Summer Tour 2025 – Part 5

By Ariyan

The day we had to travel to Monserrat started like a daze. We had to wake up ridiculously early for our flight to Barcelona (seriously, even the birds were still snoring). As the night before in Dublin was a late night, I honestly thought it was a prank when the chaperones came to wake us up! Somehow, my zombie-self managed to roll out of bed and onto the plane.

When we landed in Barcelona, it was like stepping into an oven! And there we were, in our white hoodies, turning into sweaty marshmallows. Well, I say white… mine had quite a few oranges stains from pasta sauce! It was so hot, I kind of wished I was back in England where I knew it would be raining!! (Only kidding!! Who wants that?!) The bus ride to the Abbey was… long? Maybe short? I don’t really know because I fell asleep and woke up drooling. Oops.

At the Abbey we met the Abbot. He’s the one who invited us to sing there because it was their 1,000th birthday! That’s older than my great-great-great-great grandad (probably). I even got to tell him that my surname is Abbot too, and he laughed and said I should take his job. Ummm, no thanks! Pretty sure I’m not qualified to run an Abbey.

Rehearsal time came, and our stage was outside, directly under the sun. It felt like we were being cooked alive! Luckily, we got Monserrat baseball caps, so at least my brain didn’t melt. While we were sweating buckets, people were setting up what looked like a million chairs. It was more chairs than the other concerts we had just done, and it made me feel a little nervous.

Then came the fun part; the funicular ride up the mountain. Imagine sitting in a cable car that basically climbs straight up a cliff. I was gripping my seat like as if I was holding on for dear life. At the top, it jolted so hard that we were thrown to the back of the cable car. I wanted to be back on lower ground!! But wow, the view! I felt like I was on top of the world… or at least king of the clouds. It was an amazing sight!

We also visited the Basilica and saw the Black Madonna statue, which lots of people believe has miraculous powers. I was lucky enough to touch it! There was even a painting called St Jerome in Meditation, which made Jerome in our choir very happy!

That night was the big concert. When I peeked out at the crowd, someone whispered there were over 1,000 people! My knees immediately started doing the Macarena. But as soon as we began singing, the nerves kind of melted away. The best moment was at the end when we sang the Monserrat anthem and the entire crowd stood up and sang with us. I felt very proud and honoured to be part of that moment. But I also felt very relieved that our last concert was over and it was a success!

The next day we went into Barcelona and because the concerts were finished, I could really enjoy myself more. We saw the Sagrada Familia, which looks like a like a giant Lego project that went a bit out of control. It’s still not finished after 100 years, which is a bit unbelievable! (Makes me feel better about leaving my homework until the last minute, at least I can get it done!) Then we ate the best chocolate-covered strawberries ever at La Boqueria, and bought a few souvenirs on Las Ramblas. After that it was beach time! We played water polo (badly), tried to fight the waves (failed), and dug giant sand holes with our hands because who packs a spade for a tour? Not us. We finished the night with pizza on the beach and a world premiere of the Bigs horror film, Hotel Scarelevania. It was supposed to be scary, but I found it hilarious!

And then… just like that, my first Libera tour was over. At the start, I was scared and homesick (12 days without my family felt HUGE), but by the end, I felt like part of the Libera family. I had the best time ever, and I can’t wait for the Asia tour – bring it on!

To be continued…