Day 4:

On Thursday (day 4) I attended a school tour to another high school, where many schools met to speak out about mental health, helping those with disabilities (such as blindness, being in a wheelchair, etc.). The event began with a speech from students from the school that I am working at, then progressed into some games (like a fun day), such as football matches and mini group activities. After work I went to the shopping centre (Vialia centro comercial) to get lunch and to buy the Chelsea third kit as I wouldn’t be able to get it in Ireland. In the evening most of us went for a swim at playa de Malagueta then went for some food.

Day 5:

When I got to work I was shown that I was timetabled 4 English classes and a 2 hour drama class. Each English class had us speak to the students about where we are from and why we’re working there, then followed up with questions about things in Ireland (food, culture, holidays, sport), and then let the students ask us questions. In the drama class we participated in activities that were made by the teacher to improve confidence with things like speaking in front of a large group, acting, etc. in the evening we had a boat trip where we had seen dolphins and the sunset, then went for food after.

Day 6:

On this day (Saturday) we had a trip to Nerja, where we went to look in caves, shops and then went to the beach. We had our bus booked for 9am and took an hour to get there. Personally, the cave exploration was not something I found very interesting, however I did find some of the views in there were good. The beach there was the best that I’ve been at since getting to Malaga. The sand was soft and the water was refreshing and not too cold and it did not take long to dry off afterwards. After the beach, we drove 30 minutes on the bus to another location in Nerja where we stopped to look around for about an hour. Here, I had eaten the best lunch I’ve had in a long time, chicken breasts and potatoes that were coated in garlic and olive oil. In the evening we went out for some food then explored the city and down to the port.

Today we met up with the coach at 9am to head over to the Nerja caves. The journey was roughly 45 mins. Once we got there we all made our way to the caves with our guide, to say the caves are amazing is an understatement. They are incredible and the stalagmites and stalactites are so big. It was a wonderful experience. After we had finished the cave viewing and had a coffee or food, we then all trooped back onto the coach for our trip to Nerja.

Nerja is a town of around 20,000 inhabitants. We had three hours to take ourselves off and have a look around. I have noticed since being in Spain that there are a lot of Parakeets and I reckon that most of them are in Nerja hiding in the Palm trees.

The views of Nerja against the mountain range and the ocean is breathtaking. It has a wonderful selection of tourist shops for mementos and lots of choices of eateries. There was also a market with a mixture of stalls.

After Nerja we then stopped off in a village called Frigiliana. It’s a lovely village which is perched high in the Almijara mountain range, overlooking the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea and it is well worth a visit. It has steep narrow cobbled its white washed buildings and we had a little time to look around. There was a tour train, so a bunch of us took the train tour as it’s the best way to see the village. It only cost €3.50 for the 25 minute or so trip and a nice experience. The driver stopped off at a stopping point and gave us some history of the village. History is a wonderful thing and we were lucky to have had such great weather for the duration.

After this stop off we all trouped back to the coach to head back to Málaga. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday and a great way to see some of the local sites.

The day in the classroom started just past 9am this morning and proceeded slowly. In my observations since shadowing is that the teachers tend to set the pace around the children’s moods. Today some of the kids were a little unhappy and crying so the video’s were put on earlier to help calm them down. After watching a couple of videos they had all calmed down so then the teachers started the days exercises with “whose in the classroom” today. Then what day is it and the date.

I found out that Fridays are done differently than the rest of the week. One of the kids went out with another teacher and had physical activities in the yard with kids from other classes.

I have also noted that the videos that are being played also use hand signals as some of the children in the class are non verbal. So I’ve been trying to learn some of the hand signals. It is a great way to learn sign language. As the kids were watching TV, another teacher was setting up a row of tables in the kitchen area with table cloths and plastic table covers. Mid, we were joined by the junior infants class and after they all sat down and settled, an A4 booklet with spaces on it to glue pictures in was placed on every table with cut outs of baking products, numbers and aftercare after baking were paid on each table. Bit by bit the kids were guided on where to glue the images for the recipe of a ‘Berlingozzo’ cake. Then Steps one through to ten and the steps to take after to clean up which includes washing their hands. It was great fun and the kids appeared to really enjoy themselves. After the recipe booklet was finished, everything from the exercise was cleared away and all the children were guided towards the table to help another teacher measure and mix all the ingredients for the cake.

Once all the ingredients were successfully mixed, the cake was then put in the oven to bake. As the cake was baking, it was time for their lunch break so the junior infants with their teachers went back to their classrooms and our class settled down for lunch.

When the cake was baked, slices were given to all the kids, and the rest was passed around amongst the adults. It was a fabulous day and an amazing opportunity to see how the kids took to the making and baking of a cake when they are so young.

At 2pm, which is when we finish, we all wished the kids a lovely weekend as each parent collected their child.

Later that day, all of us on the Erasmus+ trip had a boat trip from the harbor at 4:30 pm. The trip was amazing and we saw a dolphin pod that kept pace with us for most of our trip. It was such an amazing sight, I’ve been on boat trips in the past when on holiday and never ever seen dolphins so this was a real treat. They were so close and the water so clear that you could see the dolphins so very clearly. The boat trip itself was really good and it was a real treat. It’s a really good way to get everyone together and have fun whilst getting to know each other better. So far on this trip I have made some great friends and I’ll cherish this experience forever.

Yesterday we got a bus to see the Nerja caves. It was super interesting and really beautiful. After this we went to the town in Nerja and got to go to the beach. We then took a trip to Frigiliana where we took a little train ride around the town.

We went on a boat trip in Malaga and got to see dolphins. This was my first time on a boat and I would 100% recommend

On the Saturday we took a bus trip and went to see the stunning caves of Nerja, and we went down to the beach for the majority of the afternoon at the beach because the weather was amazing ☀️ a group of us went for some nice food, and afterwards we went to the town of Frigiliana that was small but beautiful, full of white washed buildings, peaceful views, and lots of beautiful plant life 🌿🌴 I thought it would be such a great place to visit in the future. We were all very grateful for our tour guides, who stayed with us and brought us around to these lovely places for the entire day. We got to see so much in one day so I was really grateful for the experience 🙂

Today we went to the caves in Nerja. It was really nice and the weather was perfect for it. We stopped off in another little town on our way back for a chance to explore also.

We had the time to go to the beach which most did in Nerja and everyone also got a little bit to eat.

After everyone got on the coach back home.

On my 6th day I got to enjoy my work experience as usual, grooming dogs of all different hair types, temperaments and sizes.

Afterwards, we went on a boat trip together as a group. The weather was really in our favour and I think a lot of us really started to gel during this trip. The nets were so relaxing to sit in and the staff on the boat were delightful. It was a perfect way to end a week of madness and hard work. 🙂 ☀️ 🌊

Same old same old in work, myself and Kyle continued painting, cleaning and the works, still having great fun though. The whole group met up at half 4 for a boat trip just off the coast, we saw dolphins and sat in the sun, this is the first weekend day of the trip so group morale is high and everyones having a good time, looking forward to the trip to the Caves tomorrow.