Lau Siu Hung, Alison It is very lucky to have the chance to join this study tour. It was really a great experience in my life. Before the study tour, each two students were responsible to organize and plan the itinerary of one day. At the beginning, it was quite difficult because I did not expect that we need to plan it and we were not familiar with Spain. Therefore, we needed to search for more information, including the famous tourist spots, transportation, and weather forecast there and so on. I was in charge of the Day 1 itinerary. I remembered that day was an extremely exciting day. I have never been a leader with such important role. It was really a good chance to train our leadership. In first 4 days, we stay in Barcelona where is famous of football. In Day 1, we visited the Sagrada Familia, this church is well-known not only because it is a UNESCO world heritage site, but it is also a masterpiece by Antoni Gaudi. Apart from Sagrada Familia, we have visited other works by Gaudi who was a talented architect. The places we visited are Casa Mila, Casa Batlló, ParkGüell. After visiting, we know more about Gaudi’s architectural style. He emphasized on curve and used some elements of nature. His ideas were totally different from the public view and devoted a lot to the world of architecture. Moreover, although these buildings have been built for many years, they are reserved in a good condition. We should learn from them in the aspect of reserving the heritages. In this study tour, we have visited the Tower Mapfre and RBA Building. When we went to the roof of Tower Mapfre, it was amazing that we can view the whole Barcelona and the feeling was speechless. People there then bought us to the control room where is the most important part of the building that ensures the building can operate. We know more about the operation of the air-conditioning system, water system and the lift system. Some operations are different from what we thought before. If we did not join this study tour, we would not have this chance to know the operation of a building. That is one of the differences between study tour organized by university and our own travelling. The other place we visited is RBA Building, the building design there is environmentally-friendly. The outside of the building has some panels to reflect the sunlight which can reduce the indoor temperature. I think Hong Kong should learn from them and insert more green concepts in the buildings. Apart from visiting companies, we have visited two universities. One is in Barcelona and one is in Valencia. During the visit, we visited the facility of the universities; all of us think that it is so great to have their own departmental library. And we have talked with some students there, they are really nice and they suggested some famous restaurants that we can go. We also talked about the cultural differences between Spain and Hong Kong. When we left, we exchanged our contact and facebook and wished to have further communication. In one university, we had a lecture about the city planning of Barcelona. The development of Barcelona was totally different from Hong Kong, Barcelona is divided by grids in order to maximize the effect of ventilation and their buildings are also environmentally-friendly. In summer, Barcelona is very hot and they use the window curtain to reduce the sunlight but without affect the ventilation. In winter, the buildings have two layers of windows. They will close the outside window so the strong and cold wind will not enter the building but sunlight can come in. When we walk on the street, you can feel the difference between Hong Kong and Spain. People there enjoy their life. For example, they are willing to use two hours to have their lunch but Hong Kong people will tend to finish it in half an hour then go back to work. There are no people walking as fast as Hong Kong people. The lifestyle in Spain is really relaxing. And I would like to live here when I retire. Thanks to this study tour, I had the chance to leave Asia and went to Spain. Through this study tour, I have learnt many. First of all, I have broadened my horizon that I know more about Spain, like the urban planning, culture, building design and architectural style there. Some are useful in my future career. The next is my leadership is being improved, although planning the itinerary was hard at the beginning, but I really learnt something in this part. Moreover, I think this study tour has given us a chance to have a better relationship with the classmates. At first, some of us may not have interaction in classes, but now, we will chat and play together. This study tour is really a valuable memory in my life.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 19:20:51 +0000
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