Highs and Lows

So during all of our study abroad meeting at school, they told us about the five stages. Basically, it means that when you study in a foreign country you will start in a good mood, crash, and then accept. Well, as far as I'm concerned, that describes the first hour of studying abroad. I think I've been through the five stages at least five times. But I think what makes me upset might be surprising, so read on.

High: I first got to the Barcelona airport, and none of my luggage was lost. (I have recently found out I am very lucky, many others had serious issues.) Oh my god. I'm in Barcelona. HOW COOL IS THIS?? I find where I need to go, check in, and I'm in a taxi on my way to my "colegio mayor," which basically means residence hall. Barcelona, here I come!

Low: I get out of the taxi and...I'm lost. They only told us the address, but what they failed to mention was that this particular address has about eight buildings. Right... I go into one of them, approach a receptionist, and try to communicate where I need to go. Now I am not horrible at Spanish, but when I tried to talk... Where did my Spanish go? Fortunately I managed, and I made it to my residence hall. Great. So I meet my RA, Xisca, and she is very nice and gets me situated with my...Spanish roommates?? My roommates aren't American?? Now this is not a bad thing in and of itself, but it wasn't what I was expecting at all. But, hey, I'm here to surround myself with a new culture, and what better way to do it? Okay. So then we get the dormitory rules. Some basic stuff: no alcohol in the dorms, no visitors after 11:00pm, no youtube...wait, what? No online videos or downloading anything at all. And they know. They have records. Big brother is watching you. There are even cameras outside of the gates to our building. Okay...I can deal with this.

High: The very first night, only a few other American students were there. So three others and I decide to go out and get something to eat and drink. We have great conversation, good food, and I think I really like them all. The next day, more IES students arrive and we all decide to walk to where our classrooms are located, just to make sure we could do it without getting lost. The other students seem really nice, too, and I think all is going well. I still love the city. What could be better than this?

Low: Americans are OBNOXIOUS. I know I'm supposed to save the America-bashing for when I get back, but I honestly completely understand why the rest of the world hates us. Basically, right now I love the city, I love the local students (they are sooooo nice), and I am sure I will love my classes, but the other IES students in my dormitory are nuts. Loud, crazy, unappreciative, etc. Let's see...we went out to lunch all together. One girl ordered some fried fish. What they gave her was apparently not what she had been expecting. Basically, it was a bunch of little fish dipped in batter and fried. You could still see the eyeballs. Okay, a little odd, but it's still fried fish. She tried it to be brave, and she even liked it. She then proceeded to cover it with a napkin because she couldn't stand the sight of it. That's so rude here it's not even funny. (By the way I tried one of her fish, and it was really good.) Other than that, though, all of my fellow dorm members just want to go out and get trashed. Every night. Even when we have to get up at 6:00am. Yeah.... Yay America!

High: Honestly, I don't want anybody to think I'm not having a good time. I'm having a great time; it's just disturbing to observe certain behaviors. Most of the people I've met really are good people. I love the food and the locals, and the city is so pretty to just walk in. I am so excited for the rest of the semester.

Next post(s): My field trip to Besalu y Vic, two old Catalan cities near Barcelona, and some perspective on the differences between Americans and Spaniards.

A Tale of Three Cities (Airport Adventures)

So even though I have more to write about than the airports, I'm splitting it into separate entries because they are separate stories. I like continuity. Before I talk about the airports, though, I'd like to share an interesting observation. Before I actually logged into blogspot, all of the buttons were in Spanish. I don't know why, but I didn't really expect that to happen, mostly because I thought Spain had its own separate set of websites. On the bright side, I just learned how to say "log in." Right, on to airports.

First of all, for anybody who would be worried, a seven-hour flight to Europe is not bad at all. I was wishing for more flight time to be honest; it wasn't quite long enough for me because I was napping and would have loved to stay asleep. So when we flew over London, where I made my connection flight, it was still really dark out. This was really exciting to me. I love flying over cities at night; flying over Washington DC is so cool-looking. London? Not so much. Maybe it was too cloudy, but I couldn't see anything at all until we were really close to the ground and when we were close enough well, to be honest, London kind of looked like a dimly lit Christmas tree. There were buildings, but none of them were lit up very much. There were cars on the streets, and there were streetlights. These were pretty uniform, though, and not very bright. I did observe that the cars were, indeed, driving on the other side of the road. (I already knew this; it's just fun to see for yourself.)

London airport is, I have to say, not particularly different from any other airport that I have been to. The layout of the airport is a little different; it takes forever to get from one place to another; I had to take two separate "buses" to get from where I came in to where I needed to be. Also, you don't learn you departure gate until 30-40 minutes before your flight is scheduled to take off. For my flight it was more like 20-25 minutes beforehand. So there are lots of group waiting areas in each terminal. The only other differences are that most people speak in a British accent, which I love, and all the prices are listed in pounds. Which doesn't really matter, because in the airport they accept any currency "of value." They were quite happy to take dollars, euros, or a credit card.

I had a five-hour layover, so I found a cafe, ordered breakfast (it was 8:00am for London), and a raspberry orange juice, which was quite good. Then I walked around all the shops, which were just your run-of-the-mill airport shops. Of course, since I was in an international airport, there were lots of tax-free shops that sold really cheap alcohol, perfume, etc. Then I got tired and waited until my next flight, which was to Barcelona.

Barcelona airport was still not that noticeably different from other airports; I guess an airport is an airport, at least in terms of the Western world, but there are a couple things that stick out in my mind. El Prat, the name of the airport, is not small by any means. But it is all connected. What a nice relief. Of course the most obvious change is that the signs were in three different languages, Catalan, Spanish, and English. It was also a very cool-looking airport; there were statues and the like. (See photo) I had to wait to check in, so I went to a lunch cafe and got a bite to eat. The food was a little bit different, but they had plenty of stuff that was very "American." But like I said, no huge difference.

So here ends my reflection on the airports, which is drawn-out for no reason other than to amuse myself before I can go to lunch. Lunch in my building does not start until 1:15, which is practically when lunch closes in the US. I did know this information coming in, of course, but even when your mind is prepared, your stomach isn't. So no huge airport crisis, no lost luggage and no lost Suzanne. Next post(s) will be about my first night and day here. Some interesting stuff.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! I want to share my Skype name with everybody, but I'm not putting it up on a public website, so email me or facebook me and I will send you the name if you want it. I miss everybody already!

Day of

So sometime around 8:00 last night it finally hit me. Oh my lord I'm about to leave for Spain. Yikes! (gulp) I finished my packing and everything fit!!!! It was very exciting to realize that I actually managed to fit everything into my allotted suitcases and actually even have room to spare. I get to bring home souvenirs! I've sent off my forms, made copies of my passport, checked into my flight online, and have prepared in every other way I could think of.

My mom and I have been running errands all day: bank, post office, etc. We're actually leaving for the airport in a little over an hour; bad weather is threatening to rear its ugly head, so to speak, so we're leaving extra time just in case.

So, yeah, nothing major to report. I've been getting the same lecture from all of my family members and even a few well-meaning friends, plus one Wachovia employee. Be careful, watch your belongings, don't go off with strangers, don't end up like that girl, blah blah. I'll try my best to stay out of trouble, but no promises. If anything major happens, it will at least make for a great entry in my blog. Perhaps a comparison of the two legal systems, or a review of the jails in Barcelona. Hahaha....heh. I sure hope I'm kidding.

Anyway, I must finish up some last minute business before heading out. My next entry will tell all about 1) the plane rides and 2) my first days in Spain. I'm really excited about orientation, but not so much about the scavenger hunt we're required to do. I swear, I will be in a senior home and they will still make me do f-ing scavenger hunts. Ah well. At least I'll be in Barcelona.

Hasta luego!

Packing

So right now I'm at my dad's place, and I am leaving for my mom's early, early Saturday morning. I'm leaving from there on the sixth for Barcelona, so that doesn't leave me much time. I'm trying to piece through all of my stuff to decide what to bring (and what not to bring). I am saying goodbye to a lot of my material goods, and I'm not bringing any books at all (gasp). This is a huge shocker to those of you who know me I'm sure.

Fitting an entire semester worth of stuff into a suitcase and a couple of bags is more difficult than I originally anticipated, especially since I have to bring sheets, towels, etc. with me. A bedding set apparently costs about 100 euro in Spain, so you can see why I am choosing to bring that stuff with me. Hopefully I'll work it all out.

Am I nervous? Not yet. Am I excited? Hell yeah. Am I stressed about packing? If you don't know the answer to that, you haven't been reading the last few paragraphs.