Day One
Despite meeting outside school at some unmentionable hour of the morning the girls and teachers alike were very excited to be starting their journey ...... hopefully the parents managed to sleep again after dropping them off?
We arrived on time at Stansted and continued our journey to Bilbao without any delays.
Most of us managed a small amount of sleep on the plane and were ready to experience Spanish culture in all its glory at The Guggenheim Museum. We were very fortunate that both Anish Kapoor and Henri Rousseau had major exhibitions on show which were unique and much appreciated by all. Señoras Porcel-Martin and Fanning were particularly impressed that a large proportion of girls chose to listen to the audioguides in Spanish.
The girls practised some more Spanish in order to get some pinchos and tapas at the cafetería in the museum before we transferred to our hotel.
On arrival a small siesta was required before a walk down to the local beach where the girls ordered helados and had some social time. Following a lovely meal at our very comfortable hotel the girls returned to their rooms where they are now chatting .... hopefully not until too late as their teachers need some beauty sleep!
'Phrase of the day': ¡Qué bochorno!
Day Two
Having recovered from a long first day, we were pleased it was the weekend. We had breakfast and went exploring the beautiful village of Suances with its beaches, cliffs and lighthouse. Our first stop was the mirador del turco, with a breathtaking view of the bay. After spending a few moments taking snapshots of the scenery, we headed on towards the far end of the peninsula were we learnt a few new phrases including Allí está el faro. Walking and tripping about, we came up with the phrase of the day ¡Cuidado con las chanclas! (Beware of the flip flops). After this, we ran into the sea, jumping the waves and almost giving Señora Fanning a heart attack.
We had a delicious lunch and set off to la Ciudad de Santander which was beautiful and great fun. We went to the tourist office to ask for a map as the assistant was very guapo. We then went to the most famous ice cream parlour in Santander and put our language skills to the test again, the ice creams were grandísimos. A cultural tour of the city included the cathedral, the Palacio de la Magdalena –summer residence of the Spanish Royal Family in the 19thcentury- and the shop of the famous Spanish designer Purificación García.
Bloggers of the day: Laura, Trisha, Charlotte, Amy, Abigail and Tori.
Mrs Fanning, Mrs Porcel Martin and Dr Long have been impressed by the girls’ punctuality, politeness and continued enthusiasm to speak in Spanish. Early night, as tomorrow we are off to Los Picos de Europa for a day trip.
PS Whilst Mrs Fanning is still crying for Argentina, Sra Porcel Martin is fully engrossed in the Spanish match as we write...
Day Three
Today was an excursion day where we experienced the diverse Spanish landscape and wildlife of La Costa Verde. We went to Los Picos de Europa (a famous range of mountains in between Asturias and Cantabria). We also took in some Spanish life in local towns and fishing villages with their medieval churches and castles. Introducing the bloggers of the day ....
¡Hola! Hoy, fuimos a las montañas en el teleférico (cable car). The mountains are around 2,000 metres high and the landscape was sensacional although the journey up was a little scary. We had our picnic lunches above the clouds (hence today’s phrase ¡Estamos en las nubes!) in the sunshine where we were surrounded by chobas (ravens) with picos amarillos y rojos.
We came back down and visited the picturesque village of Potes for shopping and ice cream. We bought pulseras and had helados grandísimos again.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at San Vicente de la Barquera where we joined the locals for their Sunday paseo. We returned to the hotel and walked down to La Playa but it was a ¡bandera roja! so we could not paddle today but we played Spanish vocabulary volleyball instead with our super sporty Senora Porcel-Martin. The whole day was fantastic!
Bloggers of the day: Sylvie, Alice B, Natassja, Penny and Anna
The teachers would like to add that the girls are a credit to their parents; well behaved, well mannered, kind and great company.
Day Four
After a very early start to the day, we drove to the Santander language school where we were split into two groups and spoke no English for three hours!
We refreshed our vocabulary on: family, relationships, animals and food - this proved most useful when visiting the infamous market in Santander where we bargained and conversed with the locals with aptitude to purchase our traditional Spanish abanicos.
Picking up another ice cream, por supuesto, we headed off to immerse ourselves in classic Spanish culture - ¡Flamenco!
After a fun- filled hour of stomping, turning, and twirling our hands, we were treated to a second session of vigorous cha cha cha, merengue and salsa. All of us, including the teachers, succeeded in some (moderately) complicated routines.
Phrase of the day: ¡Ay, qué calor! ....... it was hot work. There are photos and video evidence showing our prowess and we all came away beaming with red cheeks having expended some energy.
Finally, we ended the day with a brief trip to the beach para descansar and enjoyed the cooling of the sea. To top it all off, we were blessed all day with utterly glorious weather. It was muy scorchio!
Bloggers of the day: Lucy, Alice R, Tori and Abby M.
Day Five
Hoy fuimos a nuestras clases de español. Estabamos cansadas pero (....we were tired but ...) we managed to soldier on thanks to the supply of Oreos and other biscuits from Las Profesoras.
Volvimos al hotel y comimos patatas fritas, espagueti y ensalada.
Después, por la tarde visitamos (.....in the afternoon we visited...) an incredible prehistoric cave que se llama Altamira. It is one of the oldest caves in Europe, a UNESCO world heritage site and there were many pictures on the ceilings and walls. We saw herds of bisontes, deer and horses. There was also a controversial unicorn. Era muy interesante. We looked forward to our tapas evening where we wore our beautiful dresses. After we had eaten our fill of tortilla, calamares, croquetas, ensalada y postre we had a very enjoyable walk around Suances before returning to the hotel to despedirnos, pack our cases and sleep.
We would like to thank Señora Fanning, Señora Porcel-Martin y Señora Long for taking us on this wonderful trip.
¡Muchas Gracias! ¡Lo pasamos bomba!
Phrase of the day: ¡Vamos muchachas!
Bloggers of the day: Jess, Emilia, Helena y Abi O.
This is the end of the blog as we will make our way back home tomorrow after more lessons in the morning. The girls have had a fantastic time, have contributed to the blog and improved their Spanish. All in all the trip has been a happy, educational and cultural experience.