Sunday July 2

Our last fully free day 😭 Seeing as we leave early morning next Saturday it was our last weekend day, but we made it a good one. I slept in and then enjoyed my breakfast with my host mom and we had a nice conversation. After that I journaled a bit about what my goals are for the final week and also little things I want to remember about the trip. 

In an earlier week on social media I saw information about a flea market that happens on Sundays called El Flea, which was in a plaza only 20 minutes away from my apartment, on foot. I packed up my lunch and made my way over around noon and stopped at another market that was open on the way! Many books, comics, pictures, and toys. 

I finally made it to El Flea and there were so many vendors! I got overwhelmed at times because I wanted to see everything, but there was just so much! I was there for about an hour until my two friends met up with me and we walked through the rest of it. I bought some clothes, a mini radio, a watch, two rings, and paid only 20 euro for what I think are vintage Nike Blazers!

My two friends and I just decided to walk around and see where we would wind up. We made our way to the Gothic Quarter where I got some gelato, and then we walked to a neighborhood called Borne. I've never been here, so it was cool to see this part of town. 

We kept walking and accidentally ended up at the beach, Barceloneta, so we decided to sit by the water. It was nice and breezy. It was such a fun day getting to leisurely explore the city. While we were walking we were making our plans for the final week to come. 

To get home we decided to take a different type of train than normal. It's called the Rodalies de Catalunya (or just R for short) and it's a bigger train. Then my host cousin and I just walked home once we got to the stop closest to my apartment. We came home together because his family was at my house because it's my younger host brother's birthday! We got to celebrate and I finally got to try some of my Argentinian family's empanadas which were delicious. I know it might sound cringey to say but my heart is so full! I'm going to miss all of my friends and just life here in general. I'm going to make this week count!

Monday July 3

Today's cultural activity was Parc Güell, another one of Antoní Gaudí's famous works. This was one of the places I wanted to visit most in Barcelona, it's even the title image of this blog! It is such a large park, there's the main parts with the mosaics, pillars, and Hansel and Gretel-esque houses but there's also just sidewalks that go up the mountain that it's on. 

My favorite part was finding a flamenco band after wandering up the mountain, it was like a reward. They had a guitarist, bass guitarist, a drummer with a cajón (the box you sit on and play), and a dancer, they were playing while we got to look out over the city. 

After school my host cousin and I met up with another friend that is here in Barcelona and it was great to chat!

Then my host cousin and I stopped by Camp Nou, the stadium where FC Barcelona plays. It was cool to see the outside and we also went to the store. 

Tuesday July 4

Happy Independence day, even though this day holds no significance here in Spain😅

For our cultural activity today we went to the Gloriés building. We learned that the inspiration for the shape was a geyser, it's a cool looking building that's mostly blue but with some hints of red. Inside they had exhibits all about the environment that were really interesting. They had cool visuals and compared the city to a living entity: the trees are the lungs, the traffic being the pulse, and all of the various waves (light, sound, radio) being like the nervous system. 

At the top of the building they had great 360 degree views of Barcelona and they had an amazing playground on the top, almost like a McDonalds Play Place but better! It was called the Cloud Cities Barcelona and we got to go for free because it's free on Tuesdays! It was really fun to climb through and stop at certain points, as they had pillows randomly throughout. 

After school, my friends and I realized that we wanted to buy some more gifts for people so we headed towards the area with some of the shops we wanted to go to. Before our shopping we stopped at La Boquería one last time to try their chocolate covered strawberries! 

Today was a special day because it was my host grandma's birthday!! I truly enjoyed getting to celebrate her because she is so amazing. We enjoyed some delicious empanadas made by my host uncle, along with a cold soup made from melon topped with ham, a chicken and rice dish, focaccia bread, and then a chocolate mousse and lemon meringue pie for dessert! 

Wednesday July 5

Our cultural activity today was a guitar concert! I truly enjoyed seeing the talented gentleman play and we also got to learn about the history of guitars and guitarists. It was a fun show! 

Because the concert was in a classroom of the CIEE center, we had a lot of time until class started so my group leader brought my group to get churros! The chef from our tapas workshop recommended a place so we went and they were very tasty. Although we had some trouble getting there: at first we got on the wrong bus and then as we were walking it starting to rain heavily! It's rained once or twice since I've been here but never as hard as it was today! We were wet but it was nice to cool down. 

After class I walked to the Borne neighborhood and met up with friends that live in Barcelona! We walked around the Arc de Triomf and Citadella park area, two beautiful places. Then we got some delicious food, my favorites were the patatas bravas which are essentially potato cubes with sauce, Padrón peppers which are just cooked peppers with salt, and the seafood paella. I also got to try the Crema Catalana, which is the Creme Brulee of Spain! It was very nice to be able to meet up with good people in my last few days. 

Thursday July 6

Today we had our last cultural activity! We went to the Picasso museum, which had some great pieces, though I feel I would have been able to appreciate it more if we didn't have to have a guided tour of the museum. We had a nice tour guide and wore the little radios but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was self paced. 

After lunch we had to take our post assessment, the STAMP test. We took the same test back in March to see what level we should be placed in, so today we took the post exam to see if we've improved. There's a reading, writing, listening, and speaking portion, and we'll get our results by the end of the year at the latest. 

After school I needed to finish my project for the week which is about our experience abroad but also our plans for the future. I stopped by a café and had the most delicious chocolate croissant! 

Tonight we had dinner plans to celebrate our last night of the trip, since we're spending our actual last night (tomorrow) with our host families. We went to a restaurant called El Glop, one that was recommended by a CIEE worker. I enjoyed the decor and ambiance of the restaurant, even though most of the people dining showed up later because everyone eats later here. We had to start earlier so that we could make it home by our 9:30 curfew! 

The food was delightful, we ordered bread which came with unpeeled cloves of garlic and whole tomatoes which we didn't really understand at first, but then we just kind of spread them both on and it tasted good. We got a seafood and chicken paella and they were both really tasty. We also had some Crema Catalana for dessert. 

It was so fun to just share a meal and enjoy each other's company before we leave on Saturday. We took many pictures outside just to remember this fun day/trip as a whole, I'm gonna miss them!

Friday July 7

Today was our last day! It's very hard to believe. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we made it a fun day. We had our last class in the morning because we don't have a cultural activity on Fridays, and for our presentation of our projects we had a class discussion that had questions related to all the material we learned this week. This week we focused on the future and command tenses of verbs. 

We had our last check in with our group leader which was pretty sad, but after we had a pizza party! It was nice to spend some final time with our group of 12 that has spent all four weeks together. We got our group leader a gift and some tears were shed. Our group leader got us all a postcard with an "award" and mine was The Hustler because of my good work ethic! This was nice because we all got to sign each others postcards as if they were yearbooks. We said our goodbyes and took pictures in the photobooth that CIEE got to celebrate the last day! 

After school my friends and I decided to do our favorite thing, which is just roam. We walked to the Gothic Quarter and some of us did some more shopping. We got matching Barcelona bracelets! We walked to the Citadella park area because some of us hadn't seen it. Then we took a bus to Gracia, my personal favorite area, in order to see it one last time and also buy some flowers for my host family! 

I said goodbye to my host cousin because we wouldn't be seeing each other tomorrow morning so that was sad. Our whole host family and my roommate enjoyed our last meal together, Milanesas, one of my favorites that my host grandma makes which are traditional from Argentina. 

We took some pictures and said some emotional goodbyes :(  While I'm ready to go home I'm going to miss them so much!! I finished packing my suitcase and said goodbye to our apartment and had a last mindful moment in the sunroom with giant windows that open up to the back of the other buildings in the area. I was shocked to find the moon glowing out, which I haven't seen at all this whole trip! It was a nice little peaceful goodbye to Spain. 

Saturday July 8

It was an early morning, I had to wake up at 5 AM to get on the bus to the airport at 6. I said goodbye to my host mom for the final time and then the group of us on the same flight made our way to the airport. 

We got through security and had some breakfast. I had a master plan to buy my three favorite drinks I've had here in Spain, Fanta Limón, Aquarius (like Gatorade), and Nestea (a sweet tea) so that I could bring them home and have my family try them. What I didn't realize is that we had to go through security again when we arrived in Philadelphia so I couldn't bring them through 😭

I had a window seat on both flights which was great for the views but also for sleeping. I watched Up and WallE! When we started our final descent in Philadelphia I listened to America by Neil Diamond and Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen to celebrate my homecoming! We also enjoyed some Chic Fil A in the airport. 

I said goodbye to my friends that were on my flight and then I boarded for my flight to Chicago. We sat on the plane for three hours because there was a storm so the runway was closed. I just went in and out of sleep and watching a movie because I was so tired. I finally arrived in Chicago and my mom picked me up, I was so happy to see her! 

I'm so glad to be home and sleep in my own bed, even though I miss my host family and the friends that I made. Thank you so much for following along on my journey these past four weeks, it has been an amazing experience. I feel like I've gotten a taste of college in living away from my family, gotten more comfortable with new people and new environments, and bettered my Spanish. I wouldn't trade it for the world! 

Adios, 

Ava