Querido Teresa y el Clase 9C de Onslow St. Audreys,
Esto es la segunda blog sobre Barcelona pero esto es en particular sobre los atraciones de Barcelona (This is the 2nd blog about Barcelona but it is particularly about the attractions of Barcelona). On my last weekend before I left Barcelona I went and had a look around Barcelona. On Saturday 26th July I planned to go inside the Sagrada Familia but as I did not book ahead the only times slots they had available were from 4:00pm. Therefore instead I decided to go and see the Picasso Museum and then the Casa Batlla (Gaudi's House) and the Arc de Triompf. I had to go and see The Picasso Museum as part of my course on modernism art and literature but my friends who had already been said that it was not very exciting. I was therefore very nervous about going but I found that I really enjoyed it. I thought that the paintings in the museum were really interesting. As someone who had never studied Picasso until doing this summer course it was a really good introduction to Picasso's work. I then went to the Casa Batlla (Gaudi's House) and thought it was amazing. I have attached some photos of the Casa Batlla below to show the magnificence of Gaudi's creation. On Sunday I went to the Sagrada Familia and I was very glad that I had the whole day to look around because it was enormous! I did not expect it to be as grand as it was and it took me quite a few hours just to look around the Basilica. I also booked a trip up to the Passion tower but was very unimpressed as you could see very little of the Sagrada Familia or the Passion facade from the top of the tower. If I did it again I would try the Nativity tower as that is meant to be more impressive and you can see more of the Sagrada Familia. I have taken pictures of all the main parts of the Sagrada Familia including the Basilica, the Passion Facade (which revolves around Christ's death) and the Nativity facade (which is about the birth of Christ) for you to see below.
Algunos semana antes de esto visité 'la fuente mágico'
(Magic Fountain) at Montjuic in Barcelona cuando mi hermana y mi madre vine a visitarme (came to visit me). It is well-worth seeing in the evening and was very beautiful. I have put photos up of the castle and the fountain itself at the bottom. Overall the sites I saw in Barcelona were spectacular and I would highly recommend them to you.
Basilica, Sagrada Familia
Overall my last weekend in Barcelona was action-packed and very busy. I would definitely recommend seeing the Basilica at the Sagrada Familia and getting an audio guide so you can walk around the Sagrada Familia at your own pace. Also the Casa Batlla and the Picasso Museum are places that you should not miss while you are in Barcelona. Overall from my experience in Barcelona I have learnt more about Spanish culture in terms of modernist art and literature and Spanish cinema. I have also improved my language skills in terms of my speaking ability as in my Spanish classes we had to do lots of different speaking abilities including giving advice to someone in our class on a situation the teacher had made up which was very funny. One of the situations was about advising someone what to do if their trousers split during a job interview and was very funny because the person the teacher had picked out had no idea what the situation was! I have also improved my Spanish writing from having to write a essay on magical realism which was a topic we had studied on Spanish cinema. One of the films that I used for this is in my previous post, in the trailer for 'El espiritu de la colmena'.
Querido Teresa y el Clase 9C de Onslow St. Audreys,
As it is the beginning of September and I'm sure by now you will be back to school and telling all your friends about your summer holidays, I thought I would tell you about my summer in Barcelona. Here are a selection of the highlights from my barcelona summer school. Primero visité Besalu
and Empuries en el segundo semana. We went to Empuries first which were Greek ruins and Roman ruins that were once towns. Then we went to Besalu
which was a beautiful little Spanish town and we looked at the Castle
and at the Jewish ritual bath. In my 6 weeks in Barcelona I have had to
watch
a number of different Spanish
films in my Spanish cinema class including 'El Espíritu de la colmena'(The Spirit of the Beehive') (I have attached a link so you can see the trailer for it at the bottom of the page). Hope you enjoy watching it!
Another
highlight from my trip was the day trip to Santa Creus and Valls. Santa
Creus was an old Castilian monastery. Valls was a place just outside of
Barcelona where Spanish people make human towers ('Torres humanos') or
'castells'. We had a chance to try doing some ourselves and I have
attached some photos of my classmates' attempts at creating human
towers.
I have attached pictures of all the places I went on my day trips including Empuries, Besalu, Santa Creus Monestir and Valls. I have had a really great time in Barcelona and I have met some really great people and made new friends who I hope I can meet up with-I have made a German friend called Jil and she will be studying in Barcelona again from September-December this year and a Swiss friend Adrian who will be studying in Madrid in the 2nd semester (from February-June). I have also meet lots of nice American friends such as Ashley, Christian and Brian.
Espero que tus vacaciones fueron divertidos (Hope that your holidays were fun),
Becky
