Spain Trip

The Spain Trip was an amazing and awesome experience. The days were full to the max with sightseeing and fun activities. I will never forget the beautiful buildings and really friendly people. It was the trip of a life time.

The best city we visited in my opinion was Barcelona. The streets were crowded with buskers and street performers. The culture was lively and the food was fantastic. I will never forget visiting La Sagrada Familia, one of the most incredible sights of my life. I'll be sure to return to check its progress in the future. However, my favourite part of the trip was the week stay with a Spanish family. They were quite similar to my own family. My Spanish father showed me with great enthusiasm his power tools and his wine cellar and I could imagine clearly my own father doing the same! It was a fantastic experience to stay with them and I would love to visit them again sometime in the future. I would urge anyone to partake in this trip when it is next offered, even if you don't do Spanish.

Grant Crane

My highlight of the trip would have to be staying with the host family.  The biggest difference between Spain and NZ is the siesta.  After school we would sit around the dinner table then sleep for an hour or so.  Unable to go to sleep I would just watch TV.  However I couldn't follow it with the continuous snoring.  After that my host brother, Alfonso, and I would walk down the cobbled streets to los vicios.  This was an arcade which was always packed with kids of all ages.  Here, you could play fuse ball, air hockey, virtual razing or surf the net.  There was also a lolly shop where you could buy any sweet imaginable.  Around 9-10 pm, we would head back to Alfonso's home for dinner.  After being crammed full of food, I  headed to bed, but Alfonso not being tired in the slightest would do his homework or go on MSM until 1 or 2 in the morning.

Jeremy O'Connor

From Barcelona we drove through Zaragoza and onto Madrid where we visited The Royal Palace, The Prado Museum and The Retiro Park.  That park was a highlight.  Some of the group hired out canoes and rowed around the big pond or small lake for ¾ of an hour.  Willy and Matt were in my boat and Willy was wearing a Fernando Torres top.  During the canoe ride, young Spaniards were shouting: Torres! Torres!

Having experienced a school trip like this I can really recommend the experience.  Take every opportunity you have to travel, because you carry that knowledge with you for the rest of your life.

Hannah Lobb

When I heard there was going to be a home-stay on the trip I was excited, then nervous. In the end I had the most amazing time. I made so many good friends who I will miss like crazy. Anyone who is considering going on an exchange, I would say: Take it! It is definitely worth it.

Maddison Moynihan

The Spain trip was an amazing experience.  We packed such a lot of things into such a small amount of time.  For the first two weeks we travelled around the main cities and saw things like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and the palace of La Alhambra in Granada.  These were places with amazing architecture.  For the last week we stayed with home stay families.  The family I was with were very nice but it took a while to get over the language barriers.  Each day we woke up at around 7:30 and had the traditional olive oil on toast for breakfast, although we had churros with a cup of melted chocolate on the Sunday.  School started at around 8:30 and they had 11 subjects!!!.

Sarah Bester

Flying to the other side of the world, with 16 school kids and my Maths teacher, is by far the scariest thing I have ever done, but it is definitely the most worthwhile.  The trip wasn't just about experiencing the amazing culture of Spain and the many monuments and buildings (which were utterly incredible!), it was also about getting to know each other and making friends. The people we met and became friends with weren't just from Spain. I remember Hannah saying "I didn't even know those guys went to our school! I think we all agree that jetlag is definitely worth the fantastic experience of life in another culture!

Sam Jones

Our time in Spain was, in one word, interesting.  For two weeks we travelled around in a bus with Miguel, our guide, and Antonio, our bus driver.  The fun began right from the first day, when I was pick pocketed by a local in Barcelona, however, after realising my wallet was gone I chased him down.  I don't think he'll be stealing from New Zealanders again for a while.  After that we saw a lot of churches, mosques, etc for around two weeks, until Jeremy and I had a run in with the Spanish police in a small town near Granada. We had been swimming in the Mediterranean and needed somewhere to wash our feet, and our inflatable jet ski and whale.  So we went for a dip in the nearest fountain, only to hear a police siren and see two angry baton wielding policemen give us our first and final warning while in the country. After that we had an incredible one week home stay with families in Priego de Córdoba, and flew home via Singapore, where Jeremy was searched for smuggling a dangerous slingshot, resulting in him and Mrs. Gutsell almost missing the flight home.

Matthew Allen