Yesterday, I woke up at 7 AM and took the metro to Estació de França and then hopped on the train to Tarragona for a day trip. Originally, I really didn't want to go because I didn't want to wake up so early. This semester has completely demolished my ability to wake up early. Since I worked this summer, I was usually up pretty early every day. Now, I'm lucky if I can get out of bed before 10.
Once we got there, we had a lovely tour guide who told us a ton of information about the history of Tarragona. I actually just learned about it in one of my classes, so it was nice to have some background info. Tarragona used to be one of the most important cities under Roman rule other than Rome itself, which explains the amphitheater and other Roman ruins. Even though it used to be Roman, it's super Catalonian now, and almost all the signs were in Catalan.
Despite the early morning, I'm so glad I went. Tarragona is a really beautiful city, not too far from Barcelona, and it's a nice retreat from all the honking and other such noises because it's so quiet. You hear all the time that Barcelona is one of the most relaxed cities in all of Europe, but it's still quite loud and overwhelming once you get in the city center on the weekends. I much prefer to explore surrounding neighborhoods than go into the congested, touristy areas like La Rambla, but to each their own.
Since I've been here a while now, I've been developing more of a love-hate relationship rather than still being in the honeymoon phase where all I have to say is how awesome everything is. Like every other city, there are positives, and there are negatives. It's just up to you to decide whether you want to embrace both sides of the city or not. So today, even though I just wanted to stay in my room and sleep, I made myself get out and explore more of my favorite neighborhood, Gràcia. It's where my parents stayed when they were visiting me, so I got to walk around there a lot and fell in love with it. It has the coolest clothes shops, craft stores, and restaurants, and you can just walk around and get lost for hours. I actually went there to go to a secondhand English book store that I looked up on the internet, and it was awesome! I got a book for 1,90 euros.
I'm pretty far into my semester here, and I can honestly say that I finally feel comfortable and settled in, both physically and mentally, even though it took me a while. I think I had to leave Barcelona to realize that it's my home for now. When I'm out of the country, I miss my bed and room here, rather than missing my home back in Maryland. I'm already thinking about what it'll be like to be back in the states (ugh graduation and real life), but I'm hoping to make the best out of my remaining months here.