In the early hours of the morning on the seventh of February 2024, twenty fifth year Spanish students from St. Mary’s Newport and their two Spanish teachers, Ms Caffrey and Mr O’Dea embarked on a four day linguistic and cultural trip to the Catalonian capital and one of the most exciting and architecturally interesting European cities, Barcelona. The Spanish leg of the trip began with a four hour guided tour of the city, including the Olympic stadium, Montjuic hill and the Sagrada Familia cathedral. The group enjoyed further cultural and historic sites such as Montserrat, Parc Guell and the Science museum. Part of the magic of a city break of this kind is the chance to relax and soak up the atmosphere on one of Barcelona’s great beaches and some of the students dived right in. The students got to put their language skills into practice by ordering food in drink and shopping in Spanish. The students also mastered hopping on and off the Metro and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to the locals and even got to play a game of soccer in the local ‘barrio’. Barcelona you never cease to impress and many of the students are hoping to return to Barcelona in the future so taken were they by the wonder of this incredible city! !Viva Barcelona!