Kyrmina Giancola, a 10th grader from Westerville City Schools, was kind enough to share her journal entries from our recent tour of France and Spain. We have divided them into three parts, so keep an eye out for the others to post… Enjoy!

July 1st, 2022: The long flight, the lost night 

Overnight flight to Barcelona.  The excitement amongst us was palpable. Some of us were phenomenal sleepers while sitting mostly upright on a gigantic 747. Most of us barely slept at all, too excited about what was to come.

July 2nd, 2022: Don’t waste a minute

We finally arrived in Europe at about 9am, the next day (3am in Ohio, ouch!).  After we dropped our suitcases off at the hotel in Barcelona, Spain, we met our tour guide, Anita, who escorted us to our luxurious touring bus. We learned that our bus had two drivers, as a safety precaution!  Drivers were limited by law, how many hours they could drive per day, even per week. After a short drive, we arrived at our first destination, Ramblas.  Barcelona had many opportunities for us to learn their culture and see popular tourist attractions. As we toured the streets of Barcelona and Ramblas, it was hard to keep our heads looking straight ahead. We were all very excited that we were in Europe, and were curious to explore what Barcelona had to offer. While we were touring, we saw the Santa María church, and the statue of Christopher Columbus. In Barcelona, Christopher Columbus is someone they look up to, which is different from what we were used to back home in Ohio. It was overall an amazing experience. I could tell that our group enjoyed the first day, despite the exhaustion from the long plane rides. It was overall an excellent day, and we were looking forward to what we were going to do next.

July 3, 2022 Culture and Architecture of Barcelona

After a delicious breakfast at our hotel, Anita introduced us to two other tour guides. They split us into two groups, and escorted us all to the bus. The first stop was a park, which was filled with interesting discoveries and stories to learn about. We split into two groups, and off we went to tour the park. While walking around, our tour guide taught us about Antoni Guadí, who was an architect, and a very creative and artistic man. In the park we were touring, he had a project that unfortunately had failed. The project was to build over 40 houses in the park. Only 3 were built when they finally gave up on the project. We then went into an area that was very echoey, where both groups met up together. It had the echoes of a small church, except it was outdoors. It was like a building with no walls. Jeanne decided to line us up and have us sing, though at that moment, no one was around us to hear it–we thought. We sang a song called “Walk Together Children”, and within minutes, many people there gathered around, clearly in awe of the beautiful music we produced. It was our first of many truly special experiences on this trip. We had not even officially performed yet at a concert nor competed anywhere but, we were still able to put on a great impromptu show.  Afterward, we went on the bus again and visited a church called “Sagrada Familia”, which was arguably Antoni Guadí’s best project, though it is still unfinished. From a first glance, we could see how wonderful it really was. Antoni Guadí designed the majority of it, but unfortunately passed away before getting to finish his beautiful design. In honor of him, the church is now being built by his design, and is still being built today more than 100 years later. What was in front of us, was a beautiful church with 9 towers. The final building of the church is going to have 16. When we went inside, the sight was beautiful. Guadi was a nature lover, and he believed that there is no greater beauty than nature.  He incorporated nature throughout the church. From the way it was built, it made it seem like we were in a forest. There were warm colors, cold colors, and many statues. On the ceiling, we were given the illusion that we were surrounded by trees. Our group loved it. Many of us had our heads focused on our phones trying to take many pictures of what we were seeing. The echoes of that church called to us, and walls of that church enticed us with the beautiful designs that surrounded us, and there was a sense of peace that was given to us between the walls of that church and the portrayals of nature within it. But there was more for us to see, which lay in the small building beside the church. It was a replica of a small school, which was used to educate the children of the workers who were building the church. It was sadly burnt down in war, but was rebuilt to replicate the original building. Today it is used as a small museum, to honor the history of the school that once was there. Sagrada Familia truly was a wonderful place to see. It filled our faces with wonderment, and opened our eyes to hidden stories which we loved to hear about. It was a captivating experience, and we were all very grateful for it.

July 4, 2022 Our First Concert

After our normal morning routine with a great breakfast, we were treated to an experience where we got to cook a Spanish meal. We all sat down at the large table that was in the building, curious about  what was going to happen next. The chefs introduced themselves and informed us that we were going to make a Spanish omelet. Some of us were worried about the outcome though, because back at home it seemed that a bowl of cereal was complicated to make, and this seemed to be a lot more than that, having more than just two ingredients. After some chopping, cooking, and mixing, we finally finished up and the outcome was actually not bad. The omelet tasted really good, and even those with bad cooking skills did a pretty good job. We said our goodbyes and thanked the chefs, and made our way back to Barcelona, where we got the opportunity to go in and shop in a Spanish market. Our eyes widened as we walked in, for the market was very big and had a huge variety of things to buy. There were many different types of meats and pastries, but there was one particular section that caught our eyes, being the kids we are. It was none other than the dessert section, which was filled with candy and other sweets. It should be noted that some of us knew some Spanish, but were shy about speaking the Spanish to actual Spanish speaking people.  After a full stock of sugar, those same shy people seemed to become expert Spanish communicators!

Later on, we prepared for our first concert. It was going to be held in the Santa María church, which was right on the streets of Barcelona. Before performing, Jeanne decided that it was right to stop in early and to have us warm up a little bit. And just from singing a couple of notes, our eyes widened with glee. The echo of the church was beautiful! It was a great sign that our concert was going to be a good one. When it was time for us to perform, there were a lot of different emotional expressions that filled our group. Some of us looked excited and confident, while others looked a little nervous and fearful, which was understandable for it was our first concert in Europe. We went up there, and we sang our songs. The audience enjoyed our performance, and they were thankful that we sang for them. We were grateful for the opportunity to sing, for singing is our pride and joy. Singing in a church so beautiful and revered as the Santa Maria was a tremendous honor. We left that church feeling proud of ourselves. Jeanne and Anita (along with many others) were also very proud of us too. We sat on the bus and went to the hotel feeling happy that we had an amazing day.

Stay tuned for Part II!

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