Thursday 13th October

The last day. The English students attended different lessons such as English, Music, History, Natural Sciences and Maths at IES Jabalcuz.
It was also the day on which the Highest Educative Authorities of the Andalusian Goverment in Jaén, Dª Angustias Rodríguez, and of the Town Hall of Jaén, Dª Francisca Molina, met the English group and wished them their stay in Jáen had been very happy and fruitful.
Dª Angustias came to IES Jabalcuz and remembered the years when she had been teaching here and the period of time when she had been the headmistress. She also emphasised the importance of learning languages nowadays and added that this exchange was one of the best methods of doing it.

Later, the English group accompanied by the headteacher, Juan Manuel Ángeles, and the teacher Juan Molina, went to the building of the Office of Social Services of the Town Hall of Jaén, where they had an appointment with the Town Councillor of Education, Dª Francisca Molina.

In her speech, Dª Francisca also emphasised the importance of learning foreign languages and knowing different cultures in the global society people are living nowdays. She also defended the continuity of the exchanges like this. After her speech, the people attending the meeting were given some souveniers from Jaén.

After that, they came back to IES Jabalcuz. There the English group and some of their Spanish partners, attended a Spanish lesson given by Dª María del Mar Cordero, a teacher of Spanish Language and Literature, who asked the English students about different aspects of their stay in Jaén so that they could answer speaking Spanish.
At the end of the lesson, they listened to two songs by La Oreja de Van Gogh, "La playa" y "Tu pelo". They had to fill in some blanks of the lyrics. After completing them, some students sang both songs.

That was the last activity for the English group in Jaén.

Then the lessons finished and English and Spanish students went to their respective homes to have lunch quickly and finish packing because at 5 p.m. the English group had to leave for Málaga airport.
The saddest moment of the exchange was coming. Spanish families took their English guests to IES Jabalcuz again, where the coach was waiting for them. It was very difficult to suppress sadness and tears. Most of them remembered the night when the Spanish group left Norton. The feeling was the same. Nobody liked goodbyes but time is inexorable and they had to leave. Students, families and teachers held each other in warm embraces before the English group got on the coach.
The second part of this marvellous experience was over.
But everybody is looking forward to repeating the experience next year.

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TO BE CONTINUED

Wednesday 12th October

National holiday in Spain, so there were no lessons and people had time to sleep enough after the previous tiring day.
The Spanish families organised different activities with their English guests having in mind that it was the penultimate day in Jaén for the English group. Among these activities, a big party was held at Trini's house. Sixteen students met there from 12:30 to 22:00. Sarah and Sandra also joined them to have some tea and some biscuits. All of them had a great time talking about the experiences of the cultural exchange, eating, drinking, dancing, singing, telling jokes and swimming!

Tuesday 11th October

Today's journey was to visit Córdoba, a town which is a symbol of combination of different cultures such as Roman, Muslim, Jewish and Christian.
Again, at 8:30 a.m., a coach was waiting for the English students, with their teachers Sarah and Sandra, and the Spanish students, who were accompanied by Irene Gallego, a teacher of History, Courtney Bibbo, the English language assistant, and Juan Molina, a teacher of English.

At 10:15 they arrived in Córdoba after a calm journey. The first visit was La Mezquita (The Grand Mosque). Before entering, Irene handed out sheets of paper with useful information about it.

Inside, Irene continued explaining interesting data about La Mezquita while most of the students were taking photos of this marvellous building.

After visiting La Mezquita, they headed for the next planned visit: El Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs). As the weather was nearly hot, this building with gardens and water was the perfect place to rest and cool themseves down.

Before leaving this heavenly site, English and Spanish students together took some photos to have some more unforgettable memories of this exchange.



It was time to have lunch. One hour later they had to be at the historic archaeological site called Medina Azahara (Madinat Al-zahra).



Before visiting the archaeological remains, they visited the museum and watched a documentary about the historic site.

The last visit was over. Because of the hot weather, a lot of bottles of water were bought and drunk before getting on the coach which was going to take them to Jaén. About 8 p.m. they arrived in Jaén and went to their respective homes very tired but happy because next day was a national holiday, so there would not be lessons.
Later in the evening, a group of Spanish teachers invited Sarah and Sandra to share a lovely warm evening sitting outside a bar savouring typical tapas and dishes from Jaén. The long day ended at Juan Manuel's house, the headteacher, where they enjoyed talking and eating a delicious dessert prepared by Juan Manuel's wife, Ángeles. By the way, the family parrot, Yago, also helped them to have fun.

Monday 10th October

Today's plan was to visit two towns which have been World Heritage Sites since 2003: Úbeda and Baeza.
At 8:30 a.m. the English group, with their teachers Sarah and Sandra, and the Spanish one, accompanied by the teacher Trini López and the speaking assistant Courtney Bibbo, set off the journey to both towns.
The first town which was visited was Úbeda.
The first building they visited was The Palacio de las Cadenas, one of the best example of Renaissance architecture in Spain.

Then they visited Sta María Church.




Later another church called Iglesia del Salvador.



After these three visits, it was time to eat something. A beautiful square called Plaza del 1º de Mayo was the suitable place.




After this time to rest, they left Úbeda for Baeza. They arrived there at about 12. The first visit was Puerta de Jaén and el Arco de Villalar.



Next, they walk to the University where they could visit the classroom where the famous poet Antonio Machado had taught his pupils.




After that, the visit was to the Palacio de Jabalquinto.



From here, they went to the Cathedral, where a beautiful valuable monstrance can be seen.




To complete the visit of Baeza, they walked along the City Walls through narrow streets.



It was time to come back to Jaén and go home to have lunch.

Sunday 9th October

Each family had prepared different activities to spend the day with their respective English guests.
On Sunday afternoon, a group of teachers of IES Jabalcuz took Sarah and Sandra to Santa Catalina State-run Hotel, which is in a castle with the same name. From there, lovely and beautiful views of Jaén can be seen, especially from the big cross which is very near the castle.

Saturday 8th October

Each family had prepared different activities to spend this day with their English guests.
With regard to the English teachers, Sandra visited Granada with the López Torres family. Sarah stayed in Jaén and met some acquaintances whom she had not seen for a long time.

Friday 7th October

Undoubtedly, very few members of the English group were able to get enough sleep last night. A long tiring day, meeting new families and their homes, unpacking, getting in touch with their families in Norton, etc. and thinking that next morning they would have to get early to go to IES Jabalcuz before 8:25. Fortunately, all of them were able to endure the situation and they came to school together with their Spanish partners on time.

As it had been planned, on this day the English group went sightseeing in Jaén accompanied by The Viceheadmistress of IES Jabalcuz, María del Mar Colmenero, one of the maths teachers, José Miguel Pérez and Courtney Bibbo, the American speaking assistant during this academic year at IES Jabalcuz. At half past nine, they started walking towards the first place to visit.

The meeting point to start the tour was San Ildefonso Square, where a tour guide was waiting for them.








Before visiting San Ildefonso Church, it was time to eat something to get their strength back.



A few minutes later, they visited the church.







Next, they walked towards Jaén Cathedral through typical streets of San Ildefonso district.

All of them enjoyed visiting one of the most beautiful example of Renaissance cathedrals in the world: Jaén Cathedral. Inside they could see the beauty of this temple and from its balconies they could see amazing views of the town.

After that, they left the Cathedral.




and went to the Palace of Condestable Don Lucas de Iranzo, where the tour guide continued explaining interesting data about the history of Jaén.

Next, another walk through typical streets of the Magdalena district to visit the fountain of the lizard known as El Lagarto de la Magdalena. There the tour guide told them about the legend of this lizard.

The tour was over. Now it was time to go back to IES Jabalcuz to be there before the lessons finished, so that the English students could wait for their Spanish partners and go to their respective homes. Fortunately, it was Friday and they could rest to spend their first weekend in Jaén.