Student in Barcelona learns perspective in study abroad program

By Itzel Basualdo
Stories Abroad

Drinking beer in between classes at Fresh Foods – one can only dream.

That’s why I left Miami and decided to fly across the Atlantic to the city of Barcelona and study abroad here for a year, where I am fortunate enough to regularly drink beer in between classes.

But this way of life has had its implications, nonetheless.

I am occasionally accidentally groped in the mornings on the subway, I have class at the devil’s hour, 8:00 AM, in a language which most of America probably doesn’t even know exists –Catalan.

I’ve been pickpocketed twice and the bakery next to my building is responsible for the twelve pounds I’ve put on over the course of six months. It can’t be all fun and games when you’re a Miamian studying abroad in Barcelona.

Despite these miniscule financial losses, I have gained not just a great deal of weight but a great deal of life experience by getting as far as way from home possible.

Alcohol wasn’t really my only motive in leaving; after nearly twenty years of Miami, I had been dying to get out of the peninsula and I knew this much-needed break was going to greatly impact my work as an artist and a writer, two opportunities I couldn’t pass out on.

Call me a drama queen, which could be appropriate, but I’ve always felt like the odd ball growing up, and when I came to Spain, not much changed.

In kindergarten, I felt weird because all of my classmates had brown eyes and my eyes were of a different shade. I also, usually would have the hardest name to pronounce in class.

Now, again, I was the strange one who somehow had no foreign accent in Spanish or English, who remained primarily stoic during small talk, and spoke of the seemingly beautiful Miami with disdain.

However, the Escola Massana and Barcelona has allowed me to embrace myself by embracing me.

A group of Spaniards from this school have inducted me into their group and, to date, we’ve travelled to Rome together, played a “truth-or-dare” that involved a great deal of strip-teasing, sent pictures of each other’s feces to each other, made art together and have shared a beer during our lunch break at the coffee shop across the street from school.

We accept each other and our unusual mannerisms; Adelaida’s objection to hair removal, Manu’s battle with addiction to marijuana and negativity, Raul’s benevolent innocence and monkey-like tendencies to climb trees, Judit’s apparent asexuality and me for a hair that’s neither brown, or green, or blue, or purple or blonde.

Going abroad, for me, has been far more than being of legal drinking age, living in a cool European city and “carpe diem.” It’s been about becoming comfortable in my own skin, detaching from the labels of my nationality and gender, about exchanging anecdotes with the old woman next to me on the subway, about hearing the sounds of the streets below me and the rhythm of my neighbors life through these thin apartment walls, about understanding cultural differences and about accepting the opposing perspective.

It’s been about seeing life in a different light and walking out the front door with a smile for no apparent reason. About sharing this story with you and encouraging you to take the next flight out of Miami, so you too can enjoy that beer as you walk to class.

Itzel Basualdo attends two different schools in Barcelona, the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and the Escola Massana, a school exclusively for art and design. Basualdo is double majoring in journalism and fine arts, with a minor in art history. She writes weekly columns for The Beacon about her experiences and encounters abroad.