Welcome Home Lucky
I have been in the states for less than 24 hours and I thought that I would give myself more time before I dove right back into writing, but I seem to be a bit restless. Then on top of that my body is still on Spaniard time so I have been up since 5:00 am eastern time trying to figure out what to do. So, I thought that I would go ahead and give you guys my over view of this experience as a whole.
From the day that I got there to the day I left I have grown. Not only physically, but mentally, spiritually, educationally, and culturally. This trip has been able to take me out of my comfort zone even more to the point where I feel completely free and one with who I am. It has created a flame inside of me that helps fuel my passion even more.
So first off let me tell you about the people that I have encountered there. You guys already know about the great friends that I have made. If not, you can go check out my blog post before this. I am talking about the people of Spain. First off from my perception they love to stare. I am not sure if it was because I am black; which fyi did not make sense to me because there were other Afro people there as well. Or if it was the fact that I am tall and had my Afro out the entire time. I can say that the height difference between me and the Spaniards was a drastic one.
Sometimes I just felt like I was towering over everyone. Then with everyone staring at me, it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable so to speak I just felt as though I was in the spot light a lot. Then even if you were to catch someone staring at you, they would keep staring regardless. To me I felt as though it was pretty funny. Then the question of if I was a model came up a lot. Which again I didn’t mind because if you ask me that question my automatic answer is yes. On top of that my friends are creatives and own a professional camera so for most of the trip I was their muse. We would just go traveling through the city and if they saw something they liked, and thought would look good they would say...”hey Lucky come stand over here and pose!” I swear those eight words sounded like magic to me. I was able to find more of my angles, work of some new poses, and work with props. It was almost like modeling school just without all the payment and fees.
Coming from the aspect of my hair I wore it in different styles almost every day. Then most of the time I kept it in an Afro. It seems that was uncommon around there because most Afro people that I saw either had braids, a weave, or just had put heat on their hair so it would be straight. So, me wearing my Afro all of the time bought a lot of attention to me. I can’t tell you how many times people asked me if they could touch my hair, if it was real. Which again is something that isn’t all that uncommon to me but I don’t like random people touching my hair so my answer was no every time someone would ask me.
The one I can say was very annoying during this trip other than people staring was it seemed that every time be and my other friend Da’Nira (who is also African American) would walk into a store the security guards followed our every move. This isn’t something that just happened once or twice, but it seemed to be almost every time when it was just the two of us hanging out. For example, we were in a souvenir shop and as we were growing looking at the stuff the woman who was on the floor kept following our every move. Every time we took a step so did she, my friend got so annoyed to the point she wanted to leave the store and I had told her no keep looking around until you see something you like and if you don’t then we will leave. Also, a second time was when we went into a clothing store by the name of UNIQLO in the area of Glòries their security guard started following us as soon as we went into the store. Keep in mind the store has sales and there were a lot of other people there as well but kept following us. I even ended up asking a working for assistance on finding an item because I only saw one, and he was still following us. I am not going to lie it made me upset to have this happening to me. Then I thought about how rare it was for me to see another person of Afro descent, and if I did, they were just on the street selling souvenirs. It made me realize that still in this country we are the minority.
The food in Spain was just delicious from buying food at the supermarket and cooking to eating out at one of the restaurants in the area. Everything tasted so good and fresh! It was also very inexpensive! I was able to only spend maybe €80.00 on groceries that in the United States would probably cost you $100.00+. To me that was amazing and something that I’ll miss. Also being able to just go to a cafe and get a croissant and something to drink for only €1.75. That was just simply amazing to me. Don’t get me started on the water bottles! If you didn’t try to go to a Supermarket (which is considered their corner stores) in a very high tourist area the most you would have to pay for a giant bottle was €0.90. At the grocery store by my apartment I was staying in I was able to get a 2-litter water bottle for only €0.80. That to me was one of the best things ever. I continuously stayed with a water! They have so many options of food in Barcelona you can literally get anything from American to Japanese and everything in between. I love me some food especially ramen and they had so many different ramen shops it was amazing. That will be one of the things that I miss the most about Barcelona.
Now onto the fashion aspect of Barcelona. I loved the style of the residents it was so vintage, and it was so me! It was amazing to see that most of the things I would say were my style was the everyday wear of the people of the city. Back home people will look at you and ponder. Or in most cases ask you why you are wearing that. Not so much in DC because style is unique to each person in this city. To be able to go into stores like Bershka; a brand under the same company that owns Zara and be able to find clothing that fit my aesthetic was a great feeling for me. I can say that every time I went into the store it was so tempting for me because I found so many things that fit me so much. I wish they would expand over into the U.S.A so that I would be able to shop there. But trust me Bershka if you are in need of a North American brand ambassador, I am all for it. Also, the sales that they had were simply amazing! Shirts for only €3.00 and pants for only €9.90. That’s not only that store but almost every store had big sales going on. From the information I gathered around this time of the year is when big sales happen. So, if you want to be able to catch a sale when traveling to Barcelona, I suggest you go around June/ July.
There were so many amazing and beautiful things that were happening the past month. Just being able to walk around the city and just look at the different architecture that varied from building to building was just so pleasing for me. I loved every single moment of it. Even if you think there’s nothing to do there is always something to do. One thing that I didn’t get used to was how late everything started there. Which was something I didn’t mind but it was just different. The clubs usually don’t get full or popping until around 1:30/2:00 am in the morning. Then people would still be in the club at 6:00 am. Me myself I was gone by probably around 3:00/4:00 am. Partying is something that they do hard. The music is definitely different; they listen to American hip hop, rap, and pop; but they mix it and turn it into a club mix. I honestly couldn’t really do much dancing to that music, but it was a lit vibe always. If you were to go to a club down on the beach, then you would get more of the regular music but if not, it was mix city.
When we talk about the education I received; I was a part of the CIEE study abroad Business + Culture program. I ended up taking an International Management course. This course was honestly so much fun and I was interested in the subject from start to finish. As a business owner and entrepreneur being able to learn the steps needed to internationalize my business, I was all ears. Then my professor was just amazing, he went to Miami U, but he was originally from Barcelona. He loves his school so much; he would play their fight son from when he went there in the beginning of class sometimes to get some energy and it was just the funniest thing. He shows his school pride all the time. He way of teaching was amazing as well; he broke down concepts so much that it would be hard to misunderstand unless there was a power point typo. I can say that I now have the skills under my belt that I need to turn my business into a multinational one when the time comes. For that I am so thankful. The goal was to get my last credit for my bachelor’s degree. I have done that now the main problem is that I have to finish paying the rest of my study abroad tuition to get the credit sent. But for me to be able to save and raise almost $4,000 on my own plus a scholarship to get me there and back I am very proud of myself for that accomplishment, so I was not going to let the money situation bring me down.
It didn’t matter what I did, even if I was staying in the house laying in my bed, I enjoyed Barcelona so much. Even with the thoughts of me having to still pay off my bill, I had one of the greatest experiences. It was a bitter sweet feeling having to come home. I had just done and learned so much about myself while there I had come to the point of where I felt free to be who I am. That honestly was one of the best feelings I could ever get. With all the people staring at me, I still felt free because I had become confident in myself and my style that you could just see my confidence as I would walk down the street. Now comes the time to have to adjust myself back into eastern time frame, continue my hustle to pay on my study abroad bill, continue writing my book, and working hard to build up my clothing brand. This trip is something that I will never forget. So, thank you Barcelona for taking me in and shaping me to be the best me that I could be, and I can’t wait to go back!
If you want to donate to my GoFundMe to help me finish paying off my study abroad bill which is less than $700 I will provide the link below.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/kesxbz-study-abroad-in-barcelona-spain?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&rcid=3624ce99747a4f8c87de6e6693bf692c
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