“Writing and travel broaden your buttocks if not your mind and I like to write standing up.” – Ernest Hemingway

It's officially been one month since arriving in Sydney, and I can honestly say that I am starting to feel like a local.  The first few weeks started off great, everything felling like a new grand adventure.  From exploring the grounds of the iconic opera house to walks along some of Sydneys most beautiful beaches, I truly felt like I was living the dream.

While I was in Barcelona I took an amazing photography class, shout out to the awesome Professor Fred! One of the assignments for the class was to write about someone's epiphany which led them to realize that they were truly living in Barcelona. I wrote about my friend Claire. I decided to share the story I wrote about her here on the blog because there will be a time that you too will come to an epiphany that will make you consider the city you are studying abroad at as your home.

These past weeks in Barcelona have been an absolute whirlwind and it is difficult to think that it is all quickly coming to an end. I have noticed a lot of different things being in this big city when it comes to culture, food, people, fashion, transportation, and much more that is different than the United States. One of those things is that there seems to be a very large acceptance of the LGBTQ+ population. 

The IES Abroad Tokyo Summer program has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, and definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my college career. Through this program, I was able to meet people whom I would have never had contact with, and not just the close Japanese friends whom I’ve made lifelong connections to, but people from all over America from a wide selection of programs and backgrounds. So as such, I have essentially nothing but good things to say about this program, but let’s start from the beginning.

Wow, I still can’t believe I’ll be interning in Rome for two months. It is a dream come true.

I know through my last blog post I described how nervous, anxious and scared I was, but honestly, all of that went out the window the minute I got on my flight to Rome. I don’t know if it was the fact that it was really happening or if I was too overwhelmed to feel anything; regardless, I have successfully got over my fear and have been able to adapt to Rome.

Let’s talk about my first few days…

And so I have returned home. It almost feels a little surreal to suddenly be thrown back into the normal life I’ve always known. There are no more bakeries on the corner, no more tram outside my door, no more French to hear every single day. I can say that I do miss it. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I took and I am guaranteed never to have another experience like it again. None of us who were involved will ever experience something like that exactly the same, even the professors.

I am sure that some other IES Abroad blogger one day had this headline for their post "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?" Well, it is true! I miss Barcelona more than I thought I would, waaaay more! But it's not only the vibrant city that today I consider one of my homes that I miss, what I truly miss is the whole experience that I lived during the Spring semester of 2017. Of course, Barcelona is where most of the experience took place, and it was the place that I called home for four months.

Whew.

Today, it all just seemed way too much. Too much brokenness, too much darkness, too much hopelessness, too many people living in it.

In Barcelona, directions are never in terms of north or south; instead, they’re in terms of las montañas (the mountains) or el mar (the sea). From most places in the city you can see the sweep of the Collserola Mountains in the distance, and the Mediterranean is just in the opposite direction. Since I want to take advantage of everything Barcelona has to offer, I’ve spent the last week exploring both las montañas and el mar.