Term Abroad: Week 11

Hi chums!

So, this week was a weird one. It was the last week of the course and the vibe was a bit different because the Americans had already left so the classes were quieter and everyone was kind of waiting to finish and celebrate the end of the term abroad. It was still super fun though and the week ended for me in Barcelona, where I met three of my friends.

Life

This week has been busy busy busy. I had to hand in a couple of assignments, I finished up my classes and I went off to Barcelona.

On Friday, the day before I went to Barcelona, I went to watch the sunset which is one of my favourite things to do. It was so pretty and the perfect end to my term abroad in León!

Language

Week 11 has been one of the best weeks for spontaneous language. I actually feel like I do way better speaking Spanish when I'm put on the spot as opposed to when I have planned something word by word in my head (I normally end up word vomiting and saying something that sounds a bit like phlasnjdsaifhjnawpelskv).

When we headed to Montserrat for the day during our stay in Barcelona, we went to the station to buy tickets. For some reason the station was such a mare - so confusing to know where/how to buy these tickets and we were getting a bit stressed. This stress may have caused me to make a huge language-learner faux pas - I asked if the workers spoke English instead of trying to speak to them in Spanish (shame on you, Emma!!!!!)


Anyway, turns out none of them spoke English (say wuuut?!). I suddenly had a mixture of 'oh my gosh this is so exciting you don't speak English - THIS IS MY CHANCE' and 'ohhh noooooo I have to speak Spanish - SOS' (I seem to have a dual personality when it comes to languages, but what can I say, I'm a Gemini!)

So long story short, I spoke to several workers and we managed to get the tickets and make the train. Then, on the train, my friend said something to me which made all the embarrassing language mistakes I've ever made worth it: 'I don't think we would have got the tickets if you didn't speak Spanish'. Wow. Stop. Maybe I'm not 100% useless!! Maybe just 98%. Yaaaaay for that 2%!!!!!

Travel

Ending my term abroad with a trip to Barcelona couldn't have been more perfect! 

Event though I went last September with my family, I loved going around with my 3 friends - 2 who had never been before - and enjoy one of my favourite Spanish cities with them. We also ended up doing some bits that I didn't do with my fam. One of my favourite things that we did was to go to Montserrat for the day. I am going to do a separate blog post about this place because it was so cool and magical!

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So that's my term abroad finished! I can't believe how quickly it has gone but I've really enjoyed the classes at uni and I have loved travelling round Spain. 

Love as always,

Emma
xxx