Does It Get Any Better Than This? – Kate Hughes

This week, I really feel as though I started to hit my stride in living in Barcelona. The past few weeks slowly began to feel like life was normal, but figuring out the little things in my daily schedule, like grocery shopping and walking to class without a map, really made the days feel less like vacation moments and more like the true experience living abroad. This week was filled with new and noteworthy Barcelona experiences, beginning with our group hike up to Montjuic castle. On my bucket list from the time I arrived in Spain, the castle didn?t disappoint. The attention to detail in the architecture was incredibly stunning, and the sheer size of the building was something that I didn?t fully grasp until I was standing directly below it. As we continued our hike around the building, I was unsure of really what else there was to see. Just when I thought I had seen nearly all the different sections of the city, we walked for just around ten minutes before I felt as though we were in a different country altogether. Here, we saw the 1992 Olympic Stadium. This was truly an incredible sight, especially after learning about how transformational the hosting of the Olympics was to the city of Barcelona. I can only imagine what it felt like to be a diver in 1992, looking over the entire city from the view of the competition platform! As we continued walking, I really took notice of the incredible amount of history that was packed into such a small area! We went from looking at an incredibly modern Olympic stadium to the Castell de Montjuic, a former military fortress from the 1600s. The contrast between the two was stark, yet the stories behind each were unique and intriguing in their own ways. My favorite part of the day was definitely being able to look out from the top of the castle, where we had a view of the entire city on one side, and the port on the other. In the middle of the week, I also had the opportunity of attending an FC Barcelona match. On our way there, we had no idea that it wasn?t the starting players, or that it wasn?t in the Camp Nou stadium, but at the end of the day, the environment was all that mattered. It was a true showing of the passion and pride that the people of Barcelona have in their football team. Even in the heat, and even for a junior league team, the enthusiasm and excitement that came from the fans were shocking! I think I expected the game to follow more of an American sporting-event feel but was surprised in the best way possible with how different the environment was! Both of these experiences allowed my cultural and social knowledge of Barcelona to deepen, and allowed me to see parts of the city I probably wouldn?t have stumbled upon on my own! Over the weekend, we were able to take a quick trip to Mallorca, which allowed for an exciting change of scenery! In some ways, the island lifestyle resembled a lot of the lifestyle we?ve been following here. Especially in terms of the slow meals and distinct architecture. However, there were so many more opportunities for adventure and exploration, which I found to be one of the highlights of the week! This week, I constantly found myself asking the question of how life could possibly get better than this, and with all the surprises that Spain has held so far, I wouldn’t be shocked if this next week is even better than the last!