30 hours. That’s how long it took to decide that Barcelona was the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if that’s saying much, since my family and I mostly vacation to Kansas City. However “the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen” is a stamp of approval I don’t hand out to any city. You can decide if my opinion has any credibility. The beginning of my trip didn’t start with sunshine and a happy-go-lucky attitude.

After saying all my goodbyes, which as you probably know, are a walk in the park, I made my way through security to arrive at my first gate in DIA, all by myself, two hours early. Due to Chicago being the windy city (literally), my connecting flight was delayed causing me to miss the rest of my flights. My loving mother was able to get me a different set of flights, so the flight attendants told me to get my bags in baggage claim and recheck them in. After waiting 2 hours in baggage claim, no where to be found. That was an ongoing ordeal for the next few days, but I went on my flights with my carry-on backpack to London, then Barcelona.

There isn’t much to do in the London airport on a four hour layover at ten in the morning, so I treated myself to eggs, salmon, toast, and a beer for breakfast. Really a terrible way to set the spending pace for my four months abroad. But finally, I was on my last flight, which I slept through. Except for the last twenty minutes. The last twenty minutes the plane flew very low over the ocean with my window pointed at the entire city and for that time I forgot about my misfortunes and others’ incompetence in baggage claim. I forgot how tired I was, I was just amazed with the view.

Once I landed, I spent another two hours in baggage claim trying to figure out where my bags were. No one I talked to had any idea, but that was to be expected. Because of the first delay, I missed the pick-up time and most of orientation. Finally, being able to reach the study-abroad office, they told me to come to them. A $30 cab ride and half of redundant orientation later, it was time to meet my home-stay mother and roommate. Now I am done talking about myself.

After orientation, I returned to the study abroad office, a.k.a. ISA office, where I was told that my home-stay mother would take me to her apartment. I decided to do a home-stay instead of an apartment or dorm for a few reasons. Two meals per day are included, laundry once per week, and I felt it would be a more authentic experience. I figured I’d pick up on some Spanish as well. With all that included it was cheaper or as much as the other options, and the other options didn’t include food. It was a no brainer.

My homestay mother is exactly who you picture to be a sweet, old, European lady. She greeted me by kissing me on both cheeks, which caught me by surprise, but I probably should’ve expected it. Her name is Maria Carmen, and she knows about a handful of English words. She is in her late 60s, is single, and lives in an apartment 3 blocks away from the Sagrada Familia. Before meeting her, one of my advisors told me she was one of the top five homestay mothers. When walking, she enjoys taking steps three inches apart and holding the arm of the person nearest to her. She is very sweet and very friendly, and most of all talking to her over one dinner was a better Spanish review than a month of Spanish class.

My new roommate, Cole, and I took a cab with her back to the apartment from the ISA office. The apartment isn’t huge, but has three bedrooms. However, upon arriving, I discovered a third roommate, Sam. Cole and I share a room that would barely have enough space for a queen bed, which leaves about a foot of space between the beds. We will probably get to know each other very quickly, or die trying. Sam has his own room. Maria Carmen, or “Mami”, as she likes to be called, had a dinner of “tapas” prepared for us at 9:30pm (which is normal). Tapas are basically appetizers, any food that you share with others. We had different kinds of ham, potatoes, and fried things that I’m not even sure what they were. It was all delicious.

That 36 hours was a complete crap shoot, but I went to sleep with a smile on my face that night. Being thrown right into all of it was the best way to do it. The next day Mami showed Cole and I to the metro to get us to our orientation that day. We got lost in the metro because she never uses it, but we weren’t that late. Orientation was more of the same info, and after Cole, his girlfriend Eva, Eva’s roommate Allison, and I got tapas for lunch. Then we had a bus tour around the city which was a great introduction the Barcelona. The bus dropped us off at the ISA office, and Cole and I decided to walk back to get a good look at the city and get some sense of direction. It took us twice as long compared to someone who knows the city, but we made mental notes of good hole-in-the-wall bars and restaurants for later. We also walked around the Sagrada Familia. We learned that it hosts 10,000 visitors per day, and seeing it in person we could see why.

That night after dinner, Cole, Sam, and I decided we would go out. Normal going out time is Midnight, and the prime hour for clubs is 3am, apparently. Last year, Sam spent the whole year studying abroad and living with Maria Carmen. He is fluent in Spanish and knows the city pretty well. I trusted him taking us out. One thing led to another, and we got back at 6:00am. If you’d like to hear that story, ask me in person.

Regretting our decisions of last night, we woke up at 9:30am to go on a walking tour of the Gothic sector, which is the oldest part of Barcelona. We saw King Ferdinand’s palace, the Cathedral of Barcelona (not the Sagrada Familia), and some parts of the city damaged from the Spanish civil war. Absolutely worth getting up for (not sarcasm, I love history). The tour ended at an outdoor, public market where we had lunch. The market had shops had chunks of mystery meat hanging in the open, live seafood on ice (extremely fresh I suppose), and fresh smoothies for 1.5 euros.

The next tour of the day was at an art museum with the largest art collection in Spain. This place is definitely on the list of places I want to go back and see, because there is too much to see in just one visit. Also the museum is on top of a hill on the edge of the city and has an incredible view. We got to the roof right at sunset to take a few pictures of the city. That night, I fell asleep at 9:30pm and sleep through dinner until 10:30am.

Now I am finishing writing this Saturday afternoon, and still don’t have my luggage. I got here Wednesday. Supposedly it will be here tonight, but I think that is too much to ask. I hope this blog isn’t too cliché or poorly written. My goal is just to have a framework to remember experience and allow friends and family to keep up with my activities. This city is spectacular so far and I’m sure I will have plenty more to say about it as the weeks go on.

Stay golden,

Jack