By crstein1
I’ve finally figured out what GW does with all of our tuition money- it’s spent on study abroad programs. We live like kings and queens here in Spain. I had this epiphany last weekend during our trip to Barcelona. The trip, which was included in our program, was amazing. We traveled from Madrid to Barcelona on a high-speed train (a welcomed change from the buses I am accustomed to taking) and stayed in a hotel near the beach. Unfortunately, it was a bit too cold to spend time on the beach, but nonetheless, it was a nice area to be in. The first day, after a bus tour of the city, which I’ll admit I was too sleepy to pay any attention to, we ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant. When we asked if the place was nice our program director responded, “You know I take care of you guys, right? Don’t you notice that as we walk down the pier the restaurants get nicer and nicer?” When we were close to the end of the pier we entered into the restaurant. We sat at a table next to the glass wall which showed the gorgeous view of the city and the water. The waiters must’ve brought out about 10 courses. We all felt extremely fancy.
Other than eating, my friends and I visited the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, saw the architecture of Gaudi, the arch de triumph of Barcelona and the Museum of Miró. My favorite part of the trip was visiting the Pueblo Española de Barcelona. The Pueblo Española exists today as one of the largest open air museums in the world. The creators visited 1600 towns throughout Spain and South of Portugal in order to choose the buildings they wanted to reproduce. In the small village, I viewed artworks by Picasso, enjoyed Mediterranean cuisine, and visited many different shops. In each of the little stores, the products were handmade, and the artisans could be seen working in their workshops. We saw a lady spinning her own fabric to make scarves, a man blowing class to turn into figurines, and a lady stringing beads onto a necklace. Barcelona was seriously awesome, and thank you to GW for doing something amazing with our money.