Day 7 - Part 2 March 24th, 2024 - Zaragoza to Barcelona*

After settling in on our tour buses, we began the last leg of our journey from Zaragoza to Barcelona*. On the bus, a lot of us let our weariness get the best of us and crashed pretty hard on the bus and got some much needed rest in the form of some sleep. When not sleeping, the usual shenanigans continued which consisted of card games, diving in and trying some of the largely unknown snacks available at the travel centers, and sharing stories while recapping the adventures we had already had on our trip. 

Once we got to Barcelona, we had to drive through the heart of the city to get to our hotel in Santa Susanna where we checked in, had dinner, and some of the kids expressed their inability to wait any longer from going to be the beach. So, I volunteered (read: heavily coerced) into leading a group to the beach. Since it was already getting late, I let students and parents know that I'd be taking a group to the beach at 9:45 pm. I ran up to my room to get beach ready and came back down to the lobby to a group of more than 20 students. On Day 7 of our trip, the entire group was tired, but the ones that wanted to go to the beach had found their second wind and were not going to let anything get in their way.

We all headed to the beach and there were a handful of students that hit the sand like they were shot out of a cannon. It was ridiculous. Initially, only a few people were brave enough to test the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, but lo and behold around a dozen or so students jumped in. Even I got caught-up in the madness of the moment and decided, "Why not?" and ran into the water. After spending the previous few days in France sweating because the temps were in the mid to upper 70s, taking a dip in the Mediterranean Sea could not have possibly been more refreshing. It was awesome!

Once everyone had gotten their fill of beach time, the entire group walked very gingerly back through the coarse sand (read: not soft and pillowy) to our hotel where we all realized there was a DJ spinning tunes for the various tour groups at the hotel. This wound up being Dance Party Night #1 while in Spain. Ms. Wontor joined in on the fun at the Dance Party and even I reluctantly joined in, too, because it was simply another opportunity to have some fun.

To be continued...