Oh the places I'll teach!: I am finally in Barcelona!

After a short flight to New York, a very long flight, and a luggage crisis, I am excited to say that I finally made it to Barcelona! Although I have had a severe case of jet lag, it has been an absolutely amazing day! We took a shuttle from the airport to the school that we will be student teaching at, and this is where I met my host mother for the first time! She brought me back to their flat in the city, and I got to see where I will be staying for the next month. They have a lovely home, and my room is perfect!

My host mother left to go get her son, Marc around 1:30 so he could come home and meet me for lunch. He was very sweet and loved to talk about his friends at school, the drums, and rugby (which is kind of like football in America). After we ate lunch, we took Marc back to school and went to a local cafe to get coffee. I have never tried an espresso before, so I was nervous to see what it would taste like. I ordered what is called "cafe con leche" which means coffee with milk. It was the most amazing coffee I have ever had before! Now I know why coffee is so popular in Europe!

After coffee, all of the student teachers met up with Kristen, our coordinator at the school, to talk about everything and our experiences this far. It was great to get together with everyone again and hear about their host families! We had a meet and greet with all of the Western students and their host families after the meeting and I got to meet many of them. I even got to meet my teacher that I will be assisting this month! She was very nice and seemed so excited to have me there!

Later I went with Imma, my host mother, to take Marc, my host brother, to his music lessons. He loves to play the drums, and is very good at it! Imma and I walked around the area of Barcelona called "Sarria". It was absolutely beautiful. We went in many shoppes around the area and I even got to go inside one of the very old chapels in the middle of "Sarria". I got to meet my host father, Oriol later on tonight after he got home from work and playing tennis. He was also so sweet and excited to have me in his home! I gave them my gifts that I brought for them and they were so excited to have different gifts from Western. Marc loves American football, and he absolutely loved the WKU football I got him and his new Kentucky football jersey! We ate dinner around 9:00 p.m. which is very different for me, but I think it will be very easy to adjust to. They eat two snacks each day as well, so that is why they are not usually hungry until this late at night. I can already tell such a difference in the cooking styles between the United States and Spain, but so far I have absolutely loved everything that I have tried!

I better get some sleep, because tomorrow morning is when I get to meet my 2nd Grade kiddos and give them the gift that I brought for them! After school Amanda, Mary Bruce, and I are going to begin exploring this beautiful city, so I should have many more pictures to come later on this week! Wish me luck tomorrow!!

Until next time,

Ms. Sarah