Reisverslag Taalcursus Barcelona 2019 Week 3

'Sup, guys! As promised, week 3 of my adventures in Barcelona. Once again sorry for the late upload, I just haven't been feeling well this past week. Without further ado, let's get this show on the road!

Monday, July 29th: I had classes early starting at 8.40am and lasting 'till 1pm but I was too worn out from the day before so I skipped all classes that day. I got up around noon and went to school where I was supposed to meet a friend of mine from Germany (who was also with us during our trip to PortAventura) at 1pm to do some souvenir shopping but he told me that he wasn't feeling too well so we decided to postpone that to 4pm. So I had around three hours of spare time in which I went to McDonald's for some lunch and afterwards returned to school where I sat down in the lounge and started writing on my blog from week 2. Around 4pm I met up with my German friend and we headed to Plaza Cataluña/Las Ramblas for some souvenir shopping. I went to the official Barcelona store to buy an official FC Barcelona Women's shirt for my sister (it was a present for her graduation), after that we walked down Las Ramblas in search of souvenirs for our family. I struck out but my friend found exactly what he was looking for. When we were done shopping we went to La Boqueria to have some pre-dinner snacks and around 6pm we parted ways. When I got back home to my host family I continued writing my blog from week 2 but when I was finished I wasn't able to upload it. I could've just copy pasted everything to a new tab but I forgot to do that. However, I did take screenshots of everything but I didn't wanna rewrite everything on the same night. So I postponed uploading my second blog to the next morning. Around 10pm I went to the Welcome Drinks party from EF (third straight week) to meet up with some of my already existing friends and to meet some new people as well. The bar we went to first was a big bust so I went to a different bar located along La Rambla with a friend from Flanders (it was like a half an hour walk!). When we got there there were sitting all new students which we had never seen before and they were all really nice and open to meet us so that was nice. And the age variance was all over the place (from 15-year-old youngsters to a 50-year-old English teacher from Italy). It was a lot of fun to meet some new people 'cause a couple of my friends had left the day before. I stayed out 'till 1am and then went home to get some rest.

Tuesday, July 30th: I had classes from 2pm until 6.20pm but I wanted to get up early anyway 'cause I had to rewrite my blog from scratch which took well over two hours. Having completed my blog I got ready to go to school. After school I got to talking with some new students outside the school premises (a German, Hungarian and a Dutch girl) and we (me and the three friends of mine whom I went to PortAventura with) invited them to join us the next day for a 'Flying Fish' water ride (similar to the Banana Boat ride we did two weeks ago). We had a chat for about 45 minutes when I realized I still had an activity planned that night: a soccer match. So I hurried over there and by 8pm everyone had gathered at the soccer pitch and we had a great match. I think we ended up drawing 3-3 but I'm not quite sure but we had a great time anyhow. Around 9pm the match was over and we all headed home. I got home at 10pm and I fell asleep right away.

Wednesday, July 31st: I had to get up early once again for my classes which commenced at 8.40am and finished at 1pm. Afterwards we (me, my three friends from the theme park and the three girls whom we had met yesterday) went to Barceloneta Beach altogether. But before we did the Flying Fish activity, we had lunch somewhere along the boulevard. After lunch we did the Flying Fish activity and it was truly spectacular although nobody fell off the boat (except for me!). Only issue was that the boat was extremely deflated so it felt we were like skipping stones hopping on the water. After the activity we had a drink in a bar in the Olympic Village (where history was created in the summer of 1992). Having finished our drinks we each went our separate ways to have some dinner at either our host family or residence. Around 11pm I went to bar Summum to get some drinks but it turned out to be quite boring 'cause the turnout was quite low. So, I went to a bar called Dry Martini Bar, which was the fanciest bar I had ever been to in my life. The waiters all dressed in fancy white tuxedos, the furniture the most comfortable I had ever sat on and the drinks the most expensive I've ever drunk. We stayed there 'till 1.30am and then moved on to another bar which was closed unfortunately. So we decided to buy some booze from the local supermarket and drink it in a nearby park. I got to talking with a girl from Poland (whom I met on Monday evening during the Welcome Drinks Party) and we talked about all kinds of stuff until 4am! I had a really great time that night! Then we decided it was time to head home.

Thursday, August 1st: I got up at 10am (still really tired and 'dizzy' from last night), got ready and left the apartment around 11.30am 'cause I was gonna meet with my good friends who live right across the Camp Nou soccer stadium. So I went to their apartment and we just caught up with each other since we hadn't seen each other in three years! We had a great time, such a great time that I was running late for my first class which started at 2pm. I didn't have enough time to get to school by subway so I went looking for a cab but couldn't find one in time so I just took the subway to school and had lunch at McDonald's. Afterwards, I did attend my second and third class of the day from 3.30pm 'till 6.20pm. After school I went to the cinema with my friends (same ones who went with me to PortAventura and the Flying Fish ride) to watch the newly released 'Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw' movie. The movie was alright but the snacks were awesome and gigantic. We each had like 2lbs of popcorn and a liter of soda! After the movie ended around 10.30 we parted ways and went home.

Friday, August 2nd: I had to get up early because my classes started at 8.40am and ended at 1pm. After classes I witnessed the graduation of the departing students and after that me and my German and Canadian friend decided to join some other friends for lunch at a tapas bar where we also met some new people. One of those new people was a Dutch guy who bore a striking resemblance to a former WIDM-participant and as it turned out: he is the son of a former WIDM-participant (I'm not gonna mention his name since that would be an invasion of his privacy). I was so stoked when I found out 'cause (as most of you know) I'm a big fan of that television show. After our lunch I headed to La Sagrada Familia 'cause I had tickets for a guided tour in and around the church along with my friend from Canada. Our tour was scheduled to start at 5pm but we decided to meet up 15 minutes before. So, I did but he arrived two minutes before the tour commenced. So we had to run to the tour operator to see whether we were still in time and luckily we were. The tour itself was quite lame, our tour guide didn't speak English very well and we weren't even allowed to climb the stairs. Yet, we paid like 42 euros each for the tour. The tour lasted about an hour and a half and ended with a visit to the gift shop. I went home around 7pm to get some dinner and to freshen up for the Goodbye Party since a lot of my good friends were leaving the next day. I arrived at bar Summum around 10.30pm, had some drinks and talked for quite some time with a Japanese girl (who was leaving the following day). We had a great time and it was a shame to see her leave. Mentioning people that had to leave the next day, I also wanna give a shout-out to my good friends from Stuttgart, Germany and Quebec City, Canada. They've become really good friends over the past three weeks and I'm gonna miss them a lot. 'Till we meet again, guys! After they left the bar I stayed a little longer until approximately 2am.

Saturday, August 3rd: I had an activity planned for which we had to gather at school at 9am but I overslept a bit. I woke up at around 8am so I had to hurry like big time (for me getting ready in under an hour is normally out of my reach). I got there right on time (thanks to the cab driver) and we were headed for Girona. A small town known for the Game of Thrones footage shot right there. After a two-hour tour we had a two-and-a-half-hour break in which we got a very extended lunch and walked some more around the historic quarter of Girona. Around 2.30pm we moved on to a small village located on the Costa Brava called S'Agaró. All we did was lay on the beach for three straight hours, take a dive into the Mediterranean, get a tan, relax and eat some ice cream. Around 6.30pm we took the bus back home and arrived at school at 8pm. Then we all went home to our respective host family or residence to have dinner and either stay home or freshen up and get ready to go out. Unfortunately, not many people chose the latter (which is what I chose) so when I arrived at bar Summum it was basically empty and only 2 other people I knew. So we had a couple of beers, then moved to an Irish pub, had another beer, then went to McDonald's for a late-night snack and eventually got back home around 3am.

Sunday, August 4th: I slept out until 2pm and met up with my friend from Germany at the Barcelona Aquarium (which is supposedly the biggest in all of Europe) which is located in the old harbour down La Rambla. We were supposed to meet at 4pm at a subway station that was fairly close to both of our host families but I completely forgot about that so I went straight down to the harbour and when he called me asking where I was I realized my mistake. So I waited for like half an hour and when he finally arrived we entered the Aquarium. The Aquarium itself wasn't that spectacular and it didn't last as long as we thought it would so that was kind of disappointing as well. After our visit to the Aquarium we went to a bar to have a drink before moving on to a big fancy restaurant along the boulevard for some nice dinner. Around 9pm we were done eating and headed to the casino of Barcelona. It was my first time ever in a casino but it surely won't be the last one. I felt right at home even though at the end of the night I ended up with a loss of €70 (that could have been -€150 if I had lost my last hand of Blackjack). I had the most amazing time and we stayed there until midnight.

All right, folks! That was week 3. Once again, I'm terribly sorry for not uploading this blog sooner. I'll be sure to upload week 4 (which will be written completely in Spanish) somewhere tomorrow. That's all for now! See you next time, guys!

Take care,

Max