Bienvenido a Espana: December 2010

Last trip of the semester for me was in Barcelona! I was able to meet up with one of my best friends, Kyla, who is studying in Vienna. This was her first time going to Spain, and Elise and I met up with her there. I had a blast! I really missed being able to see someone from home and the whole trip was very chill. We were in Barcelona for about 4 days and it definitely has its differences from Sevilla. Barcelona is a much bigger city, kind of like our big cities in the U.S. and had almost everything you could think of as far as stores and restaurants. There were a lot more American clothing stores in Barcelona and even a Subway restaurant. However, in Barcelona, they speak Catalan, Spanish, and English. More people in Barcelona speak English than in Sevilla but the main language is Catalan, and I do not like it at all. Perhaps if I had studied abroad in Barcelona I would like the language more, but coming from a city that speaks Castellano(spanish) to another language that for me seems like a mixture of Spanish and French is not very appealing. But regardless, it was an experience.

Some places we saw were the Sagrada Familia, La Catedral, Parc Guall, Gothic Quarter, etc while most of the time just walking up and down Las Ramblas, where I saw some interesting things and people to say the least lol. There was a really nice market in the middle of Las Ramblas where you could buy fresh seafood, meat, fruit, and chocolate. Everything was extremely fresh. It had some things I did not expect to see either, such as sheep head and brains, but I digress.

In Spain, we have about a week break because of a few holidays they have. Because of this I was able to stay in Barcelona for four days and I still have a few days until class starts again to work on my projects and study for finals. This Friday makes exactly one week until I come home! I'm am so excited. I know it will go by fast too because I do not have any more full days of class, only final exams to take next week. I am trying to stay motivated and finish everything I have to do, but its been raining almost non stop ever since I got back, and it just makes me tired and gloomy.