This is the view from my apartment’s balcony where I would FaceTime my family and friends while enjoying the nice night breeze.

On the day that I was supposed to have my flight to Barcelona, I had a six-hour delay due to a storm in New York. I was having extreme anxiety because of the delay and was afraid about what I should do since I am all by myself. Well, once I actually got on the plane, everything went well and I arrived in Barcelona safely with the help of Leticia, my SAI coordinator. When I arrived at my apartment, I had mixed feelings. I was excited that I have finally arrived in Barcelona, the place I have always wanted to be, but I was also kind of sad because I am not with my family anymore.

The beautiful sunset at the Barceloneta Beach.

I highly encourage everyone to have FaceTime or some type of communication with your family to share your experience with them and also letting them know that you are safe in a foreign country. Also, share your experience with them of where you went this weekend or something different that you learned about your city that you do not have back home.

Walking down the Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona’s most luxurious avenue.

My friend told me that there is a Barceloneta Beach close by and I got really excited because I have not been to a beach a few years. The place is tourist attraction so you would find a lot of people from the States or from other countries around the world. There are many bars and restaurants around the beach where you can just sit down watch the beautiful sunset.

The city of Barcino, a Roman Barcelona.

One difficulty about studying abroad in a foreign country is having a language barrier. Although I am minoring in Spanish, it is not easy when you are actually speaking with a native speaker. There was one time where I had to buy a metro ticket at the metro station and the screen was all in Spanish. I got really flustered because I could not understand anything since, they also use Catalan. However, there are other language options on the bottom right and English is one of them. I realized that there are some places in Barcelona that provide multiple language options since there are many foreigners. Some restaurants also have their menus in different languages, but I still recommend knowing some basic vocabulary because they will be really useful.

Having some churros with hot chocolate at the Estació de França.

Nina is a fall 2019 Barcelona student from University of South Carolina.