This week included a lot of travel, time with friends, and good food. And just like that, we are done with the month of October!
- Monday, October 25th
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Today I was up at the not-so-bright and early hour of 5:50 a.m. to say bye to my parents and brother, who are flying back to the U.S. today. I am a little sad to see them leave, but I know that I will see them again very soon. After they left, I quickly got dressed and packed some last-minute things, and headed to catch the metro to the train station. I got on the train back to Barcelona and spent the next two-and-a-half hours sleeping and studying. I arrived back at my apartment at about 10 a.m., gathered my things for class, and went to my favorite cafe for coffee and breakfast. Then, I went to my first class of the day where we had a review session for our midterm on Wednesday. After class, I worked for CU and studied some more for my midterms, and before I knew it, it was time for my Mediterranean Politics midterm. It was easier than I anticipated it would be, so I think it went well. However, my International Business midterm was absurd. My professor asked the most niche questions and I guessed on the majority of them. I can only hope that I passed that test. After that disaster, I came back to my apartment, and my roommates and I went to dinner at a tapas restaurant. We sat there for a couple of hours before heading back home and going to bed.
- Tuesday, October 26th
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Today, of course, started with the gym and coffee with a pastry. I went to my Inequality, Poverty, and Globalization class, and after, I went grocery shopping. Among the things I purchased were chicken, zucchini, and bell peppers for a stir fry I made for lunch this week. I worked for a couple of hours, studied a little for my midterm tomorrow, and then it was time for Intercultural Communication class. We are doing a group project where we film a video about a cultural problem we have encountered here, and today was the first class day that we were given to film. We are doing our presentation about pickpocketing, which is a huge problem here in Barcelona. Anyway, after class, I went to the grocery store again with one of my roommates because we were hosting a dinner for a couple of our friends! We bought some champagne, pasta, and tortillas because we were making spaghetti tacos. While shopping for ingredients, we learned that they do not have hard-shell tortillas in Spain, so we bought soft-shell ones and put them in the oven. I tried to study for a little longer, but I was not that successful, and then it was time to start making dinner. To put it simply, we cooked an absurd amount of pasta. But for six people, it didn’t seem too ridiculous. Our girl’s night was amazing and I had so much fun. I’m so happy that I have made such wonderful friends here. We all went to bed around midnight for a much-needed sleep.
- Wednesday, October 27th
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I did not go to the gym this morning, but I did have avocado toast, which still made it an amazing start to the day. I went to Barcelona City Planning and Architecture class to take my midterm, and it was horrible. It was so difficult. I needed to take my mind off of it, so I decided to take myself shopping, and my retail therapy was, in one word, successful. I came back home, ate lunch, worked, and went to Mediterranean Politics. We got our exam grades back today, and I miraculously got a 95% on my midterm, so I was very happy about that. Then I went to my International Business class where we watched the most boring documentary ever. I was falling asleep in my seat. After class, I came home and ate dinner, and then I talked to my therapist. Instead of my usual post-therapy ice cream, my roommates and I decided to join our friends at a bar tonight! It was super fun and we spent three hours throwing popcorn at each other, so the employees probably hate us now, but it was worth it. One of my friends brought up Five Guy’s and after that, I only had one thing on my mind: burgers. So, four of us walked to Five Guy’s and my friend split a cheeseburger with me. It was so good and I do not regret this decision at all. We got home at around 2 a.m. and then I went to bed.
- Thursday, October 28th
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I slept until 10 this morning and desperately needed coffee and food, so I paid a visit to my favorite cafe. Then I went to class, where we reviewed for next week’s midterm, and then I came home and worked. At 1:30, I went to the gym and it was very nice to get moving, except for the fact that I have had a pounding headache all day. After the gym, I ate lunch and then I went to class, where we had another filming day. Since we got most of our filming done on Tuesday, we finished up and got to leave an hour early, so I went to a cafe and did some writing. I had a manicure at 6, so I took the metro there and got my nails done for an hour and a half. I took the metro back home and met up with my roommates for dinner at our favorite restaurant around the corner. Then, I packed for our trip to Bologna and Florence in Italy this weekend and I went to sleep.
- Friday, October 29th
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My roommates and I woke up at 3:30 this morning to catch our flight to Bologna. We dropped our bags off at our hotel since we couldn’t check in yet, and we went to get breakfast, which was coffee and a croissant, as usual. Then we walked around the city for a while to kill some time, since nothing was open yet. We ended up sitting at an outdoor cafe for an hour and people-watching, and then we got on a hop-on/hop-off bus, but we skipped the whole “hop-off” part and stayed on instead. I fell asleep on the bus because I was so tired but it was still cool learning about everything. After that, it was lunchtime, so we popped into a restaurant where they had delicious traditional Mortadella sandwiches, which is meat that comes from Bologna. It was finally time to check into the hotel, so we went ahead and did that. Our hotel room had a very weird layout; when you entered it, it was like a big wardrobe, and the floorplan was super open and the ceilings were very high. Anyway, it was good enough for a four-hour nap, which is exactly what I ended up doing, and then we went to dinner at a pasta restaurant. I got tagliatelle bolognese, since the sauce comes from Bologna, and it was delicious. Then we went to bed because we had another early wake-up the next morning.
- Saturday, October 30th
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This morning we had to catch a train to Florence at 6:45. It only took about half an hour to get there since it was a high-speed train, and then we walked to the hostel that we were staying at and dropped off our bags. We went to a cafe for breakfast and then we went to the Piazza del Duomo and took pictures for a while. We did some shopping and then decided that we were hungry enough for lunch. We went to a pasta restaurant again, and I had some delicious ravioli. After lunch, we went to check in to the hostel. Now, I wasn’t a fan of staying at a hostel in the first place, but this whole experience was just chaotic. First, my roommates and I were slightly separated, where one of us was in a different room and two of us were in the same room. My sheets and mattress were stained, I don’t think the blanket was clean, the room had an interesting scent, and then a bug fell on my roommate, which was the final straw. We frantically started searching for a nearby decent-price hotel, but everything was booked. Luckily, my amazing dad was helping us look and he sent me a hotel that had one room left, and I booked it so quickly. I’ve never done anything so fast in my life. We sprinted out of that hostel and got to our hotel, which was so much better. We rested for an hour and then went to get some gelato and do more shopping. I have a friend who is studying abroad in Florence this semester, so I met up with her for drinks, and then I went to dinner with my roommates. We went to a super good pizza place, and I will dream about it forever. Then we walked back to the hotel and went to sleep.
- Sunday, October 31st
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Happy Halloween! I didn’t celebrate traditionally this year, but I still had a great day. We got to sleep in this morning, and in Europe, Daylight Savings happens a week before it does in the United States, so we even got an extra hour of sleep. We went to brunch at a super cute place and then we walked through a leather market. Then, I bought a pair of boots, and to celebrate, we got gelato again. Then we went up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, which is a viewpoint over the entire city of Florence. It’s so beautiful, and we took some really cute photos. We spent some time up there and then walked back down into the city and it was time for lunch. We wanted to try a new restaurant, but the service was terrible. We sat there for twenty minutes and nobody even addressed us, so we got up and walked to the pasta place from yesterday, which did not disappoint. I got spaghetti carbonara this time, which was equally as delicious as the ravioli. We walked around some more shops after that, and then we went to catch our train back to Bologna. We got to our hotel in Bologna at around 8, and we took showers and went to bed because we have to be up early again tomorrow.
Well, that’s it for week nine and for the month of October! I can’t believe I’m moving onto double digits, but tune in next week for week 10. November is my last full month abroad, which makes me sad, but I’m so excited for everything it will bring!