{"id":2844,"date":"2018-07-22T18:14:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T22:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/?p=2844"},"modified":"2018-07-22T18:15:06","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T22:15:06","slug":"2844","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/2018\/07\/22\/2844\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunny Days in Barcelona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a1Hola! The summer is really flying by now. I\u2019m writing at the end of week four but it feels like I\u2019ve been here my whole life. I have definitely gotten over any initial culture shocks that I felt when I first got here. My sleep schedule and eating schedule, the two things I struggled with most, are now completely adapted to Spanish life. This makes all the other cultural aspects easier to handle because it\u2019s much more fun to try and speak another language when you\u2019re not falling asleep in the middle of the day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the most important lessons I\u2019ve learned about the Spanish language is how to apply synonyms to different situations. For example, the words \u201crinc\u00f3n\u201d and \u201cesquina\u201d both mean corner. However, \u201crinc\u00f3n\u201d refers more to a nook while \u201cesquina\u201d usually refers to street corners. There\u00a0are many examples of Spanish words literally translating to the same thing in English but are actually used in different ways. This is what I find so valuable about studying abroad. Learning these sorts of differences is very hard from a dictionary or textbook. Immersing myself in the language allows me to pick up the differences every day. In the example I gave above, I figured out the distinction between the two words when I heard my mama use \u201crinc\u00f3n\u201d a few times around the house. These interactions are vital to truly learning a language.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2846\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2846\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2846 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/files\/2018\/07\/IMG_1075-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/files\/2018\/07\/IMG_1075-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/files\/2018\/07\/IMG_1075-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2846\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alec and I at IceBarcelona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In my travel plans, I spent the last weekend in the amazing city of Barcelona. I took a flight over on Thursday afternoon and met my friend from high school for a great weekend. Friday was absolutely packed with activities as we had to hit every major landmark in a day and a half. On Friday, we started in the aquarium which boasts an 80-meter tunnel you can walk through with fish swimming all around you. After that, we had lunch in a 250-year-old restaurant and finished up the afternoon by spending a few hours relaxing on the beach. Later, we had dinner in an old bullring and watched the show at the Magic Fountain, an incredible water display in front of the National Art Museum. Finally, we ended our night by going to a bar on the beach that was made completely of ice! Talk about a cool experience.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2845\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2845\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2845 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/files\/2018\/07\/IMG_2550-e1532297365544-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/files\/2018\/07\/IMG_2550-e1532297365544-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/files\/2018\/07\/IMG_2550-e1532297365544-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">La Sagrada Familia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On Saturday, we got up early to make our way over to Parque Guell, a park with glorious views of the city and the Mediterranean. It also houses an architecture park constructed by Gaud\u00ed himself. After that, we meandered to the Sagrada Familia, which has to be the most unique church I have ever seen. There are literally bowls of fruit on top of its spires. Why? I have no idea but it looks amazing. It was then finally time to go home. It was an absolute whirlwind of a weekend but definitely worth it. I\u2019d go back for a whole week if I could. Now, it\u2019s time to get ready for my last two weeks. Until next time, \u00a1Hasta luego!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a1Hola! The summer is really flying by now. I\u2019m writing at the end of week four but it feels like I\u2019ve been here my whole life. I have definitely gotten over any initial culture shocks that I felt when I first got here. My sleep schedule and eating schedule, the two things I struggled with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/2018\/07\/22\/2844\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sunny Days in Barcelona<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3013,"featured_media":2847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290963,63994],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sla-blog","category-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2844"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2850,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2844\/revisions\/2850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}