A word of advice for those studying abroad, traveling to an unfamiliar place, or just trying to get to work in your own city: walk. Just a couple blocks, and suddenly it’s like you’re in another world, one that you’ve never really noticed before. Today I finally took the time to poke my head outside the metro and make the trip home from the IES center by foot, and it was my favorite part of the day, despite a few small issues I’ll get into later. It’s so easy to get caught up in getting to school, work or wherever you’re going, always running, always in a hurry, trying to beat the giant imaginary clock that seems to be constantly looming overhead. Ignore it for once: it’s worth it. My walk took me through side streets and past tiny shops I never would have seen on my usual underground commute. I strolled down the Passeig de Gracia, one of the main streets in the city, which is lined with the store windows of some of the biggest names in international fashion: Gucci, Burberry, Chanel etc. One I stopped lusting after the stilettos and leather purses, I started to really look around and wandered onto the less touristy side streets. I stumbled upon bits of the local reality this afternoon–a girl on a bike wearing a backpack that contained her dog (the poor creature was only about the size of a large gerbil), a group of men playing bocce in the park, and, my favorite: an elderly couple, both in wheelchairs, holding hands as they wheeled down the sidewalk.
Despite the overall pleasantness of my stroll, it did present a few minor nuisances. The last stretch of my pedestrian commute ended up being far less peaceful, as it required me to walk by the Sagrada Familia, Gaud�’s great church (which, I learned, is not a cathedral as most people believe). It’s an extremely impressive building, although the myriad cranes and seemingly endless construction do somewhat mar the sight.
Unfortunately, that’s not the only pesky issue surrounding this landmark. The main problem of the area? The sidewalks. I am now firmly convinced that West Point should abandon it’s Indoor Obstacle Course Test in favor of a two-block navigation down the sidewalks around the Sagrada Familia. They’re cluttered with:
� Tourists–craning their necks upward to catch a glimpse of the highest towers of Gaudi’s masterpiece. I’m beginning to get the impression that they no longer actually have distinguishable features; most of them stare through their camera so much that in the heat, it has probably fused to their faces by now
� annoyed locals– attempting to go about their business in a timely matter, but of course failing miserably the face of what seem to be trillions of tour groups, each of which somehow manages to take up twice as much space as that many people would need to stand comfortably in any other scenario
� outdoor caf� tables and chairs, scooters, loitering teenagers, and the never-depleted assortment of pets, (and their excrements) small children, restaurant signs, bicycles, and revolving postcard stands.
I hope my description gives a general idea of the complexity of trying to make forward progress in this area. As I attempted to walk, it went basically something like this: Duck! Dodge! Left! WOW, a break in the crowd, two steps forward! Right! One step backwards to avoid trampling a two-year old–success, my left foot missed the dog poop by a quarter of an inch! I’m fairly certain that at times I was moving more sideways than forwards in a desperate, futile attempt to dodge all of the above.
Although it may seem like I’m on an infinite and aimless rant about the (minor) annoyances of the neighborhood is, I promise I have a point. Here it is. After this walk, for the first time, I started to really understand what it’s like to live here. I’ve transitioned from being one of those star struck tourists to feeling like a local. Sure, I wasn’t born here and I haven’t lived here all my life, but I now understand why my se�ora avoids the area like the plague (�las aceras siempre est�n llenas de turistas, y no se puede caminar!) and I’ve started thinking about the tourists as “they” rather than “us”. I feel at home here. It’s a pretty impressive change in perspective considering it all happened in four weeks, and one I really wasn’t expecting. I guess this really says something about the nature of human adaptability. Before my philosophizing gets too serious, I’ll stop, but I’ll try to find a minute to write again soon.
Christopher P. Long says
Arianna, there is wisdom in this post. Keep the philosophizing coming!