The world seems rather large until you split the harp with a Norwegian, people watch in a plaça with an American, inspect a Basquiat painting with a Russian, bus to a Valencian castle with a Mexican and talk international sea borders with an Italian. Every year, University of California students studying through the University of California Education Abroad Program, or UCEAP, temporarily transplant their lives to destinations abroad, experiencing and exchanging cultures with other international students. Stick around and let us show you what student life in the little Catalan corner of Barcelona can offer you. I encourage you to scroll through the images and stories below to explore these five students’ lives!
Thorstein Harstad
Oslo, Norway | Skål!
Thorstein Harstad may only have a semester to spend in Barcelona before he sails with the Navy, but to him, there’s no rush. Living abroad for the first time, Harstad, a Norweigian-Icelandic 19-year-old recent graduate from an Oslo upper secondary school, appreciates the shift to Spain’s slow life. “At home everything goes by fast, we do things as fast as we can; out here it seems like they have all the fucking time in the world,” he said. Class for me starts at 11:30, which I really fucking love because it allows me to go out every night if I want until I go broke.” Spot Harstad marching to the Barceloneta (Barcelona’s 18th-century maritime district) with his Arc’teryx jacket and snø nicotine pouch.
If you woke up one day and found money in your pockets, how would you spend your day?
Very bad question. Guinness. Just kidding, I’d probably start off going outside and enjoying the sun for a while, find some good proper shit to eat, a proper beer and life in the sun, life is perfect then. You say a thousand euros? I’d go shopping, yeah I’d buy some new shoes (Nike Air Max), not the high-end ones, the normal models, but they’ve become expensive as well. Yeah, do some small shopping and then hit the Barcelona game. And then save some money for a nice dinner. A night out to one of the clubs, but not one of the ones on the beach but the one’s further north, more local, better experience there.
Say you were to show some friends around Barcelona; where are you taking them?
I’d recommend the Shamrock Irish Bar. In general I’m a huge fan of Irish pubs, anything Irish. It might be because we Icelandic people have Irish genes in our blood… the Shamrock, the Fastnet, very cool Irish pubs, very cool pubs, other pubs with graffiti and skate ramps. Another restaurant that has a lot of fucking charm is where the old Spanish king, Juan Carlos, used to eat, Los Caracoles … the snails. You walk through the kitchen to get in — heavily recommend that one.
Looking 10 years ahead, what about your time in Barcelona will you be most grateful for?
Hard question. I think I would be very grateful to have experienced living in another country. Taking that jump, meeting new people, new cultures, avoiding the Norwegian winter depression, cheap prices and nightlife; yeah, the small things I would miss the most. No struggle going out and having a beer. I know I talk down on the small lifestyle. Not to lie, I enjoy going out a whole lot and not stressing about anything. I reckon that’s what I’ll look back on, and of course, the friendships. When you come to a school, you are forced to make friends if you don’t want to spend all your time alone. Mostly I’ll look back at the nights after class, the community and the friend groups I have made. Also, I cannot forget the Spanish, learning a new language, having classes in that language, you learn a whole fucking lot. Experience a bunch of new things. Skål ta meg faen.
What to you is the Barcelona philosophy?
All these Guinnesses, I’ll tell you that. Damn. I feel Barcelona is a very hedonistic place. Enjoy the material things. But also, in general, with living here comes great peace of mind. Never in a hurry. Never a wrong time to have a pint. And people always arrive late. So have no expectations, which means you can also lower your own standards. Lean back and enjoy. Take your fucking time because everyone else will do it and you will miss out if you don’t.
Aaron Davis
Albany, United States of America | L’chaim!
Aaron Davis, a 20-year-old New Yorker (“not the city”) majoring in sociology and minoring in Spanish, is set on graduating next year from the University of Buffalo. While he works to complete his minor with an exchange program at the University of Barcelona, Davis’ adventurous attitude has sent him on a journey deeper into the language and culture of his host country. As a singer, songwriter, guitarist and busker, he likens learning Spanish to learning music theory. “You improve a hell of a lot more when you play the guitar every day, and learning the theory is very good as well — it helps you, but there’s nothing like doing something every day in your life… my fluency, my way of speaking, my understanding has improved immensely from just that, the use.” For American university students considering time abroad, he suggests asking foreign language speakers if you could try speaking with them in the target language through apps like italki or Discord channels that connect you with native speakers, and once you’re abroad, to actively engage with locals.
If you woke up one day and found money in your pockets, how would you spend your day?
And I have to spend it all in one day? I suppose I’d probably go out to a nice lunch in a local area, like Gracia or something, get a two-course thing, talk to the waiters and such, have some friends out, maybe, and then chill out. You know, I guess there’s nothing I would really want to spend a thousand euros on in one day. If I had the security of all that, I would just spend it on some meals, some drinks, and just having a generally relaxed time all around the city … maybe I’d go to a club. I guess I’d get a fancy meal then, for me I like to spend my days just being chill, having a good time, so I don’t think I can really think of anything … the fancy meals are fun occasionally, but usually, they’re not much better than a local meal that’s 15 euros … I don’t really like the fancy crowd anyways, so I don’t know. Hole-in-the-walls, they’re always the best. I’m a people person, so it’s more important that I like the people. I would spend the money on eating in a place that’s in a nice plaça. Cause that shit is more expensive, but I fucking love plaças, probably Plaça del Sol — that’s up north.
Say you were to show some friends around Barcelona; where are you taking them?
I like Park Güell, the part without the monuments. Maybe we’d go there and head up to the mountain. First thing in the morning, we would have some coffee, orange juice, some kind of sandwich, whatever. Midday, have a nice meal in Gracia, sit in the plaça and have a beer. Then maybe go up to Montjuïc, check out the sunset, come back down and have a drink and dinner in a plaça, and then go out wherever and have a good time. Sounds good to me.
Looking 10 years ahead, what about your time in Barcelona will you be most grateful for?
I think it’s an invaluable experience, you know. There’s nothing you can do that will really give you the same insight into the world, into people, in the same way than just talking to them, learning their language and their cultures… in the same way, it’ll help you look at your own culture and yourself through learning about other people, other cultures. It’s an incredible way to spend your younger years on the planet. The thing is you as a person, your culture as a culture, your place as a place: these are things that are defined by what they aren’t, you know? You can’t know who you are as a person unless you know other people because if you’re just there on your own, you don’t know shit about yourself; you don’t know shit about anything. It’s only about comparing yourself, your culture to other cultures, to other cultures, that you really can get a sense for who you are, specifically, you know, so it’s a comparison game; the more life experience you have, the more you’ll understand the stuff you already knew.
What to you is the Barcelona philosophy?
I don’t know. I don’t live here, I mean I haven’t lived here my whole life, but I would say it’s very laid-back. It’s just enjoying life. A work-to-live as opposed to a live-to-work philosophy, you know. Just enjoying the aesthetic of things, it’s a very aesthetically pleasing place.
Mathew Ovchinnikov
Moscow, Russia | Привет Приветик
For Mathew Ovchinnikov, a 19-year-old Russian business student, the move to Barcelona was both challenging and rewarding. Because of international sanctions, outbound travelers are permitted only a small number of major airlines to leave Russia, meaning students departing for foreign universities must travel along outlandish routes. Current travel restrictions can add stress to the study-abroad experience for students like Ovchinnikov, but the shift in culture, language and lifestyle still proves to be rewarding. Having graduated from a Moscow high school, where students enjoy “a rich cultural scene, vibrant nightlife, and a strong academic environment,” Ovchinnikov’s studious and hardworking character, as well as his openness to fresh ideas, has helped him settle into Barcelona’s “unique blend of history, modernity and laid-back lifestyle.”
If you woke up one day and found money in your pockets, how would you spend your day?
I think for me it is clothes. Now it is difficult to get great clothes in Russia. We have no famous brands, like Zara, H&M and others. I really like these brands. I want to buy it and use it in my life. Maybe it could be some food that I really like, like the Spanish kitchen. I would like to try everything in their clothes. Now, we have no brands. It’s only the brands from Belarus, Kazakhstan, China or Russia. Projects that are saved in storage. I can’t say that in Russia we have a deficit of the products, only the brand products. Of course, we have good clothes. It’s starting to be more difficult to search it. Everything may be the same but without the brands. Sometimes, it could be great quality or good quality.
Say you were to show some friends around Barcelona; where are you taking them?
There are a lot of interesting locations in Barcelona, it’s an amazing city, it’s so huge, I can say about the Montjuïc. I don’t know if everybody knows about it. There are amazing sunsets, especially in the part where the Olympic stadium was. I hear about bunkers from my friends; it’s on the mountains and the other side of the city. It’s open for everyone during the day. From this summer, or spring, I don’t know, they closed it because it was an amazing place, but there were a lot of tourists and the residents who lived there didn’t like it, so they asked and created a petition to close the location, and now it’s only open until 6 or 7 p.m. and the police close it afterward. I think they need to have restrictions for the tourists because it is a touristic city. Without the restrictions, it would be difficult to live. Gothic, Raval, are very popular with tourists. Honestly speaking, these neighborhoods are dangerous because at night there are a lot of criminals. It’s the center of the city. It’s an old city, however, it’s really dangerous. No residents are going there at night.
Looking 10 years ahead, what about your time in Barcelona will you be most grateful for?
I really like Barcelona, it’s an amazing city with an amazing climate. It would be difficult for me to go somewhere else with a different climate. It’s sunny, it’s great weather, I can go only in my hoodie. I really like it. As for the future, I think the Barcelona experience will always be in my heart. I really like it. I like the community I have here and I like the international experience. I think for the future I would like to live here for my whole life. Everybody in Barcelona is relaxed. We speak about the warm months. To go to the beach. To drink a beer. To not think about any problems. To create something new. To relax and chill on the beach.
What to you is the Barcelona philosophy?
Barcelona is a contrast. It is a contrast in architecture; for instance, when you go into the center neighborhood and you see an old building from the start of the 20th century, and at the same time, it is the buildings of the 90s or the 2000s, which is honestly ugly; it is the contrast of the community, everybody is chilling, do nothing and relax, I think it is comfortable and everybody is enjoying their experience and their lives. In some neighborhoods, it is dirty, there are a lot of homeless for instance, there is a lot of rubbish in the streets, and sometimes it’s popular for criminals in the touristic neighborhoods. When you are living here for one, two or three months, you see it’s not so amazing, it’s actually dirty, but after this amazing experience, it’s not so crucial for you.
Daniela Islas
Guanajuato, Mexico | Salut!
Behind the shroud of designers and models is a world of publicists selling high fashion to the everyday person. This is the job of Daniela Islas, a 19-year-old marketing, publicity and commercial management double major student who has dedicated her five-year academic career to achieving. Islas began her journey more than a year ago when she first left her home city to study in London over a gap year. The move shocked her at first, but with time, it taught her the diligence, flexibility and experience needed to not only support herself far from home but also to pursue dreams while at it. Now, comfortably going along her five-year, two-degree path, Islas continues studying while enjoying Barcelona’s social life, exploring the ins and outs of the city — reflecting on the work it took to get here and moving onwards: chop, chop.
If you woke up one day and found money in your pockets, how would you spend your day?
I would probably take the sightseeing bus here in Barcelona because I love to take them. They bring you to the sightseeing spots; of course, I can walk there, but I like to listen to the story… every time I get in, I catch new things that I didn’t catch the last time. I’ve been here in Barcelona two times before and took the sightseeing bus both times. Then after I would probably go someplace near Sagrada Famila, because it’s touristic but also a bit cool. With the rest I’d probably go shopping. I like to shop: more clothes, clothes I buy the most. If I had the money for it, I’d buy bags — shoulder bags or cross-body bags, I like those, but probably more clothes… Zadig & Voltaire and Coach. I don’t like to spend much money on luxury brands, like I think they are worth it, but for me, at 19, less… maybe when I’m older, yes, but now, like, please, I take the Metro, it doesn’t make sense for me. Maybe clubbing. I like 20s and I also like Razzmatazz — Razzmatazz is nice, it’s a big club, it has the different rooms with the different kinds of music; I am only in one room, the reggaeton one. You just need to not leave the people you are going with because you will get lost and there’s no service out there, and to find each other it can get complicated. 20s is a bit more classy, you know; they behave more, of course, they have fun, but they behave.
Say you were to show some friends around Barcelona; where are you taking them?
My best friends are coming to visit me during Easter, so I’m planning a trip for them and I will take them to Sagrada Familia for sure, then go to Barceloneta, walk for a bit and maybe eat something there. Then we could go to Park Güell, and they like to go to parks somehow, I don’t know why, then maybe Montjuïc: it’s a pretty view — just the castle because we need to chop, chop. Then we can go back to Barrio Gótico and walk there cause just being there is a cool vibe. I would take them to Camp Nou, but there’s no Camp Nou currently. I think the museum is still there. I went with my mom and my friends before. Then I would take them to a Barça match. We will do a tiny road trip. Paris, London and Rome.
Looking 10 years ahead, what about your time in Barcelona will you be most grateful for?
I think I will be grateful that my mom gave me the opportunity to do all of that and didn’t force me to choose last year because I think I would be miserable studying in Mexico, something that I don’t like. I will also be grateful for the people I have met, maybe some people I don’t talk to now but learned how not to be, like what I should not be doing with my life or not being that way. I will be grateful that I learned from them; of course, maybe I didn’t have the best experiences with them, but I learned from those experiences. Basically, the opportunity for being here now because not everyone has the chance. That’s what I’m grateful for.
What to you is the Barcelona philosophy?
I don’t know, enjoy life. Of course, work for it, and then, at some point, you will enjoy your life. I don’t know how to explain it, but if you keep preparing yourself and work for it, then at some time, you will be at your prime, and you can stop working a bit and enjoy life. Now chop, chop, chop and later chill.
Ludovica Cimino
Rome, Italy | Alla salute!
Ludovica Cimino, a 20-year-old legal student from Rome’s Roma Tre University, was born with a sense of justice in her soul, the perseverance needed to chase her dream and the warm character to keep a smile on as she does it. Moving to study at Barcelona’s Universitat Pompeu Fabra raised the pressure for Cimino — equal parts because the school’s quarter system gives more exams than her previous university and because she opted to build her Spanish from the ground up. When she studies, she opts to study public international law from all-Spanish textbooks; when she socializes, she forces herself to learn Spanish, slowly improving with every conversation; and whenever she has the time, she watches Netflix’s “Las Chicas de Cable.”
If you woke up one day and found money in your pockets, how would you spend your day?
I think I would go to the beach, just chilling, and then I would probably do some things for myself, like a walk by the beach and then by the mall. I would go to the Barceloneta. I feel more comfortable with the places I know. The first time, I could go alone and be fine, but if I want to be actually 100% chill, I like going to the place I know. I would probably have an ice cream and watch the sea just for lunchtime and I would, I don’t know, I would just walk and spend some time for myself. Having time for me. Also, watching TV. It seems ridiculous, but it’s been a while since I’ve watched TV. I have a lot of things to do, especially for university, but I also need to be social. It’s not that I can’t just study and then stay in my room.
Say you were to show some friends around Barcelona; where are you taking them?
I can tell what I did cause it’s something that happened. I think food is something so good, it’s like feelings, plus if you enjoy it with people that you love, it’s like a double feeling. So, when my boyfriend or, I don’t know, someone else were to come, I would take them to nice restaurants, trying the typical foods together, having treats like chocolate, ice cream, and then I would go with them on long, long walks by the center or the sea, also spending time with them just talking having a coffee. Visiting a museum, yes, but it depends because sometimes it’s stressful, it’s a long line, it’s like, ugh, I just want to be chill. I really like a neighborhood that no one talks about, but I think it’s really nice, named Poblenou. Nobody goes there just to walk, but I find it really nice, very chill. It is residential, and on Saturday, there’s the market; it probably reminds me of what my neighborhood is like in Rome, the environment and the vibes.
Looking 10 years ahead, what about your time in Barcelona will you be most grateful for?
I hope I’ll be a judge with two boys, two children and my current boyfriend as my husband in a beautiful house, because all the efforts we made for our future, I want them to be compensated… also a beautiful house, I’m not saying that this needs to be enormous, but like well-done … with a small dog, a barboncino, and I really hope to be healthy, to be happy, and I think I will if I keep doing the things I’m doing now. Health is the most important thing. I think this experience is helping me a lot. I have to stand things I wouldn’t stand in Italy, and now I have to do that a lot of times with a lot of people because we are all different. In my house, there are four; it’s easy getting along, even if sometimes you don’t, because we all have the same habits. I’m the print of my parents, because they gave me their education, so it’s the same environment, and also it’s your friends, all the same neighborhood, all a little country. Here it’s very different, and also, starting again from zero, you find out things about yourself, and you challenge yourself: you’re like, ‘Okay, today was okay, but tomorrow I want to feel better’ and ‘tomorrow I want to be better on this,’ ’cause it’s not just like pushing me up, it’s not just ‘yeah, you go girl, you can do that,’ it’s also critic, it’s also ‘today you were too much this way, you need to correct yourself and be a little more patient, a little more positive, not always thinking that everything is going to fall down in a thousand pieces.’ And the real practical side of this is the language. Nowadays, it’s (about) knowing more language than you can. English, I can’t say I perfectly know it, but if one day I’m in the U.S. or another country in which I don’t know the native language, I can still do something, you know. Also, for working in Italy, for example, having this level of English is fine; you don’t need more, this is what you need. Spanish, it’s nice, knowing new people, new cultures, new ways of looking at your life. Everybody lives differently, and sometimes you may find out that people live better than you, but not because they’re wealthier, not because they’re healthier or other stuff, but just because they look like they are enjoying their life more because they are looking at their life differently. They are more positive and sometimes just like ‘not everything is your job’ or other stupid things that don’t matter in your life. I’m not saying that all people who live here are better, but in the world. In Rome, I live in my own bubble.
What to you is the Barcelona philosophy?
That everything starts later … they close things at the same time as we do in Italy, but we start before. They work less. They have this thing of closing stores at lunchtime, we never do that; And all of Saturday and all of Sunday, we don’t do that. But I think this is the right way of living. It’s not everything about work. I think they are chiller.
