In Spain, we eat lunch at 3, and dinner around 9. We get up and offer our seat on the metro to any present Elder. We walk, a LOT. We spend a good chunk of our evening dining with friends for dinner. We kiss each other on both cheeks when we greet each other. We don't rush, anywhere. We do a lot of new things, that are specific to the culture found in Barcelona. After getting over the jet lag, I immediately wanted to see everything. It seems unfair that I only get to be in this beautiful country for 30 days. I plan to make every one of those 43,200 minutes. A lot can happen in a minute. You can miss the metro and be late for class, you could make the decision to go to that concert tonight, your "tanning session" at the beach could turn into a "burning session", you could get a glimpse of the most beautiful cathedrals on the planet, and I can't wait to find out what every minute will consist of.
As excited as I sound through this whole experience, I think I need to back track, to about minute 1 in Barcelona. Minute 1 was absolutely terrifying. Actually Minute 1 through about Minute 30 was absolutely terrifying. When we first arrived to meet our Host mom, we were one of the first ones to get whisked away from our new group of study abroad students (who we hadn't even met yet) and taken to our home stay. We saw the director of our program quickly enough to say "hi" before heading to our new home for the next month.We found out immediately that our host mom did not speak a word of English. So here we are, my roommate and I, in a cab in Barcelona, Spain, on our way to her house, that we had never seen, with no way of communicating. While in the cab, we used google translate to figure out what we would be doing when we got back to the house. She had prepared us dinner, so we sat at our first meal, stumbling over the little Spanish we knew to try and form a relationship with Begona. This woman is amazing, and has been nothing short of a perfect host so far. She always has our best interest in mind, and takes great care of us. Communication quickly increased with the improvements in our Spanish, and with the help of her boyfriend and two daughters who all speak English well. We are so lucky to have her, and have now formed a wonderful relationship with her but man, minute 1 (through 30) was a scary one.
Advice for anyone traveling to Barcelona (or any new country) for the first time, that I wish I had known,
1. You ARE a tourist, embrace it! Everyone will probably know that you are anyway
2. Although you are a tourist, do everything you can to submerge yourself in and adopt the local culture
3. You're going to do something awkward that is done differently in Spain (or this new country) than in America
4. Take the time to brush up on the language. (especially polite greetings or questions)
5. Make every minute count. See it all, do it all!
10,080 minutes down, 33,120 minutes to go!
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