Barcelona Trip 2007 - History Students visit Spain

The dates were set for the 29th of October to the 1st of November, the flight time was 7:10 and check in at 5:00. We all met at Dublin airport at 4:30 a.m., some looking as fresh as a daisy and others who thought they were still in bed dreaming. Everyone arrived and, as they arrived, we were welcomed by Ms. Roche, Ms. Grey and Mr. Kavanagh. "Good morning your flight has been delayed by four hours." However this didn't put any damper on the trip. We all checked in and were given a breakfast voucher. We bombarded the restaurant, the queues out the door. Afterwards we all just chilled out waiting for our plane to arrive, with another school sitting opposite us throwing back and forth some friendly banter while the lads tried to look cool with their glasses on indoors - names shall not be named but they know who they are. The plane arrived and we boarded at 7:10 to head for Barcelona but we all had doubts that poor Mr. Kavanagh would even make it to the plane, his stomach wasn't the best to say the least. The flight over wasn't too bad although I wasn't a fan of the pilot telling us why the plane was delayed while we were so many miles up in the air; but we made it there in one piece.

As soon as we hit Barcelona it was all go. We collected our bags, left the airport and headed straight for the "Roma Reial" which was our hotel. We dropped the bags and met down in the lobby in five minutes. This became Ms Roche's favourite phrase. We met there at the lobby every day as it became a ritual. We all congregated there to hear the rules and the plans for the day. One of the main rules was no McDonalds or any fast food of that kind. Ms Roche was very adamant about that rule. However because we were delayed and we needed food and had a lot to do that day, our very first meal in Barcelona was McDonalds, much to Ms Roche's dissatisfaction . Then we set off on our first day nourished from our meal.

The hotel was just off the Ramblas which is the main street in Barcelona. For the first day we walked around leaving Mr. Kavanagh behind in the room as he still wasn't thebest . We set off on a bus tour of Barcelona to learn about the history of this city which was the main reason of the trip, of course! But we all headed up to the top of the tour bus . It was one of those tour busses without any roof and no matter how cold we got and complained about it, we still refused to head downstairs to the heat. We were too busy saying "Hola" to the people below. We headed back to the hotel to pick up Mr. Kavanagh who looked human again and then headed for our first meal. However our second meal was hard to find. We were brought to a food market that apparently had cooked food, but the only food we saw was food that was still breathing. Conveniently there was a little sandwich bar just outside the market which I thought myself and my mates were being clever going into, but it turned out that when we went in everyone had the same idea. I think the only reason they took us to that market was to get their own back on us for getting to eat in MacDonalds, but the funny thing is only the teachers knew where the cooked food was in this huge food market. We ate in an Italian restaurant one of the nights just a stone's throw away from the hotel and afterwards we walked around popping into every ice-cream and coffee shop we could see. And those people who were wearing their sunglasses at the airport never took them off for the entire holiday, one even admitting that he slept in them, but at night it was very dark and I don't think they could even see out of the glasses but they just refused to take them off. When we got back to the hotel we crowded into the lobby to be told the plans for the next day and our warnings for the night. We got our keys and headed to bed. You would think we would have just hit the pillow and conked out, but it wasn't the case. The laugh in the room was great, but I can't go into too much detail. All I'm saying is "superman boxers".

The holiday was packed with activities to do and it was very well organised. We were shown around the city of Barcelona by foot and we saw the medieval sector of Barcelona known as the "Barri Gothic". We saw some great buildings designed by Gaudi and some massive churches and monuments around the city. We then headed for "Parc Guell" which is a park for people to just relax and take in the sights. We finished off our second night with some bowling, which I thought was one of the best nights there. All of us were split into teams, all of us trying to beat each other and we were all mouthing out of us what score we had. Christopher Fox was very quet and came out of nowhere to win the bowling I didn't see him coming. That night we ran for our beds and just chilled out.

We went to Nou Camp football stadium the next day. The stadium itself was huge but the pitch was small. There was even a museum about the history of football and the significance of it to the city. We made our way back to the hotel to get ready for our last meal in Barcelona.

We all got spruced-up and made our way to the restaurant for our reservations. When we arrived, they had a table set up in a square so we were all seated at the same table. There was great crack at the table while we were waiting for each course to come out. Ms. Roche, Mr. Kavanagh and Ms Grey gave out awards to us for different things that stood out in us, for example, the "I can fall asleep faster then you award" went to ………….. And I got "The Superman" award again, all down to my new superman boxers. We finished the meal with a reflection of our time spent in Barcelona and they did the teacher thing and told us how well behaved we were. We headed back to the hotel but stopped for ice-cream along the way of course, even though it was freezing out.

We got up at seven, jumped on the metro and checked in and arrived home at one o'clock. Looking back at the trip it was a great time spent with friends having the laugh in the hotel and the crack with the teachers, and experiencing new things . Ms Roche, Ms Grey and Mr. Kavanagh were great. They were down to earth and easy to get on withthere was no great sense of student teacher distance. The trip was very well organised as always and there was just great laugh to be had by everyone.

Stephen Farrell

Ski Tour to Italy (A Teacher's View)

On Friday, February 16th, a group of 45 set off from Dublin airport in the early hours of the morning on their journey to Foppolo. Representing Moyle Park College, the 2nd year boys and staff were heading off on the annual junior Ski Trip, taking place this year in North Italy. They were hoping for fun, laughter and good memories but mostly for snow!

An early take off afforded the group the opportunity to take in some of the sights of 'Milano'. After some lunch and shopping, the group also visited the world famous San Siro Stadium, home to both A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. Then the bus took them off in the direction of the slopes.

San Pellegrino (you might of heard of the bottled water brand; the one with the star!) was the town the group stayed in on the first night. It gave all involved an opportunity to rest up in comfort and style before an early morning departure to the snow capped mountains of the Dolomites.

Hotel Cristallo was to be the base for the rest of the week. Ski gear, including helmet and 'hi-vis' vests, meant all would be safe for the tough but enjoyable week ahead. Morning and afternoon ski lessons with teams of instructors meant quick progress for the eager students who were all tackling the red slopes by the end of the week. A celebratory lunch was shared by all at the restaurant at the top of the mountain by all including those struck down by illness or aided by crutches! Thankfully nobody was seriously injured and all learned a life skill they seem destined to practice on future Moyle Park ski trips.

In order to squeeze the very most out of our trip a series of "Apres Ski" activities were enjoyed by all including swimming, a quiz night, tobogganing and let's not forget the disco! Sharing the hotel with two other school groups meant everybody made new friends. As a final memory we organised a night ski where we made our way down the slopes in one line with a flaming torch in each skier's hand. At the bottom of the hill we formed a circle and sang Amhrán na bhFiann as we threw our flaming torches in a pile. It made for a memorable end to a fantastic week.

Mr Trevor Connolly

 

 

Click on the image (left) to view a video of the ski trip prepared by Mr Connolly.

 

 

 

Ski Tour to Italy (Some student views)

Robert Griffin: Our ski trip to Italy was probably one of the most successful in recent years. Our resort was Foppolo. We had a day trip to Milan where we visited the San Siro stadium, home to A.C. Milan. The skiing was brilliant. We went to Disco Grizzly twice during the holiday

Daniel Murray: The resort was nice but the food was not great. The teachers were sound. I was sick for most of the week but I still had good crack and I'd go again.

Matthew Errity : This was the first time I'd been skiing. The first day was hard but you get used toi it. I would like to thank all the teachers for giving us the opportunity to go on this trip.

Ellis Dolan :The bumboarding was good/The skiing was brilliant/The girls were fantastic/The disco was brilliant.

Robert Murphy: The things I liked best were that the instructors were sound and funny. The bum boarding was good. The nights were good because we could get to know each other and have a laugh with other people. And the skiing itself was great.

Sean Nolan: The best thing obviously was the six days skiing we had and the races at the end of the week. Tobogganing was good because we had a laugh with our rep Mattayo and his girl friend, Valeria. I also enjoyed the night club we went to because all the boys got up dancing on the pole in the middle of the place. The last night we went skiing with candle torches and finished off by putting them all in the middle of the group and singing the Irish national anthem and an Italian song we had been taught

Ian Jack: The ski trip was good. We skied from nine to eleven and had a two hour break and skied again from one to three and we could ski again on our own if we wished. There was a disco we went to that was great. The food was horrible, except for pizza.

Thomas Conway: It was a brilliant trip, especially the day in Milan where we travelled around the city and when we were going we noticed a marble bench broken in half. The visit to San Siro was one of the best parts where we found out about probably the two best teams in football.

Daragh O'Connor: The ski instructors were great teachers. It was a shame we had to use artificial snow.

Philip Moran: The ski trip was a great experience for everybody. We all had great laughs with our mates and even with our instructors who were also very funny.

 

Ski Tour to Italy : February 2007
Enjoying the skiing	Sitting in the San Siro Stadium	Students on pizza duty	Victory presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ski Tour to Austria (Some student views)

Dylan Graham: The best thing about the ski trip was the race where I came 5th out of 6. It was a quick dash down a slope.

Daniel Morris: The best night was New Year's night and the Thursday when we went to a Disco and had great fun. The skiing was second best, especially good were the instructors and the races and the jokes. The view was nice and the weather was more bearable than Ireland, even if it was colder.

Karl O'Neill: The best thing about this trip was skiing in the deep snow and the tobogganing. It was great crack crashing into each other.

Patrick Kelly: I found the après ski activities the best part of the trip, especially the music café which we visited on the Thursday night where a line band was playing till late at night.

Ciaran Croker: I enjoyed going over all the ramps and watching people falling. I also enjoyed watching Mr O'Byrne winning the game of poker.

Jamie McMahon: It was good crack. The slopes were good and the instructors were bang on and dead funny. Click here to see a movie of me skiing.

Eric Connolly: It was a big adrenalin rush doing the turns. The hardest thing was getting up in the morning. (See Teshun's picture of that in his slide show.)

Liam McCabe: The best thing about the ski trip was the skiing where we went to all the different slopes. We all enjoyed ourselves. It was class. The ski instructors were bang on.

Barry Kiernan: The best thing about the trip was skiing down the blue and red slopes. Some of the falls were funny - one 6th year nearly killed us with laughter when he tumbled on a ramp. The other best thing was having no parents with us on the trip.

Teshun Vuong: It was my first time skiing and I met new people and found new friends. We did activities in the evening like swimming, disco and tobogganing. They were fun and everybody enjoyed them. I enjoyed the last day walking around town (Munich) because we got to have a laugh and bought stuff to bring home to family and friends. View my photos of the Austrian Ski Trip and of Moyle Park in Munich.

 

Ski Tour to Austria - January 2007
2nd Years relaxing on tour	Students on the ski slopes	Three students on the ski slopes	Transition Year students relaxing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click on the image (left) to see a slide show of the Austrian Ski Tour 2007 with photographs taken by Teshun Vuong and music by Mozart.

 

 

 

 

Click on the image (left) to see a slide show of the visit to Munich on the 2007 ski trip to Austria with photographs taken by Teshun Vuong.

 

 

 

 

Click here or on the photograph to see a movie of Jamie McMahon (centre) skiing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click first button to hear the skiing.