So on Saturday morning I woke up at 8 AM got my stuff together and hoped aboard a 9:15 train to meet the other AFS students at Barcelona Sants. Little did I know that once I got there, we simply hopped aboard the same train that I was on before, literally the exact same train (the monitors were broken so I am 99% sure it was the same one on its return trip), and headed the exact same direction I had come from. I could have just hopped aboard this darn train when it rolled into my station on the return trip and gotten more sleep! But I didn't mind, because this would mean that I would spend less time with my favorite AFS group, and that would be the last thing that I would want!
Let me just say that if you ever find yourself in the Barcelona area, take the time to simply ride the train down the coast. SO PRETTY! I was never really a big landscape person before I came here, but how could you not enjoying riding a train in and out of man made holes through mountains and just on the edge of the same mountain looking right over the Mediterranean Sea!? I could have ridden that train for hours!
Once we got off the train we had a bit of a walk to the hostel at which we were staying. This hostel was much cooler than the one we stayed at for our last orientation, and in addition, we were just a bridges distance away from the beach! Upon arrival we dropped our bags and sat in a circle to play none other than Duck Duck Goose, but the Spanish play a bit differently. Here you only touch the head of the person you want to run, and then not only that person but also the people on either side of the "it" person have to run around the circle and race back. Similar to the US, last person the sit is it.
After that we stayed in a circle and had to memorize each others names. I was fortunate enough to be one out of about four others to be chosen for that massive group of about 30 to go around the circle and name everyone else in the group. I am horrible with names and it definitely showed. My face got all red as is so often does, and Quinn, an exchange student from California who was sitting next to me, helped me with all the names I didn't know... which were more than I would like to admit. So if any of you guys are reading this I am truly sorry!
After that we did some talking and stuff and ate some self serve hostel food. OH for lunch we had THE largest sausage I have ever seen in my entire life definitely surpassing one foot long with french fries.
That night we had some interesting tribal ceremony where the returnees dressed in like togas and painted themselves and clucked their tongues, pushed our heads to the floor, feed us yogurt, all in only a candle lit room. Very hard to explain, but pretty cool as well. Afterwards they explained to us that it was to show how difficult it is to understand what is going on when you can not communicate with a language very well, with strange new customs and habits at the same time, as if we didn't already know!
The next day our families came and the students, volunteers and host siblings went to the beach and played dodge ball, again different than the way we play in the US, but I could not even begin to explain the rules of this one, and just had fun in the sun! Leaving these orientations is so difficult because they are like a break from reality where everyone around you simply understands and we all just have such a bond with one another. It sounds cliche, but it is simply the truth! I had a great time this weekend and can't wait for the next orientation (which I cannot believe will be the half way orientation)! Hope you all had a great weekend as well!
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| I am sure you have already seen it, but this picture says it all! |
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