It takes a certain personality type to leave one’s home
country to spend a year in a foreign place. It takes an even different type to
make the most of the experience and truly enjoy it. I moved to Spain when I was
27 and I remained there for five and a half years. What made me want to get
away in the first place? Since I was a teenager I knew I wanted to travel and
see the world. I never imagined myself tied to one location for too long a
time. Others come into the experience in a different way. I felt myself pulled
toward living abroad. Other people do it because they think it’s something they
should do or because they think it will enrich them personally or
professionally. But those who come out the other end feeling like it was the
best time of their lives share some intrinsic quality that is open to outside
opinions and ways of living.
Xavier (Romain Duris) is a French university student in L’Auberge espagnole, and in the
beginning he doesn’t know what he’s in for. But at the end he comes out a whole
new person. It is this film more than many other things that helped push me
toward a life in Spain. Hoping to get a cushy government job after finishing
his degree in economics, his future boss encourages him to spend an Erasmus
year in Spain to learn Spanish and get some cultural perspective. With a few
editing and camera flourishes, director Cedric Klapisch (who also wrote the
screenplay) whisks us quickly through the lengthy process Xavier must go
through to study in Barcelona.
