January-April

In Salas for the annual soup festival.

It has been almost three months since I last wrote and a lot has happened. Yet, at the same time, nothing much has happened. I know that is a weird sentence and probably doesn't make a whole lot f sense, but it is true. In the last three months I have been spending more time with my host family and friends and getting to know them better.

Making a Catalan dinner in Sweden.
(Estefania, Berta, Me, and Lovisa)

I also went to Sweden for a 10 day trip with school. It was a trip offered to all of the kids in my grade, but in the end, only 9 of us went. In the end I think it was better because I got to know the kids from the other classes really well and we had an amazing time!! Sweden in the beginning of February is incredibly beautiful (and also incredibly cold!).We spent one week in northern Sweden with a host family and then 3 days in Stockholm with just the class.

Umea (northern Sweden) was the best part of the trip because we really got to see what living in Sweden was like. The host family I was matched up with was great and we learned a lot from each other! While there, we did as many things as we could in the snow because here in Spain it hardly snows. We went sledding, cross country skiing, hiking and much more. I really like how they spend a lot of time outside despite the cold weather.

Only about two weeks ago the Swedish kids came here, to Mataró, for a week. While they we here, we had amazing weather and it was warm enough and sunny enough to go to the beach. (The first day all of the Swedish kids got sunburnt because they neglected to listen to the whole sunscreen speech haha.)

In Stockholm with Anastasia.

In the past few months I have also been participating in a musical at a local theater in Mataró. It is called "El Soldadet de Plom" which literally means the "lead soldier." In English the title of it is actually the "Tin Soldier" and it is a piece by Hans Christian. It is something I love getting to be a part of it because I am able to be a part of an amazing group of people outside of my host family or school friends.We have just had our first public performance of the musical and have four more shows.

The theater also is head of many of the festivals here in Mataró and I often get to see a "behind the scenes" look of how it all works.  One of such festivals is Sant Jordi or Saint George. We celebrated it on April 23rd and it is breath-taking.

Here in Catalunya Valentine's Day is not celebrated. Instead, they celebrate Sant Jordi. It is a day celebrating a mix of love and literature. The literature comes from the international day of reading which happens to fall on the 23rd. However, the romantic side to this day comes from something entirely different; La Llegenda de Sant Jordi (The Legend of Saint George).

Celebrating Sant Jordi with friends.
(Correfoc)

The Catalan version of the legend goes that there once was a town in Catalunya which was under constant attack. The attacker was not another village though. The attacker was a dragon. Many of the brave knights went to try to kill the dragon, but non succeeded. So, they started to feed the dragon in hopes of calming it and everyday they sent someone to battle it to ware it's strength, but never kill it. Then the King decided to put all of the villager's names in a hat and the person chosen would be the human sacrifice for the dragon. Little did he know, his daughter, the beautiful princess, would be drawn out of the hat. Met with her horrible fate, the beautiful, young princess marched to her death with the townspeople in tow.

Suddenly, a chivalrous knight (Sant Jordi... then not a saint) comes to her rescue, killing the beastly dragon. The knight then fled, claiming that he was not worthy of someone as profoundly beautiful and courageous as the princess and they were never married.

The blood of the dragon was such a dark red that it sembled that of a rose. Sant Jordi gifted the princess a rose before he fled as a sign of his love for her. Every year on April 23rd, millions of Catalans buy roses as a sign of their affection for their loved ones.

The following link goes a little more in depth about the history of Sant Jordi. http://www.gencat.cat/catalunya/santjordi/eng/llegenda.htm

Personally, I went to Girona with my host family. It is a city origionally built in the 1600's and is home to one of the bigger Sant Jordi celebrations apart form Barcelona. There, the streets are filled with people all buying roses and books as well as enjoying the day with loved ones (It is also a big day for shopping much like our own Valentine's Day).

In Girona with my host sisters.

Correfoc

Later, in Mataró, there is something called the Correfoc. That is a big celebration in the town center in which a dragon is lit with fireworks and taken down the street. The whole city follows behind dancing to the beat of the drums and taking part in the celebration. We stop several times during the march to listen to the story of Sant Jordi being told. Each time we stop large sparklers are handed out to the festival workers and lit. They then slowly jog in a circle to the beat of drums and many people join in on the fun while dancing under the newly sparkling night (However, only those who come with the proper clothing take part in the "fire dance").

Correfoc

The thing I enjoyed most about the holiday was how much joy the people have. It is a day for being with family and loved ones as well as taking part in the culture of where you are living.

Walking through Mataró during the Correfoc.

Me and my mona :D

The following Monday my family celebrated Easter. We ate dinner with family and friends and everyone was gifted a "mona." A mona is basically a chocolate dessert that can be in the form of a cake, but it always contains a chocolate egg. My mona was a giant Easter Egg... literally bigger than my head!