Ode to Barcelona

Many people before me have studied abroad and many before me have shared their experiences through a blog. As I was leaving Barcelona recently, one of my friends started calling me “brave” in a teasing way and that is when it occurred to me that it is unclear (for some) why I decided to blog under the name Brave Goes Abroad.

“Be Brave” became a motto for me back in the fall when I participated in the filming and promotion of the TCU Frogs for the Cure 10^th anniversary music video, featuring Josh Groban’s song “Brave”. While I wish people would acknowledge living and studying in another country as something that is brave, the brave part was never about me. The brave part was about my mom, the brave part was about Frogs for the Cure chairwoman Ann Louden, just as much as it was about the women who I do not personally know, like the mom of a friend’s friend who more recently received a heartbreaking, late-stage diagnosis. All of these women inspired me to take the “Be Brave” campaign overseas. While my original plan was to chronicle the Frogs for the Cure “Brave” t-shirt around Europe, I found myself with a handbag full of pink ribbons and just like that Brave Goes Abroad was born.

To update you all on my whereabouts, I am now home on the east coast after finishing my semester in London where my trip overlapped with the birth of a new royal. Welcome Princess Charlotte! With many hours to kill on the long flight from London to New York, I found myself making a list of miscellaneous thoughts I wanted to remember for myself but also share with others. So below you’ll find the ramblings of a girl whose heart and soul are wrapped up in Barcelona.

“This heart of mine was made to travel the world.”

-Unknown

If there is one thing I am sure of after living in Barcelona, it is that I love to wander. I wandered abroad when I was broken, hurt, and confused over my mom’s third cancer diagnosis and I just continued to wander and wander and get lost. While feeling lost and somewhat lonely marked much of my fall semester this past year, going abroad filled my heart with hope. I got to see how incredible the big, beautiful world beyond my world is and now I’m starting to wonder what’s next.

I suppose I meant for this post to be a reflection on Barcelona and every reason I came to love it but where do I even start? Barcelona drew me in from day one because of its fierce pride, spirit, and tradition. Barcelona is part of an autonomous region of Spain called Catalunya and for many political and historical reasons, people in Barcelona do not consider themselves Spaniards but instead Catalans. When Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games in 1992, the King and Queen of Spain were introduced and honored to the sound of the local, Catalunya anthem instead of the national anthem, a “mistake” which came as a major surprise to the monarchs. In addition, Catalunya Independence flags are hung all over the city and the iconic red and yellow stripes have been recreated in public demonstrations as well as “mosaics” in FC Barcelona’s stadium, Camp Nou. While a fascist dictator once tried to oppress the Catalan people and drown out their unique culture and language, they have survived and thrived. And the Catalan people who I made friends with on my trip helped me create some of my fondest memories from this semester.

There was also so much to see and do which could have felt daunting, but instead I found exciting. After getting the metro system down in the first couple of days, I would spend my afternoons off from class exploring. Some days I would go out on a coffee shop crawl of my own and other times I’d pick a park to sit in with a book. Living with Tori, the #1 foodie queen herself, I also ventured out and tried lots of new foods and restaurants, continuing to combat my childhood dislike of seafood. At the end of the semester, I even found myself hopping the train to spend time in towns just outside of Barcelona because my curiosity wouldn’t simmer down. The list goes on and on… Barça games, rowing boats in the park, spending time on the beach, treating myself to an ancient baths spa day…

Even though this is so specific (and not to mention random), I also LOVED that just above Barcelona on Mt. Tibidabo there was a church you could see from almost any point in the city. One day, while I had a friend visiting from out of town, I decided to go up and see the church along with a rather smallish amusement park also situated at the top of Tibidabo. While I found the church and the amusement park to be rather disappointing, the view from up there (the tallest point overlooking the city) was spectacular to say the least. But regardless of this initial disappointment, I continued to love Tibidabo. Walking up any street that runs into the mountain, I would catch sight of that one church and I just wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes off of it. Lit up at night, keeping watch over the city, Tibidabo is magical. And on my last day, as night time was settling in over Barcelona and I was leaving aboard a British Airways flight for London, Tibidabo made me incredibly nostalgic about my time abroad.

You see, it’s hard to wrap up this post because I’ve been thinking about all this for a while and I know I’ll never do it justice… my love for Barcelona. They say that when you get home from studying abroad you find that people aren’t so much interested in your stories of traveling so I’m trying to remind myself to not be that girl. But I have to say, if given the opportunity to see the world, or at least just some of it, go for it. Don’t be afraid of what you could be leaving behind because I promise it will be there when you get back. Home isn’t going anywhere but oh the places you can go.

As I was leaving Barcelona two weeks ago, one of the friends I made this semester reached out to me one last time to give me the whole “it was so nice to meet you” spiel (which if you’re reading this… I so appreciated). But goodbyes always suck. Anyhow, he told me Barcelona isn’t going anywhere just as I’ve told you that home isn’t going anywhere. When you come to love a place, its hard to leave, I know. But I’m here to say it’s all worth it! Today, I’m posting from home but down the road, who knows where I’ll be. Barcelona, perhaps. 

#BeBrave