Hi everyone! My name is Lila and I am a junior at GW studying abroad in Barcelona. I have been having such a great experience thus far and I wanted to take you through a typical Monday in my life.
On Mondays and Wednesdays my first class of the day is Media and Conflict at 8:45, so I typically wake up at 7:30 so I have time to get ready. Once I am ready I head to Cafe Miguel which is an amazing cafe near my apartment building. Once I finish my cappuccino and tortilla I walk to school, which takes around 5 minutes. In Media and Conflict today we learned about framing and how the media can change peoples outlooks on global crises years later.
After Media and Conflict I have a break from 10:30 to 12:15 where I take a walk and find a spot to get some work done. I really like Le Central de Raval, which is a coffee shop, restaurant, and book store all in one. The aesthetic is very cute, it feels like you are sitting in a jungle, but you are in the middle of the city. Then I head to my next class called The Business of Social Media. Today we learned about trend forecasting and how to predict the “next big thing”.
After The Business of Social Media I have my last class of the day which is Analyzing Western Culture Through Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. This class is extremely interesting and today we learned about the different sub-generes in horror and how they relate to what is going on at the time the movies were produced.
After class I head home and get changed for the gym. One thing that helped me adapt to living in Spain is joining a gym and maintaining the same routine that I have at home. Once I am done with the gym my friends and I change into our beach clothes and hop on the bus to the beach. We love to play beach volleyball and swim after class.
Once the sun sets and we are done at the beach we head back closer to home and find a place to eat dinner. Our favorite place to go post-beach volleyball is Taparia Princessa. My favorite tapas are patatas bravas, fried calamari, and jamon. After that we head home and plan for our weekend trip. This weekend we are going to Milan and Venice! After that, I get ready for bed and go to sleep.
I have loved my experience in Barcelona so far, I highly recommend it as a place to study abroad!
Lila Nelson
Fall 2025
IAU - Barcelona, Spain
Columbian College of Arts and Science
Political Science & Criminal Justice Double Major