Foreign Tourists at home and in Barcelona

by Shanayia Munoz

Portland Community College

During my stay in Barcelona, I’ve made a personal realization regarding my tendencies at home compared to the habits I have while abroad. While I am at home in Oregon, I am always so eager to meet foreigners visiting or living in Portland.

One year I was working at a huge festival in North Plains helping people get around the festival, and I met a small group of Australians that had never been before, they were just there visiting their cousin and decided to go. It was a cool experience to meet some people from another country and show them where to go.

While I am in another country however, I try to avoid tourists or people from other countries so I can focus solely on that culture. I like to surround myself with true natives and locals.  I live in a neighborhood called Sants and this is a great neighborhood to be surrounded by locals -- I am constantly meeting locals and having conversations with them in Spanish, this helps me get better at Spanish and learn about their culture.

The reason for this is to obtain as much cultural experience as possible; I want to see the way of life of a local and try to see if I can adopt their ways while I am there as well. America is a newer country compared to most, therefore, it doesn't have as much history or old traditions as other countries.

In Portland in particular there are not many tourists so when I do see one in Portland it is very exciting. In Barcelona there are many tourists, sometimes hard to avoid; for example in Plaça de Catalunya or Espanya there are always a bunch of tourists that aren't there to learn about culture but are just there to relax and have fun.

One night I was walking to a bar and had to go past Las Ramblas and I noticed a group of Americans drunk and singing aloud, they didn't care about bothering others or being quiet at a certain time; all they cared about was having fun -- it was as if they thought Barcelona was only a place for tourists and that people don't live there or have to sleep. Those are the kind of people who put Americans in a bad light. I have had many other encounters with tourists here, especially Americans who don't care to be nice to the locals and who are very demanding. I wish there was something I could say to them so they wouldn't be so obnoxious or disrespectful but instead I just go to the local areas and learn real Spanish or Catalonian culture and avoid tourists.