¡Bienvenido a Barcelona – my tips for your course!

There are a few things that I wish I had known before I arrived in Barcelona.  The first thing that would have really helped me was if I had known that a building’s 1st floor is actually the 3rd.  Sound confusing?  Well let me explain.  There is ‘la planta baja’ (ground floor), ‘el principal’ and THEN ‘la pisa una’ and so on.  Armed with this knowledge, it would have been much easier to find exactly where my host family lived (although it was quite amusing to knock on a complete strangers door and explain that I was going to be staying with them for a short while!)

After the initial misunderstanding with my host family’s neighbour, I was kindly directed a few floors up and hey presto, I was united with a Spanish family that was expecting me – and boy did they know how to make me feel welcome!

It was about 9pm by this point, so conveniently for me I had arrived just in time for supper.  With the host family accommodation, a breakfast and an evening meal was included, which is definitely the perfect way to get settled in to the Spanish way of life, whilst enjoying lots of traditional food.  I loved it!

I also found it to be a great way of practicing my Spanish conversation skills (however basic they may had been), build up my confidence and also, it was great way of getting better acquainted with my host family.  I learnt that they had been hosting students for many years – which definitely showed by the hospitality that I received.

It was also nice that I was given a set of house keys so that I could come and go as I pleased without disturbing everyone – which was a good idea as I found out later on in the week that las fiestas traditionally go on till the small hours!

The following day I went to the school which is located right in the centre of Barcelona, and just a quick, cheap journey by metro to ‘Passeig de Gracia’, which is the nearest metro stop to the school.  From there it is just a 2 minute walk. Easy!

Now then, for some of my top tips!  If you want to see lots of Barcelona in a relatively short space of time (and you don’t mind being labelled a complete and utter ‘tourist’!) then keep at look out for the open top tour buses parading the city centre.  They stop quite frequently and they go to many places of interest within the city centre, as well as going to the Olympic Stadium and of course the fantastic beaches!  You can jump on and off and much as you like all day for approx 22 Euros.

Lastly, I would thoroughly recommend staying with a host family, as personally, I got to experience so much about the Spanish way of life. (It is also really nice to know that you have a couple of fantastic meals each day too!)

I think I’ll always remember my time in Barcelona.

Hasta pronto

Jamie