Family Visits Spain!

The past week has been so much fun……Lauren, Jake, Mom and Dad were all here and I got to show them where I have been living for the past three months. I met them at the airport on Friday, and from there we drove down to stay at a hotel on the beach in Calafell/El Vendrell. It was really cool to finally get to go to the towns outside of Barcelona, especially to stay on the beach. The hotel was so nice. Its right on the beach, and really short walking distance from the town center area where there is some shopping and restaurants. That first night we got to the hotel, and it was late enough in the day that we just went to dinner and then back to bed.

On Saturday we woke up and went to drive around the countryside and go wine tasting. After getting a bit lost, we finally found one of the wineries and did a tour and tasting. It was so neat to see a winery and how it worked. This was the first wine tour I have been on, and to see one in a region where the wine is so popular was really a lot of fun. One of the rooms they took us through on the tour even recreated the smells as the seasons changed so that you could really get a feeling for what it was like during that actual season. After that we went back to the town and did some walking around and mom, Lauren and I did some shopping. We went out for dinner again that night, and since the family was not used to the fact that dinner starts here at around 9:30 to 10pm we went back to the hotel afterward and slept.

On Easter Sunday Lauren, Mom and I woke up and got a massage in the spa in the hotel. It was my first real massage, and it was awesome! Plus, I got to see a whole other section of the hotel. After that everyone slowly got ready and then we went out to go sight-seeing around the area. We drove up to the Calafell Castle, but it was closed for Siesta (the mid-afternoon break time) and so we drove to some of the other towns and ended up in Sitges, a big beach town with a really cool old section. We walked around there for a while, saw the old section, and Lauren and I did a little shopping at some stands. When we left there Jake, Lauren and Dad wanted to go back to the hotel so Mom and I dropped them off then went back and saw the castle and an Archaeological site that was in the town we were staying in. We ate that night at the buffet in the hotel since most things were closed for Easter Sunday, but there was so much food that I don’t think anyone was complaining.

Monday we were off to Barcelona, and before we got to the hotel we drove to Parc Guell, a park designed by Gaudi, a famous architect. It was really cool to go there because I haven’t been yet, so it was as new for me as it was for my family. Lauren and I bought some jewelry there that was Gaudi style designs, and I bought some birthday gifts for some of my friends whose birthdays are while I am here. I took them out to dinner at a popular Tapas Restaurant, and they seemed to like it a lot. It is one of my favorites, so it was cool to take them there and see if they liked it.

The next two days I didn’t get to go sight-seeing with my family. We had full day classes, in which we did a lot of sketching and studies of areas of the cities. Right after class each day I met up with my family and got to hang out for a bit before and after dinner. Tuesday we went to a restaurant that I have been wanting to try on La Rambla, and the food was really good. Then on Wednesday we found a little Italian places on one of the ramblas, the Rambla Reval, in the historic district.

I just left them, which is really sad because I won’t get to see them for a little over a month. But, tomorrow we leave for Morocco which should be a really cool experience. We are spending five nights and six days there, and we have a tour guide that will be showing us around the entire city. So keep updated and find out how that trip went!