A fair bit has changed in the last few days…warnings to anyone thinking of traveling to Spain. It will suck you in! Last Sunday, having been in Barcelona for five days with the fabulous Anita (and preparing for our 5am departure for London the next morning), we were walking down the main stretch when I decided very randomly and in a matter of seconds to ditch Glasgow completely (my intended next stop) to remain in Barcelona to work and gather hilarious memories for the next few months.
So here I am. I have been here minus Anita for the past six days, piecing together the place and becoming accustomed to hardly hearing an English word spoken (unless it´s an annoyingly American sort of ‘Oh look Harry, that’s the Sagrada Familia. Apparently it’s really famous or something. Harry, what’s paella? Is it icky? You know I can’t stomach shellfish. Oh Harry, my fanny pack and giant map have gone missing! Our granola bars were in there. What will we snack on now?’).
I’m working in one of the more odd places I could find myself, a sports bar on the main stretch of the city. Odd as I never ever know who is playing what, with who, when or why and it will always come around to a grand final or world cup and I wouldn’t have even known that the said sport’s season had even begun! But the place is constantly filled with mildly pissed tourists splashing their beers and hollering loudly at the tv (and occasionally, the staff) so that’s cause for amusement every hour of the shift. My next stop is finding a flat – like the rest of Barcelona it seems – which I can’t wait for. I want more than the floor space under a creaky single bed to call my own!
Though I can barely comprehend Spanish (the Spanish win over me for super fast talking) and my contributions to conversations are basically recognising numbers or locations, agreeing/disagreeing and saying see you later or yes I understand. But I remain hopeful that it will make sense soon. It’s ridiculous though, as there are 18 different forms for each verb, encompassing tense and who is the subject. So I have my work cut out for me. It’s like being back in year five or something!
