Day 1 – #Butterflies Hi, my name’s Gemma Duffy, the Irish group leader for this year’s CSS Valencia language programme! I am a Spanish secondary school teacher in Bush Post Primary in Carlingford, Co. Louth and I am leading a small group of Irish secondary school students over to Valencia, Spain, to improve their Spanish language skills and also to have a great time at...

Monday was our first full day in Valencia and what a busy day it was! Our classes are split between two language academies – AIP academy in the morning and CSS Valencia academy in the afternoon. We had breakfast with our host families and our host mother or father accompanied each of us to AIP academy, showing us the way. All of us live within a short distance of both academies. We got there...

After classes in the morning, we went to the Nuevo Centro shopping centre where we got a chance to do some shopping and check if McDonald’s in Spain is much different to McDonald’s in Ireland; something very important for teenagers who don’t want to risk tasting unknown foods in another country!! Not surprisingly there was very little difference between the two! We spent the even...

After classes in the morning, we had lunch at a park and then had another class with Marta in the CSS academy. We study every morning from 09:00 to 13:00 in AIP Academy, where we study a general language course with other international students, each of us in a level-specific class. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, after lunch, we have a one-hour class, from 14:30 to 15:30, in CSS Valencia Ac...

After classes, Carla brought us to a nearby village called Pobla de Farnals where she introduced us to her brother, Rubén and her friend Santi. Rubén and Santi, who work at the surf club there, showed us how to paddle surf! This involved balancing on a surfboard and using a paddle to navigate through the water! We all eventually managed to balance on the surfboards but not without falling into the...

Every Friday, after classes finish in AIP Academy at 13:00, we have a free afternoon. Evie, Ailbhe and Emily decided to go to the beach to work on their tan and have a well deserved rest and then later went to the Nuevo Centro shopping centre to get their nails done. Meanwhile, myself and Mícheál decided to explore the city centre a bit more where they tasted some Spanish cuisine in Lizzaran, a wo...

Saturday is set aside for a whole-day activity. So today we all met with Carla at 9:30am at the metro stop in Benimaclet and she brought us to the ‘Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias’ (City of Arts & Science) which is a really impressive, modern part of the city. This futuristic architectural complex was amazing to see and is truly out-of-this-world. It was designed by the famous V...

Sundays are our days of rest. We are busy with Spanish language classes and activities from Monday to Friday, and then a full activity day on Saturday and have Sunday to ourselves. Evie, Ailbhe and Emily decided to go to the beach to relax and they also did some shopping in the evening. Meanwhile, myself and Mícheál rented bicycles and cycled along the old river bed which is now a 7km long park. A...

After our class in CSS Valencia we went to the City of Arts & Science at 16:00 where we watched a short documentary on Robots in the amazing and enormous 180-degree IMAX cinema in a building called the Hemisférico. Afterwards, we had great fun in the waterballs! We each were put into a large inflatable ball on top of a man-made lake – we couldn’t stop laughing as we were constantly...

After classes in AIP we went to a nearby village called Alboraya. This is Carla’s hometown and she showed us the new development of Port Splaya, located on the coast beside a wonderful beach. Port Splaya is the Little Venice of Valencia with the buildings resembling those in Venice and canals which provide a harbour for boats coming in from the Mediterranean. Here also we got to try “h...

We finished class at 15:30 in CSS Valencia and then it was off shopping! We have fitted in a bit of shopping over the past 10 days of the programme but today has been set aside as a designated shopping day. Alba, the CSS rep, took us to ‘Aqua’, a large outdoor shopping centre, and then onto ‘El Corte Ingles’, a branch of the most famous Spanish department store chain, where...

Today was our second day of surfing. We had such fun last week that we really wanted to try it again. Last week we did paddle surf, as the Mediterranean was so still and calm that day that there were no waves to surf. We are getting to know the city quite well now and today Alba brought us to the bus stop and let us navigate our way out to the small town of Pobla de Farnals, the same place where w...

On Fridays we finish class at 13:00. We normally have the afternoons to ourselves but this afternoon, after classes, we decided to join José and a group of students from the AIP academy to do a special urban art tour of the city. We went to the barrio of El Carmen, the oldest neighbourhood of Valencia city centre, where we saw lots of impressive artwork / graffiti by many artists, one which was ca...

Every Saturday we have a full-day’s activity. We had been looking forward to this one for the past week: a trip to the Aquópolis aquatic park! We met with Liam and Carla, the CSS reps, at the metro stop of Benimaclet where we took the metro to the Estación del Norte, the main train station in Valencia. From here we took a regional train to the small town of Cullera, 45 minutes south of Valen...

It’s Sunday and so we can relax. It was also Ailbhe and Emily’s last day and Liam, the CSS rep, met the two girls at Benimaclet metro stop at 13:30 to take them to the airport. Their flight home was at 16:35 and after a couple of frantic minutes repacking to meet the Ryanair weight limit for checked-in luggage, they went through security without any problems and took the flight home. Yesterd...

Today we had classes as usual in the morning and in the afternoon we got to meet a new CSS Valencia activities officer whose name is also Gema! Gema brought us to the ‘Mestalla’ which is the name of the Valencia Football Club stadium. We had to wait a little while for the tour to start so we went for an ice-cream in a nearby cafeteria and then we had a browse around the official shop o...

After classes we went with Gema to a Natural Park called Albufera. Albufera boasts the largest lake in Spain and we got to take a boat trip around the lake! Afterwards we walked to a protected beach where there are no commercial businesses or facilities, just nature at its best! We relaxed there for a while and Evie went for a swim in the sea. The sand here in Valencia is a so fine and golden; it&...

We do our weekly exam on Wednesdays. Today is our last one. The result will be displayed on our finishing certificates and I have to admit, it was quite challenging! After classes we walked to Parque Viveros with Gema and she showed us the ruins of an old Palace from hundreds of years ago when the royal family used to live here in Valencia. We stopped for an ice-cream at an outdoor café in the par...

It’s Thursday and after classes we went to Pobla de Farnales where we met with Santi for another Surf lesson! This time there were some good waves and we had such a laugh trying to stand up on the surf boards! Everyone managed to do it by the end of the lesson and it felt great!! I think I’ve found a new hobby! After surfing we met Carla at Port Splaya, the Little Venice of Valencia, we had ...

Today was our last day of classes and we were so sad to say goodbye to our teachers and our classmates! We each got a certificate indicating our participation in the course and our level of Spanish. We took lots of pictures and I must admit I’m going to miss the classes! Mícheál and Evie said they wished their classes were the same in Ireland! I know I definitely enjoyed mine! My Spanish mot...

Oh my god! Terra Mitica = Class Craic = Muy Guay! What a fun way to spend our last full Saturday here! Terra Mitica is a theme park located in Benidorm and it is top notch! We all met at 9am and the CSS reps Liam and Gema drove myself, Evie and Mícheál to the theme park whch is 120kms south of Valencia, a 1.5 hour drive. We were so lucky: the high season on the Spanish coast hasn’t started yet and...

The last day of the programme. We go our separate ways today. Evie is flying home to Dublin and so Liam, the CSS rep, met her at 14:00 to drive her to the airport. Carla brought myself and Mícheál to the train station where we said our sad goodbyes. We are taking a train to Murcia to spend a few more days on the coast before we fly home to Ireland next Friday. The three weeks of the programme have...