Spain- Barry Goldsmith

Wednesday June 29th

Today was the first day in Spain and everybody in the group was exhausted because we took a direct flight from JFK to Madrid instead of changing planes in Paris, so none of us slept on the flight. Today we just took a quick walk through the city and we saw La Puerta del Sol and La Plaza Mayor. We ate dinner in a restaurant right next to the hotel called the café Lupulo. The food was really good and I had my first taste of Spanish food with a dish called patatas bravas.

Thursday June 30th

My roommate and I Diego woke up at 8:00 in the morning to shower, it was way too early. At 10:00 we started walking through the city again, but this time with a guide. We walked through several other major plazas and saw some huge palaces. We ate lunch in a really good restaurant; I had steak for the main course and an appetizer that they called ensaladillo de rusa. I also enjoyed the desert which was a type of cake. We walked so much today, my feet were sore when we got back to the hotel. I like my roommate Diego. Tonight we might go to a Gay Pride festival, but it’s also possible that we might go try to see a movie.

Friday July 1st

Today we visited 2 art museums: the art museum of Queen Sofia and the Prado. I didn’t like the first museum very much because the people who worked there were not nice at all to us, but I did have the opportunity see a lot of Pablo Picasso’s artwork. At the second museum we saw a lot of famous paintings, such as Las Meninas. I liked that museum but we had a crazy tour guide who annoyed me. After the first museum, we went to the park to have a picnic. We played some games like Big Booty and duck-duck-goose. At night we went to the theatre to see the Flamenca. After the theatre, we went to a Spanish version of an American restaurant. The restaurant played pretty stereotypical American music and served typical bar-food.

Saturday July 2nd

We went to a small medieval city about an hour outside of Madrid called Toledo for a day-trip. It had some very old churches and it even had a castle. I loved Toledo and I bought a gift for my grandparents; it was an orange, mosaic bull. I also bought a leather bracelet for myself. It was a really fun day and at night we went to see a concert in a little plaza called Callao.

Sunday July 3rd

We had to wake up really early today to go to the bus station. It was a 4 hour trip to Logrono where I finally got to meet my host brother and my host parents. My host brother’s name is Daniel and he is 16 years old. Logrono is a really small city but it has some beautiful horticulture and a great view of the mountains. At night I went to a restaurant with Dani where we met up with some of his friends (Angela, Peter, Axel, and Carlos). We played some card games and had a good time.

Monday July 4th

I slept like a baby all night, but I still had to wake up at 9:00. For breakfast I ate toast with the best olive oil I have ever had in my life. The bread in Spain is indescribably delicious and is much better than any bread I have ever eaten in the US. At 10:00 Dani and I went to the park to play sports with Niemah, her host sister Angela, and Axel. We played basketball and tennis. For lunch I ate vegetable soup, and when mixed with fresh cheese and the perfect bread it’s actually delicious. I absolutely love the food in Spain, and I plan on gaining some weight. In the afternoon Dani and I laid outside on the lawn and just talked with Angela, Niemah, Swarna, Peter, Axel, and Carlos. I also met his neighbor Laura. I love my host family and the house is perfect.

Tuesday July 5th

Today Dani and I went with the whole group to see two of the oldest monasteries in Spain, named Yuso and Suso. Suso is the older of the two and is actually carved into the side of a mountain and it happens to be the birthplace of the Spanish language. Yuso had some fantastic architecture, with some beautiful statues and very ornate stonework. The paintings and morals covering the walls and ceilings were beautiful, but the tour guide was not very nice and would not even let us sit on the benches to rest. Afterwards the whole group went to a pool where we spent the remainder of the afternoon, and at night Dani and I went to Angela’s house.

Wednesday July 6th

Today we went to a park with the whole group, minus Carly and her host brother and also minus Deidra and her host sister. The park was right next to a lake and offered a pristine view. Peter, Carlos, and Swarna also came with us. The park was called La Grajera and was only a few miles outside the town, so of course we walked there and back. Right before we all left we had a water war and my brother got soaked. Afterwards the whole family went to the supermarket to pick out food for the next week.

Thursday July 7th

Today we went to a water park with the whole group called Las Norias. There were pools, fields to play sports on, and a few slides. The host sister of my friend Chelsea is very pretty and we talked under the trees while lying on our towels for a lot of the afternoon. We went to Burger King to eat dinner; I thought I had escaped fast food when I left the US but I guess not.

Friday July 8th

During the morning I went with the whole family and also with the Angela’s family to see some of the oldest vineyards in La Rioja. The first vineyard was the third oldest vineyard in La Rioja and they still did all the work by hand. I also got to taste some wine, just a sip of course, and then I bought a bottle to take back to Nashville as a present for my mom. After visiting the vineyards we went to this wonderful Spanish restaurant where Rosa (my group leader) and I quite literally sampled every dish of food brought to the table. Then we went to a museum that explained the history and process of wine-making. At night Dani and I met with the whole group at a restaurant called Krunch to eat dinner and then we spent the rest of the night with everybody.

Saturday July 9th

During the morning we went up into the mountains to see the caves. They were magnificent, filled with stalactites and stalagmites. The colors were also very vivid in the caves. We also visited a little town called Torrecilla. We ate lunch picnic style right next to a lake. When we got home I took a quick 20 minute nap and then we had a group activity. The group activity turned out to be a guided tour through Logrono so that we could learn about the history of the city, but a group of actors acted everything out. Once again we ate dinner at Burger King and then we spent the whole night out with the group. We were going to go to a town party, but we decided not to because the town was too small.

Sunday July 10th

Today I woke up at 11:00, it was great to sleep in. We didn’t do much today which was nice because I was very tired. But we did go to a town named La Guardia. I loved the architecture of this medieval town. Then we all went back home to eat lunch with Niemah and Angela’s family.

Monday July 11th

In the morning we went shopping with Niemah, Angela, and Dani’s friends. I didn’t buy anything this time. Then we went to Carlos’ house to play videogames and just sit and talk. We also listened to some really good music and I learned that Carlos like me was a fan of Eminem. He also showed me some really good Spanish rap. Then we watched a movie called Insidious, it was supposed to be scary but I didn’t really think it was. Then we went home to eat dinner with Dani’s cousins.

Tuesday July 12th

We went with the whole group to see another vineyard but this one didn’t particularly impress me because everything was so clean and modern as compared to the other one that I had visited. Then we went home to eat lunch and to rest. At 5:00 we took the bus to the mall to go shopping with the whole group. I bought a t-shirt from one of my favorite snowboarding companies: Volcom. It was raining when we left the mall, the first time I had seen rain since I got to Spain. We went to the house of my friend Nina and her host sister Aida to see the movie Saw VI. It was entirely in Spanish but I still understood most of it.

Wednesday July 13th

During the morning Dani and I walked through Logrono, visiting some schools and seeing the whole town. We didn’t do much but I liked that because it was relaxing. We went back home and I ate some fantastic meatballs. Afterwards I took a siesta and watched some TV with the family. At 5:45 the whole group went to a modern art museum called the Wurth. It was very boring and the tour guide spoke way too much. We went back to Logrono to eat dinner and we got some delicious kebabs from a little restaurant right next to Aida’s house. We then went back to her house to see another scary movie, but I didn’t really think it was all that scary.

Thursday July 14th

In the morning I went with Dani and his mom to the mall to go shopping again for an outfit to wear to the discoteca. I bought a nice polo from a store called Jack Jones. We went back home to eat lunch and to take a siesta. That night we went to the bar owned by the dad of Carly and her new host sister Candela (or, as I called her, Macarena) to make a toast and to celebrate our time in Logrono. Then we all went to Aida’s house to hang out until the time when we would go to the discoteca. At 1:00 we went to Concept, the best discoteca in all of Logrono. We all danced with Rosa and Anparo and some of the parents who were there. There was nobody in Concept because we were so early, but it was still really fun.

Friday July 15th

It was my last day in Logrono, so we didn’t do much. I slept in until 1:00 in the afternoon and for the rest of the day we didn’t really do anything. During the night we went to Aida’s house and then my host parents took me down one of the most famous streets in Spain, la Calle Laurel, to eat tapas and drink mosto. I really didn’t want to leave.

Saturday July 16th

I had to wake up very early in the morning to take a shower and finish packing my bag. It was very difficult leaving my host family and I almost cried. I slept through most of the train ride to Barcelona. When we got to Barcelona we immediately went to the apartments where we would be staying and then we started walking through the city. We went to a very famous bar called Les Fades Café that was fairytale themed. We saw a very famous market called La Boqueria. We ate some incredible gelato. Surprisingly, the primary language of Barcelona is not Spanish. It is, in fact, a mixture of Spanish and French called Catalan. Barcelona is smaller than Madrid but I already like it more. There are a lot of tourists in Barcelona.

Sunday July 17th

The whole group was tired in the morning. At 11:00 we walked to the beach, which turned out to be a horrible idea because it was about an hour and a half walk there. I got to swim in the ocean, but the water was very cold. Afterwards we went back to the apartments to change and then we went to La Plaza Real to eat lunch. We then visited a very famous church that has been in construction since 1886 called La Sagrada Familia. The church is very odd looking and I don’t really like the architectural style.

Monday July 18th

During the morning we went and toured an apartment complex that was designed by the famous architect Gaudi. Then we had lunch and went to a park that was also designed by Gaudi. The park was magnificent and offered a fantastic view of all of Barcelona. We saw a cowboy singing and playing the guitar and he was really funny. Then we went to La Sagrada Familia to see the inside of the church.

Tuesday July 19th

In the morning Diego and I went on an adventure through downtown Barcelona. Nina was asleep in her room and didn’t hear the other girls in her room knocking, so Diego and I took a taxi to get an extra room key. Afterwards we all took taxis to the bus station to take the bus back to Madrid from Barcelona. The trip was a very long 7 hours. After arriving back in Madrid, we went to a restaurant close to el Palacio Real to eat dinner. It was a steakhouse and the food was pretty good. It was my last night in Spain, and I was sad to be leaving the next morning.