“I’m so sorry, but I’m in such a rush! I would if you caught me at another time!”

The end of my semester abroad is rapibdly approaching. I'm pretty sure the countdown has reached about 17 days now til I board my plane and fly home to the US. At this point I feel a huge mix of emotions. Honestly, I spent a lot of my time abroad yearning to go back home. I'm usually not a very homesick person, honestly I wouldn't even describe my feelings this semester as homesick. If anything, I think that I was more just not happy with feeling as though I was missing out on things back home.

As I was finishing my day interviewing people at the Barcelona gaming convention, I met up with my co-worker, as well as my two supervisors to re-group and discuss our findings. While I as meeting up with my supervisors, they introduced me to another member of the company who was the designer. At the same time as I stretched out my hand to introduce myself, the designer leaned in towards my cheeks. Instinctually, I was startled and jumped back (what was this guy doing?!), but instantly became embarrassed and was glowing bright red.

My time in Barcelona has been a combination of highs and lows. My feelings seem to act like waves, rising and falling in an unpredictable fashion. My experience here has changed me, but I don’t think I’ll really know how much I’ve changed until I am back in the United States. However, I was fortunate to have a huge part of my home come to me. My parents’ visit to Barcelona was highly anticipated, and it gave me a sneak peak into how much I have changed in my time here.

Over the weekend, I visited the city of Marseille. Marseille is known for its successful immigration throughout history. One of the classes I am taking, Immigration in the Mediterranean basin, travelled with our professor and program leader to see and study the city for ourselves.