The best trip of my life!!It was a Friday, at around 11h 30 min, on March 18, Portuguese students and teachers left Porto towards Leighton Buzzard, England. I had a mixture of emotions. Glad, because I was going to know another country, other people, another culture, but also nervous about the unknown, and I think even a little scared because I might not understand what people would say to me.

Finally we reached our destination, the anticipation was enormous. That night, me and Beatriz (a Portuguese student who was in the same host family as me) got to know our host family, our loving family. We talked, played games, I quickly realized that ... there were all of an exceptional kindness. We also realized the differences between England and Portugal. For example: they drive on the left and the registrations of cars in the back are yellow. That made me a bit of confused at first, but nothing transcendent.

The next day arrived. We went to central London. The trip lasted about 30 minutes by train. To me, it was undoubtedly the best and most tiring of these five days. We walked a lot on foot, saw the famous Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the No 10 Downing Street, and Buckingham Palace ... and went on a sightseeing tour, envisioning St. Paul's Cathedral, London Eye, the Hard Rock Café, and we walked along the Tower Bridge. Later, we also went on a cruise on the River Thames on a boat. It was very nice. This day was destined to know London, but also to make good friendships. It was a very tiring day, but very, very fascinating.

We reached Sunday. This was the day that was reserved to spend with the host family. They let us sleep during the morning, as the previous day had been very tiring. During the afternoon we visited a mall nearby, and even did some shopping. By late afternoon, the whole group of students had an appointment in the school gym. Here it was also a good time of this visit. We danced, ate, played, it was great. When I got home I lay down. I could not stand the fatigue. It had been a wonderful evening.

Monday - school day. The alarm went off at around 7 am. We had to get ready and go to class. We visited several classrooms and I ran into a situation, somewhat funny, each class had at its disposal two or three teachers. I was amazed. Then I went to a maths class of my "sister" in England, where I even solved some equations! The morning progressed and the English students shared a musical moment, a moment of samba music in the gym. The audience was composed by students of various nationalities, but also by English learners who had come to that space, in an orderly way, in a row. People seemed completely automated. In the afternoon, we had a workshop on how to make a kite, it was interesting. Later in the afternoon, my family and I went bowling and there was a complete uproar. I loved it!

The last day in that school had arrived, Tuesday. On this day I had another lesson, this time Geography. After lunch, we went to a field, to launch the kites made the previous day. When we got home we went back to playing some games, like the first day. After a good while, I went to sleep.

Chegou o dia, pensei! Tinha chegado quarta-feira, o dia da partida para Portugal. Ainda fomos à escola para nos despedirmos dos estudantes dos outros países e tirarmos uma fotografia de grupo. Agora sim era o último momento em que ali estava. As lágrimas começaram-me a cair, não as consegui conter. Foi complicado a despedida. Foram relações muito fortes que se estabeleceram, entre as famílias. No entanto, foi maravilhoso todos aqueles dias. Não podia ter sido melhor!

The day came, I thought! Wednesday had arrived, the day of departure to Portugal. We went to school to say goodbye to the students from other countries and we took a group photo. Now it was the last time that I was there. The tears began to fall, I was not able to resist. It was hard to say goodbye. Very strong relationships were established between the families. Every day had been wonderful. It could not have been better!

Isabel Lage – 10 CT4