Today on the 21 is my second week in Barcelona. I wanted to use this post to talk about the arrival process and adjustment! I honestly didn?t hear too much about how this process would work but so far it has been great! If you decide to study abroad, know that adjusting can be hard, but it gets easier every single day! We got to the airport in Austin on January 6, landed in Atlanta, then Paris, then Barcelona! The Barcelona airport had a bus that took us right to Placa Catalunya which is where we live so that was a very easy process! I know it can be a tough thing figuring out how to get somewhere after the airport. We then arrived at our apartment, right now in our program we have 2 people (Avni and I), we are sharing a one-bedroom apartment that also has a sofa bed so we make it work! Definitely keep in mind that most apartments are much smaller than I would say we are used to in the US. You?ll learn how to make your space work! The food here has been great, cheaper than in the US, mostly everyone you?ll need to talk to speaks English so don?t let the language barrier scare you! Though you should definitely try to learn Spanish if you come. School here is much different than TAMU, they have the same classes on Monday and Tuesday and then Thursday and Friday. There is only 1 exam per class and they don?t do much homework here. Each class also has a seminar that varies every week so just make sure to keep up with your schedule! The professors here are also super passionate about what they?re talking about. The locals don?t really take notes, you?ll hear them say that they rather just pay attention to understand better which I thought was so interesting as we are so used to taking pages and pages of notes. I would definitely say to pack light, clothes here are much cheaper than in the US so I bet you?ll want to go shopping! But make sure to bring what you need, especially in the Spring semester where it is pretty cold. Many things are different due to COVID, we thought orientation was in person so we came the first day, it was actually online but for some reason, we didn?t know! COVID definitely makes it tough to sometimes know what?s going on, but just like anything, always ask questions. Adjusting takes time but it?s completely worth it. Love Barcelona!
