First weeks in Barcelona

Hola a todos,

since I cannot avoid to sit down anymore and actually write something about my experiences in Barcelona I decided to stop running away from it and just spill it out. We girls cannot give the guys (Frederik and Christian) the lead!

I arrived in Barcelona on the 15^th of August together with Vincent. We decided to take the cheap alternative and booked tickets with Ryan Air and yes I would like to say “Never again” but unfortunately the price is so tempting and I am sure I would do it again.
After a big fight with the staff at the Bremen airport about our hand luggage at 6 o’clock in the morning we arrived in Barcelona (Girona) tired and exhausted. After taking the bus to the city center and several different metros we arrived at the Universidad Autónoma in the north of Barcelona. The campus is huge, bigger than anything I have seen so far. There is even a separate bus system for the campus but since the buses did not work yet in August we had to walk up the hill with our luggage in the heat of midday. When we finally got our room in the hostel we were dead tired and took a long break.
In the next days we looked at rooms but also did some sightseeing and beach visits to enjoy our time in Barcelona. After around four days I found a nice apartment in central Barcelona with three Spanish roommates.
Vincent had to leave soon after to return to Nykøbing which was a very sad but unavoidable good bye.
In the first few weeks I got to know my roommate better and saw some more things in Barcelona. I also had to do the administrative things like registering here at the police station which took me around three hours to do, since there are always a lot of people in the waiting room. In the beginning of September I had my first meeting at the university, registering, getting my student ID and signing up for the classes. This was not as easy and it took me until this week to get all my courses the way I wanted and not all on the same day at the same time. Some courses are in Spanish others taught in English and I also got a Spanish class to practice my Spanish a little. Unfortunately in the university the Spanish students are not very interested in Erasmus students so I am mostly talking to other Erasmus students from Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Poland.
Besides the people in school I also met some nice people through my roommates and it is great to see the city through the eyes of Spanish speaking people that have lived here in Barcelona for some time. I have gone out and tried great restaurant and great clubs. Barcelona has everything to offer from high class discos to small alternative bars and clubs. I am mostly staying away from the typical Erasmus activities because I would like to see the real Barcelona as much as possible instead of the touristy endless Erasmus parties that are available every day.
It is difficult to meet Catalan citizens, because they mostly keep to themselves and do not let many outside persons in. They are very proud of their language, Catalan, and it is seen everywhere. Catalan is a mixture of French and Spanish with small Italian and Portuguese influences. All the signs in the city are in Catalan, some are translated into Spanish as well. Most homepages are in Catalan and not all are translated to Spanish or even English. The teachers usually teach in Catalan and only make exceptions for Erasmus students.
All in all Barcelona is a great choice for an Erasmus semester and I am very happy to have made this decision.

Reading over what I have written so far I am surprised how easy it was to write so much in such a short time after overcoming my inhibitions. Maybe this will not be so difficult to bring myself to do this more often from now on.
Until then HASTA LUEGO from Barcelona and MUCHOS BESOS Y GRAN ABRAZOS!