We started our trip Sunday early in the morning at the train station in Graz and made our way to the Viennese Airport. Our trip took nearly the whole day, so we were pretty tired when we arrived in our hostel at around 10pm.

On the first day (Monday), we explored the city, starting from Placa Catalunya, after having had an interesting guided tour through the Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral in the middle of Barcelona which had an amazing interior design that made the cathedral look bright and colourful with the painted glass windows. For lunch we went to the famous food market called La Boqueria. There was a huge variety of Spanish food like tacos, empanadas, croquetas, sea food, fruits and sweets, in addition a lot of the famous appetizers called tapas which were definitely worth trying.
Later on we had free time in the city where we enjoyed the beauty of the Gothic quarter – Barrio Gótico –  with the old houses and many small shops. In the evening we met our teachers at a restaurant near the hostel to have dinner together. That was our second time trying Spanish food and it kept getting better.
The next day we took the metro to Escola Virolai, the school of our exchange students and got a tour of the Parc Güell designed by Gaudi, from which we had an amazing overview of the city. The park itself was a mixture of houses and garden with columns and statues. The students of the school also showed us their school and had prepared a ‘cooking’ session showing some nice Catalonian recipes and some traditional sweets that we hadn’t known yet, which were delicious. In the evening most of us went together with their exchange students to the bunkers (little hill) to watch the marvellous sunset over the city.
On Wednesday we visited Casa Batlló, a famous tourist sight in Barcelona that was also designed by Gaudi, which amazes you from start to finish. From there we met up with our exchange students leading us on a shopping tour for the rest of the day to buy some souvenirs for friends and family.
On the last day in the city we saw the Arc de Triomf of Barcelona and had a small picnic in the Parc de la Ciutadella, where you could feed some parrots with sunflower seeds. They would fly and land on your hand so you could take pictures with them. Later on we walked a short way to the beach, where we again spent some time with our friends. Sadly it was too cold to swim in the sea (except for two of us), but it was relaxing to sit and talk on the beach. In the afternoon all the exchange students met to eat pizza and have a goodbye party at the restaurant.
And last but not least on Friday we took the plane back to Austria where we had to say goodbye to the beautiful sights and weather of Spain.

By Miriam and Anna

Hasta pronto!

Some statements:

My favourite part of the trip was the beautiful view from the Bunkers del Carmel where we watched the sunset. (Milli)

Las empanadas de Barcelona son muyy deliciosas.
The green parrots in the park were one of my favorite things- so cute!

(Olivia)

I loved the different outfit styles I spotted around Barcelona and its architecture. So many interesting people around the city!

(Eugen)

Me gustó mucho la cultura y la comida de barcelona. Disfruté mucho del tiempo.

(Jakob)

Me gustó más el parque porque allí daba de comer a los loros.

(Elli)

Me gustó mucho la comida, la gente y la cultura española, y quiero ir a España otra vez para conocer más de este país.

(Michele)

My favourite moment was the trip to the beach.

(Edina)