Week 7

3/28

Things that are weird in Spain:

- Some people don't wears socks (I don't understand it, it's so uncomfortable)

- There are no railings or protection from falling from high places. My apartment is 7 stories up, yet the bottom of the windows are down to my knees and very easy to fall out of

- There are small extra toilets in every bathroom, and I'm still not sure what they're for

- They call sandwiches "bikini's" (this could be a Catalonia thing, but why "bikini"

- People in the gym make constant loud grunting noises during their workouts (pet peeve)

Midterms this week proved a big point to me. Spanish classes are much more difficult than American classes. I take that back, the class itself is very easy, but this only makes the tests more difficult when the teacher hasn't provided the necessary material or prepared us enough for the test. Spanish students seem to be used to this, but I was completely caught off guard when we were directed to write 2 pages about the entirety of the 'drivers of the supply chains delivery structure'. Sound fun? The only teacher that prepared us well and gave us guidance on the exam was my Spanish professor, Adria Sole, who has taught me a lot of useful real world Spanish already.

I became friends with some Spanish professional basketball players last weekend at the bar. They play for E.U Sant Cugat, just North of Barcelona and I went to their game on Sunday. Spanish fans are so much more involved in the game whether they understand it or not. It immediately felt like I was watching FC Barcelona play soccer. The fans were pounding on large drums and signing chants throughout the game, but then they would cheer at the wrong times. Do they know anything about basketball or is this just a substitute for when FC Barcelona isn't playing. Either way it was a great experience and while Sant Cugat lost it was cool to see my new friends play, and witness a real European basketball atmosphere. The refs were the best part. They knew less about basketball than the fans. Every single play was an uncalled travel, every other play was an uncalled foul. While I'm all for the refs letting the players play through contact, people were getting close-lined in the face and it wasn't getting called. (I honestly thought I would be better than half the team, and I'm not even that good at basketball.)

I have turned into the biggest heavyweight during my time here. It's not even the quantity of how much I drink, it's just the consistency and how often I'm going to bars. On Saturday I drank a bottle of wine, 3 beers, 3 shots and a long island iced tea in the span of 1 hour. In the

end, the most I felt was buzzed. Something could be wrong. On another note, I constantly see Raiders gear here, and for a while it was exciting to see that Europe loves the Raiders. But this weekend my friends told me that people only wear their gear because they like the emblem and the colors. Makes sense, the Raiders suck. You could compare it to the Yankee's symbol. Many people wear it, whether they watch baseball or not.

Week 6

3/23

I just got home from my 8 am. I learned a lot today, but not from the class, never use vending machines to buy anything in Spain. Two seperate vending machines took my money, and then trapped the item in between the glass and the casing. What are the odds of that. Never the less, I guess from now on I will only be purchasing snacks from the cafe on campus if I get hungry. Going back to class and being distracted the entire time by

snickering French students only made things worse. I have heard rumors about the hate Europeans have for French people, but now I fully understand. Every French person I've met have been loud, judgemental or just outright annoying. Their language sucks and they smell bad, sorry but it's true.

This week I've been writing down things in Spain that are weird. You could call this culture shock:

-The massive doorknobs in the middle of the door, but only on the outside

-The small "elevators" that are creatively different in every apartment

-Most restaurants are extremely narrow (like a wingspan length wide)

-People speak to some people in Catalan and others in Spanish, somehow they remember who they speak what language to (when you meet people, do you introduce yourself in Catalan or Spanish)

-Everyone stares. I don't know if this is because I wear American clothing or if I'm just insanely handsome, but everyone, everywhere, stare at me like I'm some sort of alien. I may have mentioned this in a previous blog, but it's getting weird!

It's so easy to stay busy here. Every week feels like a completely different experience. Some weeks will be full of traveling, exploring and playing sports, other weeks will be full of partying, drinking and going to the beach. I've met a lot of Erasmus students which is both a positive and a negative. While I'm not learning Spanish as quickly or fluently as I could be, Erasmus students are always eager to go to a bar or plan a trip. Spaniards are just boring. But I don't blame them, I'm sure after a while of partying and nightlife it turns into a chore. My roommates almost never go out, and while they don't work during the week they constantly talk about how busy they are (big pet peeve). Everyones busy, it's not something you should be flexing. I digress.

This week was great. While Saint Marys lost to Uconn in the 2nd round of the March Madness tournament, FC Barcelona won El Clasico on a 92nd minute winner by Frank Kessie. It was cool to watch it with people that are so dedicated to the team. Plus, I learned a lot of cool new Spanish swear words. On Tuesday night my German friend Benito and I made it to the final of a 70+ person beer pong tournament, and while I don't want to take all the credit, I definitely carried. Each round you won, you got more beers so as I'm sure you can guess I was absolutely buzzing by the time we actually got to the final game. Hence, us losing in the final round.

Last night I smoked weed for the first time since I've gotten here. They are much more strict on smoking weed here compared to California, making it hard to acquire. Honestly it wasn't even worth it, I can confirm Cali weed is far superior.

Next week I leave for Eastern Europe. I'm sure there will be plenty to blog about so stay tuned.

Week 5

3/11

After being fully incapacitated for 10 days I woke up today and realized it's already the middle of March. I was warned about how fast time moves when you're in a foreign country and it's finally starting to show it gritty teeth. On the other hand, my arrival here feels like years ago rather than just a month. I have 3 months left and with the ways things are going right now, they're gonna go by in a flash.

On Tuesday I met some friends at my favorite club in Barcelona. Shoko. We had some drinks and left to go to the beach. Arshan (from Atlanta) decided to jump in the water but got out after a few minutes because it was too cold. One thing led to another and next thing I know Arshan is fighting in the sand with a bunch of frat guys from Utah. There was blood everywhere, but Arshan held his own in the fight until we got over to them to break it up. I guess tensions flare when people are drunk. Who knew! The worst part was that I got blood all over my white shoes and my light blue pants. It was the first brawl I've been apart of during my time here, and in the end, a complete waste of time and energy.

It's crazy how different clothing styles are in Barcelona. Every guy wears nice polos and dresses as if he were going to an important interview. Even going to the clubs everyone dresses like they're the plus one for a wedding reception. I came to Barcelona with my nicest 'American' clothing. Lots of over sized shirts with cool designs and jeans or

sweatpants. To my surprise I stick out like a sore thumb everywhere I go. I get stares from old Spanish ladies on the bus, and even in the gym I get awkward glances from people watching my form or gym style. I am tempted to go to Zara and purchase a polo shirt and some new cuffed cargo pants, but I'm really trying to budget everything I do and I don't know if this would be a waste of resources.

I have been sticking to my budget very consistantly. Staying under $1000 a month, including rent and excursions, has proven difficult but not impossible. For the month of March I am at around $800 including rent so far, I'm right around where I want to be.

3/15

The weekend was fairly low key. I went to the Barcenoleta with some Americans, got some Chips de Alcachofa (I do not recommend) and played basketball with some Barcelona

natives. My roommates brought me to a Spanish house party on Saturday night and it was great. As a foreigner you're automatically the life of the party just based off the way you speak. We played all sorts of party games including musical chairs with shots. Americans can handle their alcohol much better than Spaniards. I took twice the amount of shots my roommates did and smoked some weed, yet at the end of the night I was the one carrying him home.

I got a massive haircut this weekend for about half the price of a small trim in San Francisco. I finally look like a Spaniard. It's still curly on the top, but the sides are cut short and the back and front are clean. People finally see me as a Spaniard just based off that, but the way I dress still confuses them. To go to a store or to the market Americans wouldn't put too much thought into what they're wearing. Maybe some sweatpants, a hoodie, and some socks and slides. Europeans can't stand this. It's as if your expected to dress up in a suit and tie just to go and get a slice of pizza at the local Pizzeria. I wore a hoodie to class the other day and was absolutely roasted by my friends for it. Mental.

A lot of my Spanish friends know a lot about California, but when I ask what they think about San Francisco they say three things consistantly. Homeless people, wind and the golden gate bridge. It's so sad that this is what my hometown has come to. They tell me stories of their visits to San Francisco and how they were assaulted or spit on by crackheads in the street. I don't know how San Francisco got this way (well drugs and bad governmental decisions) but something needs to change. Even the streets of Barcelona are cleaner, store

front owners clean the street in front of their stores to make it look nice and friendly. There's hardly any trash along sidewalks and even metros and public restrooms smell relatively normal. The one thing about Spain is the construction. Every street corner has fenced in concrete slabs and metal pillars jutting out from from broken down buildings or sidewalk maintenance. Some buildings have been demolished, but it looks like the construction company just left it there and hasn't put up any signs or caution to stop people from entering.

It's the middle of the week and Greg is coming down from France to visit for the day. I think his girlfriend has online work so we're going to drive down south along the coast since I have the day off from uni. It'll be good to get out of Barcelona for a while and enjoy some sun and fresh air. We might even get dinner with Jeff tonight, but we'll see what happens and if the celebrity can make an appearance.