Almost time to say goodbye

It's hard to decide which bits of our week to include in the blog and this being the last week, we have fit a lot in. A couple of our favourite activities have been fan painting in the evening (some of you may see the finished product at home) and visiting the 'Magic Fountains', which is a spectacular show of lights, water and music. 

On Saturday the group went to Tarragona, a town which has the most extensive Roman ruins in Catalonia. After visiting the ruins, we had a long relaxing lunch and spent the afternoon on the beach. Today, the some of the group went to the Sports museum, while others went to Tibidado, an amusement park that overlooks Barcelona. The views were stunning and the rides brought a lot of laughter. Tomorrow, we are going to have a small art show of the photographs the photography class have taken and we have another couple of surprises before we have to say goodbye. It feels like the end is coming too quickly!

Monserrat y Flamenco

On Tuesday the whole group headed up to Monserrat, an ancient Benedictine Monastery in the hills surrounding Barcelona. It is a very popular destination so was a bit crowded, but after a long wait we were able to see the very famous 'Talla de la Virgen' (or Black Madonna), and it was worth the wait. Last night a group of us were lucky enough to see Flamenco in the heart of the Gothic district. Both the band and the dancer were amazing, but the highlight of the night was when Encarni, our program director, joined the dancer on stage for a Flamenco dance (GUAPA!). Tonight we are having an arts and crafts night (painting Chinese fans) and then going on a night photography walk.

Another packed weekend

This weekend went by too quickly! On Saturday we went to the Picasso museum, which houses Picasso's most important earlier work  and then a group of us enjoyed a relaxing drawing class in the residence. On Sunday, one group went to Poble Espanol, a fabricated town created using examples of different regional Spanish or Catalan architecture, while others had breakfast on the beach. Everybody was active and outside throughout the weekend; whether it was going to the Maritime museum, playing sports on the beach, having a cold drink near Las Ramblas or just sunbathing. On Sunday evening, at the last minute, we managed to get bullfighting tickets- one of the last bullfights that will ever be held in Barcelona- and as it isn't for the faint hearted, half the group really opted to go, while the other half enjoyed tapas in the Gothic quarter. And on to our last full week, we will be focusing on classes but still have lots of special places to visit, including our personal favourite, the chocolate museum. 

The highlights of the past few days included a visit to Casa Mila, another work by Gaudi, made for a local family. On Thursday we took an excursion to the Freixenet factory, a very traditional Catalan business. The building is beautiful and we were even able to go on a train ride through the cellars. In the afternoon we visited a town called Sitges and snuck in a bit of beach time. We are currently in the middle of a very fun-packed day as we have already visited Segrada Familia this morning- thankfully skipping all of the queues giving us ample time to wander around the interior - and after classes this afternoon we are going for our second salsa lesson. I know that the staff is particularly looking forward to the Picasso museum tomorrow. Time is going too fast, there is so much to see in Barcelona!

Relaxing weekend and packed week!

We ended our packed weekend with a relaxing Sunday, starting with chocolate y churros for breakfast, then watching the new Harry Potter film, having take-out dinner in the residence and then the football game or free-time in the evening. As you can see in the photographs, after Monday's classes a group of the girls practiced a choreographed dance for a music video we are creating in photography class, while others went on the Modernism- architecture walk. Today has been quite varied, as we spent the morning at the Football stadium and museum, had afternoon classes on the beach and headed out for a group dinner at a restaurant near the boardwalk. A great start to the week!

Salsa dancing, Dali Museum and more

We have had a packed few days with group activities, excursions and classes. The tutors have reported and exciting start to their classes; the Spanish language class made a video this week, Spanish conversation had a chance to chat to a local Catalonian to practice their skills and the photography class is currently making a stop-motion music video.

One of our recent highlights was last night's salsa lesson (you can see in the photographs, it was a lot of fun). And today, we visited the Dali museum in Dali's home town of Figares. We are back in Barcelona center for the night and the students are heading out for their own dinners in town. Tomorrow we have a few things planned, but we know that what everybody is really looking forward to is the Harry Potter movie in the afternoon!

Yesterday morning the entire group went to Casa Batllo - a house renovated by Gaudi situated in the heart of Barcelona. It was even more beautiful than expected, the students really enjoyed it and took amazing photographs. After our afternoon classes, the cooking groups made a traditional Catalan chicken dish and then we headed to the Gothic quarter for Gelato and people watching. It was one of our favourite days yet. Today we have awoken to pouring rain, so we will hold the classes in the residence's classrooms, but still have an exciting excursion to the Barcelona football stadium planned for this afternoon.

Settling in to Classes and Movie Night

We settled in to our classes today and the students are already impressing us with their photography and Spanish ability. For our afternoon activity a few of the ladies went shopping and the boys had a ping-pong tournament... as I was held hostage by the ladies I am not sure of the final score for the ping-pong, but fun was had by all. In the evening we had a Barcelona film night and pizza- a chance for everybody to rejuvenate after the very busy start of the course.

First day of classes

After taking a few days to acclimatize to Barcelona life, we started our classes today. The morning went off without a hitch and for our afternoon 'electives' we headed up to enjoy the beautiful views of Parque Guell (Gaudi's park)- a perfect spot to be in the evening light. For dinner, the students paired off in to their cooking groups and made very impressive calamari among other dishes. We are all looking forward to settling in to the first week of classes and more exciting excursions.

Taking in the sights & day trip to Girona and the beach

So sorry for the delay in getting this first post up. We have been having such a great time getting the program started & today we took our first trip to Girona and to Tossa de Mar.  Girona was amazing - it is a Medeival city that has been brilliantly preserved & has one of the best Cinema museums in the world (who knew that is where Dustin Hoffman's "Tootsie" red gown ended up?!).  The beach was the perfect way to end a great day excursion!  We are excited to start our classes tomorrow & more fun activities this week.  Stay tuned...