The past few days in Barcelona have been amazing. I have seen Europe for the first time in my life. After twenty-two years, I know it’s about time. Barcelona, Spain is a city like no other. The culture and way of life alone have really opened my eyes to the small world that I saw as my own in Texas. Being in a foreign country, not knowing how to speak the language has been a little stressful, but this big adjustment and the implications that follow were only to be expected. I honestly did not care, as I was so excited to finally be in Spain after waiting two years to go due to COVID.
It was 3 days ago now, that I stepped off of a plane and took my first steps onto European soil. We met Lynn Wallace at the airport and boarded the bus. The first thing I noticed while taking the bus into the city of Barcelona was the cars. European cars and American cars look different. I knew that to begin with, but had only seen them in movies. The mountains in the distance and the narrow roads with loud car noises helped me prepare for the vivacious city that was awaiting me. After getting to the place where I am currently living and getting settled in, my roommates and I quickly realized that La Sagrada Familia was right across the street from us. We went to a cute bakery shop that happened to be right across from it. The first thing I noticed while sitting outside was the people and how relaxed the culture is compared to a city in America. It being 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday I was surprised to see so many people enjoying drinks with friends. The next day we went to the beach. I knew that there were nude beaches in Europe and I was expecting to see it, but it still caught me off guard not ever seeing one in my life. We sat and enjoyed the beach for a few hours. I realized I did not have a towel so there was this nice Moroccan guy that I ended up buying a beautiful towel from. Finally, the next day we toured the La Sagrada Familia which was amazing. I’ve never seen architecture like that before in my life. That evening my roommates and I went to a cool restaurant and watched the final European soccer game between England and Italy. The people in the restaurant were all going crazy for Italy. I guess the Spaniards love their soccer. We started class today at the ESERP School of Business and Law which really made living in Barcelona sink in. Tomorrow our group is going to the FC Barcelona Museum which I am really excited about. I will continue to blog and journal as it helps me keep track of my days. In the next 5 weeks, I hope to better my Spanish and meet some local friends and really start living how I normally would back home. Until next time.