Human Towers Galore

Over the weekend, all of the IES students and I went on a mandatory field trip to Tarragona, Spain. Originally,  I was expecting the trip to be boring and too informational, if ya know what I mean. However, I was wrong. I had a wonderful time! IES did a wonderful job organizing the trips, reserving a hotel, and offering delicious food. Megan was my bus partner, so it was great being with her. In addition to learning a lot, I met some friends from Indiana University-- Ben, Patrick and Jennifer. You can notice we became great friends, based on the amount of pictures (the majority selfies) we all took together. 

Here is the schedule: 

BUS 3/Bus 4 – Friday May 31st - Santes Creus & Castells

9:00am Meet at Hard Rock Café

9:15am Departure to Santes Creus

-Of course I was the last one to arrive, but I made it! Since I have class at pm1, I was not used to the metros being so crowded in the morning. 

10:30am Arrive at Santes Creus

10:45am Guided visit of the Monastery of Santes Creus 

-The Monastery was interesting, as in "too informational". The guided visit was in Spanish, so I did not know what the lady was saying. It was also pretty early in the morning, so that didn't help. Megan and I took a lot of pictures to waste time hehe. The Monastery is where we met our Indiana friends, Patrick and Ben. 

12:00am End of the visit

12:30pm Board your coach and depart to Valls

1:00pm Arrive in Valls. Free time to have lunch and explore Valls

-Megan and I treated ourself to a 3 corse meal for only 10 euros! 10 euros is $13.01. Each euro is about $1. 20. We had  pasta for the 1st course, and chicken and steak for the 2 course, and  a delicious piece of chocolate cake for the final course. Oh, and we shared a bottle of wine, which was included in the 10 euros. Now that's a great deal.  

3:00pm “Castells” workshop with the “Colla Vella Xiquets de Valls” 

-WOW this was great. After lunch, we headed to the "Castells" workshop. One of the IES Advisors gave me a hint and said it will consist of team bonding. I was thinking we were going to do something similar to a trust fall, but no. We were climbing on one another to create a human tower. That's right. A human tower. Together, we created a 3 story human tower, called a "Castell". In Spain, it is typical for 100's of people come together to  create a human tower within Catalonia. The tradition of building castells originated in Valls, near the city of Tarragona, in the southern part of Catalonia towards the end of the 18th century. The first castell of 9 levels was created in the 20th century.

-It was exciting to participate in the Catallan culture. When I say participate, I mean take pictures of our human tower success. As a tall girl, I knew I was going to be placed on the bottom, so I didn't want someone's bare feet and an extra 100 pounds on my shoulders. I preferred to take pictures. 

6:00pm Board your coach and depart to Tarragona 

6:30pm Arrive in Tarragona and check in at the Hotel 

-The hotel was surprising nice! I shared a room with a girl named Becca, who is from New York. She was really nice!

7:00pm Free time to rest or explore the city

-For my free time, I took a siesta. Me gusta siesta.

8:30pm Dinner at the hotel

-The buffet dinner was delicious. We had chicken, potatoes, salad, bread and more. 

After dinner, Megan, Ben, Patrick and I went out to "The Cave". There was a lot of IES people there, so we had a grand time.

BUS 3/Bus 4 – Saturday 1st June - Tarragona& Lunch

9:30am Wake up call to enjoy breakfast at the hotel and check out

-Breakfast was yummy, but the coffee was horrible. 

10:45am Visit of Tarragona

-We toured the Roman ruins in the city and a monastery nearby. For example, we saw the Roman Amitheatre located on the Medeteranian 

1:00pm Board your coach and departure to the restaurant.

1:30pm Arrive at the restaurant located in the village El Vendrell – Restaurant Xaloquell 

-I really like how every meal has 3 courses-- I really do. The food culture in Spain rocks. To start off, we had a salad. Second, we had seafood paella. This paella was a bit more fishy than the first paella I ate last week. A lot of students did not eat the paella since there some "mysterious fish" in the platter. Last, we had some cake. Oh, and of course we had some vino to chase everything down. Although the Spanish food is foreign, the vino makes up for it.

4:00pm Depart to Barcelona

6:00pm Arrive to Barcelona

Overall, the IES Field Trip to Tarragona was fun and insightful. I truly had a good time learning the culture and meeting new friends. 

Con agradecimiento,

RachRobes