Study Abroad Diaries: Birthday in Barcelona

By: Taryn-Mina Chase

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Entry #4 : 02.20.2024 | Time: 1:16 pm BCN

Songs of the Week 🎧

♫ One Man Can Change the World by Big Sean

♫ The Line by The Kid Laroi and D4vd

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Recent Views

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Dear family, friends, and strangers,

Hello all! I hope everyone is having a great February. I feel like the days have been flying by as I have been here in Barcelona. I feel so fortunate to be able to spend my days in this beautiful city and am extremely grateful. One of my favorite parts about being here has got to be the cafe culture. One of my friends who I have become close with here has been going to cafes every single day we have a break in between our classes and there's always a new place to discover. Today, I indulged in my classic cafe con leche with a croissant sandwich that had the best Iberian ham in it! We always like to sit down and work on assignments or just catch up about all of the fun stuff that we have been up to.

Unfortunately, over the weekend I became extremely ill. I celebrated my 21st birthday on the day of love (February 14th) and I think that my lack of sleep caused me to get sick. Being in another country, I had no idea about what kind of medicine to buy when going to the pharmacy, so I ended up buying ginger root from the local market, lemons, honey and made tea at my apartment. I also made sure to drink lots of fluids and took painkillers as well as allergy meds. I swear I haven't felt so sick in so long, but I was able to just have a rest-filled weekend.

My birthday was also a huge success. My friends here threw a party for me in one of their apartments and they decorated it with balloons. It was so much fun to just hang out with all of my girlfriends and head out on the town for the night, dressed in red and pink! I was treated to lunch by one of my guy friends and I had a delicious pasta dish. I also received flowers from my friends and got the most beautiful golden necklace from my friend Barlow, which had a letter T pendant on it. It was such a great day, that was a bit bittersweet for me as well.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Barcelona, but I must admit that I felt a bit blue on my birthday because I was unable to celebrate it with my twin brother Johnny, who was back in the United States. We have never missed celebrating a birthday together and having to bring in 21 years without him by my side was hard. However, my friends here and back home made the day so special and all I can look forward to now is celebrating with Johnny when I return. We made sure to Facetime and text all day long and I felt that even though he was far from me, I could make him feel special. I also made sure to remind him that I was OFFICIALLY older than him for the first time in our lives because I turned 21 six hours before he did. Johnny was born thirty minutes before me and refuses to let me live that down so I had to rub it in a little.

Anyway, I apologize because this is a way shorter post than normal, but I am still recovering from illness and am a bit stressed about my midterms that are coming up in the next 2 weeks. Wish me luck as I begin to study!

Peace and Love,

TC