The Barcelona semester started in January for those who have consultancy projects, and in February, for those who don’t. After the cold and rainy Glasgow semester—we still love you Glasgow— we were all looking forward to the beach, sun and sangria. But nobody knew that Spain would announce the state of emergency on 14 March because of COVID-19, nor how our Barcelona experience would have changed entirely from our expectations. Regardless of all the uncertainties we went through, we would still love to present you the unforgettable moments of our Barcelona experience:
Arrival
We caught up with each other after Christmas and explored the city of Barcelona.
Esmeralda: This day I will never forget! When I said in February, lets go explore Barcelona by foot, this bunch of incredible lovely people jumped in (plus Mateusz, who came literally 5 minutes after this picture) and we walked through the old harbour and the neighbourhood el Poblenou, where we discovered a lovely restaurant, where I drank my first Sangria❤️ The second pic was taken when we went to watch a standup comedy show. We were having so much fun there! It is such a pity that no more moments like these were about to come soon, but I hope, once, we can do it all over 😊 ❤️
Induction
Remember the Induction day? We watched many videos from a Catalan police about pickpocketing in Barcelona, and we missed the guided tour in the gorgeous campus of Universitat de Barcelona… Anyway, hanging out with each other always brings lots of fun!
The Barcelona Experience
Merle: Introducing my fellow classmates to the traditional (and messy) Catalan Calçotada.
Ming: Luckily I have seen the beauty of BCN, but unfortunately because of COVID-19, I did not visit the Sagrada Família, nor visiting more museums…
Lilac: Although the lockdown was not treating me well, I will always remember how happy I was seeing the sea and feeling the sun on my face in Barcelona.
Lockdown
Experiencing a lockdown, having online classes and writing papers at home in the same time are not fun. But we still tried to make the best of it, by having GLOCAL Events like Town Hall Meeting or GLOCALs Beyond Quarantine, or having our own creative initiatives!
Islam: This is my Barcelona quarantine madness pic. “Quarantine in a good company”.😉
Post-Lockdown
The lockdown measures were lifting and we were having a ‘new normal’ life. On June 6, we finally had our first drink with GLOCALs in Barcelona, and Lía from the Cohort I also joined us! We have enjoyed Sun-bathing, hiking, exploring the city, but we also said bye to some GLOCALs as they were going back to their home countries…
Camila: Desconfinamiento—visiting Parc Guell; enjoying this swing in the Viewing Spot of Horta with Silvi.
Tynke: Not being in Barcelona with everyone is horrible, but silver lining – because I’m now at home, I get to see the roses bloom!
For the first 2 cohorts of GLOCAL, the end of Barcelona semester was always hard, as it was the time for the 2 pathways to say bye to each other after one year together. For Cohort III, it was even harder, since we said bye to many of our friends as early as in March. However, we will always remember the good time together and let us visit each other soon!