The National Geographic Fieke Weren

Today, our last day in Spain, we went to a museum. Personally, I didn’t like the museum very much, because the weather was so beautiful outside. So we were there half an hour and we wanted to sit in the sun. So I don’t know what to say about this museum. Our last day, we also went to the Barcelona stadium. It was very beautiful and especially large! The changing rooms are very luxury, they even have a Jacuzzi. In the evening, we had dinner at the Chinese with the whole group. You could eat as much as you want, because you had to pay 10 Euros and you could eat what you want. Then, we went to the park, and want to stay there almost the whole night. But then at 3 o’ clock, there was the police, and we had to go home.  So we could sleep a few hours before we had to go back to Holland.

The insider Thursday the 10th of February Joyce van Grinsven

Today we went to the Science Museum and to the FC Barcelona stadium. The science museum was very interesting, but I don’t have physics, so I didn’t understand biggest part of the museum. Because of that, we went out and settle down on a terrace. The weather was very sunny, so it was very nice on the terrace.

After our time at the science museum we went to the FC Barcelona stadium. I don’t know very much about football, but I really liked our visit. It was very big, there can be 90.000 people in the stadium. We’ve seen places you don’t see every day, for example the changing rooms and the pressroom. After we’ve seen everything we went back to school.

My exchange partner was Laia. She lives with her mother and brother in a very tiny appartment at the thirteenth floor. They were very nice for me. Laia’s mother didn’t speak English when I arrived at Barcelona, but during my visit, she learned some words English. Before I went home, she could tell me that she would miss me, that was very nice. Laia speaks English very good. I was very happy with that, because it’s very nice when you are able to converse with your exchange partner.

Now, I’ll tell you something about the social behavior of the Spanish people compared with the Dutch. The biggest difference between the Spanish and Dutch people is that the Spanish ones don’t care about time. They don’t hurry and don’t care when they aren’t somewhere at the right time. The Spanish people are very relaxed.

Another very big difference between the Dutch and Spanish culture are the times of eating. In the morning they eat very less. They have a good breakfast at +/- 10.30. Than they finish their day at school and go home for the lunch. That’s around 15.30. Most days we went out after our “lunch” and we returned home at 20.30. They we had dinner. The lunch and dinner are both hot food, so for me it felt every day like two dinners.

The European Times Thursday

¡Hola!

All the people in Spain are very friendly and relaxed. They take everything easy and don´t worry about the time.

IES Bellvitge starts at 8.30 am and most of the students are finished at 3.00 pm. The students eat at 3.30 pm and have dinner at 7.00 pm, 8.00 pm or 9.00 pm. They eat warm food twice a day instead of once.

The schools are not the same as the schools in Holland. In Spain you go to kindergarden when you´re 3, 4 and 5. After that you go to primary school when you´re 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. After that you go to secundary school when you´re 13, 14, 15 and 16. After that you can do bachelor or half cycle and than upper or university.

In their free time they just go outside with friends, sport or do homework, so that is the same as in Holland. But the disco´s are different. I went to a latin disco and they are open in the afternoon till 9.30 pm. The music and the way they dance is also different, a big difference is that in the latin disco everyone can dance. Barcelona also has disco´s which are similar to the disco´s in Holland.

Kyra

National Geographic Wednesday

Today we went to visit Codorníu, a winery, and to Sitges. In Codorníu we got a guided tour and went in to the basement, where all the bottles of wine are. From the outside everything looked very luxury, but from the inside everything looked much older. It was a very beautiful place.
Then we went to Sitges to visit the beach, which of course is very beautiful. We were lucky
that we had such nice weather.

Mirna van Oel

The insider Wednesday

Sanne van Nistelrooij


The most important difference between Dutch and Spanish people, is how we handle the time. In Spain, the people are very relaxed. They don´t worry about the time and when they go somewhere, it´s normal to be late. When we say in Holland that we´ll be somewhere at 6 o´clock, we are there at 6 o´clock. So that´s a big difference.


In Holland we also like to know what we are going to do and i´ve noticed that Spanish people don´t like planning very much. In the previous days, the Spanish people from the exchange group didn´t know what we were going to do and they decided last minute.


My exchange partner is Cristina. She lives with her parents and sister in Barcelona. She also has a cat. Her parents aren´t from Catalonia originially. They are from Galicia. Every summer they go back to Galicia with the whole family. They are all very nice and take good care of me.


We´ve tried to learn the Spanish students a few Dutch words. Sometimes they can pronounce it correct, but there also are words which are very hard for them to pronounce. I´ve got Spanish at school, so I know a few words. That´s very handy, because now I sometimes can understand what they are talking about when the speak Spanish. Cristina´s parents can´t speak english, but sometimes when her mother asks me something, I don´t need a translation.

The European Times Tuesday

Today, we went to Parc Güell after school with the Spanish students. It´s a grand park in Barcelona which is designed by Gaudi. It think it was really nice. The people here are like very relaxed. They don´t hurry anything and they just see what´s coming next. For example, when we are talking about what we are going to do this evening, they said: ´No lo sé.´ (I don´t know)

The food here is different than in Holland. They eat a lot of bread with vinegar oil  and tomato. They rub a half tomato on the bread, so there comes juice on the bread. Then they do vinegar oil on the bread and eat it with something like ham. At diner they eat this a lot too. Another traditional Spanish food is Tortilla. It is like a really thick omelet with potatoes in it. I eat it and I liked it, only I think it would be better if it´s still warm.

Last week I noticed that some people are working here at night. In Holland we have that too like in the hospital, but here are some builders or people who works in factories working at night. I think it´s is strange, because I just want to sleep at night.

I think the things that Spanish people do in their spare time is the same as in Holland, like checking facebook or going to friends. They act mostly the same as we do, only they are more relaxed I think, like I said earlier. Just take it easy, they would say here. The different thing here in Bellvitge is that all the people live in flats and in Holland most people live in houses. So we are used to have a lot of space in our homes, but they don´t have it here. But there really proud of what they got. For example they clean their houses very good.

National Geographic Tuesday

Today we visited the Sagrada Familia, a very beautiful cathedral. It was a cathedral with many windows, so the light came from outside. The cathedral has got many towers, 18. They stand for all important persons in the bible. The church is made for Jesus, because the person who was the architect of the church was very religious. The cathedral is build because the architect wanted to praise Jesus. That’s why it´s a very high building, it´s as near at the top as it could be. The cathedral still hasn´t finished yet, the think it will be done in the year 2023.

Michelle van der Linden