El Ultimo

When I was accepted and committed to this program in the spring, I was incredibly excited for the opportunity to study in Barcelona for five weeks. However, when I was actually in the taxi to meet my host family I became really nervous. What if my Spanish wasn’t good enough? What if I didn’t like the other students or my host family? What if I didn’t like Barcelona?

Looking back, I am so grateful for this experience. First of all, it really helped my Spanish. Talking everyday in class in Spanish, ordering or giving directions in Spanish, and simply being surrounded by Spanish helped. My host mom watched the news a lot and during my time in Barcelona a lot occurred, such as Brexit and the Spanish elections. While I may not have not always spoken with perfect grammar or used the most advanced vocabulary, I could understand her opinions and talk with her about these more advanced topics. I am more confident in my ability to communicate in Spanish now.

I always liked the idea of living in a big city, but growing up in Boulder I wondered if I could actually handle it. After commuting on the metro every day and needing to find ATM’s, a pharmacy, and stores on my own- I now know that I can navigate a city. While I feel like I saw all the major highlights of the city that I wanted to, there is always so much going on. I feel like I could live in Barcelona and still always find something new to do or see. My favorite part of living in Barcelona that I miss most now being back in Boulder is just getting to walk around the busy streets and see all the hustle and bustle. I hope to one day return to Barcelona either to travel, work, or live.

Lastly, I am thankful for the friends I made during this program. I plan to stay in touch with them once we are all back in Boulder again. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my experience!