There are wonders in the world that are sometimes indescribable and no matter how hard you try to put the scene into words, it just doesn’t work. Half the reason might be because my jaw is to the ground due to awe and the other half is just sheer happiness. I don’t want to speak to anyone and all I want to do is soak all the architecture, culture, language, and environment in. Barcelona was just the introduction, but may I say, what an introduction it was.

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The tour began once we got our luggage situation handled and we had all the tour members gathered. We began our tour of the city on a wet, cold day, which in a sense, reminded me of Florida. “Welcome home” I told myself and took in a deep breath; it wasn’t what I had expected. I was greeted with 2nd hand smoke and later will I get to know, how ingrained smoking is in the spanish culture. Our hotel was relatively close to the “ La Sagrada Familia”, which was a cathedral built by an architect named Antoni Gaudi. Now, learning about material is one thing, but witnessing its magnificence is a completely different story.  Antoni Gaudi took the gothic architecture of the building and instilled his own art noveau style. Erected in from a previous church in the 1880’s, Gaudi dedicated his life to designing the monument, and it isn’t projected to be completed until 2026. Learning about that in class and actually applying the knowledge, brings wonders to the experience of studying abroad.

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The architecture was fascinating but we were starving and tapas were something of a big deal in Spain. Compared to the United States were an appetizer is served and then you have an entree, Spain served you entree all throughout the meal. You chose what you wanted to order, about 4-5 different plates of food- small portions of it of course- and you wouldn’t overeat. The diet in Spain consisted of cafe con leche(which is just coffee with milk), lots of food choices with ham, cheese, and fish. Fish would make sense due to the country being located by the coast and the fishing industry is a major part of the economy. For the tapas, there are many options such as: chipirones, pincho, patatas bravas, paella, bocadillo, gazpacho, croquettes and many more. The meal is usually accompanied with vino blanco, sangria, or a cerveza, which are just white wine, sangria and beer. Once, finished with the meal, you should tip, but not more than ten percent due to the server being a professional job in Spain.  

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The days were great but as a college student, we were also looking forward to the nightlife in Spain. What we didn’t understand immediately was, Spaniards don’t start partying at 10 pm. Which was a completely different experience Dylan and I incurred in Barcelona. We went to the area that would foster the most amount of activity in the city at night, it was called “las ramblas”. We would walk on the path and every minute we would get harassed by club promoters to go to their club and vendors that sold beer to tourist. We would be greeted by the promoters with relatively the same line, “ hey bro, you looking to party? We have women bro, alcohol bro, best time bro”! After a while, it just got irritating and the sense of personal space you have in the United States was castrated in Spain. Dylan and I had a rough encounter with a club one of the nights, and we wanted to go home. We realized the trains stopped operating after one and we couldn’t see a cab where we were located. So used the train station map trying to figure out where we were exactly but it didn’t make it any easier, because there wasn’t a compass on the maps. So the north, south, east and west were irrelevant and we had to figure our way home with sights we visited earlier in the morning.  We asked for directions with our broken Spanish, but what made me frustrated was not the fact that we were lost, it was that I didn’t grasp the language before coming into a foreign country. It makes it very difficult to communicate with anyone, whether it be for directions, for a food order, or if you are simply trying to ask a girl about herself. Dylan and I walked for about 45 minutes getting to know each other a little better. We discussed food, culture, socio-economic status of Spaniards compared to the United States, discussed Franco the Fascists’ reign and how that affected the culture of Spain. We eventually found our way back using landmarks, strangers for directions and pure intuition. We decided we had a rough time with the nightlife, but it was great talking about life with each other, so it wasn’t as bad.

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The last day we were in Barcelona, Dylan and I planned to go to Camp Nou which was the stadium where FC Barcelona played. We got to Camp Nou and enjoyed the self-guided tour and took a break for coffee. We started to head back and realized, we were lost again. Once again, we couldn’t figure out which metro station to get off at to head back to the hotel. We had to be back before four pm because we would be heading to Granada for the next destination. There were three metro stations and there wasn’t a compass, so went to each metro station until we found the one closest to the hotel. I asked Dylan if he was hungry, because I was starving, so we went to a small restaurant right by the hotel. We tried to order in Spanish but the server knew we were tourist and attempted to speak English. We put our order in and few minutes later, we had the pleasure of sharing the company of our professor Paloma and our group members. We had two servers from Indian descent and they spoke hindi to each other. I listened closely, mostly because I was curious and that they spoke a language I could understand. The server was teaching the new girl who just started working the differences between the Catalan people and the Spanish. She described their mannerisms, that Catalan is distinct compared to Spanish, and you have to be careful with each customer. Don’t assume they are all Spanish because the Catalan people are very prideful in their culture and language. We talked for about 15 mins and then two construction workers came into the restaurant. They placed their orders and carried onto whispering to themselves. Paloma was the most fluent in Spanish and translated what they said for us. They said, “why are these Indians making our food and selling our food? Couldn’t they sell their own food?” Paloma got heated and so did I. Paloma was telling us the server knows Spanish, English, hindi and she is learning Catalan just to serve people like the construction workers, who can’t see the extra time they take to learn the Spanish culture and language. I felt helpless, that I couldn’t have stepped in and said something, but it would have only made an effect if I spoke Spanish fluently. Later that night we embarked to Granada by train which would be my first train ride.

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Spain to me became the land of the firsts. The first time I had tapas, sangria, was harassed by club promoters, went to church, went to a service in a cathedral, and rode on a train. The experience was surreal, I felt as if I was living a dream. I get to learn learn about another culture, forced to speak their language, architecture, art, and learn more about myself. Granada offered up the Alhambra which was one of the seven world wonders. The pomegranate was definitely sweet, where all the senses were used. You could smell the sweet scent of the flowers, you could hear the birds chirp and water rush, you could see the great arches and architecture, you could touch limited amount of things because the security would get mad, and if you wanted to taste things, you could do that too. It was just amazing to see that I might have came from one of the people that lived in Granada in the 10th or 11th century. It was just delightful to learn more about my culture and in a sense, learn more about myself.

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Our entourage, increased from two to three. Tom joined our group and we had a new perspective. We ate together, learned together, and partied together. The trip just brought another aspect to studying abroad, friendship.  From Granada to Madrid, Tom, Dylan and I stuck together, moreover, we forged a relationship that wouldn’t bloom unless we were forced to rely on each other. We saw cathedrals that brought out fear from their narrow passages and high vaulted ceilings. To think that in a ceremonial place, you could not attain god’s presence, and the goal was to instill fear so that the followers wouldn’t deny the catholic religion. Nevertheless, the high vaulted ceilings, the  stained glass windows, and the art brought the beauty in gothic architecture and baroque art was submerged with emotion. We had to distinguish what the styles were from gothic, renaissance, baroque, neo-gothic and even the art nouveau. It was a delightful egg hunt trying to figure which characteristics each piece of art incorporated and relaying it back to its original style. For example, we went to the Prado Museum and we saw Ruben’s work. He is very bold, filled with action and emotion. His work emphasized baroque and it wasn’t a still picture. We learned that in class and actually being able to see that at the museum was a spectacular moment.

Just like that, two weeks flew by and it was time to say our goodbyes. We met great people, learned from Spanish culture, learned more Spanish, saw beautiful art and architecture. All good things must come to an end, but it wasn’t over. There was a new desire that perspired. It was a need to learn more languages, learn about culture and travel more. I said my goodbyes to all the friends I made, said goodbye to Spain-at least for now- and boarded the plane.