Culture shock is not a foreign concept to people who are moving around the world and overseas.  Whether its for a visit to the Fresh Prince of Belair or a necessary move due to political or economic instability (or a student studying abroad in Barcelona), culture shock is likely to be experienced by all in these situations.  Oh, I know, I experienced it.  However, nobody has prepared me for what its going to be like going back home.  I was so consumed by my entire experience abroad I have yet to come to terms with the fact that it’s actually ending?  At first everything was so foreign here.  First of all, I have yet to learn the conversion and have even been thinking in Euros in my mind (not as exciting as if I was thinking in Spanish in my head, but still pretty cool).  The beginning of abroad was an emotional roller coaster, to say the least.  I had a difficult time getting acclamated to the culture at first but once I did I realized how much I am trully in love with this city.  I had a difficult time getting into the swing of things at first (which was perfectly normal and to be expected) but I had classes and my family and friends and everyones support.  I had Cossette, my best friend, who was abroad in Barcelona last semester talking me through things and being there for me.  What I want to know now is what am I going to do when I get back to home and feel equally as out of place as I did when I arrived here?  Noone has even touched on preparing me for re-entry into the world, and I’m not sure I would have voluntarily accepted their help even if they had tried!  Help!  I never want to leave. Ever.

During our Spring Break in Marbella, once it was clear that the weather was not clearing up and there was no reason to stay at the villa and just hang out and party all week we planned a day trip to the city of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is all the way on the Southern-est most tip of Spain at the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. This territory is built as a fortress all along a mountain, leading up to the Rock of Gibraltar. On a clear day you can see Africa from the Rock of Gibraltar, our day, however, was anything but clear. It was pouring rain the entire time we drove around in our english speaking tour/taxi (everyone here seemed to speak English because it is a British territory! I will thank my knowledge of Gibraltar on the the English, for this reason!) Not being able to see Africa was a bit of a bummer, but I got over it instantaneously when I saw the Monkeys!!

They were so cute and didn’t seem in the least bit phased by our presence! In fact they were so used to people that they seemed to come out of nowhere and then all of a sudden they had successfully invaded the entire side of the mountain!  All of sudden a pack of monkeys came swinging out of the trees and approached everyone in sight.  Gibraltar was instantly worth every second of the hour bus ride over and every drop of rain endured in the process. The monkeys were clearly very used to having humans take over their territory and did not seem in the least bit afraid of the taxis and people that had bombarded their mountain. In fact, as we exited the beautiful caves in the side of the mountain, we were confronted with hundreds of monkeys climbing on railings and even cars and people! At first we only saw this from afar, a monkey climbing on top of a different cab –>. However as we continued down the mountain with our tour/driver, Alastor, towards the Moorish Castle a monkey took a sudden interest in us and actually jumped onto the window and stuck his head in our car! We loved it. Loved.
At the Moorish Castle, we had to climb multiple flights of stairs in order to reach the top deck.

From the top of the castle we were able to have a spectacular panoramic view of Gibraltar.

We didn’t spend much time in Gibraltar but the little time we were there was enough to get a taste of the city. It was very refreshing to be in a city where most of the people understood and could communicate back in English. Although, this is something I don’t usually mind in Barcelona, in the case of touring around Gibraltar we all wanted to know the historical relevance of what we were seeing and would have had absolutely no shot at understanding all of it in Spanish…or god forbid in Catalan. The city was beautiful, even with the pouring rain. It was very interesting at how different the separate regions in Spain can be from one another. One thing I noticed from our trip to Gibraltar and to Marbella was that people kept saying “I keep forgetting I’m in Spain,” myself included! The different autonomous regions of Spain differ from one another in a huge way. I always come back to the same conclusion, however, and that is that I love Barcelona above all other places. That, and I never want to leave here.

So yesterday I finally returned from our 9 day amazing spring break. Because Easter is such an important holidia in Barcelona, every school has their spring break during this time. So even though Easter fell a week before the end of our program, our spring break came the week before this week.. a week of finals both literally and figuratively, UNFORTUNATELY. WAAH! I never want to leave Barcelona, even referring to it makes me so jittery and sad to leave and go home. I am absolutely not even marketdly close to being ready to go back to the big bad real-world.
Eighteen of us rented a beautiful villa in Marbella, Spain which is off the coast of the Mediterranean, in Andalusia. We flew into the Malaga airport which is about an hour away from the city. I couldn’t even close to tell you the actual distance from the airport because I spent the entire plane and car ride passed out in the back seat. The weather was nothing spectacular and everone was cranky and hungry so once we arrived at our villa and scoped out the scene we hiked up the highway to the one restaurant within at least a 1-mile radius and we took it over. This was fine, seeing as we were the only people in the restaurant… (and it seemed on the whole side of the mountain!) Benahavis (where our villa was located) was a very cute small Spanish mountain village right outside of Marbella and Puerto Banus. However our presence was soon made known to the town of Benahavis. The following day we woke up to an AMAZING sunny day and the rest of CEA, or so it seemed, had arrived in Marbella.

Unfortunatelyyy, no matter how later our spring break was pushed back, thanks to Easter, Zeus was not on our sides and did not bless us with good weather. Apart from the first 2 full days and the last day it was rainy and cold, felt like the end of Winter in Michigan, and completely lacking in the sun department. However, we still had a great time regardless. How could we not, situated in an absolutely gorgeous villa.

One of the days, in our efforts to steer clear of Cabin Fever, we made our way out of the Villa and into Puerto Banus.
The town was very cute with lots of great shopping and nice water-front restaurants… but we were all poooped from the day of exertion and all headed back.

The majority of the spring break was spent cooped up, running back and forth from our villa and the one next door to us. All of the while hoping and keeping an eye on the sun. The few times it did come out we were all sure to take advantage of it…. and record it!

And oh boy did we take advantage of the sun when it was there. Waking up before 11 AM is unheard of for me, and during spring break? HAH! Forget it! But on the first 2 sunny days there wasn’t a single body that wasn’t laying outside soaking up the rays. And thankgod for the little sun that we did because I was so pasty and white I was starting to look like a ghost. I mean literally, I have *had never seen my body this color before! Even though I go to school in the frigid Ann Arbor I always visit home at least within every other month and when I do so I get my color back. That was not the case this semester! Even though I was one of the few who went back to the US during this semester I had the Flu and Strep Throat and was confined to my bed the entirety of my time in Miami. All in all the spring break was an amazing way to start wrapping up our abroad experience and for everyone to get closer to each other. I want to be back in Marbella, Please.

One thing that Barcelona and I already had in common before I came here is our love of futbol. From the second I touched a soccer ball I knew I was in the right place. I placed soccer all of high-school and lived for the Makos. Every second I spent on the field I had not a thought in my head but the field and the ball, it was my way of completely relieving my stress and playing everything out of me. The worst day ever was the day that we lost our District finals game. During the game a girl on the Florida Christian team tore my ACL and my Meniscus muscles in my knee. That was the last time I played soccer…until I got to Barcelona! The entire atmosphere in Spain is so centered around sports and has always historically been this way. During the Franco regime, all of the autonomous regions of Spain (including Catalunya of course) were forbidden from using any of their cultural symbols (everything from the language to the flag)! The only place where they were allowed to display their flag and chant in Catalan was during FC Barcelona games. This, of course, is not the sole reason why soccer is such an integral part of Spanish culture, but it definitely impacted it. I had the opportunity to go to two different FC Barcelona games and have never felt more at home. I even was able to join the CEA soccer league, and I loved every single moment of it!

For our class we were instructed to write a blog post about podcasts. I included this post, because of all of the podcasts I searched through I thought this was the perfect mixture of a comedic breathe of fresh air with the right amount of a strong voice making an ironic comment on recent events in our society. The podcast by The Onion, called “FBI: Muslims May Be Creating Nuclear Families” is play off the mass hysteria that was aimed at all Muslims after 9/11.

The Onion, as you could probably already gather from the podcast, is a satirical news organization that produces an entertainment newspaper, as well as podcasts from its radio venture with ironical and sarcastic articles based on local or international current events.
Podcasts are a really great opportunity to get your point accross in a short and succinct manner, while still allowing for comedic tone… or any tone for that matter. It is also a great way to build hype over a specific issue by bringing additional attention to it. Through this medium it does not seem as repetitive as do the same news stories that play night after night. Utilizing this new form of communication is also an ideal way to reach out to different target audiences who may be more inclined to listen about these different topics online etc. Podcasts also make different news segments, and other podcast shows much more accessible to the general public. They now allow for you to access everything you want on the go. In this day and age, why should you be confined to finding out the news from sitting in front of the TV, the media and the world is constantly changing and the presence of podcast is another revolutionary turn.

Wrapping up a phone call with my parents, they asked me about my week in Barcelona and my weekend in Amsterdam and if I liked Amsterdam. I told them that I absolutely loved Amsterdam, I love everything-Amsterdam. They immediately assumed and attributed my response to the simple fact that Marijuana is legal and rampant throughout Amsterdam. After all, that is what first pops to mind when thinking of it. However, this is not the clear cut reason, in fact, it was only a minute detail that contributed to my overwhelmingly positive sentiment towards the city. The city of Amsterdam, itself, was so picture perfect and unlike any other place I had ever visited. Truthfully, I had never really looked at pictures of Amsterdam and had no idea what to expect. The city is centered around a throng of canals that go across the entire city. The canal is lined with hundreds of boats, including everything from row boats, to house boats. There were even water taxis!

Everyone commutes via water, bike or trolleys, through a myriad of streets all organized by a series of canals that run throughout the whole city! As we walked around Amsterdam, it almost seemed to me that we were walking in a fairy tale town, like it wasn’t even real. The buildings were picturesque, so much so, that my friends took the camera away from me because I paused too many times to take snapshots of the scene around us. And pot is not rampant around the city, it is surprisingly contained and extremely civilized. The coffee shops are not some dingy little cafe that also happens to sell marijuana; they are upscale coffee shops, sometimes even full-fledged restaurants! Nothing about smoking is taboo and everyone is so incredibly friendly and helpful. The only thing about it that felt weird, was how incredibly normal it all seemed!
The food at these coffee shops happened to have been utterly irresistible. When we arrived at one of the coffee shops, Barneys, I looked at the menu and wanted every milkshake they had. Needless to say, I almost had 3 in one sitting. Never felt soo good, yet so bad all at once. Overall, the weekend trip to Amsterdam was absolutely incredible. Beyond the food and entertainment that exists in Amsterdam is a city full of history and life to share with everyone. Its incredible to think that so recently there was a family cramped into the attic of their home hiding from the Nazi regime, uncertain of whether again they would ever be able to see the light of day again. Now, today that house still stands as a testament to the Frank’s survival and to tell all of us to continue loving and living on.

My family finally came to visitt! Having them here was really great and made life three hundred times easier: free food, cabs and sightseeing. And food. My mom, dad and sister stayed at the Hotel Arts, so obviously I capitalized on this and stayed with them as well! The hotel was beautiful (significantly nicer than the W). I knew from the moment that I walked in to hundreds of lillies all over the hotel that set the mood, as well as the smell, that i would love it.

Because they arrived on a Tuesday we had a very limited amount of time, together, in Barcelona. Everyday we ate together, before I left for class. During which, la familia Katzen (-Brynn) wandered around the city seeing the necessary sites: Las Ramblas, the Bokeria, Sagrada Familia and even Park Guell! On Thursday I missed some class to wander down Palau de la Musica and into the gothic area, finally, and slightly painfully, stumbling into El Borne giving my family enough time to glimpse the area.
Thursday night were off to Paris (for my 2nd time this semester)!! We landed at night, cranky and starving. We arrived at our hotel, Hotel d’Aubusson a cute little Parisian boutique-style hotel in Saint Germain Des Pres. We wandered down the street to get something to eat before crashing. Daddy diligently woke us up around 10 o’clock everyday, getting an early start on our days. We visited l’orongerie (my favorite museum) giving me another peep at the beautiful Monet Lily masterpieces, among all of the other pieces.

We also visited the Rodin and the Orsay. We also ate great food in Paris. I ate the biggest macaroon I have ever come across, and it was delicious x3 (literally)!
All in all, having my family here was a really nice chance to get out of my apartment and relax with la familia.

This past weekend has been the beginning of a breakthrough in Barcelona weather! It has been absolutely spectacular the past 3 days. Although today is not as sunny and welcoming as the past couple the warmer weather has maintained and hasn’t even broke into the low 60s! Keep up the good work BCN =D! With this sunny weather opens up an entire spectrum of new activities and things to do around Barc…most of which revolve around the sun and the beach. No complaints here! Yesterday Ana and I wandered around Barcelona, aimlessly, and it felt great.

Ana and I stumbled upon a ski/snowboarding competition that consisted of ski/boarding down a pseudo slope (in the form of a ramp) before landing into the marina! It was very entertaining. Even though there is the possibility that landing in the murkiest and most polluted section of the marina may or may not have been slightly detrimental to the participants health, it was still very entertaining. If it weren’t for the fact that uploading a video onto youtube takes 500 gazillion hours I’d share my videos of the last 2 participants belly flopping and twisting into the water.

After watching BCN’s version of the X games, Ana and I went to a delicious and romantical meal at Bo De B, in Barceloneta. Please, Barcelona, stay this sunny for the rest of our time here! I love you like this! . . . Who am I kidding, I love you always, Barcelona.

Last class we discussed Web 2.0 and its implications on Marketing and Business –> Business & Marketing 2.0 if you will. I found it really interesting to really analyze how Marketting 2.0 evolved into this viral marketing sensation. Once one new product, website, event or company (just to name a minute amount of possibilities from a huge spectrum of different “products”) launches and attracts a group of followers (doesn’t have to be a large group, just a loyal one) these people then have the ability to transform a “product” into a mass sensation. These evangelist customers who may have fallen in love with this enterprise will spread their enthusiasm through different (and most likely more than one) social media outlets- by recommending things on Twitter, liking a product on Facebook, or blogging about it on their personal blog, people are able to get the word out to the masses within a fraction of a moment. These customers will likely, quickly inundate the blogosphere with recommendations in the form of anything from a Tweet to a posted review that can either make or break a “products” existence. These truly shows how Web 2.0 has worked to completely transform us as purely the audience, into a much more interactive community in which we are fully participating, not just simply standing from afar, observing. This was one of the results of Web 2.0, and by extension has revolutionized marketing and business as well. I have always though of Marketing as a group of people who work for a specific firm or as a marketing group all on their own in order to spread the word about something or spin a scenario to place an enterprise or product in a specific light. Now, marketing has broadened its realm to a whole new level, one in which we have just as much control as the professionals that are sitting far off, somewhere, behind a desk. We have the power to inform others when a product is absolutely a waste and when something is a must have! Web 2.0 has helped to utterly transform the world that we live in, which; today, is drastically different from the world our grandparents remember. We must all take advantage of this and spread our word….whatever our word may be!

In this “information age” that is so much a part of our generation, we are constantly connected to the world in some way. Whether it be via a smart phone, iPad, TV or a laptop computer, our generation is always surfing the web, reading CNN.com, or Twitter, or asking Yahoo Questions the answer to the latest, most pressing question of the moment. There are so many outlets for us to keep informed now, rather than just the radio, TV and newspaper. These different channels of information and communication allow for a multitude of opinions rather than just the mainstream views of major news corporations. Web 2.0 has facilitated this diversification of information avenues. However, even though the Internet facilitates this mass spread of information at the touch of a finger, has it made us significantly lazier than our parents? Personally I approve of the ability to have every piece of information in every form, be it a news article on CNN.com or a tweet from TIME about the latest news update. We have come so accustomed to this instant gratification we have forgotten what it takes to seek our information that requires research. However, while all of these new 2.0 tools that allow to stay connected at every given moment in time, does this take away from our lives?
I will be the first to agree with how incredible it is to know that the moment the UN declares Libya a “No Fly Zone,” I received a text from the Miami Herald and was then immediately able to log onto my Internet browser on my blackberry and pull up an article elaborating on this subject. In this way I am able to be constantly connected and updated on the world’s events! However, does this take away from our ability to present in todays lives? If all of this occurs during a dinner, then this severely takes away from my ability to carry on a conversation. I have found this to be a problem with many of my friends and others in my generation. I think this is something we all need to work on being aware of. Facebook advertises itself as the way to “Stay Connected,” and hey thats clearly what everyone wants.

But how important is it to stay connected 24/7? Does this actually cause a disconnect with our lives, in the reality realm?