Page 7 - St Mary's Voice complete

Interviews with our visiting students GLOBAL
LC student Caoimhe Reape, won the Mayo Garda Youth

FOCUS
Diary of a visiting student
By Laura Rafart

I was asked by English teacher to write about one
day of my life being an exchange student. I usually
wake up around 7- 7:15am. The first thing I

normally do in the morning is put on my uniform,
following that I brush my hair and I prepare my
school bag. Then I get my breakfast with my two

little brothers, and brush my teeth. Finally, I take
IRISH LIFE: Laura Rafart my lunch box and we drive to school.
pictured with Sophia and Dear World…
Bailey Laura

Madrid Memories Q& A with Sophia

What is school life like in Madrid?
Lucia Rodriguez fills us in. How is your life here?
In these two months my life
has changed a lot, I am very
In Madrid, I go to a mixed school without a uniform. happy with my host family,
The time of entry and exit from the school is also since they have two children
different. In the morning I start at 8:30 and finish at and I have a great time with them.
2:20 or 3:15 depending on the day. My classes in We do many things together, we cook, we go
Madrid are 55 minutes long and here they are 40. The shopping, we do tiktoks …
day is so different in Spain. For example, dinnertime: I really like Ireland because it is a very quiet
In Spain, I have dinner at 10, more or less, but then place, since compared to Spain there are not so
there is a time difference to take into account. In many cars or so much noise.
Madrid, it is one hour later than here. The weather is What I don't like about Ireland is the weather, as
very different too. In Summer, it is so hot in Madrid it is always cloudy or raining.
we reach forty degrees and the winter is cold but not I have made many friends, both Spanish and
as cold as here. Also I have noticed that transport is Irish.
different. In Madrid, the driver is on the left side and What do you like about the school?
here the driver is on the right side and the lanes on the I like it because it is a big school, with many
road are also the opposite. people and everyone is very kind to us.
I like the classes, here we have many classes that

we don't have in Spain, such as chef, business
studies, safe food, mental health ...
Lake Garda Trip for 2022 What do you not like about school?
I do not like to wear a uniform, since in Spain we
TRANSITION Year students are set to take to can take the clothes we want to go to school and
the skies to travel to Lake Garda in Italy as part we are more comfortable.
of their TY experience. How is your host family?

The truth is that I have been very lucky with my
The trip is scheduled for April 2022 and will be host family, they treat me super well and we do
the first international tour since 2019. Previous many activities.
TY groups have travelled to central European They have two children, Zoe and Ryan, Zoe is 14
tourist destinations such as Madrid, Barcelona, and we have the same tastes, and Ryan is 8. We
Rome and London. Fingers crossed for take off! live in a house in a village near Ballina
called Bonniconlon.

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