Bon Dia!
Welcome to blog #3! Bon Dia is Catalan for "good day." In Barcelona, the native language is Catalan, a hybrid of Spanish and French. I've been in Barcelona for a little over four weeks now and I'm finding that my Spanish is improving, but my Catalan still needs work. Recently, I've found myself incredibly busy trying to juggle work, school, and finding a summer job while still making time to discover the city. Unfortunately, my school work has increased exponentially and I'm now faced with the harsh reality that this is, in fact, a study abroad and not a vacation. In this blog I'll introduce my roommates and give some insight on how/where I've been living.
Our apartment in Barcelona.
My roommates and I live on the 6th floor of an apartment building, one block away from Passeig de Gracia, which is essentially the 5th Ave of Barcelona. We've been told that we are living in one of the most valued real estate properties in Barcelona due to its proximity to Passeig de Gracia and Plai§a Catalunya, the central plaza. Additionally, the apartment is also only about a fifteen minute walk to my work at BCN Metropolitan. I say "only" because anything within a fifteen minute walk is considered close. While it's no New York or London, Barcelona is a massive, sprawling city and we've been getting more than our fair share of steps each day.
I live in the apartment with four other students: Jenna, Lily, Kyle, and Barclay, so the apartment is always busy and active. I share a bedroom with Kyle and other than his quacking duck alarm, everything works out pretty well. Lily and Jenna also share a room and Barclay is lucky enough to have his own. We've been doing a decent job keeping the place tidy and while it's nothing to show mom, it could be a lot worse. One thing about Barcelona and specifically our neighborhood, Example, is that all of the buildings are beautiful, but old. Our apartment walls are very thin and you can easily hear conversation from the opposite end of the flat. The lack of privacy hasn't been a significant problem yet, but I think that it's something we all miss.
One cool thing my roommates and I have done is establish a dinner routine. We all like to cook so we each use one night out of the week to cook dinner for each other. Barclay went to culinary school, Kyle is an aspiring restaurant owner, and the girls are both very talented. I've never been surrounded by so many chefs, but I am definitely not complaining. Thanks to them I've discovered a newfound taste for olives, chorizo, and sun-dried tomatoes and have learned a lot more about cooking.
Two of the homemade meals we've had at our apartment.
Thanks for tuning in this week! I look forward to sharing more from my time in Barcelona in the upcoming blogs.
Until next time,
Andy