Erasmus in a Spanish flat: is there yet a new European generation?
L’Auberge espagnol is a movie directed by Cédric Klapisch in 2002. It represents
the story of Xavier, a french economics student in his twenties, who signs
on to a European exchange program in order to gain working knowledge of the
Spanish language. Promising that they’ll remain close, he says farewell to his loving
girlfriend, then heads to Barcelona. Following his arrival, Xavier is soon
thrust into a cultural melting pot when he moves into an apartment full of international
students. An Italian, an English girl, a boy from Denmark, a young
woman from Belgium, a German and a girl from Tarragona all join him in a series
of adventures that serve as an initiation to life. The story of this Spanish flat
reveals emotions and feelings of a new generation of authentic European citizens
which maintains national diversity while generating a common attitude towards
social life. The movie is a sort of paradigm of a new generation which has already
started thinking as a European generation.