Sport - Rugby School

Trips
2009/10
Trips
& Visits
Barcelona Fieldtrip
It was an early morning wake up for those LXX geographers
who were to depart for Barcelona on the last day of the Lent
term. Fortunately, the trip went without incident, apart from an
entertaining expression of frustration and aggression displayed
in Luton airport by one middle aged Italian gentleman – the
beauty of budget airlines! We were greeted by ‘Dutch Derek’ at
the other end of our flight, and were treated to a whistle-stop
tour of Barcelona before sorting out our domestic arrangements
for the week at the Sitges Park Hotel, some 40 minutes along
the coast. The boys and girls were quite keen to explore the
nightlife here, having read so much about it on the Internet in
the preceding weeks. However, the height of the entertainment
that evening was to watch the final Six Nations match in the
local bar.
The diet for the week was two solid days of human and physical
geography work, with early morning starts, brief lunch breaks
on task and late evening meals – very Spanish! This did come
as a shock to the minority who thought this was a holiday,
however I am sure they will thank me when they do well in the
fieldwork exam! There were some memorable moments during
the trip, including the soakings that Happi Starling received in
the River Tordera on the first day. Chris Foster would not let it lie
that he managed to beat me at pool, and Chloe Walker revealed
that she had played the game before. James Barker insisted on
knowing what we were doing during every minute of the day
to keep me on my toes, but it was all done with good humour
and a genuine interest.
The highlight, I am sure, for most on the trip was undoubtedly
the atmosphere at the Nou Camp, where we watched a Messi
inspired Barca beat Osasuna 2-0, although I would like to think
that some of the work we completed was memorable too. To
their credit, the group as a whole were excellent company and
I was very impressed by their behaviour and attitude during the
course of the trip.
JCE
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