Hola from Pre-College Barcelona!

After our wonderful group of 25 students arrived this morning, we kicked off our first day with student orientation. As leaders, we were so happy and excited to meet such an awesome group of people. We played some ice breaker games like Crazy 8’s to get our energy flowing, then went over some norms and rules as a group. We also had a discussion about the important distinction between being a traveler and a tourist, which fed into a discussion about our responsibilities as visitors to Barcelona. The students helped form group-norms, and we all decided that we wanted to form a community based on respect, inclusion, mindfulness, and a willingness to push our comfort zones during our time here together. We have a marvelous group and we are so excited to begin our seminar classes tomorrow morning!

We spent some time getting our bearings in Barcelona by taking a walk through this beautiful city. We saw the Port of Barcelona, La Rambla, the Parc de la Ciutadella, and some more notable landmarks. We learned a thing or two about the differences between the two main languages spoken here, Catalan and Castellano, and also offered some helpful tips for staying safe in the city. We finished the day off with small group dinners, where good food and good conversation were abundant. After a long day of orientation, the students were exhausted so we had an early night. We’ll keep it short and sweet for today; we can’t wait to share all of our fun adventures in our seminar classes and cultural immersion activities!

— Cat, Evan, Liz, Wren, & Rachel