Ever since I started teaching in 1999, I've been wanting to go on the class 12 school trip, because it sounded so great, all the things they get to see and experience. Off course it would never happen because I'm not teaching the older students. Until now. I was anyway going to meet the group in Barcelona and choose which things to tag along to, but when one of the teachers was prevented from going, I stepped in for her and was a finally on a class 12 trip for real.

I took the plane from Alicante to Barcelona and met everyone in Castelldefels, a tiny town outside of Barcelona. We took the train into town every day and that was a small hassle, but nice for the students to be able to socialize and hang around without us worrying about their whereabouts all the time. We were curious about the other class from another school that we were doing the trip with, and happy to discover how great everyone got along. Two other teachers from our school also came along just for some culture and springtime, and they stayed a couple of days each, overlapping a day or two which meant we were six adults for a while. When Anne Lise wasn't there - who speaks Spanish fluently - I was designated the Spanish interpreter post. I thought that was very funny since I don't speak the language at all. But when I had to try, I realized I had retained some vocabulary after visiting my mother over the past few years after all. This was the case especially in the restaurants, but here in the north it was still difficult - they speak Catalan, and absolutely no English. But some did try. At one particular place the chef wanted us to know all the wonderful things that was on the menu that day, and between Nina's French, my Spanish' and Gila's Latin and his Catalan we more or less figured out what was on the menu. I ended up with a fish meal that was less than desirable, and I just couldn't get it down. When the waiter saw that I had barely touched the meal he used the little English he had: "I don't like?"

We went into Barcelona and Nina showed us some of the great architecture in this place. One of the teachers from the other school was an architect and so Nina was happy to finally share the trip with someone that speaks here language and appreciate it like her. The other teacher I think knew as little as me about the subject, but we both appreciated it a lot, but it became a bit of a joke when we would pick up some of the architect lingo and mess it up. The students knows how to recognise which period a building is from, and I would be completely clueless and just name everything neo-classicism or Trond would call it cubism if there was even just a hint of a square somewhere to be seen. I did end up learning a little, but being impressed a lot, by everything we saw and experienced.

La Rambla is the big street with stalls and some cafes with two trafficked streets on either side of it. Barcelona is the home of Antonio Gaudi and his fingerprint is to bee seen everywhere; from the buildings he actually designed and to the shops and cafes imitating his style today. We saw a building that used to be an umbrella shop decorated with an art deco dragon, and lots of umbrellas. This, unfortunately, became a precursor for our trip - we ended up rubbing umbrellas with the Barcelonians except the first and the last day. I had to buy some shoes and sweathers, it was just so cold, especially compared to the south where I had just been. Anne Lise came from 1 degree in Norway and thought the weather was warm...

The narrow lanes between high buildings with apartments was very charming even if it was grey and chilly. The mood was great though, and we moved along to Barcelona Cathedral, where the convent garden has geese! Later the students sat down to draw in the neighbourhood, and we heard the familiar sounds of Grieg being played somewhere close by. It was beautiful and created a nice mood, though a bit strange to hear Norwegian classical music in this southern European city. Another cathedral is the enormous and still unfinished Sagrada Familia - Sacred Family. It is one of the few churches (or part of the church at least) actually dedicated to Joseph. Gaudi started as an assistant but took charge over the work later. The cathedral was started in 1882 and we can see Gaudi's side of the church with the theme of the birth of Jesus. The other, and newer side, portrays the Passion of the Christ. The whole place is a building cite still, and Gaudi himself ended up actually living in the church- I guess he sort of became one with his work.

Most of us really loved Gaudi's house that he had designed for a friend - Casa Battlo. It's in the style of art noveau, and one of the principles of this period is that every motif is inspired by the shapes and forms in nature. There are no straight lines in the whole place, inside or outside. Every Little thing is hand crafted, even the handles on the windows - it is a beautiful fluid form that perfectly fits the hand that opens the window. Also the handrails on the steps are made of a wood that is warm and soft to the touch and shaped to fit the hand. On the first floor the colours and shapes is like an underwater world. And this guy knew how to work with light. It just has to be seen.

After some days in Barcelona we went over the border to France by bus. It was a beautiful ride through the Pyrenees, and our Norwegian hearts were dazzled by the snow covered peaks. We had just gotten into the Spanish feeling and we got a bit muddled with the language, going from si and gracias to oui and merci, from the rolling r to the guttural r. Nina knows some French after having spent many a holiday in the country and Ole Rasmus used to be quite fluent. Off course by the time we had the hang of it, it was time to return to Spain again.

In France we stopped to see Mont Segur, ruins previously a castle that housed the last cathars. It lies 1207 meters above sea level. We climbed the small mountain and was amazed to see the small area that at one point had housed 500 people. Apart from the natural beauty of the place it was moving to imagine what the cathars went through in this place. We saw bluebells all along the path up the hill and from the top we looked down on the roofs of a tiny village.

We stayed in another small village and sampled the French food and the clean, cold water of the Pyrenees. The next morning we were off again, stopping on the way to see the Grotto of Niaoux where one can see cave drawings from 12000 B.C! Inside the cave there is a natural dome, and the students were singing an appropriate peace and since I didn't know the song I got to stand in the middle and just listen. The acoustics in the cave was amazing and I was really moved to hear the beautiful song, I love these special moments. The grotto was a place that one would imagine Gollum to live in. We were given torches, as is was pitch black inside. I was partially disappointed and relieved to not find anything lurking in the millions of nooks and crannies. We got into a very interesting conversation about what the drawings meant to the people who had made them. Were they symbols of images gained from shamanistic rituals, drawings of animals from everyday life or mere decoration?

Once back in Barcelona we settled into apartments in the centre of town. Very convenient. We went to see another cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar. The iconography and the glass windows were amazing, and even through the clatter of tourists, a real sense of the place could be felt. I liked the Gregorian chants that was playing in the background, only wishing it could be a real choir singing.

We also went to Mont Juic where the 1992 Olympic Games were held. Barcelona was meant to host the event already in 1932, but civil war broke out and it was cancelled, but they could use the same site and the buildings that remained. For the Olympics in '92 a small village was built to showcase Spanish architecture and it was supposed to be dismantled after the Games, but since it was such a success, it still remains there.

A lot of walking and seeing amazing buildings on every corner, decorations so opulent, my own town feels so young and plain in comparison. And the shopping obviously. I was hankering after a hand woven Spanish shawl. The flamenco kind. So very expensive, but so very gorgeous. The tiny cheap ones just wasn't cutting it, I had to leave it behind.

I had a great time in these places and with the students and the other teacher's too, we got along so well, and those kids really did behave.