Walter Sit 3M                   Wonderland, Spain

 

I personally think this is the most outstanding trip in ELW of 2017.  We never had a ELW out of Asia and I was shocked when I saw that we could go to Spain this year.  I quickly applied for the Spain trip since I had never been to Spain or even Europe before.  I was a bit skeptical about the trip because we had to stay with a host family and I had never done that before.

On the first day, we landed in Madrid.  I was surprised by the beauty of Spain already.  The streets were wide and big.  The skies are clear and blue.  Especially the girls there, they are really beautiful!  The food was amazing and I really love the Spanish sausage "chorizo".  As I explored more about Spain the more shocked I got.  We were walking in a huge park and I saw many people hanging out there.  They were having picnics, having a jog, children playing around happily and teens hanging out with their friends.  It was an astounding view, in Hong Kong this rarely happens.  People in Hong Kong are too busy or tired to do any of these fun stuff.  Spaniards are so calm, relaxed, friendly and happy all the time.  I was so amazed because I was used to the life in Hong Kong where we must do everything fast, walk fast and don’t have time for breaks at all.

I wish I had more time in Madrid so I can learn more about that place and its lifestyle there.  We only stayed there for a day and we headed off to Galicia: a place of great seafood and views.  When we landed in A Coruña, I was nervous to see my host family.  I thought I would mess up because I didn't know their culture.  I was wrong and I connected with them really well in the end.  On my first day in A Coruña, my host family took me to the harbor side of the city.  It was beautiful, the ocean was clear blue and not green like in Hong Kong.  It felt like Winter there but it was Spring.  Their 8 degrees is 1 degrees to us.  After my host family took me around town we went back home and had a typical Spanish dinner.  My host mother cooked up a Spanish omelette "tortilla".  It was amazing. Tortilla is an omelette with soft potatoes inside and when you bite it, it just makes your mouth water.  I ate a lot of food over in Spain and all of them are mouthwatering good.  Paella, tortilla, bocadillo, pulpo, and many more.  I can't recommend you more.  You must try all of them when you ever get to Spain.

We spent a week at Montegrande and the students were really friendly.  I made a lot of friends there at Montegrande.  I stayed with the form 5 over there or as they call it, "1 Bach".  I love the 1 Bach. They were awesome and I got so close to them just in a week!  We laughed and shared so much stuff.  We related really well and I learned more about the culture of teenagers in Spain.

I also spent so much time with my host family and I felt I belonged to their family too.  I got really close with them in such short time.  On the day we left, I was crying on the plane because I had to leave my host family and my friends of 1 Bach.  My best moment there in Spain is when  I played with Dorothy and my host brother “Sergio” in the snow.  We had a snowball fight, built snowmen and rolled a ball of snow up a hill.  The view was so beautiful that I teared up a bit.  I wish I had more time in Spain, Spain is a wonderland compared to Hong Kong. I certainly  didn't want to leave Spain!
 

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Jenny Badger 3M

 

Before I went to Spain I was really excited and nervous at the same time. Excited that I’ll be visiting a country I had never been to before, and nervous if I would understand the language especially when I’m with my host family.

 

When I got to A Coruña I found the culture, the architectures, the nature, the people and many things completely different to Hong Kong and that made me really exuberant! The architectures are very ancient but exquisite, I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. And so many more compliments that I can blurt out.

 

Another thing that I really liked about the trip was the people, especially from my host family and the students. In my host family I had a very amusing and nice dad, a very kind and caring mum and a very loving little sister. During the whole trip, from start to end, they were very nice and caring to me, and very loving as though I was their daughter and sister.

 

Also, the students were really willing to talk to me and my friends that came along as well. They made me laugh a lot and I enjoyed myself being there.  And although my Spanish is not as good as them, my host family and the students, they were still eager to listen to me and try to understand me.

 

As well as that I was amazed by the school in A Coruña, because they have so much freedom, not as if my school in Hong Kong doesn’t have any freedom but A Coruña has way more, and I still didn’t mind the culture.

 

Moreover, the food there was remarkably great as well, very typical, my favourites are tortilla, paella, chocolate con churros, jamón and chorizo. All these food are rarely made or even not made in restaurants in Hong Kong, as well as the price, it’s expensive in Hong Kong for these food. But in A Coruña, they had an acceptable price and were very deliciously made.

 

Furthermore, I was very pleased with the environment in A Coruna, the air is very fresh and everytime when I look around there are always trees and plants for extra freshness. The beaches and coasts are very stunning as well.

 

Overall, I enjoyed going to A Coruñaa and I didn’t regret going. It was a very fun and unforgettable experience, I know it may sound cliche but I’m speaking from my heart and I really did enjoy my stay in A Coruña, I didn’t even want to leave and go back to Hong Kong as well as my friends. Even now I still want to go back because I already miss A Coruña.

 

Enoch Chui 3T

 

I always wanted to travel to Spain and this year, my dream finally came true. I went to Spain this 2017 in the school’s ELW trip. Before I went to Spain, I felt so worried, because this was going to be  the first time that I would travel to Europe, my first time to live in a host family, the first time that I would go to a 9 days trip by myself and the first time that I would seat on the plane for 16 hours, it's a quite long time. So I prepared a lot of stuff and my luggage was so full.

 

I couldn't sleep on the day before the trip, I had to rush to the airport after dinner because our plane took off at 12:00 o’clock at that time. Our members included Mr Arriaga (our Spanish teacher), Walter (our student leader), Jenny, Ann, Mary, Dorothy, Lisa, Aillian and me. So we rode on the plane CX-315 for 16 hours and finally arrived to Spain.

 

On the first day, we arrived to Madrid (the capital of Spain) where we spent one day Mr. Arriaga brought us to the apartment, and introduced to us a famous Spanish dessert called “Chocolate Con Churros” and the famous Spanish food called Paella, they were so delicious. We had a really good sleep on that night because we were all so tired and jet lagged.

 

The next day, Mr Arriaga let us made our own breakfast. We went to the supermarket to buy some pizza and biscuits to cook. Later we went to the airport and took the plane to A Coruña to meet our host family.

 

My host family had 4 people. The father’s name is Santi, mother’s name is Lourdes, the big brother’s name is Jacobo and the small brother’s name is Yago. They were so passionate to me. We had a close relationship. We still contact each other since I left Spain.

 

There was a huge difference between Hong Kong  and Spain, especially the technology level and the food. They were so amused by the high-tech in Hong Kong, like the phone with big monitor. And I found that they always have meat with bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they got bread in every meal.

 

A lot of buildings were low rise apartment in Spain, they only have 3 or 4 storeys. In Hong Kong buildings have over 40 storeys for a high rise apartment building. Also school size in Spain and Hong Kong is so different. In Spain, the playground is huge but their school building has only  3 storeys only. My school in LTPSS has 1 basketball court and 7 storeys. There is a huge difference!

 

I’ve had a lot of fun with my host family too, I went to Mega jump, which is a trampoline place and went to the bowling alley and played boiling with them. My host mother cooked very well so I enjoyed her meals very much, they were very delicious.

 

By going on this trip, I’ve learnt a lot more about the culture in Spain and I’m glad that I have been to Spain. I wish I can go to Spain and learn some more again.

 

Emily Tsang 3T

 

Getting a bunch of your friends with you during the ELW week could be a fun experience, but why not jump out of your comfort zone and try something different?

 

This trip brought me a lot of happiness and unforgettable memories.For me, it's the first time that I tried and stayed with the host family for one week. It really will be one of my best memories of this trip. In the middle of the week, I've been touched by what my host family had done for me, and I will never forget the moment when we had to say goodbye.

 

The culture and the ways the school work are both different from HK. In that week,we went to different places, such as the Art Museum,a picturesque town near A Coruña, the Science Museum and the Cultural trip to Santiago de Compostela. We have learned a lot in this trip.

 

Taking a more than fifteen hours flight is not easy. But after this trip, I realized that I made the right choice as I got to feel experience different.And I'm pretty sure I've learned a lot and I grew a lot after I came back from this memorable journey.

 

Aillian Cheung 3T

 

I enjoyed this trip very much because I could learn many things, such as Spanish vocabulary and the differences between Hong Kong and Spain. Hong Kong is very small but it has buildings everywhere and Spain is big and has less buildings. Also, the air in Spain is very clean but Hong Kong has air pollution which may affect our health.

 

The things that made me enjoy the most was to go to a Spanish school. I had a lot of fun and the students were very kind.They shared many different things in Spain and let me understand Spain better.

 

This was a very meaningful trip for me, we went to many different museums, such as the art museum and the physics museum. They were very interesting. If I had another chance I would go there once again.

 

The most unforgettable moment in Spain was having dinner with my host family. They talked to me a lot and I also shared many interesting things with them.They were very nice to me. I would love to go there to visit them if I had time.

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Mary Cheung 3M

 

My name is Mary, I’m one of the members in the trip to Spain. This trip was extremely joyful and I really loved it. In this trip there were 10 members and one teacher, we played together, ate together, laughed together, cried together, hug together… there are a lot of memories in this trip that I will never forget.

 

During this trip, I’ve learnt how to work with others and how to share things. Because the culture in Spain was totally different from Hong Kong, I’ve learnt how to respect and to understand their culture as well.

 

The differences between Hong Kong and Spain are that they will kiss your cheek twice when you meet them and say “good morning or goodnight”. It is a bit close between person and person and at the same time I can feel their love and blessing. Also in Spain, when it is time for eating, you can’t use your mobile devices because it is time to for a family gathering and to show you respect.

 

My host family was a happy family. The first time I saw them, their smiles were shining to my eyes and their actions were really warm and kind. There was a little girl called Zaida, she was 11 years old and she was an energetic, kind, positive girl. I really loved to play with her and two of her best friends, Sara and Carmen, they were funny too. I thought one of the funniest thing was that my host mum name was the same as mine. Is that call destiny?

 

Dinner time was a good time for my host family to teach me Spanish and at the same time i’ll teach they Cantonese too. That was really fun so actually we were laughing out loud rather than eating dinner.

 

If I there is another chance for me to go on a trip, I would take the chance to go back to Spain to visit them and share my things in the future. This trip is an unforgettable trip for me and I’ll miss them and keep the memories in my heart forever.

Bernice Chan 3T

 

I have a good memory and I have learnt something new in this trip to Madrid and to A Coruña. I have also learnt how to communicate with the other country's people by using Spanish and English and to try to respect their culture.

 

We lived with a host family for 5 days in A Coruña. During the stay, the family took care of me a lot and they treated me as their family members. Although it is hard for us to communicate to each other using Spanish or English,  I tried my best to talk to the family in Spanish and they also tried to talk to me in English. We both taught each other our languages and how to read it aloud. I have learnt some new words in spanish like 'enfermo', which means sick and 'nieve', which means snow. I have also taught them English sentences. I  think teaching each other was very interesting. We acted like a teacher and our lessons were very funny. They taught me patiently and didn't scold at me .

 

Before going to the trip, I thought that the host family would be very strict and i will have no freedom in their home and I also thought that we would not talk to each other because we don't know each other's language .But after staying in the host family , I think that they are very kind and they also took care of me as if I was their daughter.

 

The most enjoyable moment in the trip was having a lesson with the students in 'Montegrande'. They were very enthusiastical. During their lesson, we didn't know what the teacher was talking about and the students translated it to us . They also lead us to read the words after them, in the recess , we talked about Hong Kong culture and Spanish culture.We also taught each others our language and we had a lot of fun. They also invited us to have lunch with them , they don't ignore us because we were not born in the same place and from the same religion. I think that they were very nice, although they were talkative in the lesson and didn’t listen to the teacher, but they were very funny.

 

I loved the buildings in Madrid because they looked very special and old . This trip is very memorable for me and I will never forget the friends I met in school and my host family that took care of me during the trip .

 

Dorothy Cheung 3M

 

I have chosen to go to Spain for the ELW. I think it was a unique, incredible trip and a rare opportunity in my life. In the future, maybe I will go to Spain again, but I will never have the same experience. Within this trip, I've got a taste of life.

 

I am a coward, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and was really brave during this week. I had been hesitating and grumbling before I went to Spain. However, I am just oblivious to how amazing the world is after leaving my comfort zone.

 

HK is a really different place when it's compared with Spain. HK is a swarm of people who is taking a fast-paced lifestyle which Spain doesn't. I really like Spain, particularly the food (ham, cheese,paella,tortilla...), and the environment. My Spanish teacher always tells me how good the food in Spain is, but I can't feel that because I have never tried that. However, now I did.The food is really yummy and I can totally understand why my teacher thinks that about Spanish food. During the week, I went to a school called Monte Grande for lessons. Students there are very nice and I made a lot of friends there even though they were older than me (15). On the other hand, the host family is also a checkpoint that shouldn't be forgotten. My family didn’t know much English and this caused an obstacle. However, they always tried to talk to me so I felt really impressed. I taught them English, Chinese and they taught me Spanish! Although we didn't communicate well, we both had a great time. The last day at the airport, I cried because I noticed that I wouldn’t see them anymore.

 

The best time in Spain is when I played snow with my family and Walter and his family. We were really lucky that the weather was cold enough and it snowed in the fourth day. It was an unforgettable time which will last forever in my heart, what I had seen and done in that day will remain in my memories forever. It was the first time I saw snow, especially in this wonderful place. It really made me close to tears!

 

Time flew in Spain and I was always hoping that it wouldn’t end. I hope I can go there again during the same time, with the same members, so everything sustains the same.

 

Lisa Wun 3T

 

I had a memorable time in Spain and the trip for my Experiential Learning Week.

 

I was living with a host family in A Coruña. There were a pair of host parents and two little sister in the the host family. The smallest sister's name is Hugo who is 8 years old. She is a talkative and energetic girl. Every time we met, she kept talking to me but because she was talking in Spanish, I couldn't understand most of the word. This problem made me feel trouble but it is also improving my Spanish. By communicating with my host family, I learned a large amount of Spanish vocabulary which is frequently used in daily life but not taught in the textbook.

 

In the daily activities in Madrid and A Coruña, I went to the park, the market, the church, the coast and a lot of museums. We did not just go to the tourist attractions. We had also entered the local people's lives to experience their life. We also have a deeper understanding of Spanish culture after visiting the museums.

 

We stayed at school every afternoon and had  lunch and lessons with them. The student were very friendly and enthusiastical. We discussed about the cultural differences and educational mechanism between Hong Kong and Spain.

 

Therefore, I learned a lot from the trip to Spain and I will be happy to share the experience with others.

 

Ann Mok 3R

 

In the Spanish Trip, I have learn many things.This was my first time living with a host family. In the host family I chatted with the children (Miguel and Laura). Miguel is a boy who likes design and Maths, he always showed me his 3D designs, what a beautiful design! Laura is a girl who loves drawing Korean artists. She can also draw Justin Bieber, G-Dragon....                                                                           

 

At dinner time we shared our life in both Hong Kong and Spain.We could see the differences between Spain and Hong Kong. In Spain school is from 9:15a.m. until 16:25p.m. What a good time!

 

I have come to the local school MonteGrande. We could attend some lessons we hadn't seen before such as World History, French and Project Learning. The happiest moments we have were having lunch with them and learning more Spanish with them.        

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Mr. Arriaga´s reflection

 

I am very glad to lead the first group of students travelled to Galicia, a northern region of Spain. Our students had the chance to live a truly inclusive experience into the Spanish culture by living with local families and attending lessons in a real Spanish school. Further, they enjoyed day trips to iconic places, broadening their understanding of the language and the way of living of the region.

Due to the success of the event, we plan to keep working in order to establish a long term relationship with Galiasia and this cultural exchange of invaluable nature.