BARCELONA

TAXIS:

The taxis of Barcelona are by far the worst I have ever been in. It seems like speed regulations are very limited (if not non-existent) in the city, and many times signs and traffic lights are taken lightly! I am not a huge fan of driving fast especially when there are other cars on the road. The roads are not highways; they are all just main roads so it feels particularly strange when we go 70+ mph at times. At night especially, I had several drivers who went straight through red lights if they felt no one was coming. It was just an uncomfortable experience overall. I don’t consider myself overly uptight about driving, but in Barcelona I would rather avoid taxis when I can.

STRIKES:

Throughout my stay, I was shocked by the frequency of strikes across the city. This was unfamiliar to me, as in Boston there are occasional labor strikes but they are on such a small scale. The strikes in Barcelona disrupted routines, and they got aggravating. I personally believe they strike too much, like not all the matters deserved strikes but the people take it into their own hands. This definitely could be a bias from home, because Massachusetts would not let things go this far I believe. Anyway, the taxi strike was one of the more significant ones. For 5 days straight, all the taxis of Barcelona (over 1,000 cars) were parked in the middle of main roads in a pack to block traffic and make a statement. The matter was to eliminate Uber from Barcelona, because it was competition for the taxis in the city. Going out at night was a lot more difficult (and many times I completely avoided it) because it was too hard to get home without them! Luckily it ended, and the taxis actually won. Uber is illegal in Barcelona now.

The strikes don’t stop at the taxis... there have been numerous metro strikes disrupting wait times in between trains. Luckily they did not impact my commute during the times I used the metro. But they basically developed a schedule of how each period of hours would be affected differently.

HOMELESS:

The homeless population is certainly disheartening. I know this is an issue for the majority of big cities in the world, but I felt like the homeless population was extremely high here. For the first month of my program, there was a man living out of a cardboard box next door to my building. In Plaça Catalunya, there are beds and pillows set up in many door ways and in the middle of the sidewalks. Many of the people have dogs as pets too. I watched a disabled man drink 3 cups of coffee from the trash on my walk from school. It is just overwhelming to see so many people in need of help.

The SMELL:
The smell is something I can’t take a picture of, but it was by far the least appealing part of the city. There are constant whiffs of sewerage and it is just out of control. It is terrible inside the metro, but it will come out of nowhere at any place in the city! Sometimes, you will even smell the grossness in restaurants while you are eating! It is just not good at all. "Fresh air" seems to be obsolete.... 

GRAFITTI:
Although there are many beautiful works of art in the form of graffiti, the majority of the graffiti one will see in Barcelona is grimy and not appealing. From my upbringing and perspective I associate graffiti with poverty and crime. It is something that is a negative symbol to me, and I didn’t know what to make of it in the city. There were seemingly NO boundaries to where it was. For example, trucks, cars, storefronts, houses were all targeted. I think it took away from the beauty of the city many of times. It was sad to see ugly scribbled spray paint where it just didn’t belong.

CONSTRUCTION:
This one is probably a given, but all times of year, all across the city, construction is going on. Like anywhere, construction is loud, messy and not so pretty. Obviously, it needs to be done, and with such a bustling place it is a constant job. It can just get annoying and take away from the city at times. 

 

GARBAGE/LITTER:

Although the city makes an effort to keep the city clean, there is litter, cigarette butts, and dog poop nearly everywhere. In the very industrial sections of the city, there is very little grass for dogs to use the bathroom. Countless owners leave their dogs' mess behind in the middle of the side walks. It is too bad, and gross to walk by....

 

DIFFERENT FOODS: 

I don't consider myself a picky eater, however I learned how uncomfortable it can be trying foods I am not familiar with. It can be intimidating! A lot of restaurants in the city do not include all of the ingredients on the menu. For example, I ordered a house salad at one point, and was surprised to find it topped off with baby eels! This was a food I had never heard of before, but is a common topping in Spain. Obviously being in Spain, different foods are used and they are prepared differently. You do not always know what you are going to get, and it can be very intimidating. ESPECIALLY when there is a language barrier. My weak Spanish skills did not help in this matter....

 

PICKPOCKETS:

Now, I was lucky enough to not lose anything to the countless pickpockets of Barcelona, but many students within my program were victims. You have to be extremely cautious of your things and aware of your surroundings, because there unfortunately are lots of people looking to steal. I witnessed a couple of encounters in the metro station: one woman screamed that a man stole something, and another time I was targeted! I felt a woman passing by trying to unzip my purse as her friend spoke loudly. Luckily I felt her doing it and pulled my bag away in time. A friend of mine had her phone stolen in the metro, then got a replacement, and the replacement got stolen, in the metro again! Being alert is a necessity in the bustling city.