Hola! Anna and I ha
ve completed our first week here in Barca and I just need to share some of my insights on living abroad in this crazy, beautiful city.
Buuut before we start with the fun I might as well get the bad (but oh so funny) over with. I am going to have to throw in a few complaints. I know you are thinking – “Lindsay…Seriously?! Shut the F up! You are in Barca. You are always on the beach or drunk off of Sangria or both. WHAT is there to complain about!?” Well, you know what… I’m an American and I have the right to freedom of speech…even if it means that my form of speech includes bratty statements. So that being said – here are my ONLY complaints for living abroad/in Barca:
- Hi, Mr. Uuber Euro-Man that is standing thisclosetome on the metro. Yeah – next time you want to be up in my space, can you please consider some deodorant? That’s right…Antiperspirant will really help a man like you out in a really hot city. At least a little soap never hurt anyone.
- I can’t watch the last final episodes of The Bachelorette. I think I already complained about this one but seriously – I am calling American-based hotels in Barca to see if they get ABC as ½ of the American girls I meet here are just as obsessed as I am and want to see these last, crucial moments! At least ihategreenbeans.com gives a great recap…It’s good but not as great when I could stare at the man of my dreams: Ed.
- It is hot. And there is no AC. Our room, by evening (when we are finally going to bed) is in the high-80s. I think it’s safe to say we all like a little cool air for decent sleeping, si?
- The food. Okay, this may shock most of ya’ll but besides one amazing restaurant (which will be discussed below) Anna and I have had a string of bad luck with food! First off, everyone runs on starches and fried food here. I kid you not. Most tapas consist of fried potatoes, fried chicken nuggets mixed with fried potatoes, scrambled eggs with fried potatoes, fried potatoes topped with fried anchovies annnd… olives.
Okay, so not too many complaints, huh? And they are totally legit. We are talking hygiene, American Reality Television (yes I DID capitalize that), weather and food. Now on to the sweet stuff…
- Boxed Sangria. I love you so. You are only .80euros and one of you gets Anna and me drunk in record time. You taste delish and you make me giggle.
- THE BEACH! So after these past few days – I have officially decided I need to move somewhere that has the beach at my fingertips. We go to school and when finished, cross the street and bam – we are at the beach. I get a nice little glaze to my tan, I drink my boxed Sangria, I play some mean beach volley-ball, I people-watch like woah (I would like to take this moment to thank all European men for being so self-centered and taking care of their 8-packs) and I thank God that She blessed us with such a beautiful, stress-reliever. Nothing can calm me like lying on the beach when the sun is going down (PS – doesn’t leave the sky until 9:30PM) and the breeze is picking up and the ocean waves…Okay, I’ll stop. Also, it encourages some really philosophical conversations between Anna and me – haha.
- The people are so friendly here! I love em (except for the nasty, old Italian men that make kiss noises in my ear on the metro – I don’t like it). Everyone is so willing to help you out and, as my Spanish is muy horrible – I am constantly being corrected but in a very kind way, not a –Oh, you stupid American. They are wonderful to party with too. And, this city is full of people from all over the world – so not only are the people from Barca great but so are all of our new Brit, German, Irish, Dutch and South American friends. If you were near us on the beach yesterday you would have heard such a wonderful mix of accents – and yes, mine went a little high and more Southern with every glass of Sangria I downed. It’s a problem that I can’t fix. Sorry.
- The FASHION! The women here are so confident and I love it. They rock some outfits that personally I never could/would but I admire. It’s very bohemian here – very little makeup, vintage-style dresses (OBSESSED!) and crazy beach hair. Now, on another note – I have noticed a few short-alls being rocked so Meesh – I really hope you come visit…Since now you will know what to pack ;0)
- Cervesara Cataluña and Gelato! Gelato! Gelato! – the two best eating establishments (that we have discovered thus far) in Barca. The first is authentic Cataluña food – all tapas, all fresh and all delicious. Anna and I went there for my birthday dinner and had some of the best white wine, sangria and various other appetizers ever. Plus, the head chef is muy guapo. We made a point to be some of the last people in the restaurant (um, this would have been around 1:30AM) so we could chat
it up with him. Gelato! (x3) is a little, trendy Gelato shop that is literally right across the path from our apartment door! It is the best gelato I have ever had and is super fresh. And we also befriended the hot Gelato-scooper too! Rafa es muy, MUY guapo and sarcastic. I may be in love. Plus they always play great dance music in there so Anna and I are the two ridiculous American girls bopping around waiting for Rafa to serve up some yummy sweets!
We plan to have a beach party tomorrow night. There are tons of bars on the beaches and a lot of people come right after work and stay until 2AM. Really excited about that! Then on Saturday we plan to hop a train to one of the nicer beaches an hour outside of Barca and explore the little towns. Sunday is movie day in Barcelona – everything closes down (very Catholic) except the theaters. So we will be hitting up the films or maybe a museum as we haven’t really started tackling those yet. They have this amazing Art Pass – it’s 20 Euros and it gets you into every art museum (and there are a bazillion) for 6 months. Definitely taking advantage of that one.
As for school – I love, LOVE teaching! I taught my first two classes (this is all for practice) today and yesterday. In the morning we work on ways to teach English along with some other items and in the afternoon, we get to teach an actual class. Our students consist of adults in and around the area that can’t afford classes but want to learn English. They are WONDERFUL to teach as they are all so sweet and really passionate about perfecting their English. The past two days I taught Present Perfect Tense and seriously – I have never seen such excitement over grammar. I enjoy the creativity that teaching allows me that I didn’t have the chance to express in past jobs. Nor have I had a job as rewarding. I am really enjoying myself!
Alright. I’ll stop now before I start busting out some Michael Jackson’s Free Willy Song but I want to send all of my hugs and love your way. I miss everyone so much and can’t wait to see your smiling face here!
Scouring the beaches for my Matador,
Linds
ve completed our first week here in Barca and I just need to share some of my insights on living abroad in this crazy, beautiful city.Buuut before we start with the fun I might as well get the bad (but oh so funny) over with. I am going to have to throw in a few complaints. I know you are thinking – “Lindsay…Seriously?! Shut the F up! You are in Barca. You are always on the beach or drunk off of Sangria or both. WHAT is there to complain about!?” Well, you know what… I’m an American and I have the right to freedom of speech…even if it means that my form of speech includes bratty statements. So that being said – here are my ONLY complaints for living abroad/in Barca:
- Hi, Mr. Uuber Euro-Man that is standing thisclosetome on the metro. Yeah – next time you want to be up in my space, can you please consider some deodorant? That’s right…Antiperspirant will really help a man like you out in a really hot city. At least a little soap never hurt anyone.
- I can’t watch the last final episodes of The Bachelorette. I think I already complained about this one but seriously – I am calling American-based hotels in Barca to see if they get ABC as ½ of the American girls I meet here are just as obsessed as I am and want to see these last, crucial moments! At least ihategreenbeans.com gives a great recap…It’s good but not as great when I could stare at the man of my dreams: Ed.
- It is hot. And there is no AC. Our room, by evening (when we are finally going to bed) is in the high-80s. I think it’s safe to say we all like a little cool air for decent sleeping, si?
- The food. Okay, this may shock most of ya’ll but besides one amazing restaurant (which will be discussed below) Anna and I have had a string of bad luck with food! First off, everyone runs on starches and fried food here. I kid you not. Most tapas consist of fried potatoes, fried chicken nuggets mixed with fried potatoes, scrambled eggs with fried potatoes, fried potatoes topped with fried anchovies annnd… olives.
Okay, so not too many complaints, huh? And they are totally legit. We are talking hygiene, American Reality Television (yes I DID capitalize that), weather and food. Now on to the sweet stuff…
- Boxed Sangria. I love you so. You are only .80euros and one of you gets Anna and me drunk in record time. You taste delish and you make me giggle.
- THE BEACH! So after these past few days – I have officially decided I need to move somewhere that has the beach at my fingertips. We go to school and when finished, cross the street and bam – we are at the beach. I get a nice little glaze to my tan, I drink my boxed Sangria, I play some mean beach volley-ball, I people-watch like woah (I would like to take this moment to thank all European men for being so self-centered and taking care of their 8-packs) and I thank God that She blessed us with such a beautiful, stress-reliever. Nothing can calm me like lying on the beach when the sun is going down (PS – doesn’t leave the sky until 9:30PM) and the breeze is picking up and the ocean waves…Okay, I’ll stop. Also, it encourages some really philosophical conversations between Anna and me – haha.
- The people are so friendly here! I love em (except for the nasty, old Italian men that make kiss noises in my ear on the metro – I don’t like it). Everyone is so willing to help you out and, as my Spanish is muy horrible – I am constantly being corrected but in a very kind way, not a –Oh, you stupid American. They are wonderful to party with too. And, this city is full of people from all over the world – so not only are the people from Barca great but so are all of our new Brit, German, Irish, Dutch and South American friends. If you were near us on the beach yesterday you would have heard such a wonderful mix of accents – and yes, mine went a little high and more Southern with every glass of Sangria I downed. It’s a problem that I can’t fix. Sorry.
- The FASHION! The women here are so confident and I love it. They rock some outfits that personally I never could/would but I admire. It’s very bohemian here – very little makeup, vintage-style dresses (OBSESSED!) and crazy beach hair. Now, on another note – I have noticed a few short-alls being rocked so Meesh – I really hope you come visit…Since now you will know what to pack ;0)
- Cervesara Cataluña and Gelato! Gelato! Gelato! – the two best eating establishments (that we have discovered thus far) in Barca. The first is authentic Cataluña food – all tapas, all fresh and all delicious. Anna and I went there for my birthday dinner and had some of the best white wine, sangria and various other appetizers ever. Plus, the head chef is muy guapo. We made a point to be some of the last people in the restaurant (um, this would have been around 1:30AM) so we could chat
it up with him. Gelato! (x3) is a little, trendy Gelato shop that is literally right across the path from our apartment door! It is the best gelato I have ever had and is super fresh. And we also befriended the hot Gelato-scooper too! Rafa es muy, MUY guapo and sarcastic. I may be in love. Plus they always play great dance music in there so Anna and I are the two ridiculous American girls bopping around waiting for Rafa to serve up some yummy sweets!We plan to have a beach party tomorrow night. There are tons of bars on the beaches and a lot of people come right after work and stay until 2AM. Really excited about that! Then on Saturday we plan to hop a train to one of the nicer beaches an hour outside of Barca and explore the little towns. Sunday is movie day in Barcelona – everything closes down (very Catholic) except the theaters. So we will be hitting up the films or maybe a museum as we haven’t really started tackling those yet. They have this amazing Art Pass – it’s 20 Euros and it gets you into every art museum (and there are a bazillion) for 6 months. Definitely taking advantage of that one.
As for school – I love, LOVE teaching! I taught my first two classes (this is all for practice) today and yesterday. In the morning we work on ways to teach English along with some other items and in the afternoon, we get to teach an actual class. Our students consist of adults in and around the area that can’t afford classes but want to learn English. They are WONDERFUL to teach as they are all so sweet and really passionate about perfecting their English. The past two days I taught Present Perfect Tense and seriously – I have never seen such excitement over grammar. I enjoy the creativity that teaching allows me that I didn’t have the chance to express in past jobs. Nor have I had a job as rewarding. I am really enjoying myself!
Alright. I’ll stop now before I start busting out some Michael Jackson’s Free Willy Song but I want to send all of my hugs and love your way. I miss everyone so much and can’t wait to see your smiling face here!
Scouring the beaches for my Matador,
Linds
re: Bachelorette - check out HULU!!!!! you can watch all american tv, silly!!!
ReplyDeleteUm...I have checked Hulu, ABC.com, watchtvsitcoms.com even thought about doing some illegal stuff...Oh yeah, satelite TV here - I mean, nobdy allows American TV to be streamed to us Europeans. It's just wrong. You will have to keep me posted on your own recaps and I'm sad I will be missing our Bachlor/Bachlorette Party at your casa.
ReplyDeletedid i tell you i only ate french fries and drank beer in london? i understand the crappy food aspect. at least you might have some spice. be thankful.
ReplyDelete