How To: Live in Spain as an American with a Spanish Name

First full day in Barthelona (meant to be pronounced with a lisp, obviously).

I woke up and forgot I was in Barcelona, so that was interesting. Once I finally realized I had somewhere to go, I got up to take a shower. Many of you know the old joke of how the hardest thing ever is to figure out someone else's shower, right? Yeah, this was not easy. It's one of those showers that has a hose with the head connected that you can put back on the wall. Except when you put it back on the wall, it points straight down and a little to the right, resulting in me shooting water all over that side of the bathroom. I tried again but this time I think I turned the water on too much because the shower head went from facing straight down to straight forward and shot water all over the entire wall (including the shelving unit in the bathroom). Essentially, I soaked the bathroom in water before I was actually able to shower. It was a fiasco, to say the least.

Then I tried to blow dry my hair. My initial plan was to buy a blow dryer here instead of worrying about packing mine and using converters/adapters or whatever but then last night I saw one in the bathroom and asked Mercedes if I can use it. It turns out girls before have left it here so I was able to. Then I realized it was actually American and I did need a converter so that was great. Luckily, there was one in my room so I used it. It worked fine and I was drying my hair when all of the sudden it stopped. I tried again and again but nothing. So I'm pretty sure I broke the hair dryer. This morning is going SWELL.

Mercedes asked me what I want for breakfast and I have no idea what she is saying when she listed the options so I just said I like everything and she went back into the kitchen. She came out and asked me if I like my milk hot or cold, so like any American I said cold. When I ate breakfast, it was room temperature milk. I know I said I like everything, but I think room temperature milk is one of the few things I do not like. The morning keeps getting better.

Mercedes escorted me to my orientation today (which was very nice of her) because I don't have a roommate yet to go with and I have no idea where I'm going. I get there and meet some new friends and we shop around before orientation. All is well. I bought some minutes for my Spanish phone so I will be able to communicate somehow with said new friends. Then we went to a welcoming presentation at the Universitat de Barcelona, which is a lot prettier than University of Illinois. This presentation was mostly about how to avoid pickpocketers, because they are seriously so damn sneaky. For all of you that know me, you know that I have been pickpocketed in Paris (I tell everyone. My friends know that it is by far my favorite story to tell and they are probably laughing right now.). I spent the entire time rolling my eyes and thinking, "Yeah I know, I know. I know from FIRST-HAND experience ugh" and yet later today some man on the street asked me if I spoke English and I almost helped him until my friend Angie (yeah "oh my god Angie and Angela?!" I've heard that a million times today) said no and kept walking so apparently I learned nothing from my FIRST-HAND experience or that presentation because there is a 90% chance that man was going to distract us while his friend pickpocketed us. While I'm on that topic, since I have been pickpocketed and I know how these bitches are sneaky, I literally check my bag (which is always zipped, and I keep my hand on the zipper) about every 10 minutes to make sure my wallet is still there. Is this paranoia? Or am I supposed to do this?

Now for today's feature: how to live in Spain as an American with a Spanish name. Many of you may already know that my name is Angela Luz Rodriguez. If you simply make "Angela" "Ángela", you've got the perfect Spanish name. This has been quite irritating in America even, with many people asking, "Wait, if your last name is Rodriguez then why can't you speak Spanish?" (the answer to that being my mom is Irish and only knows English and my dad didn't spend all day at home with me SO SORRY I ONLY KNOW ENGLISH MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE). This problem has become more prevalent in Spain. For example, Mercedes actually told me that she saw my name and got so excited because I was going to be able to speak Spanish with her. How do you answer that? The answer is "lo siento" and then laugh that you are a disappointment. Today, I went to the pharmacy to find allergy medicine to fight the good fight against Gato. The exchange with the lady at the counter was going abysmally as she didn't know what allergy meant. Finally, I got some Claritin (I'm not sure if that helps cat allergies, but I was too flustered to find anything else). When I handed her my debit card and she asked for me ID she saw my name and asked why I don't know Spanish, while smiling. SORRY, OK? I'M SORRY THAT I DON'T KNOW SPANISH AND I AM A DISAPPOINTING RODRIGUEZ. Side story: when she told me the price of the medicine, it was €4,85 but I thought she was saying some number in the 40s and I still bought it without a question. I was thinking wow that is expensive but what normal person buys 7 pills of Claritin for €40??? This American Rodriguez. That's who.

Seeing as I do not have a roommate yet (she comes tomorrow at 9am and I am SO excited), I made my way from downtown back to my homestay all alone. With some help from Google Maps (I emphasize some because I can only use it when I have wifi), I figured out what metro to take and what stop to get off at. Then I had no idea where I was going and just started walking and I actually made it home without getting lost. Since I got pickpocketed on the metro, being alone on it for the first time since was actually scary. But I faced my fear and did it. Woo!

Another quick note: these Spaniards dress like its 30˚F (Fahrenheit mind you, I'm sick of this Celsius bullshit already) cooler than it really is. Maybe it's because I'm used to Chicago weather, but winter coats are necessary for 40˚ or under. These people are bundled up and its in the UPPER 50s! You know those little sleeping bag things you put infants in? They are using those for the babies. I'm trying to fit in so I'm wearing my winter jacket and I'm sweating like the dirty American pig I am.

Time for dinner. I swear if I have room temperature milk I'm sacrificing Gato.

Angela