Undergraduate Blog / Defining Your Babson

Rain?… No Problem in Montserrat

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A few weekends ago, I went to Montserrat. This is a mountain that is about an hour and a half by train from Barcelona. The first place I visited was a beautiful monastery. It is called Santa Maria. Inside, one can see the same colorful stained glass, smooth arches, and intricate marble carvings that are seen in other famous cathedrals in and around Barcelona.

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Since I visited on a Sunday morning, I got to hear the last part of mass. This was very interesting for me since I have never been in a Catholic church during services. The cathedral was packed. After the services, the choir sang. The choir is very famous and is composed of about twenty boys, all under the age of twelve. It was incredible hearing these flawless and harmonic voices evolve from such tiny children! How well behaved they must be; the children sat still the entire service and did not even look bored! People come from all around the world to hear them sing.

Afterward, I walked outside and felt the first drop of rain hit my head since I had left rainy Seattle. While it was refreshing and reminded me of home, it could not have come at a worse time. I was headed to a different part of the mountain to begin my hike up to the highest point. However, the rain didn’t stop my group! I was wearing two pairs of spandex yoga pants (layered) with a long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and a down jacket. Nevertheless, as I climbed higher, I was freezing! Once we were almost at the top, we even felt snow!

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Although it was an iceberg, the views were incredible and the hike felt amazing. After about an hour and a half, we were at the highest point.

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I truly appreciate the diverse beauty of Barcelona. It is crazy how varied the geography is: densely populated city life, coastal beaches, forest land, mountains, country fields. Barcelona has everything! I am so thankful to be here.