I’ve been living in Barcelona for over two weeks and I am very happy with my experience so far. I am spending the next four months here, taking classes, traveling, meeting new people and having what I hope to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I have been looking forward to this trip since I entered college and heard the many wonderful stories of older student’s trips abroad. It is exciting but at the same time nerve wracking that it is now my turn to live the life that I’ve heard so much about. Sometimes I’m afraid to blink, knowing how fast my time here will fly by. I feel extremely blessed and thankful to be given this opportunity and will not take one moment for granted.
I am living in a beautiful yet humble apartment in Gracia. People call Gracia the Soho of Barcelona and I am absolutely in love with it. I live on one of the main streets of Gracia called Carrer de Verdi. It has a number of adorable little boutiques and restaurants. It also has the only movie theater that shows movies in English. There are multiple grocery stores, meat shops and convenience stores right near my apartment so anything that we need is only a few minutes away.
I am living with three girls, Melissa, Ashleigh and Christina. Melissa has been my hometown best friend for many years. Ashleigh and Christina both go to Penn State and I was only friendly with them before the trip, but now I feel like I’ve known them for years. We all get along so well. I am so lucky and excited to be living with the three of them.
I’ve spent most of my time here eating great food, going to class, shopping and of course experiencing the infamous nightlife of Barcelona. So far my roommates and I have gone shopping on La Rambla, visited the aquarium, the Arch de Triomf and explored La Boqueria, which is a huge public market filled with every type of food you could ever imagine. I wish I could say that we’ve explored more of the city, but unfortunately we’ve had a hard time adjusting to the time difference as well as the lifestyle difference, a.k.a. eating dinner at 10 PM and not going out until two AM, and can’t seem to wake up early enough to do much with our day.
As time goes by and we get more adjusted to the differences, I am sure that will change. This weekend, Melissa and I are flying to Switzerland to go skydiving. I’m extremely nervous. Hopefully I’ll live to blog about it!