A Trip to the Cinema.

After a couple months of life in Barcelona everything could not have been better enjoying the culture, classes, and nightlife. At this point however, I started to notice big or small things I was missing from home-sure some things were as miniscule as a certain type of popcorn or some were as important as my family. One experience that falls somewhere in the middle of those extremes would be making trips to the movies. For whatever reason going to see movies or watching them from the comfort of our own home is a huge part of the culture in America specifically something that my friends and family really enjoy. Not packing any movies and not having a fluency in Spanish I was stuck as what to do to satisfy my movie craving. While I discovered a movie theater showing movies in English with Spanish subtitles I decided to venture out and see a film purely in Spanish. My film selection was entitled "Sin Compromiso" and I would say this was a definite cultural experience and I had no idea what to expect, "Would I have any idea what was going on in the movie?". The first noticeable difference I encountered was being approached by an employee of the theater upon entering the room of the movie I was seeing. He escorted me to my assigned seat where in America there are never assigned seats in the movie theater. I thought how this could have to do with the more collectivist society that Spain is where having assigned seats ensures that a group of people who all come together will most definitely all sit together. So after being escorted to my seat we settled down with our caramel corn and soft drinks just in time for the show. As the reels started turning the obvious major difference with this from home presented itself in that the entire movie was clearly in Spanish. I surprised myself picking up on more of the details in the movie than I had expected to by being able to pick up a decent portion of the Spanish words and then fill in the missing pieces simply with the actions of the actors and watching the plot unfold. It was really interesting seeing American actors again that I recognized as well because when I turn on the Spanish stations of T.V. in my apartment I obviously encounter Spanish actors who are unknown to me. Overall I'm really glad that I made this trip and went to the movies like a true Spanish citizen!