Arriving in Barcelona was at first a little intimidating, I got here with my family and as we were driving through the city I saw for the first time how much bigger Barcelona was than any other place I?ve ever lived before. However, once I had moved into my cute little apartment on our sweet pedestrian street with my wonderful roommate I realized that it didn?t matter how big the city was as long as I had my little home. From then on I?ve had nothing but an amazing time. We found our apartment on Airbnb and soon after moving in, we realized there were more exchange students living right above us and we have become fast friends! At orientation, we had a great time meeting people from all over the place and then hearing about all of the ways the school we are attending (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), wants us to get involved in their culture and meet other exchange students as well as their home university students.
I am currently taking 2 classes since I will be doing the two-trimester program so thankfully I haven?t felt overloaded with work at any point so far. It?s nice because there is a very obvious overlap between what I?m learning in these classes and what I have learned at A&M so it makes the transition easier. The teachers seem to be very kind and understanding and they do not seem to ever assign homework. However, the class lectures have a lot of good and necessary information so I know they will be incredibly important to attend.
As far as getting acquainted in Barcelona goes I feel we?ve done a pretty good job, we?ve found fun places to add to our daily routines and have made some awesome friends at events hosted by the university and by the ERASMUS club. We?ve gone on fun hikes and too delicious dinners with other international students from all over the world. Overall it?s been an amazing time so far and I have felt overwhelmingly welcomed by every person I?ve met and our wonderful host university!