This blog is the result of my acceptance to IESE business school in Barcelona, Spain. It has begun in Barcelona, where I and Lyndsey are currently staying for the week while I find a flat and
hopefully flatmates for this coming year. I return to begin classes at the end of August, after which I hope to stay and work in Europe.
My first impressions of Barcelona are overwhelmingly positive. Though I have been here before, it was at the end of a summer exchange program spent in Sevilla in 1999 during which I saw only a hostel on Las Ramblas, one of the beaches on Barceloneta and a Planet Hollywood. I don’t recall being particularly impressed with any of the three which I attribute more to the negative baggage I had brought from Sevilla than to the city itself. There are of course additional reasons for the negative recollection, but they will remain untold even in the open forum that is a blog.
We are staying in the flat of a group of IESE second years that I met through the incoming student forum that has consumed more of my time than work, at least in terms of interest. This is not to say that I do not continue to work hard, but as with any new experience on the horizon it begins to take precedence over what one associates with their old life. The flat is absolutely gorgeous, located in a small neighborhood called Sarria. The barrio has the look and feel that I fell in love with during my first visit to Europe. Families spend time outside on the streets, from the ancient to the swaddling. Specialty shops abound including several fantastic charcuteries, fruit and vegetable stands, a small fish market and many bakeries, though I must say that the general quality of bread in this country is quite a disappointment after 3 days in France. Way too crusty on the outside and airy in the middle. The flat itself wonderful: high ceilings in ample bedrooms, with intricate cornice work and two large bathrooms for the four
rooms. The master bathroom even has a large oyster shell whirlpool on a platform.
The center of the flat opens into a fantastic courtyard.------------>
Sadly there is no access from the apartment, but it provides fantastic natural light and the feeling of being in a small rural setting as opposed to a bustling Catalan city. On top of all this, it is around the corner from the subway/ferrocarril Sarria station with express access to Plaça Catalunya.
