Madrid and Gandia 2012- The Diary

16th May- 25th May 2012

The Students Claire Duncan

Ryan Richardson Margaret Caven Darryl Crichton Jade Paterson Jim Stevenson

Antonio Calderon Sean Dickson Chris Hernan John Boyle

Anna O’Neill Kirsty Menzies

Ross Carroll David Connelly

Gary Kelman Angela McGuinness

The Staff

Gail Dennett Morveen Urquhart Carrie Findlay

Flora Walker Ian Lyon

Each day the diary will tell you EVERYTHING that we did, especially what we enjoyed, what we didn’t enjoy and any special or funny moments!!

Day 1

What we did

Flew from Edinburgh to Madrid

Checked into hotel

What we liked best

The flight arrived on time and was quick

Ross visited the flight deck!!!

Getting off the plane and feeling the heat in Madrid

Looking out of plane window and seeing the lights.

Hotel was clean and big with relaxing rooms What we liked least

Noise outside Hotel and in corridors

Too hot in the rooms

Arriving late in Madrid-we were tired!

Day 2 What we did

Visited the Spanish College

Had lunch in College

Visited Cosmocaixa

Shopping at Plaza Norte What we liked best

Hot weather

Meeting Spanish staff and students

Visiting the workshops at the College

Playing football with Spanish students

Mini beast section at Cosmocaixa

Shopping in the mall

Having fun with friends!!!! What we liked least

Some parts of Cosmocaixa were a bit boring.

The sausages at lunch time were not nice.

Day 3

What we did

Warner Bros theme park

Picnic

Dinner at College What we liked best

Superman ride

Wild West area in park

Getting soaked on the water flume

Tallest ride in Europe

Morveen and Mags breaking the waltzers

Graphics in the Batman simulator

Picnic- tortilla was tasty

Queue jump saved time

Speaking to the Spanish students at the theme park

Enjoyed chill out time before dinner

Dinner-cannelloni and chips!!!! What we liked least

Would have liked to spend more time in the theme park.

Souvenirs expensive

Confused at how queue jump worked?

Not being allowed to take water/food into park

Too hot!!

Lost hat on water ride

Fish for dinner

Day 4 What we did

Canada Real Nature Park

Escorial

Dinner in Cafe Di Fiore What we liked best

Seeing all the different animals

Interesting information about the animals from the Spanish staff

Gift shop in nature park was good

Picnic in the park

Views in Escorial

Enjoyed walking around Escorial

Running up the hill in the rain!!!

Hot chocolate to heat us up

Good selection of food at all you can eat buffet for dinner

Good laugh in pub watching football What we liked least

Thunder and hail stones!!!!!

Walking round the nature park took a long time

Hot chocolate too rich!!

Chicken noodle soup at dinner too salty

Day 5

What we did

Tour of Madrid

Lunch in Alcazar

Shopping for souvenirs

Dinner at Cafe Fiore

What we liked best

Seeing the sights of Madrid-the Palace and The Ritz Hotel!

Seeing the Bull Ring

Being on the bus for the tour as weather not great

The big Spanish Flag was amazing

Meeting new Spanish staff

Sangria and tapas delicious

Lunch was tasty

Frozen chocolate with white chocolate gorgeous

Shopping for oresents! What we liked least

HUGE portions at lunch!!

Weather not great

A lot of walking

Steak was quite chewy!

Day 6 What we did

Visited Colleges and took part in classes

Real Madrid Football Stadium

Dinner in Italian Restaurant What we liked best

Making jewellery in craft class relaxing

Cooking class good fun and we got to eat it at lunch-delicious!!!

David’s music class was brilliant fun-loved making our song!

Playing football with Spanish students at break

Looking at the blog Domingo had made

Seeing SFL Madrid Facebook page

Chicken nuggets at lunch great!

Getting presents from Spanish, it was very kind!

Football stadium really interesting, good to see trophies and football boots

Getting picture with Christian Ronaldo

Sitting in dug out on pitch

Stadium shop good for presents

Italian restaurant-pizzas delicious What we liked least

Would have liked more time in Music class

Would have liked to spend the whole day in College

Portions in restaurant were HUGE!!!!

Football stadium very high!!

Day 7 What we did

Travelled from Madrid to Gandia

Picnic

Beach

Dinner in Hotel Biaritz

Ice cream and walk along the beach front What we liked best

Relaxing journey-managed to sleep

Enjoyed the film on the bus-very funny!!

Picnic in the sun

Hotel Biaritz really nice

Hotel had a swimming pool and close to the beach

Great fun in the sea jumping over waves

Soft cool sand

Very good choice at dinner

Calamares tasted delicious

Enjoyed the walk along the front to get ice cream

Lots of different flavours of ice cream

Had great fun with Spanish students at ice cream parlour What we liked least

Hotel room smaller than in Madrid

Pool really small

No fridge in room to keep water cold

Towels in bathroom small

Water freezing

Sand all over feet

Day 8

What we did

Beach

Lunch in hotel

Swimming pool

Albufera for boat trip

DISCO!!! What we liked best

SUNSHINE!!!

Beach was great fun, playing in the

seas and sunbathing

Soaking Gail in the sea

Clear water

Bought sunglasses on the beach

Football on the beach with the Spanish

Breezy at the beach

Pool nice and cool

Walk to the Marina to see the big boats

Boat trip very relaxing and interesting

Thatched house was so small

Darryl and Gary tried eels

Disco was amazing-good music and danced all night!!

What we liked least

Too many midgies at the cafe in Albufera

Disco was really HOT!

Pool and sea very cold

Day 9 What we did

Went to Valencia to Oceanographic

Lunch at Hotel

Shopping along the beach front

Beach

Dinner in Hotel

DISCO!!! What we liked best

Walking around seeing all the different animals.

The dolphin show was amazing!!!

Oceanografico was very interesting

Liked seeing all the brightly coloured fish

Shopping for presents

Last time at the beach

Pub fantastic!

Spanish music was great!

What we liked least

Would have liked to spend the whole day at Oceanografico

Would have preferred to go to Disco than listen to the band!

Day 10 What we did

Travelled from Alicante to Glasgow What we liked best

Good short flight

Liked arriving home to the sunshine!! What we liked least

Saying goodbye to our Spanish friends

Didn’t want to come home!!