Holly Dickson
I'm living in Barcelona for the next three months, learning a bit of Spanish, fitting into another culture, and grabbing as many opportunities as possible to see the rest of Europe. HollyinBarca
Travel Blog Posts
Ocho cosas sobre mi tiempo en España
Published: March 30th 2011Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona » Barcelona
March 30th 2011
1. The most American influence I have noticed here is in the music. There's a coffee shop that I get a cafe con leche at every day before school. Everything in the shop is in Catalan, but the music consists of Dido, Michael Jackson, Van Morrison and the like. All of the clothing stores play rap and hip hop that was popular in the US a few months ago. Clubs, bars, and metro stations all play American music. There's always someone set up in the metro tunnels playing music and hoping for a bit of extra change. Whenever the music involves more than playing a saxophone or violin, it's of American covers. On Monday I was on my way to the park and listened to a man sing, "I'm stuck in Folsom Prison, and the time ... read more
March 27th 2011
The weeks are slipping away from me here. The trees are blossoming and blooming and slowly, but surely, the Barcelonans are beginning to emerge from their layers of black and grey down jackets, boots, scarves, mittens, and hats. Every once in a while I’ll spot a few toes twinkling in the sun if someone happens to be daring enough to wear sandals – but usually those people are the most obvious foreigners. I honestly don’t know what’s up with the very strict policy of black, brown, beige, and grey clothes that the Spaniards seem to adhere to. And honestly, they wear as much clothing, or more, as I did on a cold day back in Fairbanks… and we’re on the Mediterranean? With the thermometer regularly reaching a lovely 18 or 19 degrees (about 65 – ... read more
March 14th 2011
I have to admit that I’ve spent the last three weeks attending school rather intermittently. My week is already only 4 days long and we were given last Monday off because Christmas fell on a Sunday last year. Yes, the Barcelona government felt they didn’t receive enough vacation time during the holidays this year (Christmas is huge here – they were celebrating their biggest part of Christmas when I arrived on January 6th) and was generous enough to declare a city-wide holiday last Monday. I didn’t mind. In the last three weeks I’ve found myself in Africa, Ireland, and the south of Spain. It hasn’t left much time for school, or blogging, but today I find myself back in Barcelona sitting in a café, sipping on my Café Jamaica (yum), watching the rain pound on the ... read more
February 21st 2011
I'm beginning to realize traveling is nothing but a chain of disasters that miraculously spit you out in your final destination - whether that place was your original intention or not. This Saturday my roommates and I got up dreadfully early for any day of the week, but particularly early for a Saturday - 8:45 - and journeyed to the Montserrat monastery to hike for the day. The disasters began early: after our 20 minute metro ride to the train station we missed the hourly train to Montserrat by just 2 minutes. We spent the next hour in a cafe down in the metro feeling quite grumpy with each other and eating strange sugar muffins to try and satiate our appetite. The train finally came, and with no seats left we took the uncomfortable handicap seats ... read more
February 16th 2011
Rome caught me a little off-guard. I had pretty high expectations, and although they certainly weren't dashed, the city was different than I imagined. Rome is very old and its age is apparent both in the Roman aqueducts and ruins that stand on every block and in the streets and maintenance of the entire city. I'm beginning to think I'm being spoiled by Barcelona - at least in comparison to Paris and Rome, Barca is very clean, has amazing public transportation, and blue skies almost every day. Rome came through with marvelous Italian charm, history that truly left my jaw gaping a few times, and the best pizza of my life thus far. This trip was already paid for and arranged by my study abroad program here in Barcelona. It was great because it erased the ... read more
February 8th 2011
After four weeks of living in Barcelona I spent the weekend in Paris with my roommates and three guys who are in the same study abroad program and live next door. It was a lovely 60 degrees in Barcelona when we set off on Thursday afternoon and surprisingly not too much colder when we landed in Paris, or near Paris. We flew into Beauvais, which is a little over an hour outside of Paris, because we could get very cheap tickets on Ryanair to that airport. It was dark on the bus ride into the city, but as we got closer we could see the light show on the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The first thing that struck me about Paris was how 'American' it is. They mostly drive cars instead of mopeds and scooters, ... read more
January 30th 2011
A year ago I was examining shiny brochures filled with pictures of exotic places, happy students, and quotes that said things like: The Experience of a Lifetime or The Time of Your Life is Waiting for You or Are You Ready for a Life-Changing Experience? It's hard to know what something is like until you are actually experiencing it, but now the thought of those brochures is comical. How could they possibly have summed up and described the study abroad experience to me with a few pictures and words? I am so much more aware here. I'm not surrounded by the comforts of home and people I've known for a long time. Somehow the absence of familiarity combined with the rush of everything new makes me very perceptive of every experience I have. It makes some ... read more
January 20th 2011
Bon Dia! (Buenos Dias in Catalan) I added a few photo's from the last few weeks, hope you enjoy. I only have classes Monday through Thursday here, so it's already my weekend. Not exactly sure what's in store yet, but something exciting I'm sure. Last night Connor and I bought tickets to Dublin for an extra long weekend we have in March. He also got tickets to Amsterdam with his roommates for a different weekend in March, and my roommates and I are looking at going to Switzerland soon and getting a guided weekend trip to Morocco. The guided trip is very cheap and from what we've heard, it sounds like it would be best for us to go with a guide. It includes a camel ride! Hah. It has 'cooled' off here the last few ... read more
January 17th 2011
Barcelona has been my new home for... 11 days already? The last 11 days feel like they should have been stretched out into two months. So many new people, languages, mannerisms, classes, food, weather, the list goes on... It's impossible to know what to begin describing. I'll start with my apartment. I have a great apartment in the Eixample district of Barcelona. It's surrounded by tapas bars and cafes on every corner. Some of the best food I've had so far is in the Bar Paris on the street level of our apartment building; my favorite item on the menu is the Bikini con Huevos - it consists of thinly sliced ham, fresh bread, olive oil, cheese, and an egg. It's simple and fresh and delicious. That and a cafe con leche are heavenly. But the ... read more
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