Study Abroad Blog!

It feels like I was in Spain about 3 years ago, but it has really only been 3 weeks. A lot has happened in those 3 weeks. More specifically, my hard drive died and I lost all my photos up until my trip to Malta. “Always back up” is a phrase I never want to hear again. With that said, I stole the photos posted below from Morgan. Barcelona was really different from both Valencia and Seville, but a fun city to walk around in for a few days. I’m having trouble remembering what we did each day we were there, but no one reading this knows the difference anyway. 

After arriving, we went to the main shopping street (the name of which I’m now forgetting). They had a lot of vendors lining the street, selling everything from postcards to ferrets. We slowly made our way towards copy the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. (pasted from wikipedia, because lord knows I never knew the name of it). I know everyone says that you have to see the Gaudi architecture when you go to Barcelona, but it really is amazing. After seeing cathedral after cathedral, and giving the obligatory “Oh, wow. This is really amazing”, it’s nice to get a breath of fresh air with Gaudi’s Candy Land-ish take on what architecture can look like. Of course the obligatory comments of awe are heartfelt at the time, but I don’t think I could pick out a church I saw in Prague from one I saw in Zagreb if they were in a police lineup. Gaudi’s work sticks out like a sore thumb, in the best way possible. The following day we went to the Gaudi Park, which was designed by the architect. As expected, twas quite original. 

Now my complaints about the city. Barcelona is the biggest city to study abroad in. With that said, it is really catered to young Americans, which is quite obvious no matter what part of the city you find yourself in. EVERYONE speaks english. While this is convenient, it’s not what I want to find when I’m in Spain. Things are way overpriced, because they know they can get us to pay for it. It seemed really unauthentic. At the same time I didn’t feel unwanted, like I did in Paris.  On our last night we went to a night club on the beach with a few people from our hostel. It was ok. I don’t think discotecas are really my scene, so I left a bit early and sat by the beach, which was really entertaining, due to all the drunk Americans doing embarrassing things. 

I was really exhausted by the end of our stay in Barcelona, and was getting ready to head home, but still had about 10 days left. Living out of a suitcase takes more out of me, than I would have ever expected.

Off to Malta with Laura!