MY EXPERIENCE IN ENGLAND-by Javier Martínez de Alfredo

 My experience in England, by Javier Martínez de Alfredo.

Two years ago, my school gave me the opportunity of going to England during an exchange. I didn’t want to go, as I was a little scared, but my mother convinced me to sign in the raffle that would permit me to make use of this opportunity.

I remember that the day of the draw I wasn’t really nervous, because I didn’t care if I won the opportunity or not. So, I got very surprised when I heard my name in the fifth or sixth turn. When I told my parents that I had been selected, they tried to convince me that it was going to be a very interesting experience. Today I realize that they were right and that I was completely confused.

The day of the trip I was “white”, I was very scared about flying to England. I don’t like flights very much. However, as I was near Nacho and Cristina, some of my best friends, we laughed a lot during all the trip. They helped me not to think about bad things during the flight, and I am very grateful about it.

When we arrived in Ashburton, I couldn’t find Charlie and felt a little oppressed. So, I stayed with Nacho and Manu, because I didn’t want to be alone in a foreign country. Then, I heard miss Sobrino shouting at me (not in a bad way). Charlie was with her. I ran to them and met him. Five minutes after meeting, it seemed as if we knew each other since always. That was very funny…

The first night we stayed together, we were talking for five hours, more or less. We just slept like two hours, because the next day we had to go to school.

Charlie’s school is very big, more or less two times Jesus-María or a bit more. That day I started to think in English because I heard people speaking in English everywhere. I loved that school, people were very nice and I made a lot of friends.

We visited Devon, Exeter, which were near Ashburton, so the trip was just an hour or two. We spent all the time talking with Charlie’s friends and making jokes. We bought some Walkers (shortbread fingers) that were on offer, and ate them at once.

As I had a very nice week, before I realized, we were packing again and going back to Spain. That was very sad, because Charlie and I had become very close friends. I would love to repeat this experience again because it was very very good for me, had a lot of fun and made many good friends.