Last Friday, March 1st, nine student volunteers from Barcelona SAE participated in the 2nd annual Volunteer Day, at InOut Hostel Barcelona. Located just outside the city, InOut Hostel employs men and women with physical and mental disabilities and offers beautiful and comfortable facilities for travelers. Volunteers, plus three staff members, Amy Salk, Clara Miles, and Elena Villaescusa, spent the day touring the hostel grounds, learning about the hostel’s history and special cause, and meeting and chatting with several employees and volunteers. They then painted the walls of a function room and brainstormed techniques for the hostel to improve business and create more awareness through social media. The group offered dozens of suggestions related to Facebook, Twitter and various hostel booking sites, promotions and contest suggestions, in addition to other features the hostel could include in order to generate more internet traffic. InOut Service Manager, Noemi Caparrós said simply that they were not necessarily interested in a high profit, they just want to create more jobs. It is a message like this that truly captures the essence of the hostel’s program and makes us want to help.
The newest part of Volunteer Day came before lunch when Amy Salk launched Barcelona SAE’s first-ever “Intercultural Competence & Yoga” program. In addition to presenting the ideas of intercultural communication and competence here, this 45-minute session introduced students to five main pillars of the yoga practice: patience, strength, mindfulness, balance and flexibility. Salk led the students through a 25-minute yoga flow, with postures and moves appropriate for all yogi levels. After, the students were asked to pair up descriptions of the five pillars as they related to intercultural competence and then discuss examples of their experience abroad as they related back to the yoga features and some of their challenges and struggles they had or were facing living and studying in Barcelona.
About InOut Hostel Barcelona: With three main facilities among five acres, InOut Hostel Barcelona offers beautifully clean, well-kept, and safe rooms, in addition to sport courts, a swimming pool, and a restaurant. The hostel is an ideal place for backpackers, school or sports groups, youth associations and all people looking for an economic, comfortable, and socially progressive experience. Opening in 2005, InOut Hostel is Europe’s first hotel service with 90% of its workforce comprised of employees with mental and physical disabilities.
