Here is the February post I wrote for the CIEE (my study abroad program blog), which I submitted on "February 29th"
Flip-flops in February
Apparently there are seven cardinal sins, I wouldn’t know what they are because I’m not religious nor enough of a Brad Pitt fan to have seen Seven. Regardless, I can guess what would make the list. However, in Barcelona there seems to be an eighth: wearing flip-flops in winter (I’ll wager it didn’t make the first seven). When described in magazines, newspapers, and travel guides Barcelona is usually preceded by adjectives like young, stylish, diverse, and open-minded. No doubt, Barcelona has an exciting flavor and all of those adjectives apply, but flip-flops seem to be the point where style and open-mindedness collide. Style comes out on top, but at least the collision provides some great entertainment.
On the first day of orientation, a short six months ago, our group of salmon-polo, khaki shorts, flip-flops wearing students received a short presentation about how to blend in, and clearly we needed it. We were recommended to look around and see how Spanish students dressed, and it was noted that in general Spanish students tend to dress up a bit more for school. While walking around Universitat Pompeu Fabra it’s easy to see what is fashionable these days. Despite numerous students bringing brightly colored “Spain clothing” the trend is definitely in the darker colors, particularly shades of grey and black. Up top Spain has some very distinct hairstyles. Generally guys sport shorter hair and use a good amount of gel, and for the ladies bangs abound. However, the most noteworthy hairstyle is undoubtedly the dreaded mullet. A dreaded mullet? Think military cut up front, Lil Wayne in the back. Actually it’s not really fair to generalize the dreaded mullet, after all within the genre there are several sub-styles. Always business up front, but the party in the back varies. Some go for a single long dread, some for a few long dreads, some keep their dreads short, resembling tarantula legs, and, in the most extreme cases, some ornament their single dread with jewelry, key chains, and other jingly-janglies. Looking down you’ll find clogs, sneakers, slippers, heels, and boots. All of these fall within the realm of being stylish. No flip-flops.
During the fall semester, when hot temperatures made between-class beach stops a necessity, flip-flops were tolerated. Wintertime is a different story and, despite the incredible weather, it’s clear that my California born philosophy of “sun’s-out-toes-out” is not shared in Barcelona. So, around late October when the beach visits stopped, I started with the grey sneakers and brought out my darker jeans. Being blonde and pale skinned makes looking like a local a near-impossibility, but I made an effort to adopt the style. However, despite my best efforts, sometimes wearing flip-flops cannot be avoided. In my case, wearing flip-flops usually results from the combination of general laziness and nice weather. Lately there has been an abundance of the latter, and honestly there is never a shortage of the former (which explains why you’re reading a February blog post in March). Luckily, in comparison to the US, Spain’s laundry machine rates are significantly higher, so I can claim that my lack of clean socks and apparent laziness toward simple chores is instead an example of my frugal nature. Regardless, I’ve been wearing flip-flops in February.
I got used to the strange looks after a couple days. A couple people shook their heads. Even the nice weather didn’t deter some people from asking, rhetorically, “aren’t you cold?” The standout moment came as I was walking from the metro to class at the Casa. A fellow pedestrian, himself rocking a dreaded mullet (a few long dreads, nearly hip-length, in case you were wondering), casually approached until he suddenly caught sight of my flip-flops and stopped dead in his tracks. He shot me a horrified look, threw his hands up, and yelled “estás loco?!?!” Despite the stinging irony of having my style be called crazy by guy with a dreaded mullet, I quickly responded “no estoy loco. soy loco!” Feeling witty thinking I had just said, “I’m not crazy today, I’m crazy all the time!” I later realized that instead I said something along the lines of “I’m not crazy, I’m actually mentally insane!” Joke’s on me I guess.
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