London trip 2017!

Els nostres alumnes de 1r de batxillerat van passar uns fantàstics dies a Londres entre el 16 i el 20 de maig. Aquí en teniu tots els detalls gràcies al relat de la nostra alumna Adriana Roig.

We love London!

LONDON EXPERIENCE: A MEMORABLE TRIP

On Tuesday 16th at 7 am, we caught the flight to London. It was shorter than I thought because I spent the whole journey sleeping.
Once in the airport of London, we took the bus to start one of the best journeys ever!

DAY 1:

After two hours in the bus, we arrived to central London and the first thing we saw was the London Eye and the Big Ben.
We spent the day sightseeing. We went to Waterloo, Westminster, China Town and Piccadilly Circus, where we could shop a lot. What I liked about sightseeing was that the teachers told us the time and the place we should meet and then they let us move alone to see by ourselves the London atmosphere in that area. Later, we visited the Art Gallery Museum. Without any doubt, my favorite painting was the “Sunflowers” by Vincent Van Gogh.
In the evening we went to Edmonton, because it was the time to meet our host family. Our “mum” was Claudette. She is an amazing person who we will never forget! She prepared us very good meals and she was always hugging us. She loved singing so we passed the time at the car singing gospel! We spent five fantastic days with her!

DAY 2: 

We took the train and the underground and we visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, but only outdoors. Then we went to Oxford Street to do some shopping. I have to admit that I enjoyed a lot this part of the day! We bought clothes in Top Shop, Urban Outfitters and Victoria Secret and we had lunch in 5 guys, a place where you can eat amazing hamburgers. There were delicious! I fully recommend you to have lunch there; it’s placed at Soho Street. Then we visited the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. It was a pity not to enjoy it as much as we wished because it was raining heavily.

DAY 3:

This day was my favorite one! We went to King Cross station, in particular we went to the platform 9 3/4… It was Harry Potter’s time! We took the famous photo crossing the platform with the scarf like in the film, and we did some shopping at Harry Potter’s shop.
Then we went to Camden Town, I loved Camden. It’s really diverse. After Camden we went to the British Museum, but we didn’t have too much time to see it all because the museum is surprisingly large. Then we walked to Covent Garden.
Finally, it arrived the most awaited night. We went to the Musical “The Lion King”. My friends and I literally freaked out. We enjoyed it so much and we can’t wait to see it again.
Our families were waiting to take us home at the meeting point. We arrived at 11:30 pm more or less, it was late and we were tired because we were the whole day walking.

DAY 4:

We visited again the central London and we took photos all together. While we were walking in Westminster Abbey, our travel guide told us all the gossip Londoners know about the royalty and we were heedfully listening to all about it.
At 11 o’clock, we went to the Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. It was crowded, so we couldn’t see it very well. We saw how they walk to the Palace.
In the evening, we went to Harrods, we passed a good time seeing all the expensive shops. We went to the cosmetics zone and we made up. Afterwards, we went to the Science Museum and we went again to Piccadilly Circus to do the last shopping for the family and for us.

DAY 5:

It was the last day and we said goodbye very sadly to Claudette and her children. We will miss her so much! She was the best host mum we could ever had.
We took a walk on Hyde Park and then we visited the Kensington Gardens and Notting Hill, where we saw the colorful houses we were waiting for and we obviously took a photo there. We visited Portobello Market too.
To conclude the day, we went to the airport and we said goodbye to the lovely city of London. It was an amazing trip. See you soon London!

1st Batxillerat in London - diary

La nostra alumna de 1r de Batxillerat Francesca Fàbregas comparteix la seva experiència durant el viatge d'estudis que 1r de batxillerat va fer a Londres entre el 12 i el 16 de maig. Moltes gràcies Francesca!

Our Trip To London

From the 12th to the 17th of May, some students from 1st of Batxillerat spent an intense week visiting London. We discovered and enjoyed our stay in the capital of the UK sharing a nice experience.

May, 12th “Where it all began”

We all met at 8:50 am at Barcelona’s airport. Nervousness and excitement were not only in our faces, they were also reflected in our parents’, who were waiting until the last minute. Once we had checked in and had passed the controls, we took off. The journey was calm and we arrived at Stansted airport at 12:20 pm. We all got into a couch which left us in London. Afterwards, we started a route through the city centre. It was lunch time, so when we arrived in Leicester Square, we ate in there. Later, we took a stroll in China Town, Soho and finally, Piccadilly Circus. In the evening we returned to the meeting point until our host families took us to their houses. Most of us later watched the Champions League semi-finals.

May, 13th “Kilometres and more kilometres”

Next day, we met for the first time at the meeting point very early in the morning. As the forecast for Thursday 14th predicted rain, we decided to change slightly our schedule. We took the underground and went to Green Park, where Paul, our guide, explained some curiosities. Later, we walked to Buckingham Palace, St. James Park and Westminster Abbey where we saw a horse show starred by the official guardians of the queen. Finally, to finish our morning, we went to see the Big Ben which we found quite impressive. We were starving. Fortunately it was lunch time, so we split up for an hour. In the afternoon we went out for a walk checking out several landmarks and eventually getting to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Unfortunately, it was closed to the public so we went to Oxford Street and later we went shopping by ourselves. After this exhausting itinerary we returned to our houses to rest after the long day walking.

May, 14th “Museums and rain”

We had an intense day ahead of. The schedule was simple. In the morning we had to visit two of the greatest museums in the UK regarding science and history. We found them quite interesting and even similar to “Cosmocaixa” in Barcelona. The rain wasn’t ceasing, so we had to walk covered by umbrellas until we found a restaurant or somewhere to have lunch. Some of us celebrated my birthday there with a cake and candles having a really amazing time indoors.

Although we were very tired, we went to visit the National Gallery. We had a very long time to visit all the pieces of art so when we finished, we played cards in order to spend some time. Finally, we went to the theatre to see "The Phantom of the Opera". Everyone agreed that it was an amazing performance, all the special effects combined with the incredible voices of the actors and actresses created a magic atmosphere. After that, we all went back home. It was almost midnight.

May 15th “Culture and shopping”

Although the sun was shining, the temperature was chilly and we followed the schedule. After meeting in Ealing Broadway station, we went to the British museum. We spent the whole morning visiting the museum. We all agreed that the exhibition of Egypt and its mummies was really impressive. Then, we had lunch in Piccadilly Circus area and finally met all together to visit what we all expected: “Candem Town”. We arrived there at 15.00 pm. Paul, our guide, warned us about the pick-pockets and recommended not to leave our personal belongings unattended. We split up into little groups and spent the afternoon buying souvenirs and other stuff for our families and for ourselves. Finally, when we got together, we showed each other our purchased items and talked about how we had bargained to the salesmen. We took the underground to return to our houses where our families were waiting for us.

May 16th “Barcelona again”

In the morning our families took us to Ealing church. We left the baggage there and we took a bus and the underground to Hyde Park. While we were walking through the paths we could see the marvellous green landscapes. A few minutes before arriving to the monument of Princess Diana, we found some swans and fed them, they were so cute! After having lunch, we returned to Oxford Street just for a last minute shopping. And from there, we returned to the church where the couch was waiting for us. None of us wanted to go home yet, but it was time. We checked in and boarded. Finally, we arrived at the airport almost at midnight, where our relatives were anxiously waiting for us. It had been a long week, but we all felt grateful to be home again.

Francesca Fàbregas

The Fonix experience

La nostra alumna de 1r de batxillerat Marta Vidal ens explica la seva experiència participant com a representant de l'escola al concurs The Fonix, que se celebra anualment. Ella ja ha arribat a la final! Good luck!

A try at “Fònix” contest- Marta Vidal

It had been almost two months ago. In the month of February, I went to Caixa Fòrum to participate in the first round of the English contest “Fònix”, in which students from schools all over Barcelona participated. Little I imagined I would make it to the next phase, when in spring, I was told I had succeeded. I had been one of the four winners of the Barcelona round!

I have to say that I had never seen the contest as something easy to win, but once I had overcome the first barrier, I promised myself I had to do as well as I could. In fact, the prize is pretty tempting: two weeks at an English speaking country. I read the text as accurately as I could, I tried not to commit any mistakes in my writing and I did my best at the speaking part.

Of course, it is really hard to win, but I really hope to get a high mark. Nevertheless, I am happy enough of having made it to the final round.

CHRISTMAS is coming!

En aquestes dates l'arribada del Nadal ja es respira als carrers i també a casa. Avui volem recomanar una pàgina web on trobareu activitats, contes, jocs i cançons nadalenques en anglès per a repassar i aprendre vocabulari, i passar-ho bé també! No us ho perdeu!
Per accedir, click HERE