Malena: teacher & traveller

I woke up early in the morning and got ready to go to Collegi Montserrat. Araceli had very kindly scheduled a meeting with me, as this was not a “visiting day”. She showed me all the school: from kindergarten to High School. It is a beautiful building! As I had read before coming, they give a lot of importance to classroom environment. Let’s say the way in which the classroom is arranged: tables, chairs, students seating arrangement, teachers roles, technology…

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Relaxed morning… chatting and chatting with Michelle. At midday, we met Carlos and Michelle’s aunt and uncle at El Japones Restaurante. Oh, that was so tasty!! After that, Michelle and I walked around the city: La Boqueria market, Plaza Real, Santa Maria de Pi church, Petritxol street (famous for the chocolate shops), and Gracia neighbourhood to drink a vermouth and eat olives and almonds.

We visited many important sites in the city… Montjuic Castle, Arco de Triunfo, Barceloneta, and the Born neighbourhood.

This was a really relaxing Saturday… Argentine asado and rest!  At night, we went out to eat pinchos. Great fun!

I had a long sleep this morning. Lucky me, Carlos had prepared me a delicious “pan con tomate” (bread with tomato and ham) which is a typical Spanish dish. I took the train to the city centre and went straight to “Hospital de Santa Creu i San Pau”. This was a hospital many years ago, and now a UNESCO World Heritage. It is a very beautiful building. “It is a complex built between 1901 and 1930, designed by the Catalan modernisme architect Lluís…

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This was a travelling day… I spent all day travelling from Scotland to Spain, as my flight had a stop in Paris for a bit more than an hour. When I arrived to Barcelona, I came to Michelle and Carlos’ house. I had already been here when I arrived to Europe in January 1st. They are very good friends of mine… I’m sure we’ll have a great time together!

After having breakfast, Marjorie, John and I went on a road trip around The Borders. We visited Marjorie’s childhood town and put flowers on the family’s grave. Villages and towns in this area are really beautiful… the roads from one town to the other are so picturesque. Then we headed to Edinburgh. Oh what an extraordinary city!!! It is soooooo beautiful!!! I will never get tired of visiting it. I just love it! We had lunch and then walked on…

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Woke up early in the morning to go out to explore The Borders with Marjorie and John. We first went to Kelso to visit the abbey. Oh! I shall explain there are four abbeys in the area. Even some people ride bikes and visit each of them as there is a pre-planned path for it. Then we went to Jedburgh. In this abbey, John got some audio guides for us. We spent quite a long time walking around the place…

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Relaxing morning… Around midday, John and I went for a walk around the village. He showed me the Church, Village Hall, Post Office… and then had a beautiful talk to Smailholm Tower. Amazing talks and lovely views! After that, we went to visit Melrose. It is a beautiful town with a lovely abbey. We walked to the river and stood on the bridge to have a nice view of the place. This town is famous for rugby! Back at their…

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Isn’t this the most perfect view? We woke up and had breakfast together. It’s so beautiful to spend my holidays with my Scottish relatives… they so jolly and loving! After having toast with bacon and avocado, and a tasty cup of tea, we drove to Skirling. This is where David and his family live. He is Marjorie’s cousin and my long-distance uncle. We had already met in 2010 and 2011. Well, a long time ago. As he said to me…

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