Brave Goes Abroad: Week 8.0: From Girona to Paris

Something I've been meaning to write about for a while... classes over here are not easy (or at least not a walk in the park)! I'm not sure if IES Barcelona is the exception to the rule, but in my opinion it is a misconception that study abroad classes are a joke because I have found exactly the opposite to be true. This past week I had midterms and yes, I survived, but boy was I tired when the weekend circled back around. Lucky me, I had no travel plans set in stone so for a second weekend in a row I was able to explore my own city!

On Friday morning, I met friends from IU in Barceloneta along the beach for brunch. To our dismay, the brunch place we had picked did not open for another hour and so we wandered down the street to find somewhere else. At that point, it became the morning of wandering and eating (basically nothing new for the study abroad experience). Before deciding upon FOC, a Latin place known for their drinks, we stopped at a french fry stand and another café for coffees. After maybe 3-4 hours of eating and chatting, we hopped on the subway to explore the Gracia neighborhood where I was told I could find stores other than Zara. In Gracia, we stumbled upon a strip of boutiques advertising for rebajas (month-long Spanish sales) and wandered up and down the street window shopping for the remainder of the afternoon. I was good and only bought one thing... you're welcome mom and dad :) That night I met up with a local friend I've made and finally got to see some bars that were not infested with study abroad students like me. One of my favorite parts of the night was visiting a bar that I'm now told is called a "speak easy"? Basically, the place was up two flights of stairs in a building I could have sworn housed apartments, totally hidden from the street. There we found live music, pool tables, and great drinks! Overall, a fun Friday.

The next day, I ventured outside of Barcelona by train with my same friends from the day before. We now joke that I'm an honorary hoosier because I could tell you all the ins and outs of Greek life and the business school at Indiana, but that's beside the point. Allow me, for just a moment, to rant about the train lines in Spain. Nothing is easy!! After my terrible misfortune with planes and trains on my way to Seville a couple weekends back, I had zero patience at Sants Estacio in Barcelona when some of our tickets got messed up and we were turned away from our train. We had to lighten the mood and kill time somehow so us girls found some cava and orange juice, the fixings for mimosas, and enjoyed our drinks over a shared platter of cheese (so Spanish, we know). Luckily, the next train to Girona ended up being a quick and pleasant experience so, while I was annoyed, Saturday was nowhere near as unlucky as Friday the 13th.

What to tell about Girona? Well, a ten minute walk in the direction of the cathedral led us straight into the old part of the city. There we crossed over the Girona canal what felt like a million times (literally weaving back and forth) in search of lunch. It's laughable that we ended up at the lone sushi bar in the city because we were well aware the move was tapas, but it was hard to trust the tapas menus we found with extremely average looking pictures of paella. Do you blame us? After lunch, we crossed the canal once again to find the Jewish quarter talked about on trip advisor and one or two hours later, I felt like I had seen it all in Girona. We topped off the day with nutella crepes and found a cool look out point from the city wall as the church bells rang all over town. We made it back to Barcelona in time for dinner, I worked on some internship apps from home, and the group headed back out to see what new bars we could find. Jamboree was the final destination, a bar known for its concerts and jazz nights and although my corona was 6 euro, I'd definitely go back! It was fun to try a new place.

Today has been a lazy day and I'm thankful for that! Since Barcelona shuts down on Sundays, I'm camped out at a Starbucks (the only place open for coffee) writing a paper for school. Laundry and getting myself organized for this week are high up on the list of to-do but karaoke night may be calling my name. I'm sooo excited for this coming week because Thursday I get to see Sarah and Annie again when they come to visit Barcelona. Stay tuned for tales of the TCU crew being reunited once again!

OH AND... this week ribbons traveled not only to Girona, but to Paris too! A huge thank you to Tori for snapping a pic in front of the Eiffel tower. Extra best friend points for her this week. #BeBrave