This week didn't exactly start out on a good note for me. I was pretty much ready to pack my bags and come home because I was just not settling in well, but thankfully API (the program I am doing my study abroad through) has some amazing staff members and they were quick to help me. Since that episode things have been going a little more smoothly and I am doing my best to get out and get to know the other students in my program as well as those in my classes, but we'll get to classes in a little bit.
On Tuesday, a group of us from my program decided to walk to the Parc Guell, which is a famous park here in Barcelona designed by Gaudi. The boys in our group told us that it wasn't a long walk and that we would be there in no time... guess again haha. We spent a good half hour walking around the city trying to find the actual park itself and then once we got to the park this is what we saw...
...the never ending stairs. No kidding it went on for what seemed forever. Chase, Mo and I barely made it, but the view from the top was absolutely worth it.
The park itself was very nice and we chose a perfect day to visit because the weather was gorgeous, but we were all extremely tired and sore after that excursion.
Wednesday we started out culture classes. Now pretty much what that means is regular classes, but all taught in spanish, so in other words I hardly understood a word haha! And for those of you who know how much I despise history, well guess what, it's even worse in another language lol! The cultural classes that I am taking are Business in Spanish, the Origin and Evolution of Spain and Europe and General History of Spain, so yes all extremely boring and hard to understand, but hopefully the longer I'm here the more I will understand :)
Today we began our language classes, sadly I had to begin mine at 8:30 am this morning, but it was worth it because I have an awesome teacher and I feel like I might actually learn something this semester unlike last semester hehe! I'm lucky that on tuesdays and thursdays I only have my language classes so I am done by 11:30 am, but my mondays and wednesdays make up for that since I have class until 9 p.m. One thing I have to say though is that my campus is gorgeous! It's like being in Hogwarts except there are no moving staircases and the portraits don't talk to you. I only have a few photos as of now, but you can be sure there will be many more posted on my facebook over the semester!
This weekend should be fun, we are taking a day trip to Calcotada, a city about an hour away from Barcelona where we will be eating a lot of different foods that are typical to Spain, I'll let you know how that goes :) Other than that I will probably continue to explore the city and figure out what exactly was said to be our homework for the weekend hehe!
Love and miss you all!
I'm happy you're settling in. Your feelings are all very normal. My year in Holland was similar, in that I was so homesick at first, but settled in pretty quickly. In no time you will start understanding more and more, in Spanish, and then it will become second nature. Practice as much as you can! Love, Mrs. Bennett
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