Cristina Álvarez

Hello! 
My name is Cristina Álvarez and I'm 16 years old. I'm tall, blonde and with blue eyes. I live in Sant Cugat Del Vallés, a town near Barcelona with my family, my parents and my sister, that is 2 years older than me. I study in Thau Sant Cugat where I have many friends that I love and that we spend an amazing time together. I play voleyball in the Club Sant Cugat with an amazing team. Also in my free time I enjoy drawing or reading, but watching TV series too. One of my favourites is Stranger Things on Netflix, but I also Love Black Mirror. 

I'm so extited with this trip because is our last trip all together and it's going to be a wonderful week.

I hope you enjoy our blog! 

:) 

DAY 1

This morning we went to the airport very early to start our journey to Ireland. We were all very excited to meet our host families, so everything was kind of a chaos. When we arrived to the Dublin Airport after 3 hours being in the plane, we had to take a bus and start riding to Moate. There I and Emma, who is my roommate here in Ireland, met Cora, his husband James and Amelia, their daughter (our host family). Cora is 44 years old, and James 45, and the daughter Amelia is 4. Cora worked as an empresial manager and James as a engineer. Their hobbies are going on trips toghether and stay with Amelia. They are all very nice with us and I think that we would spend an amazing time with them. 

DAY 2

Today we went to the Cliffs of Moher, and it was absolutely amazing. The views from there were awesome and we took many photos to remember this day. But first of all, we had begun our journey this morning from Moate, and drive all the way to the cliffs. It was a long journey, it took 2 hours to arrive there, but it's been worth it. After seeing the cliffs we had lunch in there with the tuppers that the family did for us, so we had such a great time. Later it was time to return with the families, and that means 2 hours in the bus again. But they passed very quickly because we were playing cards with our friends and having a great time. When we finally arrived to Moate, Cora and Amelia collected us and we went home. In Ireland they have dinner super early so we ate at 18:00 and afterwards we played with Amelia in the garden. She is so cute and sweet, Emma and I had an amazing afternoon with her. 

DAY 3

Today it has been a day full of activities in Dublin. In the morning we visited the Jeannie Johnston ship. It was a very famous ship during the great famine, which carried lots of immigrants from Ireland to Canada, USA, UK... The special thing about it is that nobody died of any disease during the journeys, surprisingly, because on this days were very frequently. But it was because there was a very good doctor. A curious fact is that this ship wasn't a passenger ship, but they made this business just to win money. After many years, the ship crashed tragically just like the Titanic. When we finished the visit we went to some tables to have lunch and we have a little free time, so we decided to go shopping. In the afternoon we had been doing an Instagram Challenge that the teachers had prepared for us. It consisted on taking some photos in important places of Dublin such as the Trinity College or the National Gallery, with our working groups. If we finished this activity earlier we could have some free time, so that was what we did. And later went back to Moate to have dinner with our host families. 

DAY 4

Today it was the day that we had to wake up earlier because we went to Clonmacnoise Monastery and it was a long journey by bus. When we arrived we watched a video to know the history of the place, and after that a guide made us a little visit. Everything was very beautiful, and the views from up there were amazing. When we finished the visit we went up to do bus again to go to Moate School to do some group work. We had two hours that we spent working a lot until lunch time. We had lunch in the school too and in the afternoon we went to a sports center to play Gaelic football. We had a very powerful coach that teach us some skills that we could practice. When we finished the activity we had some more free time that we spent playing cards, and after that everybody went with their families to have dinner because at the night we had a concert where some Irish girls played music and danced. 

DAY 5

This morning we went to Dublin again, but this time to the GPO museum that before it was a museum it was the General Post Office, and that's why the museum is called the GPO. When we arrived we had 30 minutes of free time that we used to buy some souvenirs. And after that we entered to the museum to start our guided tour. We started seeing a video summing up a little bit the history of the place and then we followed a guide through the building. At lunch time we had some free time too that we spent having lunch obviously, and seeing shops. In the evening we had to meet in the Trinity College because from there we were going to start a walking tour to see and know a little more Dublin. The tour was very interesting and entertaining, and we end up very tired after all this day. So when we arrived home we had dinner with our host family and went to bed very early. 

DAY 6

Today we've been all day in Galway. It's such a beautiful place to walk and go shopping, I enjoyed a lot this day. In the morning the teachers had prepared an activity that was another instagram challenge. It rained a lot during the day and complete the challenge was a difficult job, but at the end we naild it. So from lunch time to the evening we had a bunch of free time that was amazing. After all day we went back to Moate to get ready for the disco that they had prepared for us. It was super fun and we spent a great time toghether dancing and singing. Also it was very special becaus it's our last year all toghether because next year everyone takes different paths, so it was a very nice experience and I'm very glad to take part of it. When the disco ended everyone went back to their houses to prepare the suitcase for tomorrow, and that's what I just did. I'm happy and sad at the same time because it's been an awesome week and I don't want to leave so soon. 

DAY 7

So today was the last day in Ireland. We went very erarly to the meeting point with our suitcases ready to leave Moate. We said goodbye to the host families and entered the bus. We spent the morning in the Guinness Storehouse, and it was very interesting knowing all the precess of making a Guinness. At the end of the visit we were able to stay in the las floor of the building that it's a bur, drinking a soda while watching the fantastic views of Dublin. After the visit, we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral to answer some questions that the teachers prepared for us. But we weren't able to enter the cathedral. 

For luch time we went to the Phoenix Park, the biggest urban park of Europ. We had such a great time in this beautiful park. And when we finished lunch we went up to the bus again to go straight on to the airpord. It was very sad realising that this week ended so quickly. 

Personally I enjoyed this travel a lot, it has been an amazing experience. 

IRELAND FOR ME: 

This travel has been very awesome, just for the fact that is our last travel all together as a group beacuase after this year we will take different paths and we won't see each other anymore. It has been a very nice experience being wuith a famiy, but last year I did the same but by my own, so it wasn't something new for me. But it was very different spend this experience with my friends. All the activities were so fun and very different between them. 

It's an experience that I won't forget. But I really missed the weather this week, because in Ireland is always very cloudy, intead here in Sant Cugat we are used to the summer so I really missed that.