The "Study" Abroad Experience: CEA CAPA Barcelona Classes

From spending hot afternoons in the Mediterranean Sea to eating late night tapas in the El Born neighborhood, studying abroad in Barcelona has been quite the experience! But as I have assured my mom and dad, these past few weeks are not just about having fun but also continuing the degree I am pursuing back home at my university. Hopefully this blog can give you a crash course into study abroad classes in Barcelona as well as some personal insight into my own class experience.

CEA CAPA classes in the summer run from Monday through Thursday for an hour and a half, which I have found to be just the right amount of time to provide structure and balance to a study abroad schedule. Classes in Barcelona are widely varied based on your major, so you are sure to find anything you want to study here. I've heard of some pretty interesting ones, including Writing the City which my roommate Sarah is taking. She writes short stories about her experiences in Barcelona and even gets to go on mini field trips during class to see famous architecture and explore. Often the professors teach at a local university as well as for CEA CAPA, like mine does.

The CEA CAPA center is in the city center of Barcelona, as well as just a few blocks from a metro station, Urquinaona. The school building is extremely convenient to get to no matter where your apartment is located. There is a grocery store and a pharmacy on the same block, as well as an abundance of restaurants and cafes for lunch in between classes. My personal favorites are Citizen Cafe and FlexBowls.

Some cool features of the building include the architecture and the terrace. If I had to study in the summer I would want to do it in a beautiful space like the CEA CAPA center with high ceilings and carved decorative wall moldings. The classrooms are probably smaller than what you are used to in the United States, as well as the class size. My class has around 12 people, which is definitely different from the size of my lecture halls back in Minnesota.

I am taking Business of Social Media, which fulfills an elective requirement for my Marketing degree at the University of Minnesota. This class deals with understanding how digital platforms have transformed our lives-through how we work, communicate, do business, and engage with others. For the past few weeks we have spent a lot of class time discussing various social media platforms in depth through group presentations, including Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We've even touched on some platforms that have a specified audience-like Twitch for video game streamers and Gab, which is filled with alt-right users. As we head into the second half of the class, we are analyzing a specific fashion company's social media and detailing a plan for the company's future.

I have had nothing but positive experiences in my study abroad class so far, so I hope this helped you understand a little bit more about classes in another city. Hopefully this also proves to my parents I take my academics seriously!