Mi Vida Magnífica en Bella Barcelona: Land of Inspiration

¡Hola a todos!

On my way to Barcelona Saturday morning I ran into Carina (another dartmouth '16) at the airport in Amsterdam. It was great to see a familiar face somewhere so unexpected. When I'm traveling alone, which is often, I'm always in a special zone of self-segregation and quiet observance, so I was particularly glad that she chased me down through half the airport just to say hi. She was traveling home after having spent fall term and all of winter break in Europe while I was on my way to yet another adventure after a 2-week excursion to the motherland. I really do love the global nature of my Dartmouth family.

After yet another hiccup with my luggage, I finally met my host mom, Leonor, at the airport. She does not speak a single word of English, so I was a little apprehensive of communication issues at first, but to my most pleasant surprise I found that I understand a great majority of what she says and she has the patience to listen to me as well. She is very kind and caring and lets me do whatever the heck I want. The food is great too, I think i'm going to be a fan of catalan cuisine. It's light and healthy with lots of fruits, soups, fish, seafood, and salads. I have my own room and bathroom in our apartment, which is commendable considering the average flat size in a European city is quite small compared with the typical north american dwelling.

Yesterday I met up with my LSA group at the university and we went on a tour of the city. Montjüic is an incredibly beautiful mountain with a majestic view of the sea, the mountains, and the entire city below. I think I might actually have already fallen in love with Barcelona. It's so alluring, nestles between the two finest things I know, the mountains and the sea. I could sit there at the fortress on top of Montjüic and stare into the horizon for ages. We also viewed several Gaudí buildings, including the La Sagrada Famila and those in Parque Güell. Their architecture is very unique, curious, lavish, and entertaining all at the same time. Gaudí was truly something different! In the evening we ate tapas and watched part of the Reyes Magos parade. It seemed somewhat silly to me, but I'm sure I would have loved it as a child.

Today is a national holiday here in España, day of the Reyes Magos, the three wise men. It's a very catholic holiday and kids love it becuase they get presents. again. Christmas come twice?

I met up with Emily and we strolled down Las Ramblas to the Mirador de Colón, a monument to Christopher Columbus. This part of the city was full of tourists, even though it's not even summertime. Emily had to return for lunch to her host family so I walked down to the port and spent some time exploring the less popular backside of Port Vell and decided to eat my sandwich with my bare feet dangling above the water. The fresh, salty scent of the Mediterranean filled my nostrils, the sun warmed my cheeks and pleasant catalan music from the restaurants mingled with content cries of seagulls filled my ears. I could see the barges in the port to my left, the high seas to my right, and the mountains in the distance. It was a poetic place where I think even the saddest of people might find inspiration. Barcelona has charms that are meant to seduce. No wonder so many tourists are so taken by it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the seaside, the beaches, and the skinny little streets nearby. I even tried some delicious helado (ice cream) and I pretended that I don't speak English so that people would speak to me in Spanish, even if they could obviously tell that I was a tourists taking pictures.

Classes start tomorrow. I often can't help but wonder how I could possibly be having so much good fortune. I mean, come on. My family, friends (everywhere!), Budapest, Lexington, MSTC, NYSC, Dartmouth, India, now Barcelona, and who knows what else! To top things off, I actually have a decent chance at becoming more or less trilingual by March. Often I'm already having trouble separating languages, especially when I'm, *cough*, intoxicated, but I love it.

How wonderful life can seem if we don't get upset every time some little thing goes wrong!