Last Updated on March 9, 2015 by
This weekend was the first time my friends and I did a trip on our own: Barcelona, Spain! Travelling on your
own is definitely something that teaches you a lot about yourself. It was a quick hour and change plane ride, and we organized and booked everything ourselves. Not as complicated as it sounds, but even so, things can either go smoothly or get complicated. Learning how to travel and make plans on your own is definitely a life skill worth learning.
A majority of the group had not been to Barcelona, and even for me and my friend Liz who had been there before, it was still an adventure for everyone. In high school I went to Europe with ACIS, a sister program of AIFS, for a 10 day trip where we visited France and then Barcelona. I got to see a lot of the city then, but this weekend I was able to explore a lot more, and see everything I didn’t get to in the two days I was there before. For example, I saw the world famous Sagrada Familia Basilica before, but I didn’t get to go inside because of the crazy Disney-theme-park-busy-worthy line at the entrance. But this weekend we all woke up early to make sure we got inside; and it was more than worth it.
La Sagrada Familia was hands down one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. And when you study abroad in Europe you see a lot of cathedrals, basilicas and churches, so that says something! I did a presentation on Gaudi, the architect behind La Sagrada Familia and a lot of work in Barcelona, last week in my History of Spain class so I was basically geeking out the entire time.
We legitimately walked for two straight days all over the city, seeing the beach, Parc Guell, Las Ramblas and everything in between. It was exhausting, but so worth it at the same time– getting to go back and see more of this amazing city!
