Day 11

Day 11 in Valencia was a well deserved day. We got two trains and one tram to the formula 1 track where we walked around the habour and saw the Port America's Cup boats. We then spent our afternoon relaxing on the beach, paddling in the sea, burying people and playing games. This was a very enjoyable day and we are looking forward to the tennis tomorow! Yipeee!

Day 9

Day 9 in Valencia was another action packed day. We attended our final spanish lesson with Beatrice where we enjoyed finishing off our sports related vocabulary and learning a new song by Shakira. We then came back and delivered our forgein language leaders presntations providing information on different foods, cultures, famous buildings and people. We then attended our last coaching placements, some of us had the opportunity to lead our sessions which was great experience and being the last session was very sad for some. We are looking forward to visiting the aquarium tomorrow.





Gareth and Adam demonstrating an exercise during their session








Gareth following the planned session for rugby

Day 10

Day 10 was one of our excursions days. Where we went to europes largest aquarium, oceanografic. We then enjoyed a classy lunch in McDonalds! yum! After lunch we had a few hors to go shopping and to find or a create a Halloween costume. We thenw ent back and did some log books and europassports until it was time to dress up and get ready for tea. We dressed up in all sorts of random costumes. On our return we played some games that involved picking a cereal box up in our mouths that progressively got smaller. Overall we had an excellent day and cant wait to go to the beach tomorrow!!!!











The Halloween Freak Show

Day 8

The ultimate pudding in the local pizza restaurant








Lauren and Matt in coaching action










Chris & Amy taking time to pose before their coaching session










Adam, Anna and Gareth with Stars mentor John

Day 7

Today our day began with another "Spanish Club" lesson with Beatrice which was sport related. We then came back and continued with our Spanish presentations and then went for lunch. Later we came back and got ready for our placements.
For the rugby placement we enjoyed the opportunity to lead an entire session of 8 - 9 years olds. This was an opportunity to use our knowledge from the Spanish lessons we have had during the week.
For football we further assisted the Spanish coaches and helped out at every occasion we could.
For swimming we were in the water and assisted the coach with making sure the kids stayed afloat. Then later we were given the opportunity to be responsible to take a session for the advanced swimmers.
For dinner we had salad followed by eggs, bacon and chips. Next we had cake which was very tasty.
When we came back to the convent we watched a film then went to bed.
All in all it was a good day!! :D



Swimming Girls; Leigh, Hannah and Georgia with the Spanish Instructor

Day 6

DAY 6 at the convent. In our spanish lesson today, we learnt some basic verbs such as "ser", and some useful athletics vocab. After that,we went to lunch and had some seafood pasta, with muscles and prawns. In general, placements were great experiences as language barriers between the coaches and assistants are being reduced and we were more involved in our placement sessions. In these sessions we were heavily involved with assisting the coaches by supporting their planned activities and guiding the children. To finish our day off we were taken to a pizzeria, Chris managed to eat an incredible amount. The ice cream and chocolate platters were delightful!!!



2nd Spanish Lesson



Gymnastic Coaches



Basketball Coaches

Day 5

1st Spanish Lesson



Football placement team photo

This morning we had our 2nd spanish lesson with beatrice and we learnt new sporting verbs and random vocabulary which may come in useful in our coaching sessions. We then had a siesta and continued with our language leaders award work. We are making a presentation about the cultural aspects of Spain which we are going to present on thursday night. For lunch we the had or first taste of paella followed by steak and chips which was very nice. In the afternoon, we went to our sporting placements which were football, basketball, swimming and halloween preparatins where all the kid were fun to work with, and as the session went on, the language barrier became less of a problem. We were pro-active and involved with the sessions, making the most of the experiences. Finally, for dinner we had garlic fish and chips finished with ice cream that we couldn't work out theflavour of!




Swimming Placement Photo

Day 4

Day Four in the Valencia House!!! This morning we went to the bio-park which is a large open air zoo. We spent a few hours there and saw a tonne od different animals including Hyenas, monkeys and an ELEPHANTE!!! At the end of the zoo trip we all bought matching hats and then walked through the city wearing matching T-shirts and matching hats. We looked like proper tourists!!! After the bio-park we strolled through the lungs of he city (a park) which had beautiful views and we stayed enjoying the rays from the sun. The park had many attrations for all to enjoy but the most exciting were its exercise machines dotted around and its workout trail enjoyed by some of the group :) In the evening we went to the fiesta, when we turned up we entertained the crowd by dancing with the band! then Gareth read the story of the ginger bread man to the little spanish children. some of the group played games with the children involving englsh fruits and colours. We were all on telly as the fiesta was being filmed by the sanih equivelent of bbc 1:)then we spoke to many different spanish peple. They seem to think were celebritys just because were English :)

Day 3

Day 3 at the convent!! We took the metro to the main city of Valencia in beautiful weather; 33 degrees :) which was very nice. First of all walked to the Main Train Station within Valencia and then to the Bull Ring which unfortunately we couldn't go in but we took the opportunity to go in the McDonalds opposite and get burgers and McFlurrys!!! Afterwards we hiked up the Miguelete Tower and saw the whole of Valencia fom the top and walked to the abandoned river bed which is paved over and sat by the fountains to have our lunch- it was a lovely view. We also went to an old Palace and went shopping!! Yay!
We sang on the metro on the way home and managed to scare the locals with Old McDonald!! At the end of the evening we sang at the festival to the spanish people and spent the remainder of the evening in a little cafe laughing at Matt's wide mouthed frog joke :) all in all it was a great day and we all went to bed with sore ribs from laughing so much.

Day 2

Day 2 in the Valencian Convent, enjoyed our first nights sleep and had a half decent lie in before breakfast at 9am. Between 10-12 we attended our spanish lessons where we were all engaged. Then on return to the Convent we had a siesta, where most people took the opportunity to sunbathe. Shortly after we went for our lunch, which consisted of tuna salad,squid and flan in a pot...YUM! After lunch we came home and got ready for our placements and sunbathed some more. Everyone enjoyed their placements alot and can't wait to go back on Monday after the excursions this weekend. Bring on Valencia!!! Fura Moncada Festival - Group Photo Before visit to first placement in fancy new leader t shirts

Day 1

Our first video diary.

Day 1

Hola Everyone

It has been a long day. 4:30am - start of our travels. 23:20 - sitting down to blog.

It was an early start today, but everyone made it on time. Well done team.
The flight was on time, but sadly we touched down in Alicante to be greeted by rain and wind. However glad to report that the further North we travelled that the weather gradually improved. Well the rain disappeared.

So just to let you all know that we've settled in. We've met with Schola. We've seen some sun. Oh and we've had a siesta.

Okay that's enough for day 1.

Buenos Nochas