Eat, sleep, repeat. My less exciting days allow me to write more about my feelings, emotions, thoughts, or any idea that is churning around in my head. I’ve been in Barcelona for quite some time now, and I feel that it’s long enough for me to have noticed some cultural differences. The list of things I miss about home goes on and on and on, but at the same time the list of things I wish the United States had that Barcelona has is equally as long. One of the biggest, most unexpected things I’ve observed as a student is that printing is way more complicated here than it should be. I definitely take for granted my printer, because here in Barcelona I have to pay to print a single paper from the office, not even the comfort of my own room! Now that’s probably the most insignificant cultural difference, and it probably isn’t even considered a cultural difference, but it just bugs me, and I had to say it. Moving over to a more cultural topic is the beggars around the city. Now San Francisco has its fair share of people on the streets asking for money, but here there are people on the streets, people on the metro, and even people playing accordions on the metro. In particular, there is a man who always stands on the street where I have to walk to get to class from the metro. It breaks my heart, because it seems like he has some sort of physical disability where he can’t stand properly. Every day I’m tempted to give him some spare change, but as students we’re highly advised not to give into this. Back home I would always give whatever it was I can give. So my alternative rather than giving to this man on the street everyday is to keep a jar on my desk, and whenever I have loose change I’ll drop it into the jar. By the end of the semester my hope is to have a full jar to give to this man. Now I’m not trying to toot my own horn- and I really have steered from the topic of cultural differences- but it’s strange for me to think about the different ways society treats beggars in San Francisco compared to Barcelona. Staying along these lines, I’ve also noticed that there aren’t really any charity or support groups that go out and help the homeless population of Barcelona. Maybe it’s just my ignorance, but it’s still something interesting for me to think about. Now I reflected and rambled quite a bit, but it just shows a little bit of how I am. In my opinion, I know I’m quite shy, but I think it’s because I like to observe. I choose to observe before I speak, because I’d rather understand than jump to conclusions. I don’t know where I picked up this quality, but I really like it. Expect more observations from me, because there’s more where this came from. Adios!