TUESDAY 17th OF JANUARY (2016-2017)

Tuesday 17th of January

by Irene Ronda and Cristina Soto

   Today was another unique day in Ireland. We had a great and full breakfast to start this school day with energy. Although we were divided into two groups, we all got the chance to do the same things. We had; maths, arts, science and P.E.E. In Art, we made a bowl out of clay and painted with chalk. The bowls ended up a little bit weird, yet me had a lot of fun making them. In Science we used a Bunsen Burner for the fist time, and hopefully it won't be the last time. Then we had launch, which consisted in a Wrap made with the ingredients that we asked for. Our expectations were not very high, but at the end the wraps turnt out to be nice. To conclude the school day, we had two hours of P.E.E. We played some games that reminded us of our childhood and made us work together as a team. Once the class was over, we headed to some friends house.

In their house we were delighted when we had the chance to listen to our Italian friends playing the guitar. We also showed them some games with"La Baraja Española" and danced some typical Italian, Irish and Spanish dances. Last but not least, we enjoyed an enormous and delicious dinner which contained pizza, soup, salad, pepper, French fries and hot chocolate.

VISITING DUBLIN (2016-2017)

VISITING DUBLIN

By Estibaliz Almeida and Raquel Quintana

  Today is our fourth day in Ireland and we are going to Dublin!We woke up at eight o'clock. We put our clothes on and we went to the kitchen. There we had breakfast. We ate cookies and milk with cereals.After that we washed our teeth and Peggy, who is our Irish mother, took us to the school. The bus was waiting for us and we went into the bus to Ballyconnell. It's a village where some of the Spanish people are staying.The bus picked up some Spanish, Irish and Italian people and we drived to Dublin. When we arrived in Dublin at twelve o'clock our teachers gave us free time, consequently all of us thought the same: buying souvenirs. We visited some shops that we can't find in Gran Canaria, such as Forever 21, River Island, Topshop... We entered also into the typical souvenirs' shop called Carrolls. Here we also could find jumpers of Ireland that most of us bought. Then we had lunch at half past one in the Mc Donalds. When we finished eating we visited some beautiful streets and two shopping centres. At quarter to four we had to be at the meeting point. When we were all together, we got on the bus and came back to Ballyconnell. After two hour the bus arrived and we stayed in Ballyconnel's park talking with our Spanish friends and some Italian boys about the day, the things we had bought, and our relationship with the Irish families. At nine o'clock our Irish father, whose name is Mark, picked up us and we went back to our home. When we were at home we showed our Irish sisters, Leigha and Tamara, what we had bought and we told them how was our day in Dublin. Finally we had dinner and we went to bed. Today has been a fantastic day!

BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES (2016-2017)

Between two countries

 By Néstor Hernández and Pablo Rodríguez

We started the morning with an irish breakfast: eggs, sausages, toasted bread with butter, white and black puttings, bacon, beans, potato bread, orange juice and hot chocolate with mini-marsmallows. It was delicious!!! During this fantastic breakfast our family explained us what we were going to do today. And also, like always, they asked for Las Palmas weather and, like always, they were like: "Amazing! Impossible "Because there were 20 degrees. And also they asked for Sardinia's weather, from where is the Italian boy, Michele (<Mikele>), who lives with us. After that we went to our bedrooms to prepare ourselfs to the trip. They told us that we should get warm clothes because we were going to go to the mountains.
   At 11:30 we went out, we spended 1:30 hours in the car until we arrived to the first stop: the beggining of the river Shannon, the longest river in Ireland. There was an explanation of how a little lake of water turns into that incredible river. Then we went to the top of a mountain that wasn't to far away from where we were. In the mountain we saw phaleolitics ruins and also there was a viewpoint where you can see three counties: Cavan, Leitrim and Longford.
The best part of the day was at 3:00pm, when we went to the borderline between Northen Ireland (In the United Kingdom) and Ireland. Then, Thomas (our Irish "father") bought us ice creams, and later we went to a cementery to see a monastery and also there were views of a amazing lake. A while after we went to Ballyconnel, because the river that pass through it is the Shannon river and we wanted to see it again. It is really an amazing river. Then we visited a canal like the Panama's canal but, obiously, smaller and in the Shannon river.
   Finally we return to our house at 5:30, we were very tired, so we spend about an hourresting in our beds. At 6:30 we had dinner, we ate pork, potatoes and vegetables. And at 7:00 Pablo went to mass, and Michele and me stay in the house playing some games. When Pablo arrived we saw The Big Bang Theory and now we are going to wacht a film or just keep talking with Michele, Elizabeth (our Irish "mother") and Thomas.

TURNED BACK 5 YEARS OLD (2016-2017)

TURNED BACK 5 YEARS OLD

By Beatriz Villena and Irene Troule

     This is our second day here. We are so lucky because our family is nice and we feel like at home. We are enjoying the experience a lot. Today is Saturday, so we got up at 10.00. Then we have breakfast, we ate different types of cereals, milk, orange juice, toast... Later we got dressed to go out. Today was James’ 7 birthdays, our Irish brother. We went to Cavan. There you can find a lot of shops and restaurants that you cannot find in Ballyconnell ,the village where we are staying at. In Cavan, we went to “Kool Kids” that is place where children's go to celebrate their birthdays. There are slides, ball pool… it’s like “Cata pum” in Las Palmas. At the beginning we thought that only children could go to play at the park, but then we realized that we could too, we played with the children and it was so funny, we turned back 5 years old. Later, we went to the supermarket with Sabrina (our Irish mother). It was 4pm and we were hungry, so we ate at the Macdonalds. When we arrived home, we played with the snow in the garden. Later, we prepared to go out with friends. Sabrina took us to Chloes’ house; she is the Irish sister of two friends. We listened music and played “cuarto oscuro” with her little brother, it was so funny. At 7 we met our friends in the park. At the park were a lot of Irish, Spanish and Italian people and we enjoyed so much, we improved our English. We went home walking, it was so cold that our faces are red at the moment. When we arrived we had dinner, a delicious lasagna that Sabrina prepared to us. During the dinner we talked with our family and now we are going to talk with our parents. We are having a great experience!

OUR FIRST DAY IN IRELAND (2016-2017)

Our first day in Ireland 2016-2017 

        By Luis de Pablos

    It's come the day we've been waiting for. A day in which we will live some new and exciting experiences that no everybody have the opportunity to have, and I think that all we go, we will have an amazing trip helping us eacher and learning a lot.

            Most of us were very nervous when we first met at the bus station, but suddenly we

realised that we were just a few. The reason is that the principal of the school did not communicated all familys that we must be over there at 8:30, so some student stay at bed (lucky ones because we arrived at 2:50am) . Then, the students that we were there, had to get on the bus. After a very short travel, most of as get together in the school recepcion, where they explains us what we will do. In the first 2 periods, we were having a drawing class. Next, in the third one, we all got introduce with some Irish students. Father that, they separated also of us in 2 groups. Despite this fact, we all had the same activities, a technology class and then an out to let them know as a bit more. Finally we finished our day in the school at 1:30pm and everyone get back to their homes.

            In me case, we had lunch in her sisters house, a place where I had the opportunity to met other exchange students, from French and Italy, and also I was able to recognise a girl that has been in our school last year when she had the exchange. After spending much of the afternoon in that house talking with them, we went back to the house to have dinner at 7:00 o clock. To conclude the day, most of The students tried to meet at the bus station to spended some time each other with a recognise face in a new place like is Ireland. Over there, we meet some people in a park. We all say good bye at 9:00 because is the first da, and families mighted be nervous. Much students ends their day at that time, however I was not so lucky .... I spend 30 minutes to find the house because I forgotten where it was, so I spend a bit of time at night spinning around to find the house, and suddenly I realise that it was behind the house I spend 10 minutes stop in front of.

            To conclude and taking all things considered, I have to say that it has been I great day, I have such a nice family that the are worry of me, help me...and also I think Ireland will not forget us so easy when we left because we are such a nice group.

IRISH TEA COOKIES

Today we went to the school and we had  cooking class, in that class we made irish tea cookies, and they were delicious, after that we went padel surfing and we had to try to get to one little island that was like 400meters away.
We could do two things and one of them was "Kayac"that was in pairs and  you were seated in a kayac with a oar and like in padel surf you had to row. The other one that you could do was Padel surfing, in this one you had to stand up in a surfing table and with an oar you had to row.
After as almost all of the days we went to the park, and we had an amazing time. La
It was an amazing day, we did lots of things, and tomorrow we are going to go to Dublin.

María de la Corte

OUR LAST DAY IN IRELAND. BY MARÍA SAMPER

29th of september, the last day staying in Ireland, the last day of this amazing experience. After the farewell party, yesterday, everybody went home and Paula and I were spending our last moments with our wonderful family. Today, we got up very early and we stay all morning with our two "sisters", we had breakfast all together and then we played cards because that was the thing that we always did together. All of us were very sad. The first person that we had to say goodbye was Mark, our "daddy" and in that moment I start crying for the first time. After that, mum, our sisters, our brother ,Paula and I were very sad because we wont see us again until years or a lot of months if we come again, and i will, i swear that. We were crying for a very long time, they have been taking care of us like we were their daughters and making us feel at home. I had a great time here and my english has improve, so as the spanish of our family. They are like our second family and we are going to miss them so much