Pickpocketing IS REAL.

The first day of classes, someone in my program got robbed. I was eating lunch with him and another friend from the program in a basically deserted restaurant. Only one other person was eating two tables away from us. The three of us were chatting away (in English… oops) and eating some pizza. After we finished the meal, we one of us was without a backpack. This kid’s backpack had some money, keys to his host’s house, and his laptop in it. It was a terrible start to the program, and a good lesson for all of us. He had put his backpack under his chai while he ate, which is apparently not safe enough in Barcelona. I still have no idea how none of us noticed a person slip behind his chair in this deserted restaurant and snag his bag! Now I am constantly paranoid and keep my bag in my lap at all times while sitting on the metro or at restaurants. I have heard other horror stories of people getting their bags sliced open and even necklaces ripped off their necks by passersby on bicycle--not to freak you out or anything! The culture just takes some getting used to, as at Dartmouth I could probably leave my laptop unattended at the library for an entire day and it would still be there when I returned.