Hola from Spain! Week two has gone by super fast and we have been extremely busy with our classes and exploring. I finally feel like I have settled into the Spanish way of life and feel much more comfortable going about daily activities. Navigating the metro has become a breeze and I am no longer nervous to order coffee in the mornings or checkout at the grocery stores. I have also gotten used to the crazy amount of walking we do here, but I don’t think I will ever get used to the sweating that comes along with it.
On Monday after class, we went with our tour guide, Christina, and walked up to Montjuic. At the top of this hill, there is tons of history including a fortress that has been used for a multitude of battles and now functions as a museum. This week, we also got to hear from a local Catalonian on Catalan Independence. I found this super interesting as it really opened my eyes to the passion citizens have for this movement. Before this lecture, I really didn’t get why they were so desperate to get away from Spain, but we were able to ask questions about the speaker’s own personal opinion, and now I understand the devotion and reasoning behind the movement. One of my favorite parts of the week was touring Fabrica Moritz, the oldest brewery in Barcelona, and getting to learn how they make beer. I definitely did not expect to find it as interesting as I did! In our free time this week, we did a lot of exploring without any real end goal. This means going to a familiar place and then taking side streets and random turns to discover new places. For example, off of Las Ramblas, we found the cutest clothing and gift shops including a beautiful ceramic store and a dress shop where they make vintage-inspired 70s dresses. It was so random, but such a blast. A group of us also got tickets and attended an FC Barcelona game. It wasn’t in their main stadium but was still a great experience. They played the soccer team from Tarragona in a “friendly,” which we learned is basically what they call their scrimmage matches.
This weekend, a couple of us took a trip to Mallorca which required flying. Getting our flight booked and navigating the airport by ourselves, was definitely a learning experience. It is imperative that you get to the airport super early because you never know what could go wrong. Mallorca was absolutely gorgeous, but the one thing that caught me off guard was the amount of Germans there were. Apparently, this island is one of their favorite vacation spots, so they pretty much run the town. This weekend, we learned firsthand how important it is to keep a watchful eye on your belongings at all times. A family sitting next to us on the beach had their whole backpack stolen and no one even noticed. This made me extremely nervous but also showed me how real of a threat this is here and reminded me to be extra cautious. Covid restrictions are getting tighter, which we noticed the most when we were in Mallorca. People around our age are most responsible for the increase in positive cases, so we are trying to be extra careful.
Looking forward to our last week of classes, I am pretty nervous because this will definitely be a busy school week and I have a feeling the final will not be easy. There is definitely a lot of work to be done and coffee shop studying to attend, but after Thursday, there is only more to look forward to. Can’t wait to see what this week has in store!