Reisverslag Taalcursus Barcelona 2016 Week 2

Zo, daar ben ik weer!

Twee weken gehad, nog twee te gaan. Je zou dus kunnen zeggen dat ik halverwege ben.

Even een korte mededeling: omdat er sommige buitenlandse mensen meelezen, zal ik dit reisverslag in het Engels typen. En vanaf volgende week kunnen jullie een geheel Spaans reisverslag verwachten.

Monday 18th of July: my classes started at 10am and ended at 1pm. Normally I'd have a two and a half our break before I have the last class from 3.30pm till 5pm but this time my friends from United States and Switzerland convinced me to skip the last class and go with them to the beach of Barceloneta. So that's what we did. But before we went to the beach my friend from the States wanted to buy a skateboard in a Decathlon store. And after that we headed to the beach. And we stayed there till the sunset began.

PS many thanks to my friend from Switzerland for carrying my bag around that day. I had a severe sunburn from the day before in Calafell.

Tuesday 19th of July: classes didn't start untill 5pm so I had all the time in the world to sleep in and get ready for school. Before school started I went to McDonalds to get some 'lunch' and after that I went back to school (for those of you who are wondering if my schedule is the same as last week: yes is the correct answer). At 8pm I went home to have dinner with my host family.

Wednesday 20th of July: I had to get up early because my first class started at 8.40am. My last class ended at 1pm and after that I once again went to the beach of Barceloneta with my friends. But before we did that we went for a walk to a barbershop named Touch because I want to cut my hair and my friend from the States wants to repaint his hair. I made an appointment but my friend didn't because this barber doesn't paint hair (funny fact: this barber is from Holland so I'll be able to speak with him in Dutch). After that my friend heard about a place called Shibuya where they'd supposedly paint hair. There was just a small problem: when we arrived there nobody answered the door. My friend tried to call but nobody was picking up the phone. Being a little agitated we called a cab to bring us to the beach. Once we left the beach we had dinner at 6pm (!) in a tapas bar and after that we went home early because we were exhausted.

Thursday 21st of July: my first real activity with EF was planned today at 10am. Me and my friends signed up for paddle surf but my friend from the States had overslept so he couldn't make it. Nevertheless it was awesome to do this activity. After the paddle surfing I went home to pick up my casual and my sporting clothes because I had another activity planned after school: a game of football with the students of EF. But because I had to get my stuff at home I missed the first class of today. I arrived at school around 5.30pm and the last class finished around 6.30pm. After that I went to play football with some of the students. I was clearly out of shape and it looked like we were playing against Pogba and Hulk. After a humiliating defeat I went home exhausted.

Friday 22nd of July: my first class started at 10am and at 1pm I had a two and a half our break. First I witnessed the graduation of the students who are leaving tomorrow, secondly I practiced my card tricks and finally I went to an all you can eat restaurant to have 'lunch' with my friends. Unfortunately I had to skip the class from 3.30pm till 5pm in order to have lunch with my friends. After lunch I went back to school for the remaining classes and my friends decided to skip the rest of the day and went home. During the last class a teacher tried to teach us how to dance the Flamenco. As expected I suck at it so I left when we reached the halfway point and went home. Since it was the last night in Barcelona for some of us we decided to go to a bar and have a few drinks. But since I was too tired and it was raining outside I decided not to go. In retrospect that was probably a decision which I am going to regret for a very long time. Not only was it a lot of fun but this was also the last opportunity for me to say goodbye to my very good friend from Switzerland and I didn't take it.

They say: a goodbye is never easy. I never understood why but now I do.
Goodbye, my friend. That our paths may cross again someday.

Saturday 23rd of July: it's finally weekend and I'm visiting my friends here in Barcelona once again because me and my Spanish friend had an activity planned for today: zip lining and bungee jumping. Only problem was: we arrived there around 2pm and the park was closed between 2pm and 4pm. Being disappointed we left the park and our next stop was Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I, a five-star hotel on the outskirts of Barcelona. We went there because a friend of my Spanish friend texted that she was staying there with her family and she invited us
to the hotel for a swim in the luxurious pool. But I didn't have a swim suit or flip-flops with me so I borrowed them from the father of my Spanish friend. It turned out that the swim suit was way too big and the flip-flops were way too small. Anyhow we went to the hotel and we had a fun time there. After that we went home to eat Chinese food. Having eaten I went home around midnight.

Sunday 24th of July: I'm meeting my Spanish friends again and together we are going to visit their grandparent in Castelldefels. Once we got there we immediately went to the swimming pool. Around 3pm we were having 'lunch' together. They prepared so many dishes it was incredible and it tasted delicious. After 'lunch' we played a game of poker (Five Card Draw) and thanks to my Full House on the first hand I constantly had the chip lead. In the end I came out on top and I finished this game of poker the same way as I started it: with a Full House. At 8pm we went home and I spent the rest of the evening typing this diary.

Hopefully you liked my log and that being said I'd say: see you all next week!

Best regards,

Maxim