First Day, 29th April 2007: Arrival in England

We left Avila at ten o'clock in the morning and we went to Barajas airport (Madrid) by bus. There we had lunch and we took a flight to Gatwick. We arrived at 4 p.m. and we took the train to Chichester. There we were welcomed by Mrs Watkins, a teacher of the school, and Mr Ellis took us in a van to Cobnor, our home for the week. We were shown the centre and we ate fish and chips. After dinner, we unpacked and went to bed at about 11 but we didn't sleep very early because we were tired and nervous about the next day at school. (Photos)

Second Day, 30th April 2007: Bourne Community College and our first voyage

This is our first day at school, Bourne Community College. We attended two Spanish lessons with Mr Valera, a Spanish teacher. Later, we went to the canteen to have lunch. Photos
In the afternoon we walked to Emsworth (Photos), a small village nearby, and visited things. We had a walk by the beach and the teachers (Carmen and David) went to have a walk too by their own. We went to buy some food for dinner to Tesco supermarket and to have a short walk. Later, Mr Ellis went to find us with the minibus and drove us to Cobnor.
We had a little rest there and then Mr Ellis and his son, Zack, took us in a boat trip to a "lost isle". It was very funny, we all got wet and when we came back to Cobnor, we had dinner and went to sleep. Photos

Third Day, 31st April 2007: A British pub: Can you play skittles?

We got up early in the morning and had breakfast at school as usual. Then we met people of year 10. We stayed in the school for 6 hours. When the school finished, we went to Cobnor.
At night (6:00 p.m.) we went to a pub to have dinner, we tried the English food and we didn´t like it very much. At 7:00 pm the English people came and started to play skittles. We met more people and talked with them.
At 8:30 we went to Cobnor and went to ``sleep´´at 12:00, this was the night that we had the most hours of sleep.

Fourth Day, 1st May 2007: Portsmouth: sea and shopping

We got up very early in the morning and then we went to have breakfast at school. Later, we went to visit a beautiful city which is called Portsmouth. There we visited a lot of museums and boats and we also went shopping in the afternoon. Then we returned to the hostel. In the hostel, we played football and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. Finally, we went to have a bath , we ate something and we went to bed very early. Photos

Fifth Day, 2nd May 2007: Let's have paella for dinner!

This day in the morning, we went to the school and we stayed only 4 lessons with our partners. At midday we got our packed lunch and we went to visit Chichester (Photos); we saw a lot of monuments there and we went shopping.
At 5:00 we came back to Cobnor and we had a Spanish dinner with the English students and teachers at 7:00. Carlos made the paella, it was great! Then we went for a walk with them. At night we went to sleep very late (at 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. at night).

Sixth Day, 3rd May 2007: Leaving Cobnor and greeting London

We got up very early; we had breakfast at Cobnor and dressed up and cleaned the house. Then Mr Ellis came and drove us first to Bourne Community College and then to Havant railway station to take a train to London. We arrived in London at around 11 am and took the underground to get to St Pancras Youth Hostel where we left our luggage and began our tour on London. We visited the British Museum, St Paul's Cathedral and the Catholic one, Soho, Tate Gallery, Millenium Bridge...and many other interesting places. We walked a lot and we also travelled around the city by bus enjoying the views. Then, at night, we returned to the hostel and we slept ... all night? Photos

Seventh Day, 4th May 2007: Good-bye, London; good-bye England

We got up very early in the morning and after having a British breakfast at the hostel we began a new tour on Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St James Park... Lunch at Piccadilli Circus and back to the hotel to take a bus to the airport. The flight was delayed. Last shopping. Finally in the plane flying back to Spain. A new bus to arrive at Ávila at 1.00 am. Our families were waiting for us. They said: "You look tired!!!!" And we actually were, but we were also a bit upset after a wonderful week in England.

Epilogue

This is what students have written on the trip; they have told us the events, the facts, what they did, what they visited; it is easy to write on facts, however it is not so easy to write about emotions, about what you felt or how you felt, especially in a foreign language. When in class, they always smile if you ask because they still remember every moment of it. They still hear the echoes coming from the waves, from the students talking at school, from the busy city, from the roaring of the minibus every morning… For the most of them it was the first time they were so far away from home for so many days: one of them took his sisters’ hair ribbons with him; another one picked up some shells from the beach for his little brother; all of them bought something for their families; no, I am not going to say they did not miss home because they probably did but they definitely enjoyed every minute they lived there and they can be sure about one fact: they will never forget it.