La Llegada: Barcelona

Hola from Barcelona!

After a long day and a half of travel, I've officially made it to my new city! I'm so excited to be here and make Barcelona my home for the semester. Here's a quick summary of the adventures leading up to this post:

• DEN --> FRA: My first flight was between Denver and Frankfurt. Though I'd done this flight before, this attempt posed some new challenges. My seat was right next to an older couple who spoke something other than English and Spanish, and likely didn't fly very often. I had a hard time communicating, but it was certainly good practice! A few shenanigans:
• Though the flight had a 5:45 departure time, we didn't actually leave the airport until 6:45. This made the connection pretty tight despite planning for it!
• The man sitting next to me didn't understand the concept of reclining seats. He pushed the seat in front of him when the passenger in front of him leaned back, and got upset when he stood up and couldn't get back in because she reclined. (I attempted to show him that he could do the same to his seat...) Whoops.
• I had a hard time sleeping on the flight, but slept well my first night in because of it.

• FRA --> BCN: Once we landed in Frankfurt, I realized I had less than an hour to get to my gate. (Frankfurt's a big airport, so this was a scary moment.) Of course, there were a few stops along the way, but none that I wanted (i.e. bathroom break, coffee, food). The first was passport control - not bad. Then, security. For some reason, I was flagged for a pat-down and had to take my shoes off for additional screening. The gate for my next flight changed as well, so I noticed and corrected accordingly. I sat next to a nice lady from Germany (originally from Russia) named Natalia. The flight went by fast! Coming into Barcelona, I could see out the window and spotted fun sights like the Sagrada Familia, Montjuic Castle, and the Torre Glories! We had a warmer, sunny day with blue skies - a sign of a great semester to come in my mind! Whatever didn't feel real, felt real instantly :)

Once I picked up my luggage, I got a taxi to my hotel for the night. The driver thought I was French (not American) but talked to me in Spanish throughout the ride about the city, fun things to do, and filled me in on the festivities! (There's a big celebration on Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th to conclude the holidays.) I mentioned that I was here for study abroad, and he seemed impressed that a young student would just come out here and do that alone. He wished me luck for a good semester and welcomed me to the city.

I checked in at the hotel, took a shower, and explored the neighborhood before getting dinner with a friend from CU! The streets are all lit up right now with Christmas lights in preparation for El Día de los Reyes Magos (Christmas day here).

Bonus story: The receptionist at the hotel said I spoke good Spanish, so that made me feel a little better about everything!

I am all moved into my homestay too after a short orientation. The rest of the week and weekend will be settling in and learning the city!

Hasta pronto,

Amy

P.S. I've officially switched to a Spanish phone number for the semester. If you are trying to reach me, Facebook Messenger, Email, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc. will be easier for me until I return to the US in April/May!