Culture Shock

I am exhausted. I am struggling to think coherently enough to notice behavior around me. I see similar reactions in the group of girls that are in my apartment building. As we get tired, we begin to lose a lot of the sense that social customs dictate. We did, however, have our first opportunity to see Barcelona and people interacting with one another on Las Ramblas Street. This is one of the most famous and most crowed street in all of Barcelona. There are people everywhere. Vendors line the street as swarms of natives and tourists push towards the end of the street. Right away you can see a difference in the attitudes of the people. I see a lot of pride for themselves and their heritage in everything they do. The vendors on the street are very pushy, but in a way that suggests that they are used to getting their way. It seems that taking advantage of the hordes of tourists is something they are well accustomed to. I am having a hard time discerning if these interactions would be different if we were in a less tourist-driven town. Barcelona is huge and very diverse. I believe this is due to its proximity to France and the Mediterranean Sea. We are just under two hours away from the nearest French town. I expect that as we go further inland, we will see less tourists and more natives in the streets. Walking down this street, there is an overwhelming amount of other nationalities. There is obviously something here that draws the people to this city. It is the second largest city in the entire country, but is that so important? Surely there are other big cities in Europe that would be interesting to see. It is interesting to see the dynamic in our own travel group. When Kim lost her wallet and bus pass, I noticed a variety of responses in myself and others. These reactions ranged from almost disdain to panic. Later, after back in the apartment, I could see that my roommates were justifying their responses as we discussed the incident. It must be important for humans to feel that they reacted in the "right" way.