On Tuesday the 7th of April the 34 students and 3 teachers travelling to Barcelona met up at 4.15 am in Terminal one. We were all a bit sleepy eyed but we were so excited!
When we got off the plane we started our tour of Barcelona. The most interesting of sites we saw was the Segrada Familia. It is a church in the centre of Barcelona that will be finished in 2026 (hopefully)!!
After the tour we checked into our hotel. Then we went bowling in Tarragona. Everyone really enjoyed it.
After bowling we went back to the hotel for dinner. Everyone was exhausted after the long day so everyone went to bed really early!
On Wednesday, we began our day with a trip to Parc Guell. It is one of the most famous works of the artist Gaudi and for me, it was one of my favourite parts of the trip. It was a park full of beautiful mosaics, buildings and sculptures. There was a great view of Barcelona from the main balcony and there were really pretty gardens throughout the park that you could walk through as well. We were able to go off on our own and explore the park and get a bite to eat. We then made our way to the port for a boat ride around the coast. This was a really nice activity and it was a nice break from all the walking we had done yesterday and that morning. After the boat ride we went to the aquarium next to the port. This was my first time being to an aquarium and I loved it. It was really interesting to see all the fish. My favourite part of the aquarium was the big glass tunnel you walked through. Surrounding the glass tunnel was a huge fish tank and you could see sharks and stingrays bigger than yourself swimming above you! It was amazing to see. We also got to see Nemo and Dory swimming together, which was really cute. After this we went back to the hotel, had our dinner and then went for a walk into the town of Salou and the promenade. We stopped in a couple of shops and bought some delicious ice-cream. When we returned to the hotel there was a Lady Gaga tribute having a short concert as part of the evening entertainment. We all sang and danced to our hearts content and finally retired to our rooms. It was a really nice end to a long, but brilliant day!
We woke up on Thursday very excited for the day ahead. Running onto the coach at 9am with our bags in our hands ready to get a move on. When we got onto the bus we found out that we were going to take a trip on the cable cars which were located at the bottom of a mountain and stop off at an old castle at the top. After an hour or so we visited Las Ramblas, which is a 1.2kilometer tourist road filled with shops such as H&M, Bershka and multiple of stalls. This is a very famous street and we were very eager to see what we could buy. At the end of the road there was a big shopping centre called Maremagnum. We heard that this Shopping centre had the store ‘KIKO’. We were racing through the doors to visit the cosmetic shop. After some hours shopping, we went back to the hotel and played in the pool. It got cold very quickly so we all got ready for dinner. Afterwards we all went on a walk along the beach, visiting small, cheap shops. Overall it was a great trip!
On Friday, our last day in Barcelona, we went to Port Aventura. Port Aventura is a theme park near Salou which has the tallest, most loops and fastest roller coasters in Europe. We arrived at the park at half nine. We were all given maps and split up into smaller groups to explore the park. The whole theme park was split up into different countries. The whole day was a lot of fun and by the time we had gotten back on the bus to go the airport we were all exhausted. We were all sad to leave, our flight departed at 9:00 Barcelona time and we landed in Dublin at 11:15 local time. Our parents welcomed us with open arms. We were all so thankful that we got this opportunity to go to Spain.
We are also very thankful to the teachers for giving us this unforgettable experience.
Roisin McKeon, Kate Moore, Niamh Ball, Chloe Cousins, Roisin Slattery and Jennifer Connolly
