Adios, ciao, auf wiedersehen, adieu... You get the idea

I am so incredibly lucky to have had this experience. Even though I already studied abroad and fell in love with a second country, I know now that I can never underestimate the value of knowing another culture and people who grew up a different way than I did.

I haven't gotten back to the US yet, and it will be a while before I do. I guess this means that my 'culture shock' upon return will be a little bit diminished. I won't go from seeing the winding streets of the Gothic Quarter one day to the Flatirons the next. Despite that, I know that this experience will stay with me forever.

Before living in Barcelona I had no idea how important nature was to me. In the city I don't think I saw a single park the whole five weeks I lived there. I was so enchanted with the works of Gaudí and modernism in general that I didn't even realize at first. Now I know, though, that I take the mountains and the fresh air for granted. I don't think I could live in the city for that reason alone.

Now I'm in the middle of seeing a lot more cities in Europe, and I feel like I have a much better understanding of them. Because of the in depth knowledge that I have about Barcelona and its evolution as a city, I felt like I appreciated Rome that much more. After all, I saw a mini-version when we went to Tarragona. I feel like I had the real experience of getting to know a city inside and out, and I have Chicago, Raleigh, Boulder, Santiago, and Barcelona all as models to compare the rest of the places I see against.

I think my biggest take-away from this whole experience would be my 'insider knowledge' to the Cataluña vs Spain dilemma. I spent a good deal of time in the interior of Cataluña, listening to only catalán. It was frustrating at times because, while I have a pretty good grasp on spanish, I could not say that I speak catalán by a long shot. After my time in Barcelona I understand it much better, but I couldn't take part in a conversation. My listening was important, though. Before, the conflict between catalanes and españoles seemed to me like a distant and nebulous current events issue. Now I have had the opportunity to see it and hear it and touch it for myself. Really, there aren't words for how lucky I feel to have lived something firsthand like that. It is privilege enough to even go to Barcelona, or Spain, and see all of the tourist attractions. It is another thing entirely to feel that I've really lived in a reality different than my own.

I guess that's all I have to say about that, other than maybe another "I am so, so lucky."