This has definitely been an exciting past week! This past weekend a group of us had the opportunity to do a fun day trip to Rosas and Cadaques. Both of these cities had beautiful beaches, unlike any I have seen before. They were only about two to three hours away from Barcelona, but easy to get to using a bus tour group. There were cute shopping scenes where we walked around and stopped for some gelato. Having had so much fun, the school week approached quickly. On Monday we had class in the morning and then later all met back up for a tour of Montjuic, which is a mountain with beautiful views of the city. It was definitely a workout, but well worth it. By the time we had made it back down, we were exhausted and hungry, so we stopped at a cute tapas bar to get some good food.
The next few days consisted of mainly studying for school, but we made sure to fit in as many gelato breaks as we could. After classes, we would try to explore the area next to the school at found a great burger place. To be honest, I was not expecting much, as we are from Texas where we are used to incredible burgers, but this place was amazing. On Fridays, we do not have class. Instead, we do a group activity. This Friday it was going to Moritz, which is the oldest brewery in Barcelona. We had a tour and at the end of it, we sat down together and did a beer tasting while eating some tapas.
I really enjoyed this past week, not only because of all the things we got to do and see but also for what we learned in the classroom. We learned about the Catalan independence movement as well as many other things about the EU. Our classes are very group-oriented and we have to make frequent presentations. Public speaking terrifies me, but the teachers are very encouraging. It also helps that you have gotten to know all of the other students on the trip, so it is not so bad, as you are not presenting to a bunch of strangers. Working in groups and making presentations has been beneficial, as bouncing ideas off of my groupmates and having to explore a topic in such depth in order to be able to explain it well to others has helped me to gain a deep understanding of the topics we are covering.
My main takeaway from this week is to learn the metro system, but not take advantage of it. Walk when you can. It is easy to just take the underground subway, but you do not get to see anything this way. All of the walking we did made me feel as though I am really getting to know Barcelona while taking in all of the sites. Plus, it is a great way to burn off all of the great food that you get to eat here in Barcelona. All of us joke that with all of the walking and stair climbing we do, we are going to be in such great shape that our families won?t recognize us when we get home.