Kick-off in Barcelona

Sunday, 20 February

On Sunday morning, all groups met up at 10 o'clock, after we had a fantastic breakfast in our hotel. When everyone had put their bags into the bus, we all started walking through the streets of Barcelona. As one of the first attractions, we visited the Casa Batlló (part of the UNESCO World Heritage) and the Casa Milà, both very beautifully designed houses of the famous architect Antoni Gaudí.

The next stop was the Sagrada Família which stands for

the lifetime of Christ and has each facade dedicated to one the parts of his life; nativity (birth), passion (ascension to heaven) and glory (teachings of Christ). A part of the monument that I myself liked quite a lot was the tower of the virgin Mary with it's multiple stars on top of it. The many small details were very fascinating and the sheer size was astonishing (it's a bit smaller than the Kölner Dom).

Day 1 Kick-off Barcelona.pdf

For lunch we went to the Maremagnum Mall's burger shops which were located on the coast. Here, we tried to get to know each other more, and although it was a bit awkward at first, the ice was slowly starting to melt.

In the afternoon we all went to visit the Ciutat Vella, the old part of Barcelona, where we saw the Plaça del Rei and the Carrer de la Pietat. I really like this part of the trip because we got to see the differences between the past and present face of Barcelona. For the rest of the time we strolled through the small alleys until we reached the Plaça d'Antonio Lopez, where we were picked up by the bus and drove for two hours to Lleida. Here, at around 20.00, we got picked up by our host families and drove to their homes. All on all it was an exciting first day with everyone and I'm looking forward to the upcoming days.

by Nele Hellmann