Part 2: Things I Will Miss From Barcelona

The Things I’ll Be Missing From Barcelona

Studying abroad in Barcelona has been a roller coaster experience but an unforgettable one at that one. Barcelona and I have had some tough moments to say the least but some fantastic ones as well. Here are, again in no specific order, my favorite things from Barcelona that I will most certainly miss.

The Sights: Barcelona undoubtably has some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. From La Sagrada Familia, The Magic Fountain to beauty of Park Guell, one can’t deny that Barcelona is home to some serious beauty.

The Markets: One thing I have loved the most about Barcelona is its markets. La Boqueria stands alone as one of my favorite parts of Barcelona. From all the homemade foods, to the fruits and veggies, and all the candies, La Boqueria is simply amazing. I also love the fresh fruit and veggie stands here. We are pretty much friends with the guys who run our local stand since we go there so often.

The Food: While I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Spanish food, the rest of the food here in Barcelona is amazing. Between the burger places, the Mexican restaurants, the home food restaurants, and the few Italian places that we have visited, the food here certainly does not disappoint.

The Nightlife: There’s no denying that the night life here has taken quite a toll on me but nothing compares to the clubs and night life here. From Sutton, BlingBling, Shoko, RazzMataz, and of course Opium, there is always something going on here. The key to the nightlife in Barcelona is that things here don’t even start until close to 1am so its going to be a big change for me when I go home to Amherst, where the bars close at 1am.

The Lifestyle: The Spaniards and Catalans are some of the most relaxed and for lack of a better word, chill people that I have ever met. The people here take their time with everything, do things on their own time, and make sure to enjoy themselves along the way. While it has been tough adjusting to the “do things on our own time” attitude of the people here, I have really come to appreciate it. Everyone here is really understanding and even if they don’t speak English, they are very accommodating and understanding. Most people here are great. That is, minus the ones that like to steal phones.

My Self Reliance: Since coming to Barcelona, I’ve had to become way more self reliant than I ever thought I would be. I have always been pretty independent but never as independent as I am here. I’ve never been in a position where I didn’t speak the language and had no idea where I was. I speak enough Spanish to get by but I most certainly don’t speak Czech, German, or Italian. While I am very excited to go back to America, where I can understand everything that everyone is saying, I will miss the kind of self reliance and self dependence that I have developed here, though I will carry some of it with me.

My Crazy Roommates: While we have a few trying moments, I could not have picked better roommates if I had hand picked these girls myself. We were forced to go from complete strangers to best friends pretty much over night and along the way have made some completely unforgettable memories. From nights that turned into mornings at the club, dancing to show tunes in our living room, adventures to Oktoberfest all together and family meals, we’ve more or less accomplished it all. Next week we will all go back to our respective corners of the country but I have no doubt that the six of us will stay in touch and a crazy reunion is in the foreseeable future. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for each of us and to give memory filled toasts at these girls weddings.

Barcelona, we have had our ups, we’ve had our downs. It’s been real. It’s been fun. It’s been real fun. And while I am very excited to finally be back in America and go home, you will always hold a special place in my heart. Looking forward to coming back one day.