Settling into the rhythm...

After being in Barcelona for 10 days, I've started acclimating towards life here. We finally got our class schedule (and gosh, I've even had one real class!), but it its contained entirely in the afternoon hours of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not too shabby considering this is my "vacation" from Stanford. So, with this abundance of time, we've fallen into a schedule that usually involves waking up at around 1-2pm, never leaving the apartment before 3, walking around or making ourselves occupied for the afternoon hours, eating between 9:30 and 10:30pm, and then going to bars until around 2am. The sun here sets around 9 due to the arbitrary nature of time zones, and that helps our afternoons-only lifestyle.

Food has come to dominate a large portion of our thoughts, conversations, and days. Surprisingly, the three of us in the apartment have made an honorable attempt at domesticity, and have eaten in four nights this week. We've had spaghetti and chicken, lentil stew, fajitas, and tapas, all thanks the presence of three supermarkets contained within our block. One of the markets, "Dia", generally prices its items for less than one euro, making our grocery trips (often four or more in a day) quite cheap. We've come to love our 0.49 euro bottles of red wine, and the 1.80 euro 12-packs of Dia brand lager (5.5%...beat that America). Not to mention 2-foot long baguettes fresh out of the oven for 65 cents.

One thing that we've experienced in this endeavor is the Spanish siesta. With all that clubbing until 6 in the morning, people who actually wake up in the morning need their afternoon breaks. This is true of the supermarket, the cell phone store and the Asian Bazaar two doors down from us. Stores close from around 2pm until about 5pm, but then generally stay open until around 9.

Side note: Time, as in all of the civilized world, is shown here in 24-hour time. It's amazing how much simpler things are when you don't have to ask AM or PM. The metric system, as well...incredible.

Spaniards are a well-dressed people, and if not expensively, at least time-intensively. I get the impression that most guys my age spend at least half an hour making themselves cute, and those are the straight ones. I thought my gaydar would be somewhat off, but in reality the whole spectrum is just shifted about an hour and a half's worth of prep time.

I tried to remedy my vastly under par wardrobe a little bit, and have bought a few shirts and a new pair of shoes. Zara, the Spanish version of H&M, is a pretty cool store with reasonable prices (although that 1.35 exchange rate can sneak up on you). The shoe situation was a little more desperate, because to walk comfortably I had been wearing my ultra white sneakers. Like a shining beacon, they broadcast my status as an American tourist more than anything. So I bought a pair of what believe to be trendy casual shoes: my first new pair in over three years.

Now, you may be wondering more about the actual school portion of this program. I'll be taking three classes; Spanish, International Economics and Modern Spanish Art & Architecture. The latter two will be once a week for about two hours, and all of the classes are only with students from ALBA, my program. The econ class is at a local university, with two professors and three students. Our first meeting took place at the cafeteria, so we could have coffee and the female professor could light up her cigarette. This will be our first full week of classes, including Spanish for which we only took a placement test on Thursday.

Upcoming plans: Wednesday the three of us in the apartment bought tickets to go to an FC Barcelona match as part of the Spanish cup, so we're planning to bring a case and enjoy a crazy crowd of Barcelona's sports fans. Also, Saturday morning David and I are flying to Marrakech for a 48-hour Moroccan adventure. Stay tuned.