The sun came out to greet us… ¡Bienvenidos a España! We all agree winter has been long and harsh, and believe me when I say Spain hasn’t had a good one either. So how lucky it is to time our trip to Spain with the first week of proper Spanish spring weather.
But first things first, our journey. We set off from a very hot Devon, so hot in fact that our driver had to stop to open the roof air vents! We went through security without issues only to find out that our flight was delayed. Not a major problem when you have a bunch of students willing to cooperate and be generally great. By some bizarre kind of luck the 4 nervous flyers ended sitting together, so those around had their work cut out trying to distract them.
The coach journey to Ávila was fast and smooth and before we knew it we had the impressive medieval wall welcoming us. As every year, that’s the precise moment when they all become quiet and anxious about meeting the families they’re staying with. But, again as every year, that only lasts a few minutes, because as soon as we arrive and they see their Spanish friends their faces fill with joy.
This morning we had lots of happy and content students, they’ve all seemed to have settled in remarkably quick. And without any fuss, off we went to Madrid. Remains of the recent snow falls waved as we passed by the mountains north of Madrid and we started descending -Ávila is the highest capital of province in Spain- and the temperature started raising. An hour and a half later we were entering the Real Madrid stadium, Santiago Bernabeu, and commencing our tour of the trophies rooms and other fascinating areas, like the changing rooms. I have to confess that I always take great delight in telling the students, with a straight face, “that’s the urinal that Ronaldo uses” (I can’t help myself!). They never seem impressed…
At lunch time we headed off towards Madrid’s theme park, which sits in the beautiful Casa de Campo, a big forestry park in the outskirts of Madrid. They all put a thick layer of sun cream on and woosh! before we could count to three they were already up on some crazy ride.
We’re on our way back to Ávila now, to begin the weekend with our families. Lots of fun stuff has been planned and they’re all buzzing. I can’t wait to hear all about it on Monday!