This weekend I went to Barcelona. It was, of course, a must do for an exchange student in Spain. Barcelona is really beautiful with modern (and crazy) architecture. Gaudi’s work really has a huge effect on the city. Gaudi’s stuff is incredible. It’s a lot of flowy, curvy, colorful stuff, up to the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is huge and every inch has something special carved into it. It is unbelievable intricate.

I went up on Thursday and stayed with the host family of another exchange student, Jamie. Jamie’s current host sister, Adriana, was an exchange student in Florence, Oregon last year and I met her at the Oregon Rotary meetings. It was nice to see her and meet her family in Barcelona. On Friday I went to a fair with Jamie and another exchange student in Barcelona, Zoey. The fair was supposed to be a copy of the Seville fair of April, but it seemed a lot like a Spanish version of a country fair. There were rides and junk food and plenty of booths to buy stuff.

On Saturday I went out with the cousin of Adriana for the day. He took me to downtown Barcelona, the port and a few more places around the city. In the evening we watched the biggest game of the year in the Spanish Soccer League. F.C. Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. Barcelona won this game by 6-2  which is a huge defeat. So after the game we went to Placa Catalunya, the center of Barcelona, and to where the celebration of the victory was happening. Here there were a lot of people wearing Barcelona shirts and scarves and yelling and drinking and being crazy. The cars driving nearby were honking their horns and everyone seemed quite happy.

Sunday I met up with another exchange, Jordan. Jordan and I had gone to San Francisco together to apply for our Spanish visas. We also flew together on the way over to Europe. We visited some more of Barcelona including the 1992 Olympic Stadium at Monjuic and Parc Guell. Parc Guell was a park designed by Guadi and really beautiful. I think it was my favorite thing in Barcelona. Well, I don’t know if that’s true. Barcelona also has a bagel shop. To be exact, The Bagel Shop. The Bagel Shop makes bagels fresh and delicious. Madrid doesn’t have any places to get bagels (that I have found, and I have searched). It is probably the biggest flaw of Madrid.

I went with Jordan to Camp Nou, the stadium of F.C. Barcelona, on Monday. I also bought some more bagels before returning to Madrid.

I really enjoyed the trip. It wasn’t too rushed and I was able to catch up with a lot of people while also seeing a lot of Barcelona.

On Sunday I went to my first bull fights in Spain. There is a big plaza Madrid and some other Americans and I went and bought tickets there the day of. There wasn’t a ton of people in the plaza but enough. They bull fights actually have strict rules and procedures that they go by. There are normally six bulls killed by three different toreros. It was pretty gruesome but something I wanted to see at least once. While it is a cultural event I have some friends at my school who hate them and I also those who like them. In either case I am glad that I was able to see one.

Today I went to Madrid with my host family. It was a lot of fun and I got some good pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

I brought my camera with me as I walked to school today and captured some pictures of my house and town.

Yes, the last one is actually the birthday cake from yesterday.

Yesterday was my first birthday in Spain. However, it was also my 18th birthday. It seems that having an early October birthday often means that I am still getting acquainted with my school and the newish year. This birthday was all that eventful, but that doesn’t mean it was bad. I had a good day at school with a lot of students and even some teachers wishing my happy birthday. Then later I had some cake with my entire extended family, as the attached photo shows. Afterwords I went to my friend David’s house to watch a soccer game. I biked there and back and was really glad to be able to get around on my own. How very fitting for an 18th birthday.

I am going to consider this weekend my birthday also, so we will see if anything else fun occurs.

On Friday I witnessed an act that is pretty common in America: the copying of math school work. Some students borrowed the notes of the most diligent student in class and made photocopies. Then they thankfully returned the original and kept their own copy. But the difference in Spain and America is that in math you don’t turn your homework. This student wanted a copy to study. It had nothing to do with cheating, only getting materials to prepare himself for the infamous Selectividad.

In the U.S. nearly all student work is completed –in full or partial amounts– because a teacher is going to grade it. If American teachers were to give math homework that didn’t have to be turned in, nearly everybody wouldn’t do it. Here, in the segundo de Bachillerato — the last grade of public high school — it’s different. Students I have talked with say they study around three hours a day. But in my first week and a half in school I haven’t turned in anything. There are of course students who don’t do their homework, but it seems the fear and terror of La Selectividad works to motivate students.