Barcelona with the British

Hello Everyone,

On February 28th I went on a day trip to Barcelona with my school. The trip included students in the 10th grade, a group of students from New Castle, England, and myself. My school, Colegio Romareda does a short exchange every year with the Gosforth Academy in New Castle. The students all stayed with Spanish students in my school. During the exchange, the English students and their Spanish partners went to Barcelona with their teachers to do some sight-seeing. I joined them because I try to take every opportunity I get to travel while I'm here and I also helped translate between English and Spanish which was really neat. We had very limited time because we only went for the day and it was a 3-1/2 hour bus ride each way. But, we did see a few churches, Las Ramblas, the waterfront, as well as Parque Guell and La Sagrada Familia by Goudi. It was a fun day and I'm glad to have met some great people.

Until next time, Brian

Teatro Principal

Hello Everyone,

On February 7th, my host family, Maggie, Joe, and I took a tour of the 'Teatro Principal.' It is a very old, historic theater in the city center of Zaragoza that is still in use today. My host mom Marta contacted the theater in October to arrange a tour but it was booked until February! We all met at the theater at about 7 p.m. and the tour started at 7:30. It lasted for about an hour and a half. We got to see everything; the lobby, hallways, balconies, theater, stage, backstage, as well as the actors' dressing and make-up rooms. It is a very beautiful theater and historical landmark. Afterwards, my host family took Maggie, Joseph, and I out to dinner to a restaurant that is famous for calamari sandwiches. I've eaten there before and the sandwiches are SO good. The restaurant is also famous for its 'special' sauce. It was a very enjoyable evening. Enjoy the pictures!

Until next time, Brian

Rotary Planting

Hi Everyone,

On February 4th, Maggie and Joe, the two other exchange students in Zaragoza, and I went with the Rotary Club of Zaragoza to an area outside of the city called Zuera. We were also joined by our host families and Rachel, one of our friends who is an exchange student staying in Barcelona. She stayed with Maggie for the weekend. The Rotary Club of Zuera 'adopted' a piece of property in order to maintain and preserve nature. Also, a small memorial Rotary monument was built on the edge of the property a few years ago. We all met at a restaurant near the property at about 10 am. Once everyone arrived, we first went to visit the monument and then went deeper into the property. We planted 250 pine saplings to help prevent erosion. The planting only took about an hour and a half because we were such a large group. When we finished planting, we all went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. It was an outing that I really enjoyed because I don't see the Rotary members too often and it was a nice opportunity to spend some time with them all.

Until next time, Brian

Safari?

Canfranc

Hello Everyone,

On January 29^th, I went to the pueblo of Canfranc. It’s a small village in the Pyrenees Mountains in the north of Spain. It is very close to the border of France. It is famous because of its enormous train station that was the main station connecting Spain and France by rail. Many years ago, a tunnel between France and Spain caved in, which of course block the tracks and closed the connection between Spain and France. The tunnel was never fixed and the Canfranero railway connection between Spain and France has been closed and remains closed since the 1950s. I wanted to go because in my Spanish class I had learned about it and the Canfranero, the famous little train that winds up through the mountains to Canfranc.

The Canfranero left Zaragoza at 7 am and I arrived in Canfranc at about 12:15 pm. Although it was a four hour train ride, it was very comfortable, beautiful, and very enjoyable. It was sunny during most of the train ride but when we got close to Canfranc it started to snow and it was like a blizzard! I was wearing boots but I was only wearing jeans, not snow pants! I walked around the little village, went into all of the little shops, visited the church, and walked to a lookout point to see the valley below. There are many great trails and other sites to see if you go hiking there but I wasn’t prepared as I wasn’t wearing my snow pants. Although I wish I could have gone hiking to see a bit more, the snow was absolutely wonderful, especially since it doesn’t snow in Zaragoza. It made it so much more beautiful. I really enjoyed the surprise blizzard. I hope to return to Canfranc sometime in the spring to visit some of the other sites a bit outside of the village and to go hiking.

Until next time, Brian