Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Watching the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona was certainly an interesting experience due to the fact that we are currently living what the movie was portraying. The movie set out to show what life is like for people that are traveling out of their comfort zones and into a foreign country. I can compare my current situation with both characters, even though they are in Spain for different reasons and share a completely different set of beliefs when it comes to love and relationships. I feel that I can identify with Vicky in the sense that I am here in London to further my studies. I wish to learn about another culture and to experience something wholly different than my everyday life I have become accustomed to. Vicky was in the same situation, only studying Catalan culture instead of British culture. I identify with Cristina in the way that I am here to travel, explore, live, grow, experience and to find out more about myself.

Their travels are much more spontaneous and involved than mine have been so far, but the film does a relatively good job at capturing the uncertainty of travel. When they are invited to travel with Juan Antonio, one is hesitant and one is ecstatic. This is the way I feel about a lot of the adventures here that we go on independently. I feel hesitant because I don’t know the situation, where exactly I’m going, and what I’m going to experience. I am also ecstatic for these same reasons. I could take the wrong bus or train and end up somewhere that I would have never seen if the uncertainty was not present. This is present in the film by showing the separate characters that express these different opinions on their traveling and explorations.

While much of my experiences were presented in the film, I would add one thing based on what I have experienced thus far. I would probably show a little more of the characters talking to people from home more often. I feel that someone in a different country who is about to get married would be on the phone with her fiancé as well as friends and family a lot more than was portrayed. Other than the lack of communication with her distant friends, I feel the film really expressed what it is like to travel and the experiences you never know you are going to get the opportunity to have.