My flight left Boston on January 2nd, 2020 and was headed to Barcelona, Spain! There, I would attend Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), and live on Via Augusta next to Muntaner metro station.
UAB course schedule:
Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation
Spanish
International Economics
Cross-Cultural Management
I was a bit scared to leave. I actually called my Maryland advisor sitting in the Boston airport to see what would happen to my schedule if I wanted to come home. I knew familiar faces from Maryland were going to be in my program but did not really know them… much less who I would be living with. I was seriously stressed and didn’t know what I was going to do without Tori or my Flaming Hot Cheetos but by the end of the trip, I still managed to fly home with a few life lessons, alongside my new FC Barcelona hat.
Cosmopolitan
When we arrived (“we” as in my 2 suitcases and myself), I finally met the five girls I was going to be living with… five! The six of us teamed up. We traveled on weekends together, walked to class together, went out together — we became a little family. What I thought was bad luck at first turned into a blessing: usually 1 out the 6 of us always had a buddy to do something with or a recommendation to give. We expanded our network when classes started too. Eating lunch together everyday, my circle of friends dovetailed with my roommate's, as new faces became familiar friends. The Spanish refer to this special time so elegantly as sobremesa.
sobremesa-- (n.) the time spent around the table after lunch or dinner, talking to the people you shared the meal with; time to digest and savor both meal and friendship.
By the end of the term, I had friends from all over the world (local, German, Egyptian, French, etc). While the city had so many different things to offer, it was actually quite small. Walking to class one day, I smiled at a stranger, who, coincidentally, was the guest speaker for my Entrepreneurship class later that day, and shared details on how he was able to make his startup succeed. After his talk, we joked about our serendipitous encounter, and both experienced first-hand the importance of always showing kindness.
Polyglot
Everyone in Barcelona speaks Spanish, Catalan, and English. Given I am a white American girl, mostly everyone would automatically try to speak to me in English. I’d been learning Spanish since middle school, and my working knowledge of the language was enough to switch to converse with locals in their native language. My trip abroad was to acculturate Barcelona’s distinct styles, so as a foreigner, and more so as an American, I wanted to adapt to them, not force them to adapt for me. I perfected my accents under the auspice of locally-based Spanish teachers, and took advantage of after-school activities offered by my program, such as cooking courses and tours. A first time learner immersing herself with the culture, I made lifelong friends. While the food, sightseeing and history is what I fell
in love with, the people standing next to me and different cultures I experienced was even more magical.
Menos es más
I almost wrote “Live Más”... Taco Bell you have my heart. I guess both are good to live by but what I am trying to say is less is more-- with packing, fashion and even housing. The six of us shared a european city styled apartment so as one can imagine the space was tight. There were no ‘pre-games’ like in America; If you wanted to see friends you would share tapas/drinks with them at a local pub or bar and then the night would continue. This made everything easier from no clean up the next morning to happy floormates to again this idea of inclusivity as we met all walks of life out. Menos es más goes for fashion too. Pieces that are versatile and timeless are what I spend my money on now, not the fads. In the long run it saves money and during the trip it saves valuable time and luggage space. I have since implemented this minimalistic approach to my closet and when I pack too. I search for things less and focus on what I am doing more. Setting constraints can be a good thing!
Before studying abroad, I didn't realize how much my culture was tied to my American identity. My activism was mostly locally directed: I was in the business school at UMD, a part of clubs and worked a job at the local Bentley's. When I returned home to quarantine, I realized that defining myself with so few words was not enough. It sounds cheesy but I now refer to myself as a ‘global citizen’ as I represented not only myself or UMD but also my country. Being a global citizen to me means getting out of your bubble and engaging in conversations and cultures different than what I am used to. Now, I follow world news alongside my local news, continue to practice my Spanish, follow a range of opinionated media sources and travel as much as I can. Whereas before I may have leaned off my family and friends for stances, I now feel I have a responsibility to form my own through personal research and experiences.
If I didn’t go live in Spain, I wouldn’t be writing about all of these lessons learned. I wouldn’t see myself as a global citizen or be planning a trip with my friends abroad for this summer. I may have never learned to speak Spanish with the right local accents or become comfortable eating alone in a coffee shop. I wouldn’t have learned the value of family time when I go home for holidays or become as comfortable as I am now with public transportation. In the end, I would not be who I am today. Grateful :)
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