Oh, hey, we’re just some fruit trees. Just hangin’ out. In winter.
I live in Barcelona.
This thought occurs to me several times a day. Partially because it is such a fantastic thing, something that surely can’t be true, and partially because it is a way to remind myself that I actually did it. Although right now it feels…not like a vacation, exactly, but not precisely like this is where I am actually living, I still did it. I still dissolved my past life into a new life.
Not just any new life, at that, but one in a different country. It amazes me.
It’s lovely here, truly, and I haven’t even really done all that much exploring. I’ve not been here a whole week yet, although I left Chicago a week ago, and so I am still kind of mucking about with jet lag. I don’t like it this jet lag nonsense – my sleep patterns are ridiculous, I haven’t sorted them out yet and and look forward to when that happens. I don’t think I thought this would be easy, but I also don’t think I fully appreciated what it feels like to live somewhere where so much of the language is a mystery.
It’s interesting to feel that way on such an extreme level. Before, whenever I’ve been in situations where I didn’t understand the language, it was temporary (which I suppose this will be too, kind of) and I knew that later, I would have English readily available. Here, I’m not passing things on the street and immediately grasping what is happening or what is available. I say this even with some things being in English here, even with having English (like, from England) flatmates, and with being in Spanish classes with people who also speak (at least some, for the most part) English. It’s strange to have suddenly a new city to live in where I don’t really know anyone and to add in a new language as well.
Not to mention, I can’t just call someone up from home and talk about how something was amazing or upsetting or anything. That’s perhaps even more jarring than the language barrier.
Just the same, I’m ridiculously pleased with myself about being here. I don’t at all miss the snow and horrible cold.
Actual photos and updates and such to come.
terəbəl rôr 