Hola a todos!!! I've finally taken some time to write down some of my experiences of the past few weeks here in Catalonia. It's been a busy ride up till now. Namely, I have been visiting a lot lately and I have also had friends over, so the part that involves studying didn't always work! One of the trips I made was the GBU weekend retreat. GBU is a Christian student organisation, in which I am also involved in Brussels. We had a great time in the hills of Besalu near the Costa Brava and it was great spending a weekend with people whom I can relate to, as a student and a Christian. Shortly after that, I had the opportunity to visit Barcelona for a second time (thanks to Gyanu, a friend from GBU!) and see my sweet cousin, Claudia, from Romania after more than a year! We have seen the Sagrada Familia from the inside which was amazing. Gaudi was a true God-inspired architect. Other than that, we have also visited Gaudi's Casa Mila and walked a LOT! I have also done some travelling with Parisa, my flatmate. Along with two mexicans and a French classmate, we went to the Congost (see first picture) of Montsec, a sierra just one hour and a half away by train, in the beginning of October. We took the train in the morning and we spent the day walking, hiking, enjoying nature! After spending the night in a youth hostel, we spent another day walking, hiking, enjoying nature :D It was awesome! The first one to visit me here in Lleida was Valentina, a friend from Italy I had the privilege to meet in Brussels. We have visited beautiful cities like Zaragoza and Tarragona. The weather was still really nice because here it's warmer than Belgium in October. Because of her I also discovered some more cute shops here in Lleida. For a city this small there are quite a lot of brands and stores. It was so much fun catching up with her and getting to speak Romanian for some time. After Valentina, I had two friends over from Belgium, friends I had met through Ichtus aka. GBU! Also with them I have learned a bit more about my own city. The best way to get to know your city better and better is having tourists over to guide. ;) During their stay here, we have gone to Pobla de Segur, the final destination of the train that I took a couple of weeks back to Montsec. Pobla de Segur lies behind the sierra before the pre-Pyrenean mountains. There are so many walking routes! We took a long one and we walked almost 17km! The highest point we got was at 1000m. The weather was perfect! No clouds and 23 degrees. It's hard to describe in this moment but we felt united with nature. As for school, Parisa and I understand more and more of our Spanish classes and we are keeping up with the work quite well even though there is so much to see and to do in this country. However, since it's finally starting to get a bit colder here we will have more time to study and do our work. We can't believe it's already November because the time flies and we only have three more months. Christmas seems just around the corner since they've been already putting up Christmas lights in the Calle Mayor. It's kind of weird though, because the Halloween decorations are still up. By the way, Halloween in Catalonia is called la Castanyada, named after chestnuts (castanyas). It's a traditional thing to eat during this time of the year and people sell them freshly baked in the city-centre. Another typical thing I've been eating a lot lately is turrón. You could compare it with nougat, but there are so many types! the most traditional kinds are the almond ones, whether it's the hard or the soft type. Yes, there are many tastes and types! To wrap this blog post up I just want to say that I'm learning so much during my stay here, not just about the culture, language and people here but also about myself. I thank God for always giving me a new opportunity and guiding wherever I go. Un abrazo, Suzanna Representing GBU LleidaInside the Sagrada FamiliaEl Pilar de ZaragozaTarragonaPobla de SegurPrepirineu
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