Today is December 1st, and the start of my last month in Barcelona. School is coming to an end. This week is our last official week of classes, and then next week finals begin. I am so ready for classes to be over!!! I feel confident that I am going to be okay, and I am actually not stressing very much at all? yet! This week, Beatriz and I will be going to Rome/Siena/Florence and I am so excited! I have heard such great things about these places and I am excited to see them in person! I have to say, one thing I am learning about myself, is that I love having new and exciting experiences, but much to my surprise, I don?t love traveling. Before studying abroad, I thought that was all I wanted to do, SEE THE WORLD! And yeah, it is amazing and so much fun, but it isn?t my favorite thing. I can be perfectly happy even if I do not travel.
The big thing that happened for me this month was Brian, my fianc?, coming to visit! He actually just left yesterday and we had such an amazing time! We explored Barcelona, went to Monserrat (probably my favorite place), walked around Montjuic, and took a trip to Girona. I am not much of a city girl, and Brian prefers being outside the chaos as well, so it was the perfect trip for us! Weather was a little rainy all week, which kept us on our toes, but it ended up being perfect.
In Barcelona, we walked around El Born(my favorite neighborhood), Parc de la Ciutadella, and visited La Sagrada Familia, which was actually not as cool as I was anticipating. I think the Barcelona Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar are much more interesting and beautiful, but maybe that just means I like an older style of architecture. We also took a day to explore Montjuic area, I highly recommend the Castles at the top! They were beautiful, and if you take Bus 150 from Placa Espanya, it is really inexpensive. We also walked around Poble Espanyol which was my second time to go. Entrance is a little pricy, but I think it is worth it; beautiful buildings, cute shops, lots of handmade products, and good food. We also watched the Magic Fountains which was fun, but that is when it started raining so we didn?t stay long. Those happen from 7-9 on Friday and Saturday night.
It was my second time at Monserrat, and it seriously gets better every time I go! The sights seriously amaze me every single time. My only regret about this trip was that we missed hearing the boys choir. They sing every day except for Saturday at 1pm and 6:45pm. The performance lasts only 10 minutes (something I didn?t know) and we arrived at 1:08, so we just missed it. I thought we could just hear them at 6:45 but the last train that went to Barcelona left at 6:15, so that was impossible. You have to allow for at least an hour and a half of travel time to get there, but it is so worth the trip!
Girona was also absolutely lovely. So many cute shops, AMAZINGLY beautiful architecture and good food! It is fall here, so all the trees are different colors which made for even more beautiful scenery! I definitely recommend making this a weekend trip! It is a nice escape from the city. No metros, easy to walk everywhere, and you never have to worry about getting lost. If you actually try to make yourself get lost, you?ll have even more fun!
Barcelona is a wonderful place, but as school is wrapping up, finals are approaching, and I am making plans to get home, I am really ready to be back in Texas. There seriously is no place like home!