Week 3

It's pretty unbelievable that we are heading into our last week of the program. It seems like we just got here and I could never experience all that Barcelona has to offer! I am so thankful for the experiences we have had so far and look forward to what we can cram in in the last 10,800 minutes. I plan to make them count!

Speaking of which, it has been interesting to work on balancing school work and adventure while studying abroad. Some people view study abroad as a vacation, with a little school mixed in just to cover the basics. I can agree to an extent, that study abroad has a "vacationy" feel, but I have made sacrifices while studying abroad, just as I would at home during a normal semester, to stay in and study. While we were on one of our excursions this weekend we were talking with a couple and the husband just kept commenting on the fact that all our parents had paid for us to be here, and that we should be thanking them, buying them gifts, etc. and shaking his head at us. We laughed at his jokes but it did bother me. Study abroad is such a priceless experience and a lot of students do pay their own way to come along. The balance of studying and "vacationing" can be difficult. To stay on task I used my regular planner every week to make time for homework and for our trips. We planned our homework and studying into each day so that we knew we had time for both. There were many times I had to say no to a night out or come home early to finish homework, and that's okay with me. I would do the same at home, and make grades a priority always.

As I said, study abroad is priceless, but if you blow off whatever classes you are taking, you will pay the price. It's just as much worth it to put in the effort here that it would be on campus. A few tips for staying on task:

1. Make a schedule. As I said before, I did this at home anyway, so it was easy for me to incorporate this here. (If you don't do this yet, start,)

2. Be flexible. This applies to a lot of things regarding study abroad, but especially applies to class. You may realize you forgot to finish something, or your group may procrastinate a project, so be ready to give up a plan you have made to get something done.

3. Remember that there's always tomorrow. There's so much adventure to fit into our time here. If you didn't get to visit that shop today, schedule it in for tomorrow. You'll get it all done, and it's important to put schoolwork first. 

32,400 minutes down, 10,800 minutes to go!

Week 2

Another 10,800 minutes in the books! This week consisted of a lot of adjustment and I feel even more comfortable in this crazy new place. Barcelona is becoming more and more familiar and I've finally figured out how to get around. After leaving for the weekend, and coming back "home" to Barcelona, I think it has helped me to appreciate and love the city even more! Barcelona has such a rich culture and exciting environment and I feel very lucky to spend my summer here.

Since being here in Barcelona, I got to have an interesting conversation with my host mother's boyfriend, Nicholas. He comes over often and is a wonderful help in translating between my roommate and I and our host mom. He speaks English very well and we like to catch up with him when he's over. One night before dinner he started a discussion with us about politics. At first it felt a little strange and uncomfortable, but I was intrigued so I just sat and listened. He began to explain to us the history of Barcelona, Spain, and Catalonia, and the relationship between the three. This was all new to me, and at this point I had only heard about the controversy of Catalonia gaining independence, so I was interested to learn about what the fuss was all about. But he described it more as a history lesson, than a political debate. He wanted to keep us informed, and shared his opinion, but didn't do it in a forceful way. I enjoyed this conversation and it was quite refreshing, honestly. Politics are quite possibly my least favorite thing to talk about. In fact, I avoid talking about politics at all costs whether it's with friends or family, I do not enjoy it. But this time it was different. It showed me that it is rooted in cultural differences between home and here. These types of things are more openly talked about, and thats okay. People are taught to voice their opinions in, hopefully, a more mature and thought out way.

We had a discussion in class the other day bout discussing politics and how different it is here than in the states and I made a comment about social media. I believe it has gotten to a point where people hide behind social media and use it to "voice" their opinion rather than doing it in a civilized manner, face to face. I see tons of hate-filled comments and posts every day about what's going on in the world around us, and not many of those comments come from people who are actively doing something to help the world around them. This conversation with Nicholas, and our class discussion has sparked my interest in these trends and noticing the differences between the two.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I got to see Rome this weekend, which was pretty amazing. With this new adventure comes a few new tips for traveling, and traveling while traveling.

1. BE PATIENT! This weekend we were faced with a lot of hardships (stolen wallets, deactivated credit cards, getting very lost) and it required a ton of patience, in order to still make the most of our time.

2. Go with the flow! when things don't go as planned, complaining only makes the situation worse, and hey getting lost may be the best thing that happened to your day, leading you on a new adventure!

3. Stop and smell the roses. Don't get too caught up in the itinerary you have planned out. If you see something amazing along the way, check it out.

21,600 minutes down, 21,600 minutes to go!

Week 1

Today, we're about 10,080 minutes into our summer adventure! And what a wonderful 10,080 minutes it has been. The decision the study abroad this summer in Barcelona was one of the best decisions I have made. This is the longest amount of time I have lived in a country, without much background on the history, culture, or even language that is present there.

In Spain, we eat lunch at 3, and dinner around 9. We get up and offer our seat on the metro to any present Elder. We walk, a LOT. We spend a good chunk of our evening dining with friends for dinner. We kiss each other on both cheeks when we greet each other. We don't rush, anywhere. We do a lot of new things, that are specific to the culture found in Barcelona. After getting over the jet lag, I immediately wanted to see everything. It seems unfair that I only get to be in this beautiful country for 30 days. I plan to make every one of those 43,200 minutes. A lot can happen in a minute. You can miss the metro and be late for class, you could make the decision to go to that concert tonight, your "tanning session" at the beach could turn into a "burning session", you could get a glimpse of the most beautiful cathedrals on the planet, and I can't wait to find out what every minute will consist of.

As excited as I sound through this whole experience, I think I need to back track, to about minute 1 in Barcelona. Minute 1 was absolutely terrifying. Actually Minute 1 through about Minute 30 was absolutely terrifying. When we first arrived to meet our Host mom, we were one of the first ones to get whisked away from our new group of study abroad students (who we hadn't even met yet) and taken to our home stay. We saw the director of our program quickly enough to say "hi" before heading to our new home for the next month.We found out immediately that our host mom did not speak a word of English. So here we are, my roommate and I, in a cab in Barcelona, Spain, on our way to her house, that we had never seen, with no way of communicating. While in the cab, we used google translate to figure out what we would be doing when we got back to the house. She had prepared us dinner, so we sat at our first meal, stumbling over the little Spanish we knew to try and form a relationship with Begona. This woman is amazing, and has been nothing short of a perfect host so far. She always has our best interest in mind, and takes great care of us. Communication quickly increased with the improvements in our Spanish, and with the help of her boyfriend and two daughters who all speak English well. We are so lucky to have her, and have now formed a wonderful relationship with her but man, minute 1 (through 30) was a scary one.

Advice for anyone traveling to Barcelona (or any new country) for the first time, that I wish I had known,

1. You ARE a tourist, embrace it! Everyone will probably know that you are anyway
2. Although you are a tourist, do everything you can to submerge yourself in and adopt the local culture
3. You're going to do something awkward that is done differently in Spain (or this new country) than in America
4. Take the time to brush up on the language. (especially polite greetings or questions)
5. Make every minute count. See it all, do it all!

10,080 minutes down, 33,120 minutes to go!