Hola desde Swansa!
Estamos pasando un tiempo realmente fenomenal juntos y con nuestros compañeros en Gales, quienes están tan contentos como nosotros de estar aquí. Han pasado ya dos días desde que dejamos atrás un caluroso día en Sevilla pero apenas podemos creer que haya pasado ya tanto tiempo.
Hiya from Swansea!
We are genuinely spending a wonderful time together and with our partners in Wales, who are as excited as we are that we’re here. Two days have already gone by since we left a hot summer day in Seville but we can hardly believe it it’s been so long.
Picture in the bus from El Puerto to Seville
Our last two days have been quite busy. We arrived very late during the night of Sunday and didn’t have much sleep from Saturday to Sunday. However, at 10 am on Sunday we welcomed our partners and parents at Ael y Bryn and then each of us went off to different adventures with the families of our partners.
In the evening we went back home to share our experiences, feelings and a few new words learnt during the day, both in English and in Welsh. Some went surfing, some visited museums, some had quality family time in a rainy day at home, but all of us learnt a lot about different cultures. Some host families have a multicultural background which makes this a truly international experience from food, to music and to daily routines.
Picture of surfing boys
Generally in the evening meeting we set our expectations for the following day, This Monday at Olchfa we had the honor to present and represent our school and the city of El Puerto in Spain. We did our best to make a good first impression with our natural talent to speak about what is most dear to our hearts, and our ECI school is something that we are proud of. At the end we wowed the audience with some Sevillana dances.
Picture of presentation
Picture of sevillanas
Timetables are a bit different here in Wales. School starts at 8.10 and dinner is around 6.30. When we are back home at 9.30 or 10pm we feel like it’s time to have dinner. But we are slowly getting used to it! We are really committed to getting to know our partners every day a bit better, and this drives our hearts.
After that we had a guided tour of the school led by two senior students. We were amazed at the one way system, the general silence on the corridors and of the fact that the classes are held with open door. We tried our best to follow the saying: when in Rome, do as the Romans do, not always successful this time, but everyday better. We were so surprised at the behaviour of the Welsh students at school that some of us would like to debate this issue a bit deeper. Maybe next year in one of our assemblies, who knows…
We had a Welsh class. We learnt to say and spell a few things in the lesson that we can barely pronounce again. The only one we can actually say is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
We then went off to Cardiff for an ice-skating ride. Some of us fell while ice-skating, but we stood up once again naturally elegant and speeded up, Spanish style. Eventually we had to take our boots off and went on a boat trip on the river to the Cardiff Castle .
Well, we better go now. We are just back in Swansea and we are about to meet our host families for dinner and for some more real fun together. We’ll be happy to go back to Ael y Bryn today because we will love to sit with our teachers, maybe have some warm tea and prepare for tomorrow. Many more adventures follow and we just can’t wait.
We’ll write soon.
Lots of love!
