Day 1 in Barcelona

It really is a long way from the very north of Norway to the Mediterranean seaport Barcelona. We started from Harstad on Thursday evening and stayed over in a hotel at Oslo Gardermoen Airport. Early Friday morning we left for Barcelona, and arrived in nice weather. The train from Barcelona Airport to the train station at Sants Estaciò was easy, but the change to the metro at Sants Estaciò was terrible. There were a lot of stairs up and down, why don't they have escalators!! It was hard to carry all our luggage up and down and through all the tunnels.

Our friends at Escola Massana welcomed us in the schoolyard, and we were astonished about the nice surroundings. Escola Massana is in an old building; no, actually, it is in a very very very old building. This is much different from the Stangnes School. Some of the Norwegian students thought it was like coming to Harry Potter's Hogwarth School, from the outside this was the first impression for some of us.

After a nice welcome, nice food and drinks at the school, must of the students went with our friends to their homes. But some of us stayed at the school to participate in a drama course, preparing a play which will be in a festival in May.

All our families welcomed us in a way that made us feel like being home. Of course, there was a little bit "strange" food such as Spanish omelette and pan with tomatoes and olive oil; especial soups; chicken made in new ways, etc. But we loved this.