Spain: Leonardo Herrera Perez (My “We’re not in Madison Anymore” moment)

Program: IES Barcelona, Fall

Being a born and raised Madisonian with little-to-no experience outside the city aside from short family trips to Chicago, the concept of travelling 4,000 miles for the opportunity to study abroad in Barcelona slightly frightened me. As much as I was excited to achieve my dream of visiting the capital city of Catalonia, I was also very much nervous for what the future had in store for me. But when the plane landed in the warm, earthy terrain of Spain, I expected to be greeted by an overwhelming sense of stress of being in unknown territory; thankfully I wasn’t. Yes, I was exhausted after a sleepless 8-hour flight and stressed about my luggage making it (it did, thankfully), but one experience eased all my worries away: the taxi drive to my hotel.

Having arrived a day earlier than the official arrival date for the IES Barcelona program, my initial thought was “Today is going to be a stressful day” since I wouldn’t be greeted by anyone nor did I have anyone waiting for me to welcome me into the city. Nervously, I called a taxi and met Antiono; a Naples-native taxi driver who had moved to Barcelona a little over 20 years ago! Although I was reserved and quiet during my arrival to Spain, conversating with Antonio was a breath of fresh air since he was very friendly and talkative. He shared his story about moving to Barcelona, the overall ambiance of the city, and even recommended me several places to visit in both Barcelona and his home city of Naples! I struck luck entering Antonio’s cab since not only was he passionate about the city that welcomed him with open arms, but he shared his experience about moving to Barcelona and transitioning from visitor to local. As we made it to my hotel and said our goodbyes, he gave me a couple words of reassurance about the city and gave me the best advice: “You’re here to study, first and foremost, but take some time to enjoy your time here”.

Once I settled myself into Barcelona and arrived at my homestay, I felt comfortable enough walking around my neighborhood and visiting local shops. My surrounding area was lovely, and it was so inclusive that it sort of felt like I was back home! I was very excited to visit the downtown area of the city during the first week of classes, but I faced my biggest challenge: the metro system. I had bought my T-Mobilitat card a day before classes started and did my very best to memorize my route to class but the nerves of using the metro system got to me and I almost got on the wrong train…twice. When I finally arrived at ‘Plaza de Catalonia’ and found my way out of the metro station, which felt like a maze the first time around, downtown Barcelona was a million times bigger than I expected! Seeing the hundreds of people and cars all working collectively to reach their destination while simultaneously not trying to get lost woke me up from the trance I entered at the start of my journey studying abroad and let me know that I wasn’t in Madison anymore. Sure, our city is big, but Barcelona is bigger!

It was a lot to adjust to in such a short period of time, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, and thankfully I wasn’t alone with my experience since many students shared similar experiences to mine. Classes went great, I was able to walk around downtown without many worries, and I was able to visit a couple of the local shops Antonio has recommended to me! But there was one thing I wanted to try: the tapas. I had never tried them and that was one of the things my homestay mother had recommended, so I went to ‘Txapela’, a Basque tavern that specialized in tapas in downtown Barcelona. I ordered a plate that consisted of fried eggs, Iberian pork, and cooked potatoes. Alongside a cup of Spire with lemon, this dish was delicious! The eggs were cooked to perfection, the Iberian pork is always a superb type of meat to chow down, and their flavors mixed with the salty, savory potatoes made for the most excellent Mediterranean meal I’ve ever tasted.