Macaulay is in Barcelona!!! – June 1, 2015
Anyone who has spoken to me throughout the Spring 2015 semester was familiar with me complaining that I was clueless as to what I was going to do this summer. I had applied to countless internships in both New York City and Washington, D.C., and as my fallback plan, signed up for Macaulay Honors College’s first ever study abroad program to Barcelona, Spain! Well, you guessed it – I’m here!
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As predicted, the flight was majorly delayed due to inclement weather conditions back home – according to my grandmother, it was “the most enormous thunder storm of the year!” I was able to watch an entire film (Still Alice – great piece, filmed partially at Queens College, but ultimately very depressing) before we even took off. The flight was nothing to write home about. I was able to sleep, able to eat, able to laugh at some Big Bang Theory, and even got to talk to my seat buddy. Pretty funny, it turns out she went to Great Neck South High School, and hence, lives in Great Neck – we could have carpooled to the airport!!!
Perhaps it is because I am very particular, or perhaps it is because I believe only I can do the best of everything, but I found that the organization of this first day was quite haphazard. Ultimately, we could have all just met at the boarding gate – there was no special group process for checking in, and had I known, I would have gotten ready while waiting for our chaperone to come wander in and find us. Similarly, it took us ages to get organized and checked into the residencia in which we are living for this month. Group traveling makes me restless!!!
After unpacking, showering, changing my clothes, and updating my friends and family on Facebook, I did what a good traveler should do, and explored the streets! With two other girls, I walked around trying to find someplace to eat. It was quite difficult because 5:00 PM is an odd hour to be eating in Spain, and we could only eat at specific locations where our meal vouchers were accepted. After a bit of getting lost, we finally came to a place to sit down, rest our feet, and eat. I ordered seafood paella. I ate around the seafood, but even then, I was very disappointed – Dad, I bet you could have predicted that, anyway! The waiter asked me, when I signaled for la cuenta, why I didn’t finish my meal. No tengo hambre (I’m not hungry), I said, to which he responded, esta pequeña (this is small – pointing to the paella), to which I retorted, yo soy pequeña (I’m small). I thought it was pretty funny!
My friends and I decided to amble our way slowly back to the residencia, making our way through the shopping district and then a little bit into the Gothic Quarter. We stumbled across a very cool art installation:
