School?

I mean, I guess that is why we're here...

Yesterday, we started our day at UPF. Universitat Pompeu Fabra is one of the Spanish schools in the consortium, and the one closest to our Residencia. It's also the newest and smallest. Founded in 1990, it's run by the Catalan government — as opposed to the national Spanish government (all of the universities, like most of Europe, are public). As a result, UPF runs on an actual schedule and has some sense of organization, a contrast to the other two schools (which don't even have their class times posted online yet). This is a reflection of the difference between the Spanish and the Catalan stereotypes. Based on how structured UPF looked on day 1, I'm inclined to think Brown would fit in well with the rest of Spain...

The inside of one of the UPF buildings, formerly a military barrack:

At the university, we got acquainted with more details of the program, checked out the cafeteria, and did some other maintenance tasks. We even got email addresses! emmyliss01@campus.upf.edu, if you feel so inclined. We also started looking up university classes, a task even more daunting than the frustrating days of Banner. Perusing course catalogues you can't read — they're mostly in Catalan — is a bit overwhelming.

We also had the first of our seminars on Catalan art (the theme of our activities and extracurricular programs) at the CASB center. While over there, Paige and I won a printer in the lottery of items from CASB students past. However, the walk was a bit further than anticipated and the shopping bag had a few... issues. Stay tuned as to whether we can get this device working.

Today we trekked out to Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, which could not be any more different from UPF. Located a train ride outside the city, the university is a city unto itself, serving 80,000 or so students (at least that was what I discerned from the introduction). After an introduction and tour (by bus), we started Spanish class. Intended to prepare us for our actual university classes (which don't start until the end of September), the Spanish classes are designed to be intense. The orientation program is definitely a marathon, and we learned that water and snacks are necessary.

This afternoon I had my first trip to the beautiful Mediterranean beach of Barcelona — a less-than-20-minute walk from the dorm. Evidently, the UPF students bring towels to class and head down there as soon as lecture is over — something we may need to emulate...