I chose to learn from the locals. It gave me the chance and the reason to talk to some locals while here in Barcelona. I stopped 10 people and just had a short conversation with them about what they were doing.
This man actually stopped me to ask for directions. I happily helped him, but I also asked where he was visiting from. He told me he had just moved to Barcelona for a job and he was getting the hang of living in a new city. I felt like I related to him because when I first arrived in Barcelona, I also had no idea how to live in a big city. I wished him luck and also asked to take his picture.
This man was sitting on the side of the street, writing on this tube of some sort. I approached him to ask if I could take his picture and see what he was doing. He just shrugged and told me he was a painter and he was writing the address of someone who had bought his painting online, so he could ship it to them.
My Friend and I were trying to practice our Spanish with this Taxi driver and he was trying to practice his English, so the whole way to our destination we would talk to him in Spanish and he would respond in English. We found out from our brief car ride that he and his wife were planning their first trip to the US and were going to New York over Christmas. He said he and his wife had been saving for years to go on a nice trip and his wife had always wanted to go to New York.
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| We're both temporary Calalonians |
This man actually stopped me to ask for directions. I happily helped him, but I also asked where he was visiting from. He told me he had just moved to Barcelona for a job and he was getting the hang of living in a new city. I felt like I related to him because when I first arrived in Barcelona, I also had no idea how to live in a big city. I wished him luck and also asked to take his picture.
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| Artist, Barcelona |
This man was sitting on the side of the street, writing on this tube of some sort. I approached him to ask if I could take his picture and see what he was doing. He just shrugged and told me he was a painter and he was writing the address of someone who had bought his painting online, so he could ship it to them.
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| Taxi Driver |
My Friend and I were trying to practice our Spanish with this Taxi driver and he was trying to practice his English, so the whole way to our destination we would talk to him in Spanish and he would respond in English. We found out from our brief car ride that he and his wife were planning their first trip to the US and were going to New York over Christmas. He said he and his wife had been saving for years to go on a nice trip and his wife had always wanted to go to New York.
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| Pedestrians |
I accidentally ran into this man on the street. He was less inclined to talk to me because he said he was in a hurry, but from our short conversation, I learned that he was trying to quit smoking for his wife who couldn't bear to see the love of her life die from lung cancer.
Everyone has a story, and if you take the time, you can learn so many new things about people you might just pass by on a daily basis.
Annie M. is the Fall 2017 MOJO Photographer in Barcelona, Spain. She is currently a Junior studying Marketing at the University of Mississippi