You want to live the same experience I have?

To everyone who's read my blog about my trip to Virginia Beach and wonders how can they live the same experience, go to EF Language Course Abroad. It's been an amazing experience to spend summer this way, and I highly recommend it to everyone who want to improve a language. 

28th day. Arrivals to Spain.

The plane was landing at 10.25 London time, and that was another goodbye. During the time we had waiting for the next flight, the people who were flying to Madrid and the ones flying to Barcelona had to say goodbye. Another sad moment. Perfect.

The plane to Madrid was taking off at 14.25, and the one to Barcelona, at 15.25. So, after crying and crying for a long time, the ones who went to Barcelona just sat there and waited for the right time. 

In our boarding gate, we met a really important Spanish sportswoman, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who plays tennis really good, and has won 4 Olympic Medals. 

We got to the plane, who was really short thinking of the one from Washington. In two hours, we were in Barcelona. And then, of course, another goodbye had to happen. Some of us live near Barcelona, so we didn't have to catch any more planes or trains, but the people living in the Basque Country, Valencia and a girl from Madrid had to wait for their next trip, some of them spending the night in Barcelona. 

When I got home, I already had messages and emails from the people I had met, both Russian and Spanish!!

And that was the end of the trip. After 28 days, everything had to go back to normal, except from everything we've learnt, everyone we've met, everything we've seen... It's been an amazing experience, and we've won lots of things from it. And I'm really happy that I've had the opportunity to do it. 

27th day. Trip back home.

It's been a little more than a week since I got home, but I still have to explain my trip back to Spain. 

I woke up later than everyday, at seven. I could've woken up at ten or later, but I wanted to get to the hotel soon and say goodbye to the Russian students again, without knowing it won't be the last time. 

We got to the hotel at 8.30, and I started saying goodbye for the second time. But then, when we all had tears falling from our eyes, the leaders decided some Spanish students could go spend the morning with the Russians, because there had been a change in plans and they were coming back for lunch. 

So I went, with three other Spanish girls. I spent all the morning with them, speaking English and having a great time. We went hiking to a forest. And when we got back, we only had an hour before the bus got to the hotel and we left. So we said goodbye again. 

But, of course, something had to happen. The bus was too hours late!! We couldn't believe it!! We waited in the lobby until four 'clock, when the bus finally arrived, and we said goodbye again, now for real. Everyone was crying, Russians, Spanish, the leaders...

But then the real problem came to our minds. Two hours late. What happened if we missed the flight? Everyone started to imagine what would happen if we missed the plane, but, luckily, we didn't. 

We go to the airport at nine, and the plane took off at 10.20. We had to run across the airport, laughing but afraid to miss the flight. But we got there in time. 

The 7-hours flight was at night, so most of us slept all the time or watched some of the movies. 

26th day. Graduation day.

Monday again. But the last Monday. We are leaving tomorrow, Tuesday, or at least the Spanish ones. 

Today's been the Graduation Day. We first had our presentations, we had to present our projects in front of everyone. Some of us did a poster, some of us a PowerPoint with pictures... It was nice. 

Then they gave us our diplomas, with our marks in the EFCELT, the test we took last week. Then we had cake, we took lots of pictures and had an hour of free time before going to the 17th Street to do the Talent Show. Everyone must do something, but nobody wanted to do it alone, so all the Spanish students danced and sang something together, while the Russian ones did the same thing. We had a great time, and then they just let us go wherever we wanted until five in the afternoon, when we were supposed  to meet at the hotel to take the bus back home. 

And then was when the sadness started. We had to say bye to all the Russian people, except the ones living with each of us, of course. And then was when teardrops started to fall. I told goodbye to my Russian friends, and I told them how much would I miss them. I felt so sad... We promised we will talk by email and by Skype. 

But then we had to go, take the bus, go back home. Have the last dinner here and finishe the suitcase. 

Then we watched the movie Something borrowed again. We've watched it almost three times already here!

25th day. Dinner at home.

I woke up late, at ten. When I got into the kitchen, the Russian girl was already cooking. She loves cooking, and she does it great! I love it! She was making an Olivier salad, what in Spain we call "ensaladilla rusa". 

When she finished, before having breakfast, we saw Toy Story 3. We loved it! We had breakfast when the film finished, at noon. 

Then we, the Spanish girls, started packing our suitcases, because we are leaving on Tuesday. The Russian people are leaving on Thursday, so they have more time to do it. 

Then we all sat on the couch for a long time and watched Uncle Buck, Cheaper than the dozen and Ferris Bueller's day off. Good movies. While we were watching them, the Spanish girl made this amazing paella we had for dinner. 

My host mother's son and his family came over for dinner, and I spent a long time with the two girls, who are eight and four years old making paper snowflakes and cookiecatchers. I learnt this word, cookiecatcher. Strange. 

After they left, we watched Chrstina Aguilera and Cher's movie Burlesque before packing again. At ten, more or less, we decided to finish watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We cried a bit, and then we went straight to bed. We had watched too many movies!

24th day. Hospital and ice skating.

After waking up on Saturday, we waited for our host mother to wake up while watching another film, Little Fockers. We were starving when she woke up, but we had to wait for her because we all wanted to learn how to make French toasts. 

After having breakfast, we got dressed and we went to the drug store and to the supermarket. My Spanish housemate had conjunctivitis, so she wanted to buy some drops or something, but the pharmacist told us we had to go to the doctor, so we went to the hospital. 

The Russian girl and I waited outside for more than two ours, and we did a crossword in English, which helped us practice. The words were really difficult, but we had Wifi to help us understand them. 

When we finally left, we went to a buffet where we could eat everything we wanted. The two Spanish girls, we made a promise of tasting everything, so we ended up saying we had never eaten that much before. We ate a lot. 

When I get back to Spain, I need to put myself on a diet. For sure. 

After that early dinner (from four to six), we went to the small ice skating stadium they have here. Most of the people who came were Spanish, there were only three Russians. I spent the whole three hours with my Russian housemate. We went ice skating for two hours before I took up my skates and discovered my wound. The skates hurt, but that is something I already knew. But I wasn't ready to see what had happened to my ankle. My skin lifted. It hurt a lot. 

When we got home after that, I helped the Russian girl make a berry cake. She told me it was a Germa recipe, but really popular in Russia. We started at ten, but we finished at half past one in the morning, when I could barely stand up any more. But the cake looks amazing! It's worth it. 

23rd day. Busch Gardens.

Finally the day had arrived!! We went to Busch Gardens, the theme park, on Friday. It was a great day to go, really sunny, but too hot to be there. 

We walked from ride to ride searching for a shadow to hide from the sun. We couldn't leave our bags in each ride, so we had to put them in a locker from the beginning, so we didn't have water, or money to buy it (bad idea, because a small botter of water was $3) or anything. 

The rides were amazing, and the park was really beautiful. I fell in love with it. it was divided into different European countries, Italy, Germany, France, England and Ireland. It was really nice. 

We had a ticket to buy lunch in any restaurant in the park. Most of us decided to eat in the Italy part, because we all love Italian food. 

After having lunch, we returned to the rides again, but at five, when we were about to get into a rollercoaster, the rides were closed. They told us that a storm was coming and that it was really dangerous to have the park opened. So we waited for more than an hour next to the park entrance until 6.30, where we were supposed to get on the bus to return home. 

In the moment we got into the bus, it started raining. A lot. There were thunders and lightnings, and it kept raining for ours!

When we got to the bus stop, we were afraid of going out, because it was raining very, very much. We got home wet, and all we wanted to do is have dinner and lay on the couch, where we saw the half of the movie Something borrowed (we saw the other half last week) and New moon. 

22nd day. Test and zoo.

The day of the final test arrived!! When we go to the hotel on Thursday morning, everything was ready for the final exam. It was just a simple test, like those we do from Cambridge. It wasn't that easy, though, but it wasn't difficult either. 

After the test, we were given this "Thank you" cards we had to write and decorate to give them to our host families at the end of the month. We spent almost two hours writing, drawing, putting glitter and everything on the cards. When we finished, we decided they were amazing. 

We had lunch in the lobby or the beach, and then we took a bus to the zoo. 

We got to the Virginia Zoo at two, and the sun was so up that it was so hot we couldn't even walk without needing rest every five minutes. The zoo was nice, there were lots of animals and I took lots of pictures. 

After that, we returned to the hotel to take the bus back home, but I didn't. Some people, including me, had asked permission to their host families to stay at the beach until eight o'clock at night, instead of having to leave at 5.30. It was a good idea, and we had an amazing time there. 

I spent the evening with two Russian girls, the one who lives with me and the one who sits next to me in class. They are really nice, and I will really miss them when we leave. Two of us buried the other one in the sand, making her look like a mermaid. Then she got into a whole and we covered her with sand, only leaving her head outside. We had fun, and then we ran to the water to clean ourselves up. 

I went with some Spanish boys and girls to have something to eat at the pizzeria. They already know us there, and the food is really good and not that expensive. 

When we got back home, at nine, a friend of mine came with us. She was going to stay sleepover. My Spanish housemate went to sleep at eleven, but the other three stayed up until past midnight, when I went to sleep. I had to get up early the next morning, but not the Russian girl neither my friend, so they stayed awake until two thirty in the morning talking. Crazy.

21st day. Hall of fame.

We all took the bus to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened at ten. We arrived there early, so we had time to go for a walk and get into a really cheap supermarket, where we bought all the small things we needed. 

Inside the museum, a guide told us about different famous Virginia sports men and women. We didn't know anyone he was mentioning, so it was quite boring. Then we had free time inside the museum, where we could go to where all the machines and strange things to practice sports were. It was nice. 

We got back to the hotel and we had lunch before going to class. But it was a special day, we didn't have class. With the teachers, we took the public bus in Atlantic Avenue and went to the Pier, and then we had free time shopping, in the Starbucks...

After that, we took the bus to the bus stop, but we didn't go home. There were two Spanish girls whose birthdays were that day. The host family of one of them organized a surprise party for her, and almost 30 people were invited. We had a great time there, and she was really surprised. 

We returned home at ten, more or less, and I went to sleep at ten. It was the earliest I had gone to sleep since I'm in Virginia Beach!! I needed it. 

20th day. Sports Center.

I didn't hear my alarm clock this morning, so my housemate came to wake me up at seven, just before having breakfast and leaving in a hurry. 

The morning went slowly. Our teacher showed us a dance and we played a game, "Find someone who...". That was more or less what we did in class, just before having the lunch break. Some people went to beach, just like yesterday, but I was too tired and hungry to join them. 

The morning group had been to the zoo, but we were going to go to the Sports center, where we could find a swimming pool (where I spent the whole three hours), a gym... Typical. 

There was this great springboard in the swimming pool where I spent half of the time jumping with the Russian boys (who jumped like they weren't afraid of anything in the world) and a Russian girl, who's become my friend. She's the one sitting next to me in class. 

We spent all the afternoon together, and I taught her how to dive. It was difficult but, after an hour and a half, she was able to do it. I felt great!

After that we got into the bus and arrived to the bus stop. My host family and two more girls went to the cinema to watch Prometheus, a film about aliens. We all thought it was going to be a scary movie, because that is what we knew about the film, but it wasn't. It was just a disgusting movie. Everything was... disgusting, yes. And the movie finished in a way that tells you there is going to be a second part. There is no way I will go to see it. 

We've got home at ten, and we've prepared our sandwiches and everything we want to take tomorrow for lunch. My host mother bought us real bread today!! I got home, and the Spanish girl came to my room and asked if I had seen what was in the kitchen. The real bread. 

We put our clothes in the washing machine and then here we are, falling asleep again. 

19th day. Space and Air Museum.

I woke up earlier this morning, because I had to have a shower. I don't think anyone really minds about what time do I wake up, but that's something I do. I had a doughnut for breakfast before hurrying to catch the bus on time. 

We got to school without knowing what were we doing today, so that was the first thing we asked for. We left for the Space and Air Museum in Hampton at 8.30, and it was an hour by bus. Lots of people fell asleep. 

When we got there, the first thing we did was going to the IMAX and watched a film about Polar bears and the Arctic. It was nice, it showed us how much do we have to help the environment and save the Polar bears who are dying because the ice is melting.

After that, we had an hour and a half to walk inside the museum and see all the different things about astronomy, the space, spacecrafts... Everything related to that. 

Then another hour in the bus was waiting for us. A boring, long hour. 

We had class in the afternoon, after having lunch. Our teacher had an appointment somewhere, so we had a substitute, a student's host mother. She made us talk a lot and, after we begged her, she let us go for a 40-minutes break. That was because two Russian girls wanting to go swimming, and twenty minutes weren't enough. They were the Russian girl who lives with me and the one who sits next to me in class. They are really nice, and invited me to go swimming with them. We had a great time, but we arrived a few minutes late to class, because we had to get dry. 

After class, we walked up to the 25th Street looking for a place to have an ice-cream and to buy an American flag! I can't believe any of the stores in all the street haven't got a flag of the US!

We got in the bus back home, and we had dinner at 7, quite early. After that, we saw Love Actually, the film, which was good. It ended quite early, which was good for us. We prepared our packed lunch for tomorrow and then had time to email the family, upload pictures, talk with friends...

18th day. Rest and international food.

Finally a true Sunday!! I slept until elevn o'clock this morning, even if I was woke up at nine by the bad cat who got on my bed! I don't even know how did he do it!!

When I got up, the TV was on, so we watched the movie, In Time, while we had French toasts for breakfast. After In Time we only had time to rest for a couple of hours, because our host mother's son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren were coming to have early dinner.

I have never had dinner at four in the afternoon. Never. So it was really strange.

But we had an idea. We wanted to cook. We (the two Spanish girls) spent an hour cooking our Spanish omelette, with eggs, potatoes and onions. We were afraid of how was it going to be, but it was delicious!! We made it!

The Russian girl also made something with eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. There was so much food on the table!! We all ended up so full we were going to explode!! There was red rice, corn, fried bananas, the eggplant, Spanish omelette... Many things. For dessert, we had doughnuts. They told us to try them hot, and we did. It was great! I had never eaten them like that before.

When they left, we just spent time watching TV, talking with our parents... before the Teen Choice Awards started at 8pm. I wanted to see them. I had never seen them before, only parts of them in Youtube, because they're on at 2am in Spain, so there's no way I would stay up to see it. But I'm here, and I watched it!! I had a great time with the TCAs, and then we looked all the movies that were on TV and chose one. Scream. The horror movie. The first one. 

I expected a really scary movie, with lots of blood and screams. But I am disappointed. It's a really old movie. The killer was always falling and hitting himself, and the blood was too red, and... I don't know, it wasn't that scary. We were just laughing most of the time. 

It has just finished half an hour ago, so now we're all going to sleep. Good night!

Pictures. 16th day.

Pictures. 15th day.