RED ALERT: I have found a place more bureaucratic than Columbia University. It's called Spain, and it's located somewhere in southwestern Europe. Let me explain.
I'm nearing the end of my third week of classes (I'm back to the present, by the way!), and I'm still not registered for a single one of them. Registration -- matriculation, they call it here -- is a strange process for international students. At UPF (Universitat de Pompeu Fabra), where most of us are taking classes, the CASB staff speaks with the departments directly to enroll us. It seemed like a simple process, but a lot of the classes were "full" (despite the consistently half-empty lecture halls), so we're still waiting to hear back about the classes we've been sitting in for three weeks. At the Universitat de Barcelona, exchange students have to physically go to an office -- at a very specific time and date -- to enroll themselves into a given class. It's extremely frustrating, despite my gut feeling that it will work itself out. Since I'm not enrolled, I lack access to all of the academic resources -- and when I already have the handicap of SSL (is that a thing?), I don't need anything else to put me further behind.
To put it into perspective:
In every Spanish class EVER, students read a short story by Mariano José de Larra called "Vuelva usted mañana." The basic premise is the following: A foreigner travels to Madrid to take care of personal documentation, with a week planned out for the trip. Six months later, Spanish officials have yet to take care of his requests and the man (ironically called Monsieur Sans-delai) returns home. Mañana syndrome.
Let me tell you, it's a real thing. From casual lunches that become two-hour affairs with slow service to the absolute mess that is matriculation, Spain is plagued with this. Call it a cultural difference, if you want. To me, it feels like Barcelona happened when someone gave New York City a better tan and a heavy sedative.
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