I was going to meet one of my intercambios by a university because she had an architecture exposition that I wanted to see. Little did I know that there was a demonstration scheduled that same evening at UB, a university in the center of the city. I was about 15 minutes from there but there were police everywhere, directing traffic, etc. Once I got home that night, the demonstration as all over the news. Anna told me that it reminded her of the protests during the times of Franco. The police were literally beating the students, professors, journalists, and even tourists. On the news they showed police hitting tourists, a little 10 year old boy got hit in the face, and even camera men were getting beat. It was literally insane seeing all this on TV, and it was taking place by the UB campus, Plaza Catalunya, and even Las Ramblas. I could not believe how violent these protests were, and IES obviously advises us to stay clear of these protests..just crazy how bloody it was.

Well, it is almost time for spring break, and Dad will arrive on Friday. I'm looking forward to showing around Barcelona so he can see how I have been living for the last 3 months. I also cannot wait to go to ROME!! I finally will be able to practice my poor Italian, haha. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is HUGE here in Spain, Italy, and many other parts of Europe. The south of Spain, Sevilla in particular has awesome fiestas for Semana Santa, which I want to visit one day. Rome will be awesome though, we are staying very close to the Vatican, I cannot wait to finally have my first experience in Italy!

Well I believe that I must take advantage of this crummy Sunday. I have much work to do today, so I don't have to worry about it once I return from Rome. With only a month left, I must decide what else I would like to see. As I am running a little low on funds, I'm not sure if I will still be able to travel back to the south of Spain to Sevilla and Granada, but we will see. There is much more I want to see in Barcelona, and other parts of Catalunya, that are much cheaper, and just as rewarding. But I will definitely post again in a couple of days, and hopefully add some pictures as well!

Ciao!!