Howdy! My name is Kyler, and up to this point, I have been in Barcelona, Spain for about a week. Despite how short of a time this may seem, it has truly been a life-changing experience for the better. This study abroad trip has allowed me to make so many incredibly wonderful friends, experience life-long memories with them, and see Spain in all of it’s beauty with them. Before coming on this trip, I had always played, and loved, the sport of football (soccer) ever since I was a kid. So, to know that I would be able to visit one of the football capitals of the world… it was a literal dream come true.
For the city of Barcelona itself, I had always imagined for it to be a friendly and welcoming place for anyone and everyone alike. Despite this, a few weeks prior to my arrival, there was news that the citizens of Barcelona were beginning to grow a sense of hatred for tourists as they threw water and shot water guns at tourists as they passed by in the streets. Because of this, I became a little more troubled with the thought of how the locals would treat me, knowing that I’m an incoming tourist/foreigner. After being here for nearly a week, I almost don’t even believe the videos I had seen of the harassment of tourists because every single person here is so incredibly nice and helpful. My long-known knowledge of how kind Barcelona was… it was completely overshadowed by being here in person and actually experiencing the kindness for myself.
For the Aggie students that I’m here with, there truly could not have been a better group for me to be here with. Everyone is so kind, and we all get along so well. We are constantly going around and exploring the city of Barcelona together in our free time, we’re all going out to eat meals together, and we’re bonding with each other so well in our living situations on top of that. There’s nothing that I could say about this trip that would make me not want to start over from scratch and do it all again!
