It’s spring semester, which means a huge wave of students have or are about to set off around the world for exciting semesters abroad. Here at The Hatchet we like to keep in touch with our staff members who go abroad, and throughout the semester, they will be sending updates to our Passports blog as well as some pieces in print.

Alec Noble
Sophomore | Journalism major
Barcelona, Spain | IES Barcelona Advanced Spanish Studies

I’ve been here for two days so far and am loving it. I’m in a homestay with people who only speak Spanish, which I thought would be very difficult for me, but we haven’t had any problems communicating. They are very nice and make me feel like I’m part of the family. I live in an apartment on a quiet, narrow street. From my window I can watch the nightly LED light show called Torre Agbar. Classes start up this week and I’m excited to start to meet more people. All five of my classes are going to be taught entirely in Spanish, so I will definitely have to pay very close attention in all of them. I’m excited to get out in the city a bit more this coming week. There are a ton of sites to see and so many places to travel both in Spain and across Europe. I hope to visit Morocco, France, Sweden, Italy, England, and Portugal. The exchange rate sucks, but cheap food isn’t too hard to find. Clothes from American Apparel are more expensive, though. I guess you win some and you lose some.