I spent the long weekend of Halloween in Barcelona, Spain. I had been excited for this trip for as long as I could remember. When I decided to come to Europe to study abroad I had 3 places in mind that I wanted to go, even if I didn’t get to travel anywhere else. First was Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. Second was Greece (pretty much anywhere on that beautiful country) and the last was Barcelona, Spain. As ridiculous as it may sound, I had had a soft spot for Barcelona since the Cheetah Girls 2 movie came out and I saw everything they had experienced there, so when I officially booked my trip to Spain I began counting down the days until I would be there.
Upon arriving in Barcelona, I was taken aback at how beautiful it was. I wasn’t sure if it was the time of year that I went or what the difference was but it seemed as if I had stepped into a fairy tale. The weather was in the 70’s so it was warm enough to wear short sleeved shirts (much warmer than Rome) and the leaves and air had a feeling of fall within them because of the various changing colors. I was very excited to finally be in a place where I thought I could speak the language as I know a little bit of Spanish, but quickly realized that what I knew wouldn’t come in very handy. We left on a walking tour where I learned that in Barcelona, they speak a dialect of Spanish known as “Catalonian” (named after the region of Spain in which Barcelona is located). This dialect is a mix between French and Spanish and many of the words are not at all similar to the little bit of Spanish I knew. Although I was disappointed, I made sure to try to learn as much of this new dialect as I could.
While there, my friends and I got to see La Sagrada Familia, the most famous church in Barcelona, Park Guell, a beautiful park with amazing architecture and views of Barcelona that cannot be matched, and the Cathedral of Saint Eulalia. It was a city full of history which fascinated me more than I can explain. So many of the things we saw helped me connect the things I learned in history class with the events and places in which they occurred. Much of Barcelona’s history and a lot of it’s future even has a lot to do with the Spanish Civil War. I learned that there is currently an independence movement taking place in which some Catalonians want Catalonia to separate from Spain and become its own individual territory. Our tour guide explained it all to us and I was so interested to learn about this considering I’m sure it’s not something I would’ve even known about had I not visited the area.
Because it was halloweekend, my friends and I were pleasantly surprised to see that there would be no shortage of activities for us that weekend. It was a great weekend overall and I was glad that I got to experience that Barcelona nightlife and the city itself with some of the amazing people I’ve been lucky enough to meet in Rome.
Now we have just over a month left and I couldn’t be more excited to see what’s in store. I have one more trip planned through the ISA program to Florence and the Chianti region and then a trip to Greece for Thanksgiving to look forward to.
Ciao for now!
Taylor M.