Student Teaching Abroad
Barcelona, Spain
November 17 - December 5th
My host family consisted of a mother, father, and two brothers. I was also lucky enough to meet a good amount of the extended family as well! Inma, Oscar, Ricardo, and Alvaro were so welcoming from the very beginning. Pictured below is a good portion of the family members I met. This inludes (left to right) Inma's mother, me, Inma's father, Ricardo, Inma's brother, Oscar's mother, Oscar's father, Blanca (Inma's niece), Inma, and Ricardo.
My host family did a great job of including me in their everyday life. Not only did we eat breakfast and dinner together everyday, but they invited me to family events- futbol (soccer) games, piano recitals, hikes, movie outings, and more.
Saturday, November 18
The first official excursion I went on was to the mall with Inma and her niece Blanca. Afterwards we went to the movie theater with Oscar, Inma, Ricardo, Alvaro, and two of Inma's nieces. We went to see the Justice League, which is good for me, because it was translated into Spanish, therefore I only understood about 50% of the dialogue. Luckily action films show most of the important stuff through action and not dialogue!
There were some surprising differences with the experience that I wasn't expecting. First was that there are assigned seats! I've been to some bigger cities in the US, such as Las Vegas that weren't like that, but I'd be interested to know if there are any in the US that do assigned seats. I think it's brilliant for such large theaters to streamline seating and make sure there aren't wasted seats! Another difference was the different varieties of popcorn offered. Not only did they have the typically movie theater style buttered popcorn, but they had two other savory varieties, and three sweet (similar to kettle corn) varieties. One of the sweet varieties was bright and multicolored!
Other than not being able to completely understand the dialogue, I really liked the movie. It was fun to get to experience something so simple and be able to notice all the differences.
Tibidabo
Sunday, November 19
The first weekend after we arrived we took a trip to Tibidabo, which is a mountain not far from my host family's house. Not only are the views from Tibidabo amazing, but there is a church and amusement park at the top of the mountain! I told my host family that I definitely don't think you'd see a similar combination anywhere in America!
Ricardo, Blanca, Inma, and Alvaro at the top of Tibidabo
At the top of Tibidabo with the Ferris Wheel in the background
At the top of Tibidabo with the Ferris Wheel and Church in the background
I'm not going to lie, my legs were sore after this ~6 mile hike, but the views were definitely worth it! Even on a foggy day you could still see a good portion of the city!
Blanca, Alvaro, and me on the hike down from Tibidabo
Wild pig spotted on the hike back down!
WILD PIG spotted!
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