This city is crazy

I have come to the conclusion that Barcelona as a city is fantastically crazy. The people are ridiculously fashionable (never have I ever envied clothing worn by 60 year-old women until now), the food is delicious (who can resist paella?) and the nightlife is insane, possibly more so than preferred (that information can't exactly be disclosed but don't worry Mom and Dad, I abided by the law). Even breathing air is expensive here.

So my dorm has a bar. How ridiculous is that? And it has a workout facility, computer lab, music room, gym, a pool table and a lounge. Its like I'm in a miniature community where i don't need to go outside except for classes and social events.

We had our first day of orientation today, it was at 9 in the morning, which meant that we all had to wake up around 7:30 to get ready, eat breakfast and try to catch the bus. The bus schedules here are really confusing, its going to be a few days (weeks?) before we figure it out well enough to be able to know when to be there. We got to the bus stop around 8:15 and the bus didn't come for another half hour, so we were just a little late to orientation, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I think about three quarters of the 500 students on this program were late too.

I've realized that my roommate and I stand out a bit more than others. I do because I'm Asian and apparently they aren't very common in the European countries (I think I've only seen about 15 since I've been here....and I swear I must have seen thousands of people already) and she does because she's blonde in a country that is dominated by brunettes.

The other students (the Spanish) are very interesting. They seem nice and almost shy towards us, but there is this weird thing that happens at the cafeteria. So the cafeteria is set up in a very normal way, you walk in, grab a tray, load up on food and sit down. But when anyone in our group gets up to put their dishes away before the rest of us, the Spaniards all 'boo' at us and tink their glasses in disapprovement. I swear its like we are being seriously critiqued. Apparently its just their way of showing us that its rude to leave before others are finished, but its ridiculously awkward when it happens so none of us have tried to leave earlier than the others since the first couple times.

But overall, everything is going really well. My roommate is nice, everyone else on our floor is really chill (there are only 12 or 13 of us altogether in this dorm of 150 people so we are pretty tiny), the food is delicious, the people are interesting, the city itself and the architecture and everything is good.

My only qualm is how I'm going to survive with the way that the spaniards live their lives. Like siestas are great, I can definitely do those, but staying up until 4 in the morning? Can't do that much, but apparently social events don't start until very late. Good grief.

Anyways, speaking of siestas, I'm going to take one now. More later.