A Tourist in My Own City

Living in any big city can be overwhelming. There are so many things to see and do! I fell into a routine in Barcelona once I got my bearings. I found my gym, my grocery store, my school, and everything I needed. However, Barcelona offers a variety of monuments, parks, and churches to see as …

La Boqueria Market

An aspect about Barcelona that I have come to love are the markets here. There are different food markets, flea markets, and vintage markets. One of the most famous markets in Barcelona is the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. What is La Boqueria? La Boqueria is centrally located in Barcelona. It is just …

A Weekend in Paris

One of the many pros to studying abroad in Europe is that you are so close to other European countries. My flight this past weekend to Paris took less time than it would take me to fly from Michigan to Florida. In my program, IES classes are 90 minutes Monday through Thursday which gives us …

A Stroll Through Sitges

Welcome back to another adventure in Spain! My program here in Barcelona offers weekend day trips for students. Just this past weekend I attended my first day trip to a town south of Barcelona called Sitges. This day trip consisted of a beautiful walking tour of the quiet city, a delightful lunch, and some free …

Tapas, Tapas, and More Tapas!

What is a Tapa? Spain is know for their food and wine culture. An instrumental part of that culture is “tapas”. Tapas are a traditionally Spanish way of eating. This way of eating consists of small plates of food made to share. At any given tapas restaurant, it is typical to order three or four …

Getting My Bearings

What a whirlwind my study abroad journey has been thus far. I am thankful I made it to Barcelona safely and in a timely manner. But, that was not the case for everyone. My flight to Barcelona left from JFK airport the day that Hurricane Ida was rolling through the East Coast. Luckily, my flight …

Beginning my Barcelona Journey

¡Hola! Everyone, my name is Ari Cinque and I’m spending this semester in Barcelona, Spain. I am entering my junior year at Hope College studying Communication and Business. I have always had a passion for traveling and am so thankful for the opportunity to not only travel, but study in Spain for the semester. As …

Pick a Favorite?

Every Monday, the classroom is filled with chatter about what everyone did the previous weekend. “How did you like [insert city name here]?” “What did you do there?” “Oh, I loved/didn’t like that city” “What’s your favorite place you’ve been so far?” Of course I participate in these pre-class discussions. How could I not? The …

Día Internacional de la Mujer

I am privileged to say that I have now participated in two Women’s Marches, in two capitals of the world. Back in 2017, after Trump was inaugurated, I traveled overnight to our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., with a bus full of Hope faculty and students. These are experiences I will never forget because they are …

Cherish la Sevillana

I spent the weekend in Seville! CIEE organized a planned weekend trip to Seville, Spain. Sevilla is a part of the Andalusian region of Spain. It used to be populated by people mostly from the middle east and home to three of the country’s most practiced religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Today, you can see …