School Life in Barcelona

It’s hard to think when you are starting a big adventure such as studying abroad in a different country, you have to think about school and going to classes every day. For me planning to study abroad in Barcelona was very last minute, so trying to get into all my classes felt like a stressful process, but it all finally worked out and I got all of the classes I needed.

I am a Public Relations major at the University of Alabama with a minor in Business. Unfortunately, none of my classes for my major are transferring back over to Alabama, but I did get a few business classes that will count for my minor. Since I had room for some extra classes, I chose classes that I thought would interest me such as Communication and Global Competence, which is a class about Spanish culture. This is my favorite class I am taking here at CEA because it allows me to break out of my comfort zone and really experience the culture first-hand, which is not something I would necessarily do alone. We have a lot of interesting assignments like going to a café alone and analyzing, as well as getting paired up with a local Spanish student to learn about the differences between American and Spanish students. Another class I am taking that I highly recommend is Social Media: Digital Identity and the Virtual Community. I am really enjoying this class because as a Public Relations major, I would love to do something with social media one day. This class is really helping me grasp what social media consists of.

Coming from such a massive school, a huge difference about my classes at CEA is the size of them. All of my classes in Barcelona are no more than 20 students. I like this a lot because I can get to know my teacher and the other students in my class better. For the most part, however, the overall transition from classes at Alabama to classes at CEA was not a huge adjustment for me besides the 30-minute walk I have to take to class every day which is something I am definitely not used to!