Half Way Home!

Hello devoted blog followers!

For the last 80 days I have explored new cities, experienced new cultures, communicated in a new language, and taken on new challenges. I now have 62 days remaining in my adventures (as you can see I wanted to publish this post last week). I thought this provided a good opportunity to both update everyone on general life, as well as share some of the many reflections/observations/opinions I have formed from being here for almost 3 months.

Lets start with classes. Classes are, well, almost over. I now have exactly 3 weeks left of regular classes followed by a week of finals (with a week of Spring break thrown in the middle). Honestly, classes have been a little bit of a joke. I think this is the case for a couple of reasons. First, grade cut offs are quite low. After receiving some tests/quizzes back and getting grades in the mid 80s on a couple of them I was disappointing-until I looked and saw that this was a solid A-, and is an A in my UAB courses. Additionally, it seems some of my teachers have a hard time teaching classes in English; even though they are virtually fluent when speaking one-on-one it seems difficult for them to lecture for an hour and 45 minutes in English. Thus, I think topics end up being simplified. Finally, and in true Josh form I will probably piss someone off by saying this, but I am shocked at how many 'intellectually challenged' students there are on this program. Ignoring where people go to school, I have never see so much negotiating about paper lengths, complaining about tests before they are even given, and general lack of cooperation or respect. You know that kid that always asks the really stupid question every five minutes and everyone else wants them to shut up so class can keep going? I have about 5 in every class. That aside, I will most definitely have my work cut out for me after spring break as I have term projects in almost every class that, again in true Josh form, I have yet to start. I don't plan on them being too difficult.

Next, people. Roommates are good. We have gotten along well all semester and I hope to keep in touch with them next year-though I will not miss sharing a kitchen with them. I have met a lot of new people, some of which I hope to keep in touch with. As I probably should have expected, there are a lot of kids which came on this program to party Barcelona-style for a semester and think they are just too cool for the rest of the world. I think I have done a pretty good job avoiding that/them and have solidified a few relationships that I can maintain in the long run. I am especially excited about my new Illinois friends for next year and acquaintances from the past which I am now good friends with.

Housing. I am often asked whether I would have rather been in a homestay instead of my apartment with 4 other American students. The answer is: it depends. The good homestays that I have heard about with a great Spanish family/Señora and a good American, international, or Spanish roommate would be awesome. I would much prefer that over my apartment because of the language and culture emersion, as well as not having to cook every meal for myself. However, I think I prefer my situation to about 80% of the people in homestays with whom I have spoken. Many of the hosts are old or cranky or both and are just hosting for the money they receive from the program. Some people don't even eat with their family, get served different food, share a bathroom with kids, get yelled at for opening the fridge too long, etc. Therefore, if put back in October when I preferenced housing options I would not change my decision.

Travel. As anticipated, this has probably been the best part of my trip. I love seeing new places, learning the history of countries, seeing historic landmarks, and fully comprehending firsthand what people are talking about when they refer to a city or country. I have already been to Barcelona, Madrid, Cádiz, Sevilla, Valéncia, Amsterdam and Florence. This weekend I'm going to Belgium: Brussels and possibly Brugge. Over spring break I am going to Prague, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. In May I am going to Paris, Morocco (Marrakech and maybe Casablanca), Portugal (Lisbon and Lagos), and some combinations of Athens, Greek Islands, Istanbul, Dublin, Monaco and Nice. By the time I return on May 27 I will have traveled to about 13 countries in a 5 month period, adding to my already abnormaly long list (including 5 continents). Each of these trips has been remarkable and each city is exciting and unique. And everytime I return from another incredible trip to an amazing city that I absolutely loved I come to the same conclusion: Chicago is unquestionably the best city in the world, second to none...I am now determined to travel to every country in the world so that I can confirm this allegation.

Culture 'shock'. I actually have some interesting observances with my cultural experience here. Perhaps its because I have already travelled to places like Africa and South America and have been to Europe before, but I really did not experience a 'culture shock' in the classical sense during my first few weeks. It also may have to do with the active effort I made to assimilate and connect with the culture. What I find, though, is that I have actually had a quasi-reverse cultural immersion. My first month or so I tried really hard to dress, eat, sleep, and live like someone from Barcelona. However, as I fell into everyday life I have gravitated slowly back toward my natural tendencies. I now am back to snacking a little more, sometimes eat dinner earlier (8:30 wouldn't be considered early in the U.S., but it is here), check ESPN a lot more, etc. However, there are still some aspects of Spanish culture that have definitely taken root (ie: I don't wear gym shoes walking around). I think it will be very interesting to see the effect of the 'reverse culture shock' when I return to the U.S. and see whether, after being back for a couple months, I retain the Spanish cultural aspects that have stuck with me to this point.

Other Observations:
One thing that I still don't understand is work hours here. Allegedly siesta is not big in Barcelona as a result of it being a big city. However, shops are always closed...not just from 3-5pm. (Not sure how I feel about Europe being on a 24 hour clock either-something I have sort of gotten used to.) Shops open late, close early, close at random times; it doesn't make sense! I don't understand when these people work or how they make any money. What I do understand, however, is why the United States is so much more productive, innovative, and economically successful than these European nations, though. It has actually increased my American patriotism, if that was possible.

There are som aspects, however, that I would love to bring back to the U.S. For example, the idea of tapas and menú del día are incredible-definitely should be taken up by many U.S. restaurants. I'm also a fan of the siesta lifestyle, which I think I was born for. Unfortunately I have unsuccessfully been trying to bring that to the U.S. for the last 6 or 7 years. That is one thing I will definitely continue to observe.

It is very weird to see friends from home here-a little less weird if they are also studying abroad because we are on the same wavelength, but still strange. Its very cool to share some of these experiences with them, though, and I look forward to some awesome reminiscing when back next year.

I am now a professional chef-be excited if you are living with me next year.

There are no street signs in all of Europe! And if they do exist they are always on a small sign, about a square foot, on the side of buildings on street corners. Good thing I don't have to drive anywhere because it would be impossible to figure out which street is which.

The crazy, fast-paced Barcelonian lifestyle caught up with me a little bit. Yes, even me-the sleep 4 hours for 5 nights in a row and keep going until a night to 'catch up' professional. Even I started to get sick. After a few weeks of taking it easy I am almost now fully recovered and ready to go 11 days without sleep over spring break.

Analysis: Overall I have been exceptionally happy with my decision to go abroad. I feel more relaxed, life is more exciting, and I think I have gained a lot from this experience. I love the city of Barcelona and am very happy I chose it-it is probably the only city in which I have the opportunity to practice Spanish, observe what old European cities are like and have the constant excitement of a big city. I do hate Cátalan, though. As far as my program goes...yeah, I won't talk about that. My dislike for the actual program has not, however, impeded on my experience whatsoever.

Going abroad was something I had wanted to do since high school-I looked at abroad programs when applying for college. Being almost done now seems very strange to me, but my experience has been virtually everything I imagined. I am not someone who 'went abroad and found themself' because I don't think I was lost before. However, in place of inserting a corny 'Ferris Bueller' I will end by saying that life does move fast-and has moved extremely fast for the last 3 months- I am happy I stopped and took a look around.

As always, hope all is well with each of you. Send me an e-mail or skype or gChat if we haven't spoken in a while. I'd love to here how everything is going back home.