I am often struck by a crazy realization. It could be when I’m sitting in class or eating dinner at my host family’s table. It happens when I’m walking down calle Santa Hortensia or when I am waiting for the metro. Today it struck me as I sat in a small chapel inside of Catedral de la Almudena, a massive and beautiful cathedral located next to el Palacio Real. The realization is simple: I am in Spain. I am living in a foreign country, eating alien foods, seeing unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. It’s one of those “wow” moments, a moment of complete appreciation and awareness of the opportunity I have here.
Last weekend I travelled to Barcelona with about twenty other kids from my program. And I was wowed for the entire trip. I love Barcelona. I don’t think I could say it enough times to get my point across. But I will say it again. I love Barcelona. I spent three straight days in utter awe of one of the most beautiful cities I have seen.
Immediately upon exiting the metro, I was struck the splendor of la Segrada Familia, one of the major sights to visit while in Barcelona. The enormous-still-being-built chapel was only a couple blocks from my apartment for the weekend. As my friends and I walked to our home for those three days, I was hit by a “wow I am in Spain” moment.
Next moment of wow: Parc Guell, the park designed by the famous artist Gaudi. The park looked as if pieces were extracted from a fairytale, with fabulous buildings and a beautiful view of the entire city. The details of the gardens and buildings were amazing. It is like a ceramic city, filled with thousands and thousands of tiles and colors. I was the selfie queen, taking pictures of and with everything I could. My friends and I spent hours climbing the different hills and pathways within the limits of the park. I left with a huge smile on my face and a desire to see more.
Following Gaudi’s masterpiece, I made my way to the beach. The Mediterranean Sea hit me before I was ready, and another wave of pure happiness struck. I turned to Devyn and told her I was moving to Barcelona immediately (I think she wanted to kill me by the end of the weekend). The water was so blue and the sand was so soft and there were so many people; I wondered why I wasn’t spending my semester there.
On Saturday my friends and I spent the day exploring the streets and markets of Barcelona. We wandered down Passeig de Gracia, and I was once again completely awed. The architecture on the street was unbelievable, with some more Gaudi masterpieces thrown into the mix. My new life goal is to buy an apartment on this absolutely gorgeous street and ride my moped to the beach everyday. After strolling along my future street, we went to La Boqueria Market and I was too amazed for words. There was candy and ice cream and paella and fruit and nachos and basically any type of food you could imagine, so my own personal heaven.
The rest of my weekend was spent drinking and beaching. I took my hungover ass to the beach Sunday morning and spent the day getting a lovely sunburn. I simply don’t tan as well as the Spanish, who would’ve guessed. When it was time to leave I thought about intentionally missing my flight and staying there forever but my friends advised me against it. The whole “having class on Monday thing” put a damper on that plan. So my weekend of wow concluded, and I returned to Madrid terribly upset that I had to leave the greatest place ever.
Then I had this great realization that I was returning to Madrid. I quit complaining, because this is definitely not a bad place to call home.