For Full-Time MBA students, 2Y Spring Break presents a trade-off. On one hand, it’s the last formal break you have to do a big class event with all of your classmates, but on the other hand, it also might be the last time you get to do a small intimate trip with your closest friends. While many of my friends joined hundreds of other 2Ys in Israel, smaller groups also did their own trips to Patagonia, Morocco, Rio de Janeiro, and more.
For me and fifteen of my friends, we decided to forgo the big class trip, choosing Barcelona as our final hurrah. While the week was rainy, we were still able to have a lot of fun, enjoying Barcelona’s cultural sights during the day and the active nightlife scene at night. We planned our own trip, taking recommendations from Boothies who had studied abroad in Barcelona or who were actually from Spain.
From events like a paella cooking class to the Picasso Museum to visiting the village of Montserrat at 9:00 in the morning after a big night out, we made both great memories and hazy ones, and had a lot of fun in the process. Keep scrolling to see some of our pictures!
One of the first things we did was the Parc del Laberint d’Horta, which was essentially a Spanish corn maze. We split up into groups and raced through the maze, with the last group having to take a drink at the bar that night.
Here’s the group at the end of the maze!
We Our first dinner featured a set of matching outfits, and so did the event on the second night!
The group learned how to make authentic Spanish paella from The Paella Club, and actually ended up meeting some local Chicagans in the process! One of them recommended a trendy restaurant called Salvaje, so we headed over there the next day for some delicious sushi and steak.
Our friend John turned 31 during the trip so of course we had to celebrate!
While in Spain, we also took a day trip to Montserrat, which is the home of a small Benedictine monastery in the mountainside. We learned about the history of the monastery and its significance to many different religions before listening to a performance of the Escolania de Montserrat (or Montserrat Boys Choir) and taking a hike along the mountainside.
All in all, the trip was a great way to kick off our last quarter at Booth, and while we were sad to leave Spain, we are also very excited about getting back into the swing of things at Harper for our last two months of school!
