I had the most phenomenal summer volunteering in Spain at the Eco-friendly Hospitality Internship in Barcelona! The staff were amazing, the program was fabulous, and the city is unbeatable! I can’t recommend it enough…Definitely check it out!
I had three main duties at the hostel and I rotated through them, doing one each day with two or three days off each week to explore the city and go on day or weekend trips. One task was setting up and refilling the breakfast bar (dishes, utensils, breads, jams, Nutella, cereal, juice, and coffee) which was really easy. Then I got to spend the rest of breakfast hanging out with the guests!! It was a great time to meet everybody!
The other task was acting as a cultural guidethis was definitely the best of the three jobs! Every day I got to organize a different cultural activity around the city and all over Catalonia! This meant that I led a group of guests around showing them the sights while I, myself, got subsidized admission to all the fantastic places!! Some of the tours we did included hiking the Montserrat Mountains, Sitges beach town, the medieval city of Tarragona, and Girona! We explored Barcelona’s entire city center too! Better yet, because I worked at the hostel, I got discounted tour trips all around Spain! I went kayaking and snorkeling along Costa Brava, flamenco dancing in Barcelona, on tapas tours, and surfing in Saint Sebastian among others.
My best weekend trip was the Running of the Bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona! It is impossible to describe what the Running of the Bulls Festival feels like! I’ve never felt so exhilarated in my life!
My other job at the hostel was helping behind the bar and going on the bar crawl! Believe me, you’ve never been clubbing if you haven’t been clubbing in Barcelona! This was an awesome part of the job because all the vols had to do was hang out with the guests, which is exactly what you want to be doing!! For this, you get to go to the bar for free and then get free admission to all the clubs! Such nights always ended with a perfect late-night swim at the beach! What could be better?!
I cannot begin to describe how phenomenal the Eco-friendly Hospitality program is. It’s an experience I will never forget! You will never find a nicer hostel filled with more awesome people! Between Danielle the manager, the hostel staff, and the guests you will be instantly at home! I had the best adventure of my life and I guarantee you will too if you decide to work-stay at the hostel! CHECK IT OUT!
