Our flight to Barcelona was quick. The bus picked us up for another quick trip to the Hotel Onix Fira located right off the main street, Gran Via.
On Saturday, we woke up to a delicious breakfast buffet in the hotel and then headed out on our own to see the city. Popular sites such as Las Ramblas, the Olympic Village, Park Guell, Sangrada Familia, Port Olimpico and many others were great to see in the warm, sunny coastal weather! For the afternoon, we had a guided bus tour around the city as well. In the evening, we watched the fountain show below the National Museum. It is a 2 hour performance every week, Thursday-Sunday nights.
On Sunday, we took a midnight bus to Pamplona, Spain for the Running of the Bulls at 8am. It was chaos to say the least. People stay up partying all night to watch 5 minutes of pandemonium. Only 1 guy was gored and then the bulls made it to the arena. We have never seen anything like this before! After the running, we explored the city to see the path of the run and engage in the culture. We stopped at a bar along the run and enjoyed some tapas (like appetizers) which were very good. By the end of the day, we had been up for 20 hours, caught a 6 hour bus back and crashed. What an experience though!
Monday was more relaxed with a presentation by Isabel Carranza on business in Barcelona. The rest of the afternoon, we explored again. Some of us went to see FC Barcelona’s stadium. It was huge! Holding 90,000+ people is a great place to watch the defending 2009 Champion’s League champions.
On Tuesday, we had a visit to Fira Barcelona and Mercabarna. Fira was the trade show center next to our hotel and Mercabarna was a wholesale marketplace. It was very interesting to see these cross-cultural business centers.
On Wednesday, we had an industry analysis lecture from our professor, M. Djeddour. For the afternoon, we went to the beach and had a delicious buffet at Port Olimpico. All the fresh meat and fish you can imagine with pitchers of Sangria and an ice cream chest! We headed back after dinner to pack up for the long bus ride to Grenoble in the morning!
No comments:
Post a Comment