Sun in November :)

Louise

Irish

Puigcerdá

An overall excellent experience. It was a cultural shock when kids would come up and hug me after class. I’m still finding my feet with matching the right level of content to the right class. I’ve a presentation about Ireland once a week, we speak and play games in class. Students are interested to learn about my culture and talk about their culture in Spain. Teachers are limited with English, but they try their best to communicate.

The tutor has excellent English and is very caring. She would often give me a cup and coffee pod for those days I forget to bring into school.

The host family have been an absolute blessing! They made me feel so welcome. In the morning, you can wake up to see a beautiful sight of hot air balloons from the bedroom balcony. There is also a great espresso machine in the house. Dinner usually is late at 8/9pm which was a culture shock for me but I’m always excited to try new Catalan/Spanish food. We visited another country called Andorra. The VAT rates are lower here which is amazing! I saw my first hockey match in Puigcerdá and it was thrilling. There’s a horse fair coming up soon in Puigcerdá and I’m very excited to go with the family and go horse riding with the family horses.

This experience has overextended prior expectations.

I can’t think of any changes on a personal level but I’m always open to hear from others. On a professional level, if a student/s were misbehaving I would communicate with their teacher rather than going to the tutor.

• Bring clothes suitable for the Winter and Summer.
• Try to learn some Catalan before travelling.
• Best bar to go to is Central.
• Best Café is Bake and Cake. (Jennifer speaks English)

• The tutor Núria has the best English.
• Google translate can help.
• Many can speak French.
• The school can provide gluten and dairy free options for lunch.
• You can ask for art materials from Martha.

• They will spoil you.
• I would always try new food like mini octopus with the tentacles and you can always say it isn’t for you after. The family won’t be offended but will appreciate that you’ve tried.
• Try to establish the family’s routine so that if you want a quite coffee in the morning you’ll know what time to wake up. Always good to because if you want a shower, you won’t disrupt their routine in the morning but you get that little me time before the start of a busy day.
• The family has a pet rabbit called Cinnamon who loves hopping into the bedroom if the door is left open, so any chewable I would keep in the wardrobe. Better safe than sorry.
• The host family will go out of their way to make you feel comfortable.

• Best moment in the school was making black cardboard bats for the classroom windows for Halloween.
• Best host family experience was we went on a hike to hear the stags roar on the mountains in France, an incredible experience.
• General best moment – sitting at the Central bar in the town square with a Campari spritz looking at the bell tower, thinking that a few weeks previous I was sitting on the sofa in Ireland not thinking I would be living in Spain.

• No regrets joining the programme.
• I would recommend to others.
• I would say that there will be days when you will get homesick but you can WhatsApp video call family and friends. Remember this is really a short time and make the most of it!