Cultural immersion in Murcia

Our visit to Murcia, a small city in the south of Spain, was bound to be eventful, but I couldn’t have predicted the wonders the visit held in store for us. Landing at Alicante airport, we journeyed down to the host school, the wonderful IES - La Flota Institute, where we were greeted by our host families and brought home to enjoy a mercifully restful first night.

The next day, we went on a trip exploring Murcia’s old city centre and unique markets, followed by a talk given by La Flota’s Headteacher about the school, and about how it was oriented towards Spain’s hospitality geared economy, offering vocational courses in catering. We then spent ‘El Día De San Valentín’ on a tour of Alicante, where we visited its enchanting serpentine streets which fell under the shadow of a colossal ancient fortress. We then rounded off the day at the beach for some relaxation time, and of course some beach football.

On the sunny weekend, we stayed with our very gracious hosts, going on various day trips and then reconvening in the evening with our partners. I personally enjoyed a fabulous ‘Paella de Marisco’, a classically Spanish seafood rice dish, and also got to visit the Murcian countryside to see some almond and orange plantations which supply the local restaurants in the city.

The following Monday, we enjoyed a trip to Cartagena, an ancient Roman town steeped in culture and history. While there, we were able to see a collection of impressive Roman forts and theatres as well as the remnants of the old city wall. After that, we visited a local café for some churros (which I would highly recommend!), after which we travelled to another beach to once again play some football and to soak up the rich Spanish sunshine. Tuesday saw us attend a traditional breakfast in IES La Flota’s restaurant, before travelling into Murcia’s centre to visit its science exhibitions, the highlight being an aquarium, a great opportunity to learn more about Murcian wildlife.

Sadly but inevitably, the time came to depart on Wednesday, as we bade farewell (for now at least) to our exchange partners and boarded the plane for the far less sunny UK.

Hosting for the Spanish Exchange would prove to be a difficult task, not least because the bar had been set so high by our Spanish hosts, but I would say that we rose to the challenge admirably. On the first day, our exchange partners arrived all wrapped up, acclimatising quickly to the British climate whilst also enjoying the England vs Latvia World Cup qualifiers match taking place at Wembley.

The next couple of days saw us wandering through Amersham High Street, socialising and showing the Spanish students the many delights of British cuisine before we all went to play some more football at one of our classmates' houses. On Thursday, we took our Spanish friends bowling and on Friday, we bravely donned our ice-skates and enjoyed a few action-packed hours of ice skating with many bruises to show for it the following morning.

On Saturday, finally free from school, we all spent the weekend either on a visit to Oxford or a thrilling day at Thorpe Park, our last full day together. And then at last came the time to drop them off at school and to say ‘Adiós!’ to an unforgettable, yet culturally-enriching experience as the language exchange came to a close.