My summer internship with Esquerra Republicana in Barcelona, Catalonia

Hey everyone, Arlo Siegel checking in from Barcelona. I’m really loving my internship at Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), a political party here in Catalonia. The Seu Nacional where I work is a really nice huge building with four floors of offices and meeting rooms and full of really nice people. I have had the opportunity to interview some Catalan politicians and learn a lot about the independence movement here and learn a lot for my SIP. My first interview was with Mayor Annabel Moreno of Arenys de Mar, a small town an hour outside of Barcelona. My second was with Jordi Coronas, a city councilor in the Barcelona city council. My third was with Ferran Civit, a deputy in the Catalan Parliament. That one was my favorite interview so far because the Parliament building is beautiful and huge and I had to get a bunch of clearance like little clips with my name on it saying I was allowed certain places that I wore around so I felt really official. Hopefully more good interviews to come. I’ve also done some work for my guys Francesc and Bernat here, who asked me to put together a summary of the past year in English-speaking media (USA and UK) in order to learn more about how other parts of the world view the movement here and if they are sympathetic to the cause or not.

Barcelona is a really beautiful city and I’ve been going to the beach a lot and just walking around seeing all the cool stuff like old buildings and museums, eating some paella and shawarma and watching the world cup with my roommates, who are from Ireland, Valencia and Brazil.