¡Adiós Los Angeles, Hola Barcelona!

In just a very few short hours, I will embark on my study abroad journey to Barcelona, Spain for four months. My name is Caroline, but most of my friends call me Caro, and I am a junior at Indiana University studying Marketing with a minor in Media Advertising. I am from Los Angeles and my hobbies and interests pretty much some up who I am. I absolutely love spending time at the beach, my dogs, hiking, running, soccer, cheese, and binge watching Netflix (but since I plan to work in entertainment it's considered research, right?).

To say I am excited for what is to come is an understatement. I have been looking forward to my study abroad experience since the day I started applying to colleges. When it came time to decide where to spend my semester, Barcelona was a given. I am of Spanish decent and knew this would be the perfect opportunity to strengthen my Spanish skills. Not to mention, the gorgeous architecture, delicious tapas, and dazzling beaches.

I am especially looking forward to traveling on the weekends. A few destinations on my abroad bucket list include Mallorca, Spain; Interlaken, Switzerland; Prague, Czech Republic; Dublin, Ireland; Hallstatt, Austria; Venice, Italy and Iceland. The one piece of advice I have for planning trips is to book your flights early if you are traveling on a busy weekend. Specifically, Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day is very expensive but you can save money if you book the flight in October. Most of the other trips can wait until you are already there to plan and book.

My flight leaves in 17 hours and I have just zipped up my third and final suitcase and I am ready to go. This is definitely more than most students need to pack, but being from California I am used to 70 ° winters and anything below that is considered practically freezing. I packed a suitcase, a duffle, and a EUROPEAN sized carry-on (mind they are smaller than US carry-ons). I packed the three bags lightly leaving room for anything I might buy while abroad. Some things I packed include:

• Tennis shoes/sneakers for walking around
• Down jacket (one of the first trips I am planning is to the Swiss Alps)
• Wind breaker
• Jean jackets
• 2 scarves & 2 beanies
• Purse that zips
• Jackets/sweaters for layering

My backpack consists of:

• Laptop & Headphones
• Camera
• Swell water bottle
• Converters
• Travel pillow & eye mask
• Barcelona travel guide book
• Money belt
• Add-A-Bag (maybe the best travel accessory ever invented, it attaches two bags so you can carry them as one)

My last and final thing on my checklist is to download Alabama Shakes’ album Sound and Color, which I listen to on repeat while on flights, and look forward to waking up from my redeye in my new home! ¡Hasta la vista!