This past week in Spain has been nothing short of amazing. We started our trip at a bright and early 4:30 AM in the Austin airport, where everyone was getting excited to fly out. After a couple speed bumps with our flights, we landed in Barcelona around 8:00 AM. We then drove to our apartments, which are pretty nice and make a great home for these two weeks. We were all exhausted from being up for almost 24 hours at that point, but we knew we had to stay awake in order to adjust to the time difference. I knew none of my roommates coming into this, but we all decided to go get some food and coffee and get to know each other. We had a group scavenger hunt and dinner later that night where we got to explore the city and try the metro.
In terms of first impressions, it is very different from College Station and even the bigger cities like Houston and Dallas, but I think it is a nice change of pace. The buildings are more historic, and there are a few churches and a cathedral. There are lights all over the city, which makes it super pretty and bright at night. Everyone here also dresses nicer than we do. A t-shirt and sweatpants are not in their wardrobe at all, but I think it is refreshing and much more professional. They are definitely more minimalistic than we are in just about every category, whether that be housing, clothing, food, or anything else.
The next day, we started our class lecture and continued our scavenger hunt. We were able to connect what we had started learning prior to our departure with what we had seen of the culture so far, and I thought it was very interesting. Barcelona is giving us a real-world application of some business topics we had discussed, like cultural differences and company practices. We talked about individualism vs. collectivism between our two countries, and also their sustainability efforts compared to ours. Later on, we took a trip out to Sitges, which is a beautiful town on the coast. We toured a cellar that produces vermouth, and we discussed how they can better expand their products and eventually get into the American markets. It gave a great perspective on global business and how we are able to potentially work together despite some cultural differences. We are so used to the way that we do business, so it’s nice to take a step back from that and really evaluate how to do that on a global scale.
The language barrier is something most of us are struggling with, but I have noticed that we are making more of an effort to learn some Spanish, even if it is just as simple as being able to order our coffee, which by the way is delicious here. Thankfully, most people here speak English to some extent, but it has definitely made me wish that I spoke more Spanish. It definitely makes it much easier to get around.
Overall, this country is absolutely beautiful and I have greatly enjoyed my time here. I am really looking forward to this weekend, where we get free time to explore the city and check out some other areas we haven’t been to yet. We have a very busy week next week with more company visits and tours, and I’m excited for those as well!