As spring break approached, the Spanish exchange trip came around and seven oak knoll students flew to Spain to experience everyday life in Barcelona. In an interview with Ciara Loughrey, an OKS sophomore, she tells me about her time in Barcelona. She stayed with freshman student Aitana and went to school with her. School days started around 8 with classes beginning at 8:10, similar to here. If you arrived to class late you had to wait outside for ten or even fifteen minutes until the teacher let you back in as a punishment. They had 6 classes a day each an hour long. After the first two classes, they had a 30-minute break at 10:30 where everyone would eat snacks and walk around the campus. It was a large campus that had grades kindergarten through 12. They had basketball courts, hockey rinks, and other athletic facilities. They had outdoor space that students could utilize during breaks, lunch and other times. After the break, they had two more classes than lunch.
Their lunch lasted for two hours from 1 to 3 pm. They always had the option of meat or fish and rice to go with their meal. During this time they could do homework, socialize or even have the opportunity to go off campus. Everyone would go outside and play sports like basketball or lie on the field. The long lunchtime gave people the opportunity to reset and see their friends during school. Once lunch ended they had a couple more classes until their school day ended around 5 pm.
Another interesting part of the school that differs significantly from Oak Knoll is they did not have uniforms. Students could wear whatever they wanted and there was no dress code limiting them. They have the freedom to wear anything and dress up or down every day. Along with no uniform, the school was Coed. Ciara spoke about how different the experience is not going to an all-girls school but that it isn’t better or worse, just dissimilar it is. After school, they would go into town and get snacks or wander around. The town was very close to the school and a short walk landed you in the middle of town.
Outside of school, they got to experience a lot of interesting activities during their time there. They went on a boat ride in a harbor for an hour and got to see nice views and be on the water. They went to a museum of Science and got to view a planetarium. It was a dark room where when you looked up you could see a film of planets. The planetarium was in Spanish. There were many markets and bakeries they went to where Ciara and the other girls could buy food and treats. In Barcelona they went to an amusement park Ciara described as similar to six flags. The girls who hosted them also took them to an art museum where they got the chance to look at paintings and beautiful works of art. Ciara stated that she did many activities with her host’s family including going to Aitana’s volleyball tournament and going out to dinners. She says everyone was very sweet and asked many questions about America and life there as opposed to in Spain. Another interesting thing they did was go to a shopping square where they walked around and looked in boutiques and stores. Overall, the experience showed Ciara and the other girls how different it is to live in another country and gave them a new perspective on certain things.