Hello from Barcelona!

As you’ll see from the pictures, the first week was spent in a temporary apartment with Prachee (my girlfriend) and two other USC exchange students Janelle & Marina. All three of them are doing an exchange program with ESADE, the other big Business School in Barcelona. Finding a permanent place to live was the first order of business, so we spent a considerable amount of time just wandering Barcelona and getting a feel for the city and its very varied neighborhoods. We also tried very hard to not do “touristy” stuff since we are now “residents”, but the wide open map and confused stares gave us away! During the week, Prachee and Janelle decided to be apartment mates and Marina set out on her own. After seeing numerous apartments or “pisos” as they are referred to here, they decided on a small, but recently remodeled 3 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in Gracia. The apartment is like walking into an IKEA, but the location is great. Gracia has lots of restaurants and night life and they are only 3 blocks away from the station for the train to school.

When they moved into their apartment, I tagged along since I still had not found a place of my own! I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to find a place, as I rather enjoyed my temporary state of homelessness. I started going up to IESE to check e-mail and I got in touch with some other people who were also looking for a place. I met this guy Irfan from the UK, and we seemed to be on the same wavelength as far as what kind of apartment we were looking for. A couple of days later he called me and let me know that he’d found a place he liked and committed to taking it. I went to see it that same day and decided that I couldn’t pass up it’s proximity to school and the cheap rent! The apartment has three bedrooms, 1 bath plus a study room, but the cheap rent allows us to only split it two ways! That means there is a spare guest bedroom for those of you interested in stopping by Barcelona during the next year.

During the rest of my time since arriving in Barcelona, it’s been running errands and getting to know the city along with long, lazy meals in sidewalk cafes. I love how you can sit in a café or restaurant for three hours and the waiters won’t bother you. I love that they leave the plates at the table and that you have to ask for the bill when you are finally ready to leave! Tapas are starting to get a little old though, and I never thought I could get sick of fried foods. Thankfully, the cafeteria at IESE is pretty good, and is also very reasonably priced. I am making an effort to adapt to the Spanish way and have a big meal at lunchtime, followed by a small dinner.

Last week was the Accounting pre-course, so the vacation was officially over. The material covered wasn’t hard, but having to go home to read chapters and do accounting problems was a definite reality check! Back to the life of the 24 hour student. In addition to classes, I’ve also been going to the all important “get to know everyone” social events. Thursdays is Bar of the Week at IESE, Fridays is Bar of the Week at ESADE, Saturdays are house parties and nothing starts before midnight. Good thing my room can be dark during the day, because during the weekend, I sleep mostly during daylight hours!

This week we’ve had Career week at school. We took some online tests which identify what kinds of jobs would suit our personalities and tastes. We also had resume workshops and other seminars to get us off to a good start in our hunt for a summer internship and eventually a full time position. Yesterday was also a very important holiday in Barcelona called “La Merce”. It’s the day dedicated to Barcelona’s patron saint and so we had the day off and since the weekend there have been free concerts and activities in downtown Barcelona. Last night the whole thing was culminated by a 1 hour fireworks display that was really amazing! Next week we have two days of Orientation and then it’s the official start of classes on October 1st.

So, do I miss the U.S? Well not really, but pretty soon I’m going to have to find a decent Mexican restaurant or otherwise I’ll be making refried beans in my apartment! Also this whole thing about hanging clothes out to dry needs to be re-thought. Apparently, they are supposed to smell fresh, but in my experience, they smell like the paella that the lady downstairs had for lunch. Also, my t-shirts are so stiff, they practically can walk away. As you can see, these are my current concerns, which in the grand scheme of things, isn’t so bad!