I'm going to Barcelona

When I went to live in Spain I found accommodation on the notice board at the University.  You may be lucky and find something medium term (Somr courses start or finish at odd times) but it is worth a try.  Again the difficulty is the time of year you are going. 

 

Fantastic place Barcelona - remember they often speak Catalan fiirst though.

 

Have fun

 

I arrived in Barcelona as planned on June 22 and spent the first full week in a youth hostel. There I met people from various places around the world and with whom I spoke mostly English (most were young travellers enjoying a short stay in the city). As soon as began my quest for a flat, I found myself dialing some 25-30-digit numbers, armed with a pre-paid phone card in public phone cabins on noisy streets, trying to mumble words in a scattered Spanish. If you have seen the movie L'auberge espagnole, what I have gone through is quite similar, except that there are no line ups at phone cabins because everyone owns a movil (cell phone) in Spain nowaday. Although Barcelona is a large city, outside touristic places people speak very little English. Catalan is dominantly spoken but Spanish suffices for being all-around understood when you go at the grocery store or at a service desk. After a couple of days, I finally found a piso (flat) to share with 3 other Spanish-speaking people and which is located on la "Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes".

 

Trying to learn Catalan while strengthening my Spanish proves challenging and might ultimately drive me insane. Spanish is not even my 2nd language but my 3rd, after French and English. That I can even line up words to make up coherent Spanish sentences appears to me like a feat, but instead I get reprobatory screams from our (very latin) Catalan teacher anytime I accidentally let slip a Spanish word during our oral practices. Catalan and Spanish are so alike I have a very hard time sorting them apart in my mind. Of course I can distinguish one from another, but what I mean is that if I wish to become a fluent Spanish speaker, I have to view Catalan as a strictly academic language (which is of course not the will of the teacher). Attempting to practice Catalan orally outside of the classroom would turn out deadly for my progress with both languages.

 

Putting linguistic issues aside, Barcelona is a very lively, colorful and diversified city!  With the beach, the old Barri Gotic and its very narrow streets, Montjuïc (a verdoyant hill where most of the infrastructure for the '92 olympics were built), the excentric, daring architecture, the many museums and the mountains taking the backseat of the city (natural reserves are virtually a footstep away from the metro lines), I think it's fair to say that Barcelona has something for everyone's taste. People here seem somewhat calm and serene, but I'm starting to wonder if that might just be the physical mark of the hot temperature, as they too avoid stairways like the plague and seem to opt for the elevator any time possible. In the 2 weeks that I've been here, we have had a total of 1 hour of rain, on one evening. What appear to me like threatening clouds often shape up in the late afternoon, but if I had to guess I would say that the Catalan language has no word for "couldbursting".

 

I'm probably not very apt for giving advice as this is my first such adventure, but unless you have a very reckless temper I would suggest not to take intensive Catalan courses while trying to learn Spanish.

 

Most other advice I could give would probably apply to non-Europeans rather than non-Barcelonians. Still it's good to know that in Barcelona you can eat a meal quite complete (meaning a drink, first dish, second dish and dessert) at cafeterias or restaurants for less than 8-10€. Other than that most people I've encountered were very helpful and virtually all people I've met spoke very good Spanish (i.e. Catalan unilinguism is not a reality here) BUT few outside those who interact with tourists speak well English.

 

If you like walks in more natural settings, Montjuïc and Parc Guëll, and to a slightly lesser extent Parc de la Ciutadella are all three very impressive and easily accessible from metro stations. Many people take the teleferic from the port to get on top of Montjuïc but it's good to know that it's easily accessible by walk from Plaça Espanya as well (which in itself constitutes an architectural marvel, it was there that I got down from airport bus and the feeling of being there was awesome), plus you'll probably get to see a little more that way.

 

I would not venture too much with museum recommendations as I have not visited many, but a stop by the Museu de Picasso proved for me very instructive and the building in which the museum was built was equally impressive.

 

Other than that there's also all the famous Gaudi monuments: la Pedrera, another "casa" whose name I've forgot but that's also located on Passeig de Gracía, and of course la Sagrada Familia.

 

BTW, did you eat tapas? nice :)

 

The general tip is to avoid the most tourist-like traps, and to concentrate on the typica, characteristic places...

 

 

edit: Did you see strange people offering you red cans?   don't buy them 

 

People offering red cans?... Do you mean the Estrella Damm brand bear cans? There are a lot of outdoor relatively quiet places where I've sat for doing Catalan homeworks or whatnot and within 1 minute a guy would pass by solliciting me to buy a beer... a little annoying.

 

I've eaten tapas but sadly it was not one of these places where the beer is "all-you-can-drink" and you only pay for the tapas. I've heard these places are more common in Andalusia (south of Spain) or even Madrid.

 

-NotAProghead, what do you mean, "Spanish brandies"?