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Published: April 24th 2008
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Sadly, this blog includes the activities that have occupied my last week in Barcelona with my program . But it has been a fun one!
Montserrat
Last Saturday I went to Montserrat with my friend Brittany. It is a small town about an hour train ride away from Barcelona. It is known for its beautiful and unique mountains and its wonderful views. This tiny little town used to be occupied only by the monks who were part of the monastery, its main attraction. Now days, about 80 monks still practice there, but it has become a huge tourist destination. After the train arrived at the bottom of the mountain, we took a gondola up to the top where the monastery is. The town today consists of the monastery, 2 hotels (really nice and expensive), multiple restaurants, a souvenir shop, and 3 different funiculars. The funiculars are essentially little trains that take you to other parts mountain for different views and access to the hiking trails. After checking out the monastery, we took what we thought was going to be a little hike, but ended up taking over an hour. It was a difficult one because it was all
uphill, but we didn’t mind because the views were extraordinary. We sat at the top and ate our lunch while enjoying the beautiful and peaceful scenery. After a half day of exploring around the town and mountain, we headed back to Barcelona.
Flamenco
My senora that I live with is a teacher or flamenco, a very popular kind of dance in Spain. My senora is from Sevilla, in southern Spain, where flamenco originated and still flourishes today. She has been dancing for over 20 years now, and currently she teaches a small group of people here in Barcelona during the weeknights. This past Monday night I went to her class with her to check it out. There were 15 people in the group ranging in age from 20s to 70s. They are all fairly advanced dancers, but some are a little farther along than others. But overall I was very impressed with how well the older people did and how they kept up with the younger ones. Flamenco is a really neat type of dance. It involves a lot of foot tapping, hip moving, and moving your arms and wrists around in a suave, flowing way. It is
danced with a partner and is by no means easy. I sat in on the class and watched them dance to many different songs and do lots of different steps and combinations. At the end of the class, they attempted to teach me a few of the foot moves, but they were very complicated and I had no idea what I was doing, haha! It was so much fun to watch them though, especially my senora because she is so good and she gets really into with all the movements and facial expressions.
Beach in Barcelona
On Tuesday, I had my last final exam of the semester, so me and some of my friends who were also done went to the beach to celebrate and relax! It was such a relief to be done with school and exams and it was the perfect day to be outside because it was sunny and hot. We walked along the whole boardwalk and then found a spot next to the volleyball courts. Lots of people go to the beach to play volleyball, and they are all really good, so we sat there and watched them play while drinking our Coronas and
Sangria! It was such a fun way to celebrate the end of exams and spend a day on the beach in Barcelona before everyone left.
Sant Jordi Day
Today, Wednesday, is one of the biggest holidays of the year in Catalunya. Sant Jordi (which translates to Saint George) is the patron saint of the region. As the myth goes, on April 23rd Sant Jordi saved the princess from being eaten by the dragon and became the saint of Catalunya. The center of the city turns into an outdoor festival and the streets become packed with people. The tradition on this day is for boys to give girls roses and girls to give boys books. So everywhere we went there were book and flower stands all over, and there were so many people that you had to push your way through the crowds to get anywhere. You have to have lots of patience on this day if you want to get anywhere, but that is kind of the fun of the holiday. We went to the main plaza of the city, Plaza Catalunya, and walked around to check out the stands and sat in the plaza and people-watched. It
was a beautiful day and probably one of the hottest in Barcelona since I have been here. It was really cool to experience a holiday here and be a part of the Catalunyan tradition.
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