USA EXCHANGE. Best memories! Mariona E. (1r batx B)

One of the best experiences ever

A few months ago, twelve students from the JMJ school had been accepted in the first exchange program with an American high school, Our Lady of Good Counsel. There, we had a good time and we visited many places but, when we come back to Catalonia, the experience had not finished because five months later the American girls had to come to Barcelona.

The second part of this story began two weeks ago, when the American girls arrived at the airport of Barcelona and met their exchange student. All of us were waiting for them with a big sign to say welcome. We were very excited and happy to be reunited again but, on the other hand, we were a little bit sad because two American girls couldn’t come to Spain.

When everybody had met their host family, we left the airport to go to our houses. Some people went to eat out in a restaurant but others went to their houses to eat with the family because that day was the “Easter day”, a special occasion to  eat “La Mona”, a typical cake from Catalonia.

The next day, all the American girls were introduced to the 1rst BTX students and they visited the school and our neighborhood, Sant Andreu.

In the whole week, the American girls visited many places like “El barri gòtic”, Picasso’s museum, the cathedral of Barcelona, “Les Rambles”, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, etc. In these excursions, two Catalan students could go with the others and visit the different places.

On Thursday, we went to Sitges, where we could go the entire exchange program group and see the blue sea. We spent all the day there and we could do some shopping. It was a good opportunity to see a typical Catalan town and the Mediterranean coast.

 In the weekend, every couple did something different. For example, on Saturday, some of them went to the “Camp Nou” and they watched a football match. Other girls went to some Costa Brava towns like Tossa de Mar or Platja d’Aro and they spent the day by the sea.

 In the next week, the American students had time to visit more places of Barcelona, like “La Diagonal”, “El Maremagnum”, “El Parc Güell” and, of course, the most fantastic building in Barcelona, the “Sagrada Família”.

Moreover, on Wednesday, all 1rst of BTX went to “Port Aventura”, the most famous thematic park in Spain. We had a fantastic day and we went to all roller coasters, included the “Shambala”, the most famous European roller coaster. It was a nice day because American and Catalan people were together and everybody could meet each other better.

On Thursday, the exchange program did a special dinner with all the families together to say goodbye to the American girls so, that evening we dressed up and met everybody at school.  We ate lots of food, we danced and we enjoyed our last minutes with our partner. We also watched a memorable video about our lived moments in the USA.

The next day, we went to the airport and we had to say goodbye to our American sister. It was a sad day because nobody wanted to leave but we couldn’t do anything and, finally, they left the country.

It is common to think that friendship in distance is one of the most difficult things to keep, above all, if we are talking about millions of kilometers, about two completely different cultures, but, this experience has demonstrated that it is possible. This experience has been one of the best things ever I am sure I will keep in touch with my American sister forever.

 Mariona Estruga Vinyals

 1r BTX B