A Semester in Barcelona

Out of all the popular social media available Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, WhatsApp, etc. I have been most active on Instagram while abroad. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Instagram is primarily a photo sharing application. Instagram allows a user to share their life and their friends experiences through real-time photos. Instagram, while allowing you to share photos of your life with friends, also allows for certain anxieties to develop. Through enveloping ourselves in Instagram, we create an image of ourselves for people to consume. This is the image we want society to see and not our true selves or experiences. My photos on Instagram follow the sequence of my travels, I was in Barcelona during the week and traveled to a different country every weekend. While the pictures I have posted document my travels and experiences, they do not capture everything.

The first weekend trip I took was to Lisbon, Portugal with my brother. Portugal was amazing, the Portuguese being very welcoming and friendly people. Starting off my first post in Europe, I focused on the architecture and the peculiar means of transport in Lisbon: tuk-tuk's. However, while this picture shows the beautiful city of Lisbon it does not cover the miserable weather that followed us on most of the trip. While the first day was perfect, rainy weather graced us the last day and a dense fog covered Sintra when we journeyed to see the Palace of Pena. My brother and I also suffered from a terrible case of food poisoning, which I hinted at in my Instagram caption.

Lisbon is beautiful and all, but have u tried their food?

Next up was Paris, the city of lights. Paris is one of my favorite cities in Europe, but alas the bad weather chased me and my friend there too. the one picture I got in front of the Eiffel tower was dull and grey. But you wouldn't know how terrible the weather was from inside. So, the one photo I posted from that weekend featured me in the pretty and pink Ladurée bathroom (lol who would have guessed).

Branching off of the usual trend, the stop after Paris was Iceland. brrrrrr it was freaking COLD in Reykjavik. But you can't tell that from instagram ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This was probably my most iconic trip abroad as I posted the most photos from this trip. I still have so many more to post! I like posting beautiful photos of nature, especially the beach, and Iceland is the SPOT for stunning pictures for natures beauty. Not going to lie, my pictures were pretty spot on from this trip, Iceland is the most naturally spectacular place I have been to.

After I had a little ski trip (or snowboard trip in my case) with my twin sister, Sofie, to Interlaken, Switzerland. What was not captured on camera was the entire friend group my sister and I ditched because because they fabricated their skill in skiing. They did not even know how to pizza! Luckily we ran into some nice guys who joined us on the black diamonds and took some cute pictures of us, you would never even know the drama behind the pictures.

That brings us to Sofie and my adventures in Prauge and Budapest. Herein lies the beginning of some unfortunate events. The first stop of this weekend was Prauge, which was beautiful and had no mishaps. But, Sofie and I decided to take a two day adventure to Budapest, which lead to our adventures spiraling south. Budapest was stunning, the castles grand and the bars a lot of fun. To this day it remains a mystery if it was the kebab restaurant or the disgusting public baths. But, somehow, we managed to contract an inebriating disease that had us in our beds for an entire week: E. coli.

Copenhagen. The undocumented city on my social media. As this is where the E. coli decided to rear its ugly head. I could not tell you much about this city, as Sofie and I were stuck in our bed and near a toilet during our ENTIRE stay. Now, this is interesting as you would never know this had happened to us from my social media. From my social media you can only see I am having the BEST time (don't get me wrong, I most definitely was) but you can not see the ugly. Aka you are not going to see me dying in bed from E.coli. Ah, the joys of false advertising on social media; you only see what someone wants you to see.

*no pictures to show from Copehagen :( *

A weekend break in Barcelona was needed after that shit show (lol get it). My sister came and joined and we relaxed on the beach and danced the nights away in the clubs. After not being on top of my social media game from the Copenhagen setback, I was experiencing some FOMO (fear of missing out). I was glued to my screen during that time and felt I had some catching up to do since we had missed a whole week of fun due to illness. Social media can be dangerous in the experiences you see that you are not a part of and the longing it creates. This was especially difficult for me during that week I was sick.

Continuing with my time in Spain, I decided to take a train down to Valencia with my sister and a friend. The weather was supposed to be nice and sunny that weekend and we wanted to tan on the beach. We had a nice relaxing day and even better paella. The architecture of their modern art museum is incredible and i decided to share it on Instagram. I noticed I had been focusing more on the nature and landscaping of places I was visiting rather than myself. However, I also shared a photo of my friend and I messing around on the beach, laughing and smiling. This added to the light and happy vibes of my feed.

My second to last stop was the Canary Islands with my best friend who was visiting for her spring break. Now, as you can imagine this trip lead to a LOT of content. I still have so many more pictures to post from it. We went on a day long adventure scuba diving and it was a nice escape from social media. I think this trip really helped constructed my digital identity as a beach lover and adventurer who loves taking risks. I have had many comments on the aesthetic of my Instagram and to be honest it has become like a fun side art project to me. I love having a blue and ocean themed feed as that is where I consider myself home.

San Sebastian was my final trip and it was the most beautiful. I just got back from it and have so many photos of the beautiful town, beaches, and hikes that give a birds eye view of the city. I have already posted two photos, both at the gorgeous beach. You can obviously tell from my feed that I try to always be near the ocean and I am an avid traveler.

Overall, I have found that since I have been abroad my posts have been focused on where I have traveled and the natural beauty of the places. Because of the amount of pictures and content I have procured Instagram has become my most active form of social media as there is something new to document and post almost every day. Through my experience abroad, my feed has become a center of landscapes and architecture, showing my love for traveling and nature and adding to my digital identity.

Below you can see the layout of my current Instagram feed:

This is my most popular photo on instagram while I have been abroad, getting upwards of 400 likes: