Castellers Workshop, by Silvia, Nicole, Raquel and Ferran

On Tuesday 12th March, at four in the afternoon, we met with the Swedish students at the entrance of the school. With the help of the teachers we were introduced to each other and we talked for a while. Some partners had already met in Nyköping last September but for many others it was the first time we met in person.
The first activity we did together was a workshop carried out by the Castellers de la Vila de Gràcia (http://www.castellersdelaviladegracia.org/). The workshop consisted of two parts: the first was theoretical and the second hands-on. In the first part we were shown a video and a powerpoint presentation explaining what the castells are, their history and tradition, and their characteristics.

In the hands-on part, we first were taught how to make a "Pom de dalt" (the top structure of a human castle) with the contribution of two volunteers, a Swedish student and a Catalan one.

After that we took part in different training exercises. In one of them all the participants formed a long row and a person climbed on top of them and walked on all fours over the entire row. This was done to show it's easier to bear the weight of a person if everybody works as a team.

To finish the workshop we all formed a pinya (the base floor) contributing to support the castell and the members of the Castellers de Gracia climbed on top of us to build the next two levels.

Once the activity was over we all went for a walk to the Sagrada Familia until dinner time. It was a fun and interesting experience in which we practised English as well as Spanish. Although at the beginning everybody felt a little shy and uncomfortable, we slowly gained confidence and we all had a great time.