Reisverslag Taalcursus Barcelona 2019 Week 2
Door: Maxim Scholtes
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Maxim
28 Juli 2019 | Spanje, Barcelona
What up, guys?! Week 2 in Barcelona is in the books and a lot has happened since last week: joyous moments, sad moments, intense moments, new arrivals and people I had to say goodbye too. All in all, a very hectic week which I will tell you about in this blog. So let's get started!
Monday, July 22nd: I had classes starting at 8.40am but since I overslept (due to me writing my blog late the night before from the first week) I missed the first two classes but I did go to the final class from 11.40am until 1pm. After school I decided to visit the neigbourhood I lived in three years ago when my first trip with EF occurred. I walked around the neigbourhood, visited some points of interest, stopped by my old host family (unfortunately nobody answered the door) and had a nice lunch. Around 5.30pm I went back to school where I met up with a couple of friends and we decided to head to La Boqueria (Barcelona's biggest market; located alongside La Rambla) to get some dinner. After dinner I headed back home to freshen up and then I went right back into town to join the Welcome Drinks Party with some friends for a second consecutive week. It was a lot of fun and around 2am I went home to get some rest.
Tuesday, July 23rd: Luckily my classes didn't start until 2pm so I was able to get some sleep. I met up with my friend from Switzerland and I got introduced to her boyfriend (who had flown in from Switzerland a couple of days ago) and we had lunch together at 1pm. I didn't have much time 'cause I had to be back at school by 2pm but I had a good time anyway. I had classes from 2pm until 6.20pm but I had to skip the last one because I had an activity planned from 5pm 'till 7pm: Beach Volleyball. I hadn't played in a long time and my lack of skills definitely showed. Besides that, many of the players were so competitive, it seemed like they turned into some sort of animals. The atmosphere was very grim, very uncomfortable. After the activity I went for a stroll along the beach and ended up having dinner in a seaside restaurant. I was supposed to meet my Swiss friend and her boyfriend at 8pm at Barceloneta Beach but they were delayed quite a bit: one hour and fifteen minutes!!! But that wasn't even the biggest issue 'cause I know what it's like to make people wait for me. The biggest issue was that upon arrival they informed me that they wanted to have a romantic night alone and straight up ditched me!!! I don't have a problem with that if you just tell me that in advance. If you do that, I'll gladly step aside and give you the space that you need. But if you don't, don't be surprised when I act it out on you (and with 'you' I only mean my Swiss friend; not her boyfriend; he felt really bad about it). At first we blamed it on miscommunication but it wasn't: she shouldn't have promised to hang out if she wasn't gonna keep that promise!!! There was no miscommunication, she dropped the ball hard!!! At that point I acted like the nicest guy in the world saying that it really wasn't a problem for me to leave them alone but when I went back home I was so mad and depressed at the same time, I just drank my sorrows away and fell asleep pissed (off). She didn't even have the courage to own up to her own mistakes, nor did she have the courtesy to apologize to me!!! I thought about leaving that last part out but eventually decided that I'm not holding back. I'm pulling out all the stops on this one: if you think you're gonna get away with something like that, you really messed with the wrong guy!!!
Wednesday, July 24th: Occasionally I wake up with some sort of a headache but this one was severely worse. What made it even worse was the fact that I had classes from 8.40am 'till 1pm. I went to school anyway (despite feeling like sh*t) and after classes I had lunch with my German friend and a friend from Poland whom I had met during the Volleyball activity the day before. We got back to school around 3.30pm 'cause another EF activity was about to start: a tour around 'El Barrio Gótico'. Fun fact: this was the exact same tour as on my first day in Barcelona three years ago. It was very beautiful and we learned a lot about the history of Barcelona. We got back to school around 6pm 'cause we had one more class at 6.30pm. So during that half an hour my German friend showed me a ton of magic tricks (many of which I had never seen before) and in return I showed him a couple of my card tricks (but he's so much better than I am). At 6.30pm we went up to the terrace to play a game of Cluedo (this was my last 'class') but it really sucked so I went home halfway through the game. I had dinner at home before I went back to the centre to have a couple of drinks with my friends at bar Summum. We had a great time and went home around 1am.
Thursday, July 25th: Very few people I know are as obsessed with magic as me and my German friend. We both love it, which gave us the idea to visit the oldest magic shop in Barcelona. It was really small but everything you would expect from a magic shop. We were looking around for any possible magic tricks and in the end I just bought a new deck of cards. After that we had some lunch around noon. When we were finished we headed back to school 'cause we both had classes from 2pm until 6.20pm. During my last class someone from the activities' office walked into my classroom and informed me that I should have already left (I had a soccer match planned at 6.45pm but I thought we had to gather at school at 6.45pm, which wasn't the case). So the lady from the activities' office offered me to ride with her on her motorcycle to the soccer pitch and the trip was awesome!!! The soccer match went above and beyond: I played as last defender, we had an amazing goal keeper and great attackers but our opponents were at least equally as talented as we were. But in the end, we worked together as a team and being much more efficient with the chances that we got, we ended up winning 6-1 (I think). But above all, we had a fun time up there! After the soccer match I headed to Barceloneta Beach to meet up with a bunch of other Dutch/Flemish people where we sat down on the sand and shared a beer, a tear and a laugh. I had a great time and we went home around midnight.
Friday, July 26th: Early bird is definitely not a term applicable to me but I once again had to get up early 'cause I had classes from 8.40am until 1pm. When my classes were finished I witnessed the graduation of the departing students (one of 'em was the girl from Switzerland with whom I had an argument). I asked her if she wanted to talk ('cause I didn't want us parting ways on a bad note) and she agreed but I didn't get the feeling that we totally understood each other. I even proposed to hang out one more time which she refused. I also wanted to tell her something which I couldn't tell her at that point in time (I can now; there's a message hidden in this blog and the person whom this is meant for will know it; you just have to read this blog very carefully). Afterwards I stayed at school for a bit with my friend from Germany and a friend from Flanders, Belgium whom we showed a lot of magic tricks. We went to have lunch at KFC (my first time in a KFC ever) and an ice cream for dessert. Around 5pm we parted ways and went home. I was so exhausted that I took a two-hour nap. When I woke up I had some dinner and went to the Goodbye Party afterwards to have one more amazing night with the people that were leaving the next day. One of those people was a good friend from France who I'm gonna miss a lot and I wish him the best of luck. Until we meet again, my friend!!! We partied until 2.30am and then said our goodbyes.
Saturday, July 27th: You guys must be getting pretty bored about now so I'll try to keep the weekend to a minimum. I slept in until noon, me and my roommate did laundry together, I went to the centre to look for some stuff, met up with my friend from Poland and had dinner together. I went home around 11pm.
Sunday, July 28th: Oversleeping is never a good thing to do but today it was especially inconvenient because me and three other guys went to PortAventura (one of the biggest theme parks in Spain). We were supposed to meet at 8am and the train was set to depart at 8.30am. I arrived in the nick of time, bought my ticket and met up with my friends at the railway station. We arrived around 10am in the park and we had the time of our lives. We stayed there until 8pm before heading back home. When we got back to Barcelona we went to a restaurant high up in the sky (like a rooftop bar). We had such an amazing (but also expensive) dinner but it was so worth it. Afterwards we unknowingly ran into my roommate and his friends (what a coincidence). Me and my roommate went home around midnight.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to upload my blog on Sunday due to some technical malfunctions which I do apologize for. I hope you don't mind! I'll try to upload it on time next week.
Have a great week, everyone!
¡Hasta luego!
Max
Monday, July 22nd: I had classes starting at 8.40am but since I overslept (due to me writing my blog late the night before from the first week) I missed the first two classes but I did go to the final class from 11.40am until 1pm. After school I decided to visit the neigbourhood I lived in three years ago when my first trip with EF occurred. I walked around the neigbourhood, visited some points of interest, stopped by my old host family (unfortunately nobody answered the door) and had a nice lunch. Around 5.30pm I went back to school where I met up with a couple of friends and we decided to head to La Boqueria (Barcelona's biggest market; located alongside La Rambla) to get some dinner. After dinner I headed back home to freshen up and then I went right back into town to join the Welcome Drinks Party with some friends for a second consecutive week. It was a lot of fun and around 2am I went home to get some rest.
Tuesday, July 23rd: Luckily my classes didn't start until 2pm so I was able to get some sleep. I met up with my friend from Switzerland and I got introduced to her boyfriend (who had flown in from Switzerland a couple of days ago) and we had lunch together at 1pm. I didn't have much time 'cause I had to be back at school by 2pm but I had a good time anyway. I had classes from 2pm until 6.20pm but I had to skip the last one because I had an activity planned from 5pm 'till 7pm: Beach Volleyball. I hadn't played in a long time and my lack of skills definitely showed. Besides that, many of the players were so competitive, it seemed like they turned into some sort of animals. The atmosphere was very grim, very uncomfortable. After the activity I went for a stroll along the beach and ended up having dinner in a seaside restaurant. I was supposed to meet my Swiss friend and her boyfriend at 8pm at Barceloneta Beach but they were delayed quite a bit: one hour and fifteen minutes!!! But that wasn't even the biggest issue 'cause I know what it's like to make people wait for me. The biggest issue was that upon arrival they informed me that they wanted to have a romantic night alone and straight up ditched me!!! I don't have a problem with that if you just tell me that in advance. If you do that, I'll gladly step aside and give you the space that you need. But if you don't, don't be surprised when I act it out on you (and with 'you' I only mean my Swiss friend; not her boyfriend; he felt really bad about it). At first we blamed it on miscommunication but it wasn't: she shouldn't have promised to hang out if she wasn't gonna keep that promise!!! There was no miscommunication, she dropped the ball hard!!! At that point I acted like the nicest guy in the world saying that it really wasn't a problem for me to leave them alone but when I went back home I was so mad and depressed at the same time, I just drank my sorrows away and fell asleep pissed (off). She didn't even have the courage to own up to her own mistakes, nor did she have the courtesy to apologize to me!!! I thought about leaving that last part out but eventually decided that I'm not holding back. I'm pulling out all the stops on this one: if you think you're gonna get away with something like that, you really messed with the wrong guy!!!
Wednesday, July 24th: Occasionally I wake up with some sort of a headache but this one was severely worse. What made it even worse was the fact that I had classes from 8.40am 'till 1pm. I went to school anyway (despite feeling like sh*t) and after classes I had lunch with my German friend and a friend from Poland whom I had met during the Volleyball activity the day before. We got back to school around 3.30pm 'cause another EF activity was about to start: a tour around 'El Barrio Gótico'. Fun fact: this was the exact same tour as on my first day in Barcelona three years ago. It was very beautiful and we learned a lot about the history of Barcelona. We got back to school around 6pm 'cause we had one more class at 6.30pm. So during that half an hour my German friend showed me a ton of magic tricks (many of which I had never seen before) and in return I showed him a couple of my card tricks (but he's so much better than I am). At 6.30pm we went up to the terrace to play a game of Cluedo (this was my last 'class') but it really sucked so I went home halfway through the game. I had dinner at home before I went back to the centre to have a couple of drinks with my friends at bar Summum. We had a great time and went home around 1am.
Thursday, July 25th: Very few people I know are as obsessed with magic as me and my German friend. We both love it, which gave us the idea to visit the oldest magic shop in Barcelona. It was really small but everything you would expect from a magic shop. We were looking around for any possible magic tricks and in the end I just bought a new deck of cards. After that we had some lunch around noon. When we were finished we headed back to school 'cause we both had classes from 2pm until 6.20pm. During my last class someone from the activities' office walked into my classroom and informed me that I should have already left (I had a soccer match planned at 6.45pm but I thought we had to gather at school at 6.45pm, which wasn't the case). So the lady from the activities' office offered me to ride with her on her motorcycle to the soccer pitch and the trip was awesome!!! The soccer match went above and beyond: I played as last defender, we had an amazing goal keeper and great attackers but our opponents were at least equally as talented as we were. But in the end, we worked together as a team and being much more efficient with the chances that we got, we ended up winning 6-1 (I think). But above all, we had a fun time up there! After the soccer match I headed to Barceloneta Beach to meet up with a bunch of other Dutch/Flemish people where we sat down on the sand and shared a beer, a tear and a laugh. I had a great time and we went home around midnight.
Friday, July 26th: Early bird is definitely not a term applicable to me but I once again had to get up early 'cause I had classes from 8.40am until 1pm. When my classes were finished I witnessed the graduation of the departing students (one of 'em was the girl from Switzerland with whom I had an argument). I asked her if she wanted to talk ('cause I didn't want us parting ways on a bad note) and she agreed but I didn't get the feeling that we totally understood each other. I even proposed to hang out one more time which she refused. I also wanted to tell her something which I couldn't tell her at that point in time (I can now; there's a message hidden in this blog and the person whom this is meant for will know it; you just have to read this blog very carefully). Afterwards I stayed at school for a bit with my friend from Germany and a friend from Flanders, Belgium whom we showed a lot of magic tricks. We went to have lunch at KFC (my first time in a KFC ever) and an ice cream for dessert. Around 5pm we parted ways and went home. I was so exhausted that I took a two-hour nap. When I woke up I had some dinner and went to the Goodbye Party afterwards to have one more amazing night with the people that were leaving the next day. One of those people was a good friend from France who I'm gonna miss a lot and I wish him the best of luck. Until we meet again, my friend!!! We partied until 2.30am and then said our goodbyes.
Saturday, July 27th: You guys must be getting pretty bored about now so I'll try to keep the weekend to a minimum. I slept in until noon, me and my roommate did laundry together, I went to the centre to look for some stuff, met up with my friend from Poland and had dinner together. I went home around 11pm.
Sunday, July 28th: Oversleeping is never a good thing to do but today it was especially inconvenient because me and three other guys went to PortAventura (one of the biggest theme parks in Spain). We were supposed to meet at 8am and the train was set to depart at 8.30am. I arrived in the nick of time, bought my ticket and met up with my friends at the railway station. We arrived around 10am in the park and we had the time of our lives. We stayed there until 8pm before heading back home. When we got back to Barcelona we went to a restaurant high up in the sky (like a rooftop bar). We had such an amazing (but also expensive) dinner but it was so worth it. Afterwards we unknowingly ran into my roommate and his friends (what a coincidence). Me and my roommate went home around midnight.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to upload my blog on Sunday due to some technical malfunctions which I do apologize for. I hope you don't mind! I'll try to upload it on time next week.
Have a great week, everyone!
¡Hasta luego!
Max
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
