MORNING

We woke up and had a nice breakfast, then, we met the whole group, and we started walking.

We met our guide, a nice guy. We started our tour through Ghent visiting the river with a lovely view, and we walked around the river. A few minutes afterwards we arrived at the central square of Ghent. We really liked that place. Our guide took us on his boat and we saw most of Ghent from the guide’s boat. All of that was beautiful.

MIDDAY

When the tour finished, we stopped to eat, and we chose McDonalds, a simple option. 

We visited the cathedral of Saint Bavon, and inside the cathedral we had another tour. Finally we saw the mystic lamb, a very interesting painting. 

When the tour finished, we also went shopping.

Once everyone had done their shopping, we went back to our hotel.

EVENING 

We arrived at our hotel. we all took showers and also relaxed a little bit. And again, time for dinner. We chose to go to Ghent city center and eat in a restaurant. The food was delicious and we had a great time. 

Back to the hotel, shower and finally sleeping. 

Tomorrow will be great.

We love Belgium!!

By SARA C, VALERIA Y MARTHA

Today we got up at 7:30, we ate breakfast and then, at 8:30, we went to the train station and we took a train from Ghent to Eeklo. We arrived at 9 am and we saw a market that was in the place where we had met our guide. He showed us a church that is famous in Eeklo and also a sculpture of some characters that had a very interesting story. 

Then, before we went to the high school, our teachers left us 45 minutes to see the market and we were buying some chocolates which are typical from Eeklo. 

After that, we walked to the high school and our guide showed us some classes that we hadn't seen before and finally, we said goodbye to him and we met our English teacher. 

For an hour we got to know the teacher through games. The first game consisted in choosing between two things and then he would explain more about that image. The second game was the twister but in each round two or three of us had to answer a question. At the end of the class we practice our pronunciation by doing tongue twisters. 

Then we went to the canteen and had our lunch, after that we met Belgian students and played games with them and the teachers. Later, when we finished, we talked about the role of Belgium in WWII with two history teachers. After that we took the train from Eeklo to Ghent. 

Finally, we had free time to do whatever we wanted. Some of us went shopping, stayed in the hotel, slept there, or took a shower and rested . That was all, good night.

By Victoria Isabel Sánchez

Today was the last day of our lovely stay in Belgium, which was sad but I am glad to return to my family, friends and Spain’s weather. The people in Belgium were very welcoming and we made a lot of friends there, and all the places we’ve visited in the past few days were astounding. However, all good things must come to an end so, in this last page of the diary, I shall explain how our day went and bring our journey to a close. 

The first thing we did in the morning after getting ready was pack out things and leave the hotel, going to the train station with our suitcases. When we arrived, we took our very last train to Eeklo and then met up with Sven who took our suitcases in the car over to the school, placing them in a room until we left. We walked the rest of the way to the school and went to a Spanish class where we were sorted into teams by chance and had to present some things about Belgium and Spain from a few questions we were given (like famous people, food, customs, etc) to really see the differences and similarities between the two. In that class only six of the Belgium students were there, but in the next period the rest of them arrived. 

When all of the Belgium students were with us, we got into different teams and did a couple of kahoots. The first one was without phones and we were in bigger teams, were there were three of the smaller groups all joined together to make three big groups. That kahoot was based on questions about Europe, Spain and Andalucia. For the second kahoot we got back into the smaller teams and one of the team members used their phone while the rest helped. My team won this game, which had mostly Belgium related questions, but in Spanish as this entire class was a Spanish class. At the same time, we had a second game where the teachers played a list of songs and we had to guess the title and artist. Some songs were Belgium, some English and others Spanish. 

After all this, some of the Belgians left to have lunch somewhere else while the rest accompanied us to the canteen to have some more time together on our last day. The other Belgian students came back after and they all walked us over to the spa they had for the people studying to be beauticians. We said our final goodbyes and they left, which was the saddest part of the entire trip for me but hopefully we can keep in contact as they were all very nice people I’d love to see again. 

The last experience we had at that school was rather relaxing which was a good idea before our long hours of traveling all afternoon. We could either choose to have a manicure or a facial, and I chose the latter. The facial was really relaxing and professional, and mine was given to me by a young lady named Margo. There was relaxing music in the background and everyone was separated by curtains so we couldn’t be seen, as we had to remove our tops and lower our bra straps if we were wearing any. I was asked a few questions about my skin type and Margo analyzed it quickly to determine what products to use and then she got to work. 

The facial included relaxing products for my skin type and a massage on my face, neck, shoulders and above my chest on my collarbone area. When it was done I also had my eyebrows plucked to perfection and my make-up done in a light, natural way. 

When we had all finished our treatments we went on our way to the bus stop outside the school. It had a delay but luckily we saw it coming and headed out early anyway so we were fine. The bus took us to Brussels’ airport and we followed all the procedures for our suitcases and carry-ons, but we saw that our plane was going to be delayed about an hour, so we waited in the airport and got some snacks and water. 

We took the plane to Malaga and then had to hop on another bus after picking up our stuff. Most of us fell asleep on it as it was rather late and we arrived at the bus station in Baza, getting picked up by our parents and going to our own homes. I got home at around quarter past four in the morning but had some food, drink, got ready for bed and had some time with my parents so I ended up going to bed at around five and falling asleep fifteen minutes later, approximately, but I don’t know how everyone else’s experience went in that aspect. 

In my opinion, this was a great opportunity for me and I loved the whole experience. If I went back in time and was asked if I wanted to go I would definitely say yes, as I had a great time and I can tell the others did too. Someday I’d love to return to Belgium, and I’d love to keep in contact with the people I met there. If and when I get the opportunity to participate in another exchange programme my answer would be a hundred percent yes. This ERASMUS project was about expanding one’s horizons and I can see why, as I can unquestionably say that mine have expanded to a great level and I can’t wait to see more of the world. I’m really looking forward to my next trip or holiday thanks to this magnificent experience despite a couple of minor difficulties, like the bus and plane delays. 

In conclusion, if you ever have the chance to go on an ERASMUS trip, take it, I really doubt you’ll regret it. I’m personally keeping my fingers crossed to get another one myself next year. Make the most of these opportunities and travel the world. 

Marina Carmona Carter

4º ESO B

IES Pedro Jiménez Montoya