Barcelona Beginnings

Welcome everyone to the Barcelona Language & Culture program Session 2! You may recognize me from my writing from my previous blog greatest hits during the Session 1, yes, I am here still in Barcelona and ready to take on our next adventure. 

After a hectic start with lots of flights delays and cancelations, everyone finally arrived to Barcelona and ready for the exciting month that awaits them. During the first two days, the students have orientation to help guide them towards a successful month here in Barcelona. Part of that success is signing the language pledge saying that they will only speak Spanish during the duration of the program. You can see some of the students signing their pledges in one of the attached photos. Once we're finished at orientation, we all head to an excellent buffet style restaurant and then off to the host families for the rest of the evening to see a bit of Barcelona. 

Once Monday orientation is over, the real fun begins on Tuesday and our cultural activities commence. This week our students take part in different tours that highlight two of the plethora of important parts of Barcelona: el barrio gótico (Gothic Quarter) and the Barcelona harbor. 

In the attached photos, you can see the students with our guide, Martín, discussing the history of the Gothic Quarter. The walking tour includes references to Picasso, the Spanish Civil War, and Roman history and architecture. 

Also pictured is the tour of the harbor where students learn about the significance of Barcelona's harbor, the history of tourism in Barcelona, and a bit about trade and shippng history all while riding aboard the fabulous María Carmen boat through the harbor. What a life!

This week this students visit the famous market of Barcelona: La Boqueria. The market will receive its own personal blog post, so stay tuned!

Hasta pronto.