Oh what a night !

And a day!

Yesterday was “Graduation” day for us Spanish students. I arrived on the school's terrace at 12h30 to find that the place was crowded with the teachers who had taught us during the course. There was a table, laid with typical Spanish drinks and snacks – Tapas, Tortilla, Spanish omelette, Sangria, Sumo... The students arrived in dribs and drabs. Mona being the first, and me the second. It was an awesome afternoon, spent chatting to our fellow students and teachers about their plans for the future and where they see their Spanish taking them. Some of the teachers are going to teach Spanish in other countries like Germany and Russia. Others will stay in Spain. Others will travel to Australia and Africa and see what opportunities come their way. The Polish group in our class – Iga, Monika and Jacek invited us all to have lunch with them at this affordable place near the Arc de Triomf. So Ludis, Mona, Guiu and I went to join them. The Polish students are here doing a 3 month apprenticeship in an Architectural firm so they work from 9 am to 2pm (then they come to Spanish class from 2 to 4) and then go back to work from 4 to 7pm – excepting Fridays when they knock off at 3pm. They said it is tiring and they may not take the next Spanish course. They invited lots of other apprentices from their firm to the lunch so it was a huge table with people from all over Europe. After our lunch we walked to La Rambla as the Polish students wanted to visit the MACBA museum which is nearby. When we got there they decided not to enter the entry fee was high. So we went into the free museum next door which they also battled to find anything artistic about. Reverberating echoes in a room, and a pile of Ikea magazines! Monika touched the magazines and the security guard was quick to come over and tell her it is forbidden to touch.

Lunch with the Spanish students and the Architect apprentices

Later on, we arranged to meet at the beach. The Apprentices (let's call them that as there were so many of them) were sitting on the beach when we arrived. Wine and beers were flowing whilst we sat and chatted on the sand. Then we played a game of piggy in the middle, standing in a circle and the person in the middle having to catch the ball whilst it was being thrown between the people standing in the circle. It was already dark but we got sweaty and hot doing all that “running and catching” on the beach. So it was time to swim. The girls had their bikinis on so they could swim. The Italian boys swam in their underpants. The Polish guys had speedos under their clothes so they swam in their costumes. I never anticipated swimming – since I have had a cold this week and especially not after Jacek told us that the the city beaches are dirty as the sewers flow into the sea! All that forgotten and me dripping in sweat, I got down to my underpants and for a swim in the sea. The water was calm, warm and refreshing. We played a bit of piggy in the middle in the sea before having a race to touch the buoys which mark the boundary of the swimming area. It was real fun. Swimming in the sea after midnight, in your underwear!! Then we made two teams and played a game of volley using the beach volleyball net. Just before 1am it was decided that enough was enough. Time to head home or to head out to nightclubs – for some of the young apprentices! A great day, full of fun.