Primera y Segunda Semanas

After this week there is only one major problem I have to sort out: I am never willingly going back to the US, and somehow I have to eventually return. I haven't found a solution yet, but if you have ideas, please let me know.

Spanish:
Chris, remember how I told you that half of your score on every exam is based on how good of a test taker you are. A prime example was the Spanish placement exam I took right off the get-go. Despite knowing that I shouldn’t answer if I didn't know the concept, the terrible "edge" which I inherited from Dad prevents me from making such a rational decision. This being the case I placed into the most advanced level titled "Native Speakers." If you ever heard me attempt to speak Spanish you are on the ground laughing right now. Needless to say the first day in this class was very humbling and I am now in intermediate 2, a level still far beyond me, but I'm always up for a good challenge (let's hope). Spanish class is everyday at 9am until Jan 29 and then 3 days a week at 9 from there on out. Please consider that it is impossible to go to sleep before 3am here and so I have a new best friend and his name is Siesta.

Safety:
I don't care what anyone says, Barcelona is way safer than any city in the US. Don't worry Madre, this doesn't mean I am letting my guard down by any means, I am still uber paranoid about protecting my stuff BUT if you are smart there is nothing dangerous. There are no aggressive people here like there are in America. Which brings me to my next topic...

Americans:
I am an American. I love my country....BUT I can't stand Americans here. They make me so ashamed. At bars/discos for example Spaniards are all very chill, people don't binge drink here, you cock block a guy, step on his shoes, spill on him...No problema! They smile at you and go on trying to woo other women. It's great! Americans however drink themselves silly, they get very aggressive, they make fun of professors’ English (even though it might be their 4 or 5th language), and stick out like sore ignorant thumbs in this city. The first part of our stay here it was no problem, but Monday a huge batch of study abroad groups arrived and in every hypocritical way possible, I wish they would turn around and go home :).

Sabado:
Sabado was my first experience with Barcelona night life, and botellion. What is botellion? You may ask... it is the awesomeness which is casually drinking vino con tus amigos en parques, la playa, etc. This of course can't start until 12:30...because the Spanish are crazy. Afterward you then go to a bar, after the bar to a disco (very fun as described before) and Spain has you in bed at a comfy 8 am. Don’t worry parents; believe it or not the whole night amounted to about 4 drinks...over 8 hours...like I said people have fun without binge drinking.

Domingo:
Sunday was a whole day of exploring the city. Parents, I know that you have been here but I guarantee you have missed some of Barcas most beautiful parts. I fought the urge to take pictures as I think ill hold off until after winter...but it didn't prevent me and my group of amigos to explore all parts of the city. What makes this city incredible is that every part is genuinely different and just as gorgeous. It’s like you took 10 of Europe’s most beautiful parts and merged them into one city (not too far from the historical truth). The night appropriately closed with tapas and sangria at a fantastic cafe outdoors.

Martes:
Classes, oh classes. There is a reason that my host university is the number one MBA program in the world: IT IS FREAKIN HARD. Unbelievably hard, and according to everyone here, one should only aspire to achieve the magnificent grade of.....a C. Spanish classes son MUY diferente que clases in los estados unidos. The average size hangs around 15 students, the professors are aggressive and the Spanish students LOVE to talk. It’s essentially a battle between the professor and the students. One of my professors enjoys slamming books on the desk to shut everyone up...its interesting to say the least. Either way I'm sticking to the "Cream always rises" (Fasoli, David E.) philosophy y espero que it works. With a little sweat and bags under the eyes in the recipe there is always hope.

Stuff:
Shit is hard to get here. By this point I know the city pretty well, and if you do not want to get ripped off good luck finding the smallest of things. As much as I love running to a Corte Ingles to buy something I need, it’s expensive and you must instead desperately find a Chino. The Spanish, very politically incorrect way of referring to a store with cheap things (usually run by a Chinese person…hence the chino).

Random Items:

SORRY THIS IS WHERE MY INTERNET BUGGED OUT AND ABOUT 2 MORE PAGES WERE DELETED…me”LL TRY AND REMEMBER WHAT I WROTE...

- My Spanish teacher is a 24 year old Spanish hotty. When I tried to get out of the class and drop to a lower one she refused to let me saying I was her “estudiante major”…which for our purposes meant that she loves me, wants to get married, and have beautiful European babies. All kidding aside I spend most of the class joking with her in spanish while my classmates fight hard to stay awake. My prediction is that she’ll realize her unyielding love for me within the month.

- RIP Sleep. It’s been a good 21 years, maybe its good that we’re forced to take a break for a semester. I just hope you come back to me when I return. They don’t know how to sleep here…

- Housing situation: Ok so this is updated since the one written Before the internet Crash (BC). Monday I will be moving in with a young couple: 35 and 32 years old, their 4-month old baby and their dog. Any potential problems with this situation aren’t worth dwelling on as you can formulate them yourself, but the awesome things about this new set-up are as follows: FOOD. Food is SO expensive here. At this point I am paying for 3 meals a day costing me about 30-40 Euro A DAY! I am not even stuffing myself silly, I am legitimately finding the cheapest places possible (McDonald’s equivalents). A sandwich by itself, no sides or bebidas is like 8 Euro…so having home cooked meals will be great. LAUNDRY: as much as I would love to save my dirty laundry to have my family do once I move in I don’t feel too great about the “Hi, nice to meet you, here are my dirty underwear” scenario. This being the case I am going to attempt to do laundry for the first time here in a bit…wish me luck. UNCLE JON: Sure the baby might keep me up at night, but its 4 month’s old and I’ll be a temporary uncle! PERRO: I’m so excited about having a dog I can’t explain it, and I can’t wait to take it for walks in all the beautiful Parks here. LOCATION: the live RIGHT next to arc de triumph. AKA a block from my Universitat, a block from one of the most beautiful parks in barca, and down the street from the playa.

-The people in my program are great. I have really gotten close to a couple of Wisconsin people I didn’t know before and because my program is only about 40 people, group cohesion was almost instantaneous. It’s a great mix of kids that makes touring the cities monuments…and its bars…a lot of fun.

- The water in the residencia here literally farts. Or, if chris is reading this, it sharts. It will stop for a brief moment, start gurgling, then BAAM distgusting brown water and continues to come out in a gurgling fashion for awhile before it goes away. Also because the bathroom is so small you have approximately 18.4 second before water vapor pushes all the Oxygen out of the shower. I literally must stick my head out every minute to breathe. On a positive note, by doing this I am definitely increasing the amount of time I can hold my breath…if I wasn’t moving out there might have been career opportunities as an Olympic swimmer or underseas diver when I returned…oh well.

- Still haven’t heard from that GE woman. Summer classes are looking like my future.

-The staff of CIEE is incredibly helpful and great at what they do. Compared to the other kids in the city who are here with other programs, my life is cake. Maybe it is easier with a smaller group, but still, the other companies give their students hardly any direction whatsoever

-CAFÉ! The coffee here is amazing. That takes a lot to come from me. I am essentially addicted after only a week. The top floor of my universitat is a beautiful indoor/outdoor café that sells at close to cost and the ladies that work there are always smiling and friendly.


Love you all and I really appreciate the e-mails I receive keeping me up to date. Remember that I’m 6 or 7 hours ahead of ya so if you skype or AIM we can try and time it appropriately.

Please take good care of yourselves, I worry about yall when I can’t check in consistently.

Love you

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