Semester Abroad: Barcelona, Spain

My first “real” travel experience was during the fall semester of my third year at Goshen College (2002). It was also my first time flying; I had to fly from Bloomington, IL to Chicago, and then over to Barcelona, Spain. Once there I took a train down to Castellon de la Plana to meet up with my dear friend Marta. It was a long journey, especially for my first solo trip!

I spent about 10 days with her, her family, and her friends in her beach house (rough time, I know ^^). It wasn’t all I had hoped it would be, unfortunately, but it was still nice to have a taste of Spain before officially beginning my semester abroad.

When it was time, I took a train back up to Barcelona where I met up with the heads from my program, Brethren Colleges Abroad (BCA). Now, I admit, this was several years ago and I no longer remember everything we did, not to mention the actual order in which we did them. So this account will be a bit general, and by no means specific.

We spent our first several days doing orientation outside of Barcelona. We stayed in a small beach town and enjoyed walking along the beach, drinking wine in cafes along the streets, and beginning to immerse ourselves in Spanish.



We also took an art history trip to Gerona. Once there we traveled around a bit. We saw some monasteries (and learned about the architecture, as it was an art history trip!), saw the Roman and Greek ruins along the Costa Brava at Ampurias, and visited the Salvador Dali museum in Figueres.

















Once we got to Barcelona, we were split up as we went to settle in with our new host families. We were never all together again, though it came very close with a Thanksgiving meal in November.





I lived with a single woman, and we didn’t hit it off. She was very nice, and cooked vegetarian food for me, but she got quickly frustrated by my low speaking Spanish ability. We did have one running “joke”, about me needing to go visit Parque Guell (which I did, eventually, when my mom came to visit me). Other than that, we just lived in the same apartment and saw each other on occasion.

I attended the University of Barcelona, attending classes at 2 of the 3 campuses. I took a couple grammar courses, a history course, and a reading course (I did very well in the grammar courses, but miserably in the other two; I didn’t even take my final in the lit class, and failed my history final!). All of my classes were with fellow BCAers, but the professors were of the university and spoke only Spanish. It was a huge challenge for me, but as this is a travel blog, I’m going to leave that all be.

Barcelona is an amazing city. I admit I had a huge love-hate relationship with it, but am pretty sure that when I return it I will simply love it! I was too wrapped up in my classes and lack of social life to really enjoy what it was. I’m sure I was also experiencing some culture shock, though I remember reading about it and not feeling like I was.

Barcelona is a mix of the old and new. There is something for everyone: bars, shopping, architecture, art, etc.

I didn’t see all I wanted to, but I did see a lot. I walked along Las Ramblas many times and was around Placa de Catalunya on lots of occasions (that’s usually where my friends and I met before a night out). I saw the Gothic Cathedral along with many of the famous architectural works of Antoni Gaudi. I also saw David Bisbal in concert and went to a soccer game. I also got to see Snowflake, the albino gorilla.















My mom came to visit for my last 2 weeks; that’s actually when I saw most of Guadi’s works, including, of course, the Parque Guell.















Barcelona is on my “most visit again” list. There is still so much to see there, and so many things I’d like to see again, and probably appreciate more than I did at that time.
If you are in Europe, and visit Spain, make sure to spend a few days walking around Barcelona! La Sagrada Familia and Parque Guell are two of my favorite spots. And not far from La Sagrada Familia is Michael Collins, a terrific Irish Pub . Also, be sure to walk down Las Ramblas and enjoy the human statues that line the street!