YOUR SAY

LONDON

Last week, from the 4th to the 7th of April, some of my classmates of 2nd Batxillerat and I went to a trip to London, so in this post I want to explain a little bit what we did and how was the experience from my point of view.

FIRST DAY (April the 4th):
We left from the high-school at 2:30 am, so you can guess we were all sleepy and tired, but also very excited for the trip. We arrived at the Gatwick Airport at 8:30 in the morning and the first thing we did was go to the hostel to leave the suitcases there. After that, we went to Covent Garden, where there’s a huge and beautiful market. We had lunch there and visited it until at 3:30 we had a guided tour with Angus, our guide. At first I thought it would be a little bit boring, because I was very tired and the fact that it was a 2 hour guide didn’t cheered me up, but it ended up being so interesting and pleasant. Angus was a very funny man, and the way he explained things really caught my attention. He also did little performances with us (I participated in one of them). In the tour we visited Trafalgar Square, Saint James Park (where we made a new friend: a squirrel), Buckingham Palace… After the tour we had free time to take photos with the Big Ben and wander around. Finally, we had dinner at Leicester Arms, a restaurant near Picadilly Circus and came back to the hostel.

SECOND DAY (April the 5th):
In the morning (between 9:30 and and 11:30) we visited the British Museum and I have to say it is astonishing. When you enter in it the first thing you see is a large roof made of glass, which is very impressive. We had to do a little work on the Museum: find some artworks. It wasn’t very difficult, but the Museum is huge and we get a little lost searching them. After the visit in the British Museum, we went to Camdem Town market, and it was one of the places I liked the most of London. I can’t tell exactly why, but I loved it! The people, the vibes, the shops… My friends and I ate a pizza there, but you could choose between different types of food from all around the world. But, as always, we end up eating Italian food (it’s a course, wherever I go, I finish eating pizza or pasta). Then, as we couldn’t find a good price to go to a musical, we decided to take a small trip with boat, which was called “Little Venice”. It was pleasant and relaxing, and I enjoyed so much. Then, at night, we did a tour in London visiting the places where Jack the ripper had killed his victims. We were tired in that moment, but I can tell we all enjoyed it so much.

THIRD DAY (April the 6th):
In the morning we visited another museum, this time the National Gallery. Some of us had to comment a painting (this was my case). I did it with Mar Oliva and we commented the Arnolfini Portrait, by Jan van Eyck. We had some problems though: while we were recording us, a security guard cut us off and told us we were too close to the painting (which, in our defense, I have to say we were not, because we were standing in front of the rope that separate the painting from the people). Finally, we were able to finish our commentary, but we were a little mad. Then, another classmate, Iman Danhaji, had to comment the Arnolfini Portrait too, so we were supposed to help her recording as she helped us before. But, then, the security guard came again and told us to leave the room as there were so many people in there. At that point I get very mad because he let a large group of people enter in the room and made us leave, but we were there before. Still, we had to leave the room and came back later. Now that I think about it in perspective it makes me laugh, but at that moment I was mad at him. However, the rest of the visit in the museum was good, and we were able to see some paintings that have studied at class. After visiting the museum, we had free time and my friends and I decided to go to Oxford Street to go shopping. We had dinner in a quite fancy Italian restaurant (you see, always eating Italian food!) and then we bought some clothes. We met with the teachers and the other classmates in the National History Museum and we visited it. The museum was under construction, and we couldn’t see everything, but it was nice and interesting anyway. Then, we visited the fancy mall Harrods, but of course, we didn’t buy anything. After having dinner, we went to Picadilly Circus to see the lights at night, and then we came back to the hostel to rest.

FOURTH DAY (7th April):
This was our last day and we were all so sad. Well, actually, on one hand we wanted to leave because we were all so tired and we wanted to relax at home, but on the other one we wanted to stay a few more days. During the morning we visited South Bank: the Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, the Monument… Even though I was so tired, I decided to go up the Monument, which had 311 steps (and I even get a certificate that claims it!). We also went to the Borough Market, where we had lunch. It was full of people so I was so stressed. After eating, we visited the Tate Modern and we went up to the highest level (you can imagine we took a lot of photos there). Finally, we had a guided tour in the Globe Theatre (Shakespeare’s theatre), which was very interesting. After that, we came back to the hostel to pick up our suitcases and we went to the Gatwick airport. We arrived in Barcelona at 1 am more or less, but we had to wait there for almost two more hours because the air company had lost one of our classmate’s suitcase. Finally, I arrived home at 5 am in the morning: the trip had finished.

This trip has been one of the best trips I have ever made, especially because I have done it with some of my friends and classmates. It’s sad to think about how next year we will be all in different places studying different things, so I think this trip has united us more. I’m so sad it has finished, but I keep some good memories of it.