Rebecca R.: First week in Barcelona!!

When I arrived a week ago, I thought this was going to be a long month and now one week is already over and I have no idea where all the time went!

I arrived last week on Saturday. Since then I've been doing a lot of sight-seeing and I also made some new friends here. For instance Miriam, who is actually French but has been living in Barcelona for quite some time. She has shown me a lot of great places, one of them being Placa Catalunya. I don't think I have ever seen so many pigeons at one place. She also recommended visiting the church La Sagrada Familia. It is a beautiful church, which is still under construction 135 years after the first stone was laid.

Before I came here, I was worried that it would be hard understanding people in this part of Spain, since they have their own language, Catalán. Luckily, that is not a problem at all. Quite the opposite actually. I haven't met many people who spoke Catalán, and when they did, they still spoke Spanish or English for me. This is also a thing I noticed, that people here are very open and always happy to help.

While I'm here, I am working as a receptionist at a hotel. My working hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. Everyone I have worked with so far was extremely nice. I don't really feel like I'm just an intern, but rather like I'm part of the team. What I appreciate most is the working atmosphere and the respect the staff shows each other.