I have settled in quite nicely here. I really enjoy the family I am living with, and I am able to practice my Spanish frequently. I am still loving the city and the many activities to do and sites to see.<\/p>\n Within the first month I have accomplished a lot: I have climbed Montserrat and Montjuic, been to several beaches, traveled to Munich and Salzburg, and I plan on visiting Paris this weekend and Amsterdam the next. The proximity of the many countries in Europe is both convenient and amazing for me. I am able to see aspects of incredibly different cultures and many new perspectives.<\/p>\n Luckily, I live relatively close to the center of Barcelona and am relatively close to the IES abroad center. I can probably make it to class in around twenty minutes but some days I will take the metro if I am running a bit behind or simply am feeling a bit lazy. The public transportation is efficient here\u2014much more so than in my hometown of Richmond. I was able to take the metro to Montserrat, which is only an hour away. My trek to class is usually walked at a brisk pace\u2014the city folk here seem to usually be in a hurry. After walking so much here, I have developed a new pet peeve: slow people on the sidewalks. I do whatever I can to avoid them\u2014dodging, slipping and sliding past the slower walkers amid the large crowds of tourists and pedestrians. However, I do enjoy my commute to class; it gives me a chance to take in all of the impressive architecture, and I usually detect the sweet scent of chocolate croissants and other pastries that are freshly made in the local bakeries.<\/p>\n I share my living space with my one roommate; the room itself is long and a bit narrow, but it is perfectly suitable for me\u2014it is probably longer than my room in Carpenter X freshman year. While the people hear certainly dress a bit differently\u2014slimmer fitting clothing and a nicer casual dress\u2014I still dress relatively similar to how I do in the United States. Most people wear pants here, and it is simply still too hot for me to wear pants everyday.<\/p>\n The food here is probably one of my favorite aspects of my host culture. Tapas are a popular type of restaurant in which a group usually shares different smaller plates. My favorites are olives, patatas braves or brave potatoes (fried potatoes with a spicy sauce), tortilla espa\u00f1ola (essentially a thicker, cheese omelet with potatoes), and paella\u2014a traditional rice dish, usually served with seafood or chicken.<\/p>\n The first month here has certainly flown by\u2014I hope the next few go slowly, but I do not expect that to be the case. I was sad to hear about the great tree by Graham Hall\u2014may she rest in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trent Singleton IES Barcelona, Spain Fall 2015 After\u00a0 Mi Primer Mes I have settled in quite nicely here. I really enjoy the family I am living with, and I am able to practice my Spanish frequently. I am still loving the city and the many activities to do and sites to see. Within the first month I have accomplished a lot: I have climbed Montserrat and Montjuic, been to several beaches, traveled to Munich and Salzburg, and I plan on visiting Paris this weekend and Amsterdam the next. The proximity of the many countries in Europe is both convenient and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[70],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2015-fall","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2465,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/2465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Montserrat\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2015\/10\/Picture1.jpg\")
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