The cosmopolitan city of Barcelona provides geographers with an exciting array of study opportunities from case studies of successful urban regeneration to determining longshore drift on the city’s beaches.

Lower Sixth Geography student, Charlotte reports, “On the first day of our trip, we went into Barcelona to practice our human geography skills. We walked around the city comparing the NE, NW, SE and SW areas of Barcelona. We used techniques such as smell maps, perception surveys and graffiti surveys to compare the areas.
The next day, we practiced our physical skills on some of the 14 beaches along the Sitges coastline. We split up into groups and collected data on the sediment sizes, wave counts, beach transects and environmental quality surveys. This allowed us to compare the different beaches and how the position and management of each beach has affected its morphology.
We then used these skills to collect data for our Non-Exam Assessment (NEA) project over the next two days. Some people are doing their NEA on the Sitges coastline, some on Barcelona and some are collecting their data over the summer in other places.

Overall, it was a great week where we learnt many geographical skills and we really enjoyed ourselves. The hotel was on the seafront and we loved exploring the town of Sitges in the evenings and making the most of the lovely weather.”