On the 5th of November, L6 and U6 Art History and Spanish Pupils departed on an educational trip to Barcelona. On the 8th of November they returned with a newfound appreciation for Catalan culture, the magnificence of Gaudi's works and also managed to test out their language skills.
L6 pupil Art History Pupil, Jemima Curtis shares her experiences of the trip;
"I was extremely excited about the opportunity of going to Barcelona for four days for Art History and stepping off the plane into 20-degree weather was absolutely lovely. Immediately, I was amazed at the beautiful architecture of every building and all the streets were incredibly neatly arranged in straight lines with wide passing spaces for the cars.
We started by going to Park Guell, a beautiful park designed by Gaudi. I could see his inspiration from nature at once with all the organic shapes and a ‘forest’ of columns at the centre, nature being a reoccurring theme in his work over the next few days. Our first meal of paella was delicious, one of many in our trip, and we were treated to breakfast at the hostel every morning (I was devastated to have to leave behind the Spanish tradition of doughnuts for breakfast). We managed to visit Gaudi’s first ever building commission, Casa Vicens, and his last building, Sagrada Familia in the same day. I think it’s safe to say we were blown away by the beauty of Casa Vicens, and how little of it was left over from the demolishment of its gardens in 1963. Then the Sagrada Familia was an experience I’m sure none of us will forget - our tour guide gave us fascinating information about the history, symbolism and future of the cathedral, as it was (and still is) under construction, and it was a great comparison to the Barcelona Cathedral which we visited earlier that day too. We had a night tour in another of Gaudi’s houses, Casa Mila, and were shown a light show on the rooftop, an experience I found stunning.
Over the next two days we visited Casa Batllo, an interesting representation of Gaudi’s study of nature and the mechanics of the natural world, and three art galleries which were all brilliant in different ways. On the trip we had lots of free time to explore the local shops, discover Catalan culture and talk to people about Barcelona. It has been great to study Gaudi and his work having seen the buildings ourselves, and I think all the art history students will agree it made a huge difference."
U6 Spanish Pupil, Jacob Gandy also shares how he found Barcelona
"Visiting Barcelona during the half-term break was an invaluable opportunity to improve our Spanish, and practise speaking in more relaxed and everyday situations. During our stay in Barcelona, we had Spanish lessons in the morning at our school, Expanish, situated in the heart of Barcelona. Our lessons were extremely rewarding, and carefully curated and adapted to match the varying levels of Spanish in our group. We studied a range of topics, from complex grammar structures to more colloquial aspects of the language, including some slang words used in more informal situations. We were even tasked with asking questions to members of the public in nearby plazas and squares about the history of the area and daily life in Barcelona. Despite being quite daunting at first, we all found the experience of initiating conversations with the public something unique and exciting. As well as improving our Spanish, we also discovered more about Spanish culture, and in particular Catalan culture, something which wouldn’t be possible to do without visiting in person. After our lessons in the morning, we rejoined the rest of our group to explore Barcelona, with highlights including Gaudí’s masterpiece la Sagrada Familia, and Barcelona’s fascinating gothic quarter. For me, it was incredibly interesting to see the mixture of Catalan and Spanish culture and language in Barcelona. The Barcelona trip was the perfect opportunity to aid my preparation for our upcoming Spanish A-Level exams, and I am sure that it will be a trip that none of us will forget!"
