EXCHANGE
PROJECT DIARY
Saturday, 10th May, 2014
This day we were so
nervous, we were going to see our Dutch partners!
They arrived to our
little town at half past seven in the evening. I have to confess that I thought
they would be arriving at eight o’clock, so I couldn’t get on time to the bus
station. I was at home when my mum arrived with my partner. She is Lysbeth, and
she was so nice all the time. At first she was a little bit shy, but it’s
normal, I was too. After taking out all the clothes from her suitcase, we went
out to meet the others.
We first went to the
beach, and we stayed there a long, long time, it was a little bit cold, and it
started to rain, but a kind of soft rain. After that, me, Lysbeth and some
friends with their partners, went to take some pizzas, and we went with them to
the park, and ate them with all the others.
After having dinner and
going to a bar and drink a coke, we went home, because we all were so tired. At
home, Lysbeth and I watched Eurovision, but only the final performance, because
it was so late. After that, we went to bed and fell asleep in less than a
minute.
Sunday, 11th May, 2014
That day we woke up and had breakfast watching the sea from my big balcony, and at half past eleven we went to town to show our partners how the village was, and some iconic places from it.
After the touristic guidance,
some of us went to have lunch to a little village next to Luanco (San Jorge de
Heres), and the others went to a friend’s house to have a big lunch. The dish
that she liked the most, was Ali-Oli sauce with fried potatoes, that is a
typical sauce made with mayonnaise and garlic. Then, we went to El Cabo de
Peñas, because we thought thay they couldn’t leave Asturias without watching
those spectacular views, and they loved them.
After going to the Cabo de Peñas we
returned to Luanco and some
of our friends were on the beach, so we went there and stayed for all the
afternoon. It was really a fantastic day, but a big part of the Dutch students,
and a little part of the Spanish, me included, got burned by the sun.
Around nine o’clock in the evening, we
returned home after having a delicious ice-cream in the best ice-cream shop in
town. I asked Lysbeth if the ice-creams were better than the ones in Holland,
and she said yes, so take note and come to eat some, they’re really delicious.
On Monday our partners had a reception
at school by our Principal and then they had another reception at the Town Hall
by the Mayor. There, they were given a delicious present, the typical pastries
from Luanco called “marañuelas”
We then left for Oviedo, the
capital city of Asturias. The weather was not bad, it was not too hot, but it
didn’t rain, so it was nice, and sincerely, we didn’t want any sun because we
were burned.
In Oviedo we visited a
pre-romanesque church, the Naranco, and the Calle Uría, where we had lunch. After having lunch we went to the Cathedral and returned to Calle Uría for a
while, because the bus was arriving in half an hour. At 7 o’clock the bus
arrived and we returned to Luanco. There we all went to the old harbour and had
a good time together, we were starting to socialise more between Dutch and
Spanish, because now we had things to talk about with each other.
We arrived home and we had
dinner, later we watched some TV in original language, that was English, to
make sure everybody could understand, and then we went to bed.
Tuesday, 13th May, 2014
This day we were
separated all morning. They were the guests for some presentations made by
students of 1º ESO about different aspects of Asturias
Then, our Dutch partners went to
Avilés to see the Niemeyer museum. While they were there, we participated in
some activies from our Cultural Week. This Cultural Week is a relevant event
made in our high school around May, in which we have different educative and
fun activities. The Spanish students participated in a Solidary Cross-country,
in which everybody could participate.
At three o’clock we went home
to have lunch, and at half past four we went down to the beach. There, we had a
great time, playing with the frisbee, talking, playing with a ball... and all
together at last. Around
seven o’clock we went to play a football match and some of us were sitting on
the floor, talking about anything. We had such a good time, laughing and
resting, and talking in “Spanish”. I say “Spanish”, because it was based on
finishing all English words with the syllable “–os”, because for Dutch people,
Spanish sounds like that. And it was really fun, because only the few people
that were talking like that could understand what we were saying.
Then, at half past nine,
Lysbeth and I went home and had dinner. After a talkative dinner we watched TV
and after that we went to bed, because the next day would be a long and tiring
one.
Wednesday, 14th May, 2014
This was really a
fantastic day, but we finished it so, so tired. We went all morning to the
Sella river, and we descended all of it! We went by bus, and then we took some
canoes to go into the river. We started descending with our partner, I was with
Lysbeth, and after a while, we changed with another couple, and I continued
with a friend of mine. After having lunch we started again with our partners,
and we made another change, and I reached our destination with another Spanish
friend.
The water was really cold, but
it was sunny and quite hot, so it was not bad. Just when we arrived to “firm
earth” we noticed the cold, it was around five o’clock, and it started to get
windy. We had to change our clothes behind a building, because there wasn’t a
changing room, but it was not that bad there, because at least the building
protected us from the wind.
We took the bus and went to
the Covadonga Sanctuary, and it was planned to go and see the lakes, but we
were too tired, so we went directly to Luanco. When we arrived to Luanco we
went home and took a shower, and after a cup of tea, we went to have dinner in
the village, because there was a football match, and some people wanted to
watch it. The match lasted for more than 100 minutes, but Lysbeth and I went
home before it had finished (it was more than 12 o’clock). We went directly to
bed.
Thursday, 15th May, 2014
In the morning our partners were
taken to the Maritime
Museum
Then, we all had a presentation about “The Netherlands” in Spanish for our parents, and the Dutch students were there too. Very few parents were able to assist, but then, we had the preparation of a Dutch recipe by Sybren and Esther, two of the Dutch teachers.
Later we assisted to a Zumba class and that was pretty fun. The Dutch students were too tired to stand the whole class.
And, in the end, EuroCrisol,
the star event of the week, was celebrated in the late morning. This was a
small version of Eurovision with Spanish teachers and students singing famous
hits from previous Eurovision contests. We had such a great time and we laughed
a lot with the different performances.
And the
winners ...
In the afternoon we rented a coach,
it picked us up at the bus station around 5 and we went to Gijón, that was the
only “important” city that our partners hadn’t seen yet. We went shopping, and
got to know a little bit of the city. We happened to see our teachers in the
street going for a walk!. At 9 o’clock the coach came to Gijón to pick us up
again, and we went to Candás, a little village between Gijón and Luanco. We ate
and drank something there, and, after a while, we went back to Luanco, and
directly home. It was a great day, full of
great moments.
Friday, 16th May, 2014
This would be the last day we were
together, but that didn’t make us sad until Saturday morning. We made the most
of the day.
In the morning our Dutch partners were taken to
Candás and there they had a sightseeing tour around the village. Then, they
visited the Anton Sculpture Museum.
And to finish the Cultural Week, we had an open-air broadcast by our school broadcasting station, Radio Crisol, for all the school. Isabella and Claudia interviewed two of the Dutch students there.
In the afternoon, some
of us went training their respective sports, while the rest and the Dutch
people went to play a basketball match. After training we went together and we
had pizzas for dinner.
We returned home quite late, but it didn’t matter, because it was the last night.
Saturday, 17th May, 2014
This morning
was quite sad, we had to say goodbye to the people we had been hosting in our
village and in our homes. We all met in front of the high school, and we took a
picture of all of us. When the couch came to pick them up, some of us started
crying, but we were happy, because it had been a great experience, and we
gained new friends.
I would repeat this experience millions of times, and I think we all are looking
forward to going to The Netherlands and seeing each other again.
ITSASO ZIMMERMANN GUINEA
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