Keep calm and speak Catalan, that is what I saw on a guys t-shirt over the weekend!
(I will definitely give him a ten for effort)
As everyone knows, the region of Cataluña is striving for independence and for their language of Catalan to be spoken throughout. But what about those who only speak Castilian?
Well, when I first came to Barcelona, I knew that people spoke Catalan and so on, however not to this extent. The street signs, menus and even the whole of my university website is in Catalan. But if you have ever studied French and Spanish, then I would like to say it is a mixture of both, however that doesn't make it easy. I attended a class of basic Catalan, as I thought it would be a good idea to learn some, yet the first thing the teacher says is 'if you can't speak Catalan then you shouldn't be in this class'.. great. Although, I am lucky as many of my friends have classes in Catalan, and I struggle enough to understand fully classes in Castilian, yet in a language I have never studied!
On the other hand, I do understand slightly why the region wants independence. For example, just from me living here for a month I have realised that every street I walk down, it is full of tourists. Tourists taking photos left right and centre, tourists standing in the street, and tourists blocking the metro stops. I know I can't really say much as I am a foreigner here too, but I can now see a bit why the Catalans want their city back.
Anyway, onto less controversial subjects... over the weekend I went to the beautiful town of Sitges with my friends, two French girls, which is good as I am forced to speak Spanish with them. The town is only an hour away from Barcelona on the train, and we managed to get an apartment for quite cheap, so off we went. In recent years, Sitges has been known for it's homosexual culture, and it is definitely apparent. By day, the stunning beach and endless shops are full of people and by night the small city transforms into a colourful array of fiestas, with dancers, drag queens and a vibe like no other, all mainly situated down the street that is sin street.
It was a lovely weekend, but then it was back to reality and my first week at university, the next blog will reveal all.
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