Kyra and Liv.
Day 1. (Sunday)
The trip went quite well. It was nice that many parents came to see us off at Eindhoven Airport. We were slightly delayed, but with a lot of fun along the way everything turned out fine. When we arrived at the host family, we first went to eat a delicious Portuguese pastry. Then we gave the mother and the girl of the host family typical Dutch gifts, which they were very happy with. The mother immediately shared all the food with us. They are very hospitable people. The first night of sleeping in a strange house and a strange bed took some getting used to, I was awake a lot, but luckily things settled down later in the week.
Day 2. (Monday)
We walked to school.
It was about a 3 minute walk.
When we arrived at school, we did not take lessons because our host family girl Bruna did not have one. She only had a homework class but we couldn’t do anything so we were just allowed to practice on our phone for the presentation. Later we had to give that presentation to about 70 people. Our presentation had to be in English about sustainability. We were of course quite nervous about the presentation, but it actually went quite well.
Day 3. (Tuesday)
We walked to school again. We had the homework class there. Then we went to a cooking class, making soup. That was very nice. Then we had a break and after the break we went to the vegetable garden. We planted plants there and were also allowed to suck sugar cane.
Then we went to the town of Braga. We first got a tour of the city and after that were allowed to walk around and look ourselves. We were taken back to school by Mr. At school we waited to be picked up. We went to the grandmother of the host family. She had two dogs, Cooki and Luna, but also five birds. We ate rice and chicken schnitzel at grandma’s. We also went to the mall and then went home to sleep.
Day 4. (Wednesday)
We were going to do a creative assignment. Make a nail file case and paint a bookmark. It was a lot of fun to do. It was also explained calmly and there were examples. Then we had an outing from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. We went for a walk through a nature reserve and visited a kind of purification caves. Water ran through it and there was some sort of filter system. At the first tunnel we came to a waterfall. Water that came from the mountain and is used as drinking water. The second tunnel ended at a kind of well.
Day 5. (Thursday)
We walked to school again. We had to wait there for a while and then a group of us walked to the bus stop. We had to sit on the bus for about half an hour and during the ride we were allowed to make phone calls to our class. We arrived at a museum, the Museum of Pottery. We got a tour of the museum and learned a lot about Portuguese culture. Then we were allowed to walk around the market. Then we went back to the bus and had lunch at someone’s house, pizza and plain chips. Then we drove to the beach. But it was very windy, so we didn’t stay long. We went back to school for dinner. That was very tasty food and later they played Portuguese songs and we learned Portuguese dances. We also played hide and seek at school for a while and then we went home to sleep.
Day 6. (Friday)
We had to meet at school at 9:00 am because we would be taken to the bus station by bus. But because the van arrived later, we were allowed to record something on the school radio. That was very nice. We spoke in English ourselves and a German lady translated it into Portuguese.
Then the van came. From the bus station we spent 45 minutes on a large bus that took us to Porto airport. From there we had to walk another ten minutes with our suitcase to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel we had to put down our things and took a taxi to the city of Porto. We went walking around there. We walked over the EIffel Bridge and then took a gondola ride. We headed to a wine cellar and passed a sardine shop and a large fish shop along the way. In the wine cellar we received three glasses of juice and a matching chocolate. We were explained how to taste and after that explanation we were allowed to taste. I didn’t like the middle drink, but I did like the matching chocolate. Then we went to a tent where we had pizza. Then back to the hotel to shower. Then we went to sleep.
Day 7. (Saturday)
On Saturday we had to wake up at half past six. We had to be in the hotel hall at a quarter past seven, because we were flying at half past ten. We went to the airport for breakfast after check-in. From there to the gate. While waiting in line for the gate we were allowed to take a look at the shops. On the plane we sat in row 23. The plane would take about two hours and forty minutes, but it took a little longer.
When we landed and had our suitcases back, our family was waiting for us. We went home again and had a lot to tell.
