Miscellany
8TH SPANISH SCHOOL EXCHANGE WITH JUAN DE VILLANUEVA, ASTURIAS In September BRA pupils hosted their 8th school exchange with pupils from Asturias. 18 pupils accompanied by 2 members of staff, Isabel and Dioni, spent an enjoyable week in N. Ireland. Many thanks to Isabel who had to step in at the last minute due to a bereavement for the previously designated teacher. The pupils stayed with our pupils and enjoyed a range of activities and visits which included a visit to Crumlin Road Gaol and an excursion to Giant’s Causeway. They were also warmly received at the City Hall by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast and were given an insight into the role of mayor in Belfast. The clement Indian summer in the Province helped enormously thus making the exchange a particularly successful experience. Indeed, the best evaluation of the trip would be best summed up by the Asturian students themselves as seen below: It was one of the best experiences of my life. The people, the place, the college. I really loved it! I hope I can return one day and spend another incredible time with the friends that I have made and whose friendship I want to preserve for a long time. Carmen Alonso I believe this exchange was a beautiful and enriching experience, not just because of the improvement in our English, but by the deep links built with the BRA students and the development of values like empathy, tolerance and respect, as well as the discovery and interaction with the Northern Irish culture which is extraordinary. Andrés Presa This exchange was a really nice experience to remember. I made so many friends during one week and I had a really nice time. I would have liked to go to more classes but the building of the school was really beautiful and my partner was fantastic!!! I hope to go again and see everybody. Thanks for the experience. Irene I loved the exchange because we had a really good time in Belfast and in Asturias. In Belfast we visited so many places. They were all amazing, and with all the people from the exchange they were even better. The high school was awesome, it looked like the ones from the films, and all the people I’ve met there, were so nice. I really want to come back next year to see all the friends I’ve made and to visit those amazing places again. Elena Dapia
I was so excited about this Exchange. It was such a great experience that I will remember all my life. Through it I have improved my English so much and I made a lot of true friends. I did a lot of things that I had never done before, and I saw amazing places such as the Giant’s Causeway, for example. My partner was very nice, I´m sure that I am going to miss her so much. I am already looking forward to their return. I would repeat it many times. Pedrero Camblor, Sergio Through this exchange with Belfast I’ve met amazing and kind people. Before going there I thought that the country was like any other, a place where I could have fun. Once I was there I realized that wasn’t true. I’ve learnt lots of history and I’ve seen beautiful places. I met people who I’ll never forget and I started speaking English with them as if they were Spanish people. Now I’ve got new Irish friends who I’m sure I’ll see in the future, because since September we’ve lived a lot of good times together and we have to finish them. Belfast isn’t any ordinary Irish city for me now. María Fernández
SPANISH EXCHANGE 2015 (2ND LEG) Early morning of Tuesday 29th September commenced our 8th annual Spanish Exchange trip to the Instituto Juan de Villanueva in Pola de Siero, Asturias, our group comprising 15 pupils and Mrs Rea Wickens, Mrs Serrano and Mrs P McCamley, braced the early morning meet-up in the Europa Bus Station to catch the 8 o’clock bus down to Dublin, when, unsurprisingly, most of us were half-asleep until we arrived in buzzing Dublin airport. After a pleasant flight, we stepped off the plane in Bilbao, the heart of Northern Spain, to breathe in the thick, tepid Spanish air, completely unlike the rainy Northern Irish weather we left behind earlier that day. Finally, after our second bus journey, this time of approximately three hours, we reached our (almost) final pinpoint on the map, Oviedo: the capital city of Asturias, where the “asturianos” greeted us with a warm welcome and open arms. By this stage it was past 10:30pm local time, and the exhausting journey gave us what could only be described as the same feeling you get on a Friday afternoon: drowsy, but excited for whatever is to happen next. On Wednesday morning we woke up early (or in some cases, rather, were dragged out of bed by our exchange partners) to attend our first day of Spanish school. Upon arrival, it was very evident that there were vast differences between our two institutes, and we were immediately struck by the lack of uniform, which created a much more easy-going academic
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