Sunday June 25

It was a nice slow start to my Sunday, I got to wake up late, enjoy some breakfast and clean up my room a bit. 

Around 1 I met up my friends and we went to the beach! Everyone brought snacks, so I bought some cookies to share with everyone, and I bought myself a Fanta Limón, the best drink ever. 

We spent around 5 hours at the beach, just going between the water, chilling at our set up and playing volleyball by the nets they had. I felt like I was in Top Gun!

Later on we got some gelato and it was delicious. Back to class tomorrow!

Monday June 26

Today's cultural activity was Flamenco class! Our teacher was very passionate and she taught us all about the importance of eye contact in Flamenco, a common norm that's very important in general here in Spain. We were in a semi-circle facing a mirror and we just did some basic arm movements that include moving your hands, wrists, and fingers up and down. Then we learned a small dance to a Rosalía song, who is actually from Barcelona. At the end of the class I was chosen to put on the typical Flamenco outfit which included a dress, scarf, beaded necklaces, a hair piece and a flower in my ear. It was fun to try it out but it was very hot! Before we left we asked our teacher questions about her dance career and about dance around Barcelona for our community conversations of that day. 

For lunch I ate my packed sandwich and peach but then decided to grab a muffin from a nearby café which was delicious! Then we had class and our project for this week is about a specific neighborhood of Barcelona. My partner and I chose Sant Antoni, which happens to be where we both live!

After school we decided to visit Sant Antoni to take pictures for our project but also just explore. We visited the Sant Antoni market but most of the vendors ended up being closed by the time we got there. We just roamed a bit more and then stopped at a café to start our project. 

Something I've learned about Barcelona is that pretty much almost every street is a one way. I'm so used to looking both ways when I cross the street when technically I don't need to! But the streets are incredibly walkable. Many streets are designated for foot traffic and only allow cars to pass through if they have a reason (taxis or a parking garage). 

Tuesday June 27

Today was a very special day because we got to visit La Sagrada Familia, arguably Barcelona's biggest attraction. It was such an incredible sight, I teared up a bit when I first walked in because I was just stunned by its beauty. There's rich history to the church, as construction started in 1882 by Francisco de Paula del Villar, who quickly resigned and the project was given to Antoni Gaudí in 1883. Gaudí made all of the plans and calculations for the finished product but unfortunately died in 1926. The construction is still going on today and they're expected to finish sometime around 2030. It's taken so long because the money they use to fund the construction comes solely from donations, nothing from the government or taxes. 

Something to note that they mentioned was that this is a church for everyone. Because of this, there are never weddings or communions at the Sagrada, only Sunday mass and the occasional concert. The architecture is one of a kind, like all of Gaudí's works. He incorporates many aspects of nature such as the pillars that resemble trees, stained glass windows that look like flowers or statues of animals throughout the building. There were three main structures that describe the Catholic story throughout, Jesus's birth, the Nativity; Jesus's death, the Passion; and Jesus's resurrection. It was definitely a breathtaking experience!

After Spanish class my partner and I stopped at the Boquería market to get some fresh fruit and then we headed back to our neighborhood for our project, Sant Antoni. Today we had to interview a local on the street about the neighborhood which was quite nervewracking at first! Eventually we built up the courage to ask someone and it was a lovely interaction. Later on for our project we need to visit a restaurant in the area, so we decided to grab some tapas just to get that part out of the way. 

Wednesday June 28

For today's cultural activity we visited Pueblo Español, a mock "village" that has replica buildings from different places around Spain. It was cool seeing the various architecture while we had time to roam and go into the shops that were open while we were waiting for our activity to begin. For the activity itself we got to "paint" these necklaces with glass that was shredded into a fine powder. The powder was mixed with water and you placed it on your little metal charm with a paint brush. Then they were fired in a tiny oven that was extremely hot and then they were ready for us to put on a string and wear! 

After class today I met up with a friend who lives in Barcelona, we got tapas and walked around a bit!

During dinner my host grandma and I joked about how I'm a Güerra, a slang word from Mexico that describes someone with light hair and fair skin. She called me a Güerrita (the -ita ending is just an endearing term that means "little"), and it's funny because she's always worried about me burning because I'm so fair-skinned!

Thursday June 29

Today was super fun as we got to go the beach for our cultural activity! All 6 groups went together, so that was exciting, as usually only two groups go to each activity. It was really nice being at the beach in the morning because there were barely any people there and the sun wasn't terribly hot. I still made sure to put on a lot of sunscreen, though, because I did burn a bit from Sunday's beach trip 😬

We listened to music and just laid out, some people played volleyball. Eventually we got in the water and it was so nice! It's always cold at first but then once you go under it's so refreshing. I swam for a long time and then went back in to eat my packed lunch. 

For our project this week we needed another interview with someone on the street about the future of Barcelona (as we learned about the future tense of verbs) so my partner and I decided to do that here at the beach. On our way back I grabbed a refreshing Fanta Limón.

After class a few of us decided to go shopping. I only ended up buying some jean shorts but I still am on the hunt for a new dress! While we were shopping we stumbled upon a movie premiere for Bird Box Barcelona which was quite cool, there was a red carpet and we got to see some of the actors, even though we didn't know who they were. 

I came home and ate dinner with my host grandma, room mate, and our host cousin, our host mom's brother's 4 year old daughter. She's the cutest!

Friday June 30

We have class in the mornings on Fridays, with no cultural activity. We presented our projects about our neighborhood of choice, and then we had our check in with our group leader to see how things are going. 

After school my friends and I decided to go to Casa Batlló (bah-ti-oh), one of Gaudí's works here in Barcelona. We usually see it every day as it's so close to the CIEE center but we never went in. It had such creative architecture, there were so many curves and shapes in different parts of the house. I loved seeing the roof from the actual top because there's great colors and an interesting story that goes along with it. The house is supposed to represent the story of Saint George where he saved the princess from the dragon, and the roof has scales in order to resemble the dragon. 

After this we were tired, especially because we still had our backpacks from school, so we decided to go home to drop off our things and take a little rest. Later my friend and I headed back out to the Grácia neighborhood, one of my favorites, and just walked around and checked out some cool stores. I finally bought a dress from a store I've seen a lot around here, La Comet! It was nice to leisurely explore the area and see it at its most lively point on a Friday night. There were many kids playing in the plazas and then many parents watching over from the tables with their drinks!

Saturday July 1

We had our second and final day trip today! We went to Costa Brava, it's close to a 2 hour drive out of the city so we had to meet at the CIEE center pretty early. 

The first part was a tour of the ruins of an ancient Greek and Roman village called Empúries, which was interesting but not necessarily my favorite thing we've done. I enjoyed seeing it, although we were told so much information at every stop that it was just a lot. 

After this though, things got better and we got to go to the beach! It was nice being far from the city because there weren't any tourists. We set up our towels and ate our packed lunch, and then swam for a long time! The water is a great temperature here, it's cold when you first go in but once you're under it's so refreshing. 

After our swimming we got the chance to either kayak or paddle board, my friend and I did a double kayak for a while which was so relaxing. We had a great time laughing out in the water where you could see the mountains in the back, very picturesque. We came back from kayaking and decided to go out in the super paddle board which fit up to six people, so we got a group of six of us to try it! It definitely requires some coordination but it was fun because we could swim off of it. 

It was a long bus ride back so we got to sleep a bit😴 Just one week left!