Barrio Gótico

Fourth Trip to Sweden: Sep 28 - Oct 3 2014

Links from the Barcelona group:

Swedish Host Families

Our Swedish Partner School

Hiking in the Woods

Day Trip to Stockholm (I)

Day Trip to Stockholm (II)

Kayaking in the Baltic

Joint Dinner and Bowling

Links from the Swedish group:
Lunes = Monday
* The school and the lessons = El Instituto y las Leciones
* An hour at Friskis and Swettis = Una hora de actividad
* At home with the host families = En casa de las Familias
Martes = Tuesday
* Hiking aroung Nävsjön = Caminando en el bosque al lado de un lago
* Free time  = Tiempo libre
Miercoles = Wednesday
* The catalan students visited Stockhom: the swedish students had lessons.
Jueves = Thursday
* The catalan students went kayaking: the swedish students had lessons.
* Goodbye dinner together at Voyage then Disco bowling together 
Viernes = Friday
* Goodby hugs = Adios y Abazos 

Viernes = Friday

It was so mush fun having you here and getting to know you. It was an emotional "Goodby" with lots of hugs :-) We miss you and we're looking forward to seeing you in Barcelona next year. 
// written by Filippa, Melina and Ida

Hope everyone had a fun and rewarding exchange week. Thanks so much to all those who participated in this program and a special thanks to all the host families. :-)

 Niki and Patricia





P.S. Patricia saw a moose :-) actually 3 moose!

Jueves = Thursday

* Los catalanes fueron a Oxelösund para ir en kayaka y los sueco tuvieron lecciones:The catalan students went to Oxelösund to go kayaking and the swedish students attended their regular lessons.

 * Goodbye dinner together at Voyage - Scandic

* Disco bowling together 
  by Linus B. Anton L. Anna K. and Hjalmar.

After the dinner we went to the bowing ally. All of us took the bus together and when we got to the bowling ally the staff got really surprised that there were so many of us who came without prior notice. 

We got a special price and we got to start the disco lights and music thanks to Linus and his and his bargaining techniques. We split up into groups of 6 and played for almost two hours.
Most of us got a ride home with our parents.

All of us thought it was really fun and it was a nice way to end the week.

Martes = Tuesday

Hiking around Nävsjön

Lunes = Monday

Finally the arrival of the Catalan students from Joan Brossa high school.

The Catalan students visit our school and participate in some of the lessons












At the end of the day everyone participated in a typical "swedish" exercise hour at "Friskis and Svettis"





Then The Students and teachers returned home to their host families.

Kayaking in the Baltic

One of the most exciting activities we do in our trip is kayaking. Although most of our students have some experience in kayaking, the breathtaking landscape of the Sweden coast is a unique experience. Albert Pinasa, Hèctor Pomares, Hèctor Subirà and Robert Alonso are the reporters of our adventure in the Baltic Sea.

On the fourth day of our stay in Sweden we went to Oxelösund to go kayaking. We arrived late because the bus stop was a bit far and Catalan students walk really slow.

When we arrived the kayak instructor told us the basic rules and how to steer and paddle safely. Then we prepared everything: kayaks, paddles, lifevests, and we went into the water. When we were in the water we started practicing steering our kayak and coordinating with our partner because the kayaks were two-people kayak.

When we knew how to control the kayak we started following the instructor. He took us around the bay, we stopped in a wonderful place where there was a bridge and then the instructor asked us to close our eyes, to keep silent and just listen to the nature, then we went under the bridge.

http://www.kajakochfritid.se/uk/default.aspx

Hiking in the Woods

Exploring the amazing Swedish landscape is one of our favourite activities, mainly because we come from an urban environment and enjoy enormously the outdoor activities our Swedish colleagues organize for us. Alba, Nicolle, Paula Ribera and Sofia tells us their impressions on our hiking into the Swedish woods.

The activity programmed for our second day in Nyköping was hiking into the woods and around a beautiful lake. We, the Catalans ones, couldn’t even pronounce the lake’s name but we were really excited because of the trip. Though hiking was the main activity, we spent the morning until 10 o’clock walking around Nyköping so we got to know the town a little bit better. We learnt some curious facts about the small town and visited all the charming places we had time to see. We are slow walkers, you know :)

Some of our Swedish friends couldn't come with us, so in the bus some of us had to sit next to someone we didn't know. Of course, that wasn't a problem, we became friends immediately and that trip made us more sociable and we got to know more people.

After we got off the bus and had packed our lunch in the bags, we started the hiking path. The trip was supposed to last for two hours and a half more or less, so we barely had time to stop and enjoy the awesome view, but we had time to take some photos.

I venture to say that the track was not as plain as we thought it would be, because some of the Catalans had some difficulties to keep from falling to the ground. However, the good mood and the patience won the urban nature. And the views were so worth it that these tiny problems just disappeared.

Day Trip to Stockholm (I)

A day trip to Stockholm, visiting the Vasa Museum, Gamla Stan,  Västerlanggatan, ...  is always a must. Ainhoa, Albert Elkassem, Gerard and Ricard offer us a short report on some of the things we did. 

On Wednesday we visited Stockholm, which is the capital of Sweden. We took the bus in Nyköping, and we arrived in the city at 10 o’clock, more or less. We were going to know a bit about a big city outside our country and then a magical museum, the Vasa Museum.

The first activity we did in Stockholm was a fantastic tour across the city using a map, we had to locate monumental buildings or landmarks and photograph them, like the National Theatre, the boardwalk, and finally the Vasa Museum.

The Vasa Museum contains the Vasa battleship, the biggest ship ever built in the history and conserved. We saw a film which explains what happened to the ship: it sank at Stockholm's port when it hasn't gone outside yet. It was a terrible, curious fact, that an engineer was commissioned to revive. The ship is so beautiful and amazing because it is very big and old, of course. We also could visit some pieces, skeletons and representations of the sailors.

In the afternoon, we did more interesting activities!

Day trip to Stockholm (II)

We always make a day trip to Stockholm, a beautiful city with lots to see and do, a pity we can only spend there a few hours! Andrea Cascón, Andrea Samaniego, Helena and Natalia explain some of the things we did there.

After the visit to the Vasamuseet we walked together through Djugarden until we arrived to the ferry port. We wanted to take the ferry and go to Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. After a bit of problems about the tickets and our fights with bees, we got on the ferry. It was pretty big and nice, we could admire the fantastic views and breathe the fresh sea air before we stepped out. Pat and Jan told us to have lunch by ourselves and to meet at the beggining of Vãsterlãnggatan street an hour and a half later. 

We ate at McDonalds, we were missing it so much! And then we started with the tour that the teachers had told us to do. We did a bit of shopping, but it was so late that we had to run! Finally we arrived at the meeting point and found Pat, who told us that we had two options: go with them and visit the city Hall or do some shopping. The answer was, obviously, shopping, and we went into all the stores in Vãsterlãnggatan street. After some time we walked to the meeting point again, full of bags and souvenirs and clothes and stuff.

Pat and Jan took us from the meeting point to the bus and we went back to Nyköping, where our partners were waiting for us. It was a really nice day, and it was great to take a break from English (sometimes it was a bit stressing not  to know how to say things, but that day it was an only Spanish day and we felt fine, we felt very comfortable).