@font-face { font-family: “Times”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }h4 { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }span.Heading4Char { font-family: Times; font-weight: bold; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

Hola! My experience in Barcelona so far has been crazy since I got here!

After my first ever flight to Europe, I arrived in Barcelona on September first to the welcoming, smiling faces of the IES staff and my fellow study abroad students. After a quick meeting telling me where I was staying, I jumped in a taxi with my newest friend at the time and we were on our way to our dorm, Col.legi Major Sant Jordi. Our RA Tatiana was waiting at the front door to greet us and bring us up to our rooms, and what did you know, my new friend and I were neighbors!

I quickly became acquainted with my fabulous roommate and the rest of the IES students that live in our dorm, and I am happy to say that I love every single one of them! We all get along really well, so it’s been awesome going out together.

My first weekend here, my friends and I decided to be as touristy as possible and go on a bus tour. We went all over the city, seeing amazing sights such as artist Antoni Gaudi’s Parc G�ell (an amazing park) and Sagrada Fam�lia (a church still being built even after his death), the Barcelona futb�l stadium, Palau Reial (the Royal Palace), among may other amazing sights.

On the first day of class, I did not have all of my normal classes. We started the first Monday of classes with only our Spanish language class, and that lasted through Wednesday. Our area studies classes then started on Thursday, and this week is the first full week of all of our classes. So far, I am really enjoying all of mine. I am taking two Psychology classes, a class on the history of Barcelona in which I will have the opportunity to travel around the city and explore with my class, and a class about the food and culture of Spain, all along with my Spanish class.

The nightlife is absolutely insane. Club promoters are constantly sending out emails trying to get you to come out with them every night, but it was easy to quickly learn how to balance the nightlife and my daily class life, just like it was easy to learn at Penn State.

So far, I have been to two of the beaches that are here. During my first week I went to Barceloneta after my class, the coastal area of Barcelona. The beach was beautiful, with crystal clear blue water and a long, beautiful beach. The only downside was that it was extremely crowded so it was difficult to find a decent size spot for the group of seven of us. The second beach was Sitges, a town only about a 45-minute train ride from Barcelona. This was probably the most beautiful beach I have ever been to, with perfect water, perfect sand, perfect space, perfect everything!

Also located in Sitges is the Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla, a gorgeous 17^th century Gothic church located right on the beach.

On Sunday night, I went to the Festival for Catalan Independence at the Arc de Triomf, located near the Born District barrio in the city. This celebration recognizes the battle that Catalan fought against Spain to become an independent state. Although the Catalans lost the battle, this festival recognizes their fight to separate themselves in the past and their efforts to continue to do so in a non-violent way.

I have only been here for eleven days, so I am excited for what is still to come!

Location: Barcelona, Spain