Por fin

Finally.

I’ve been in Barcelona for 16 days, and I’m finally getting around to writing a blog post. I could say I’ve been too busy, but that would be both untrue and a bad excuse. I think I just have some sort of internal resistance to writing things down.

Things are not bad here; I’m living in an apartment with a señora and her dog, Terry. I’m starting to become familiar with the city and where things are in relation to one another. A curious thing about maps here: ‘up’ is not north, but rather something like northwest. Everything is rotated 45º clockwise so that the Mediterranean is on the bottom.

Orientation week was exhausting, jam-packed with jet lag, information sessions, walking tours, bus tours, and eating. After that, we began a 2-week intensive Spanish writing course, which ends this Friday. Next Tuesday, classes begin at the Universitat de Barcelona. I will be taking FONAMENTS DE LA TRADUCCIÓ, SEMÀNTICA ESPANYOLA, and PRAGMÀTICA DE L’ESPANYOL, in addition to Introduction to Catalan Language in its Social Context. I look forward to all of them.

As of last week, I am the proud owner of a Barcelona library card. I’ve been stopping by my neighborhood library almost daily to use the wifi (pronounced wee-fee) and enjoy the musical selection. It is a nice place to be.

I was quite pleased to discover that I can walk from where I live to the Barcelona Bahá’í Center in about 10 minutes. Last Friday night I attended Feast there and was promptly invited to a weekend retreat which I highly enjoyed. It was a welcome break from the general loneliness which I’ve been feeling.

I desperately want a bicycle. I’ve gone a few places to look at them, but haven’t been able to find a suitable bike for a suitable price. Now that my financial aid has come in, though, I might just increase my budget and get a decent one which I can resell before I leave. On Saturday, I nearly bought a lame department store bike out of desperation, but I resisted and instead purchased a book, Barcelona amb Bicicleta, which, despite my only understanding about 85% of it (it is in Catalan), has increased my desire for a set of wheels. The subway is great, but a bike would be so much better.