Day 1 – The early bird catches the worm!

Bright and early start for everyone (half past six in the morning to be precise) on a Sunday morning, lovely sleepy faces on everyone. As we arrive at school excited looks can be seen on those sleepy faces while parents look tired and start loading suitcases onto the bus.

With everything ready, we say goodbye to the parents as we won’t see them until Wednesday. Everyone is feeling tired but enthusiastic about being able to go and ski.

The journey on the bus is pretty long, everyone is extremely quiet during the first couple of hours, the tiredness is too much for everyone to bear. The only voices (or giggles in this case) that can be heard belong to the smallest of our companions, the children of Year 4 that never seem to run out of energy!

Before reaching Puigcerdà we stop to rest and recharge batteries at the service station of the Tunel Del Cadí. Only a few more minutes until we get there, as excitement begins to grow amongst us.

Around 40 minutes later we marvel at the sight of Puigcerdà… but wait… there’s something missing! There’s no snow!

Off we go to the residence to leave all our luggage and to pick up Elena, who has a one day head start on us. With everyone arranged into their rooms, another short trip and we’re at the shop where we rent the ski equipment. There, amid all the chaos of children trying boots and other things on, we are told that it hasn’t snowed at all but that there is artificial snow up on the slopes. No problem then, off we go to la Masella!

The trip to the ski station isn’t long and when we arrive, we see the ski instructors waiting for us as we get off the bus. Now we get to the worst part of the day (at least that’s what Mr. Alzuria says!), time to put on ski boots!

“Mr. Alzuria can you help me please?” – Sarah

“Mr. Alzuria, my boot doesn’t fit!” – Nikolas

“Mercè, I can’t find my skis!” – Boyd

“Mercè… where’s the snow?” – Mr. Alzuria

This last question is answered almost right away by what could be described as one of the heaviest snowfalls of the season! At that moment thousands of tiny crystal drops fall out of the sky and it doesn’t stop in the whole day.

The children are all put into groups (the ones that ski in two groups and another one for the snowboarders) and everyone’s off while Mr. Alzuria (big as he is) hides in the cafeteria and has himself a nice hot chocolate! Clever one isn’t he?

It’s time for lunch and the troops begin to arrive from the slopes, each prepared with their own packed lunch but… wait a minute! The teachers are having lunch in the restaurant! Very nice indeed!

After lunch everyone goes off to ski again and then back to the bus. Everyone is pretty tired by now… or at least the majority! The little year 4 hoodlums (yes, the ones that never get tired) still have heaps of energy and prove it by running up and down, in and out of their room. It’s going to be a long afternoon…

We’re tired, we’re battered, but we’re still alive and kicking so we go outside to make a snowman or… at least that’s what Ilona, Cristina, Elisa and Mr. Alzuria TRY to do… So much effort put into it for such a terrible result… So guess what they do? Yep, SNOWFIGHT! Winner (of course): Mr. Alzuria!

What a great first day! Everyone is dead tired so after supper it’s off to bed.

Day 2 – How windy!

We get up bright and early in the morning (Mercè, our rock, is the first one up) and everyone goes upstairs for breakfast. In theory, today is our day to go to Porte, but the strong winds (that seem to have removed the snow from our garden) is stopping us from going there. No problem, back to la Masella!

After a good morning’s skiing, everyone goes for lunch (this time everyone gets to eat at the restaurant!). In the afternoon everyone goes off to ski again and then we all leave to go back to Puigcerdà. Today, however, we aren’t going straight back to the residence! We’re off to visit the town, the lake, to be precise.

What wonderful sights we see! Snow everywhere and a frozen lake. Everyone marvels in the scenery when suddenly, out of nowhere, a snowball hits Alvaro in the side of the head! This can’t be, we always end up having huge snow battles!

This time, there is no clear winner, everyone decides to call a truce and we all go off into town, the oldest ones are allowed some time on their own to explore a bit.

We meet back at the bus and are ferried back to the residence again. There’s just enough energy for dinner and it’s off to bed. However, today there’s a lot more noise about the place, the reason is that there are two other schools with us now!

“Mercè, why are all these kids making so much noise?” – Sarah

“Aren’t they ashamed?” – Lukas

Aren’t our kids just the best?

It’s lights out time, but not before Mr. Alzuria tells a scary story (The Assassin of Puigcerdà)!

Day 3 – Party time?

Another early start! Mercè, yet again, is the first to get up, and she’s as fresh as a rose! (What IS her secret?). Time for breakfast and off to Les Angles… Oh wait! It’s windy again! So la Masella is our salvation again.

The problem is that la Masella is closed too! I guess we have to stay around the area at the bottom of the slopes while some of us practice skiing with only one ski, amongst other acrobatics.

Once again, we all have lunch at the restaurant, what a great place to have lunch!

In the afternoon the slopes are opened again so at least the whole day isn’t lost. What’s more, at lunch time we are approached with good news: There’s a party tonight at a club with the other schools that have come.

After skiing for a while, we all go back to the residence to have supper and get ready for going out. Disappointingly, however, Mercè receives a phone call with bad news: The other school that was coming to the party has been punished and so the party has been cancelled. What a drag!

Luckily, Mr. Alzuria doesn’t much fancy being locked in the residence all afternoon (and even less so with the other schools making all that racket!). So he decides to take a small group of children; Elisa, Angel, Cristina, Elena, Sarah and Alex to be precise, to go out for a walk.

After that it’s time for bed, it’s our last night!

Day 4 – Change of scenery, long journey back

Last day, how hard it is to get up! Today Mr. Alzuria is in charge of waking the monsters up. However, not everyone wants to get up! Don’t worry, there’s a remedy for this problem:

“I don’t want to get up!” – Sarah

“15 more minutes!” – Elena

Oh really? Right then, snow on your feet ladies! IT’S FREEZING! Having written this several weeks later, we are still amazed that Mr. Alzuria is still alive after that!

Today, at last, we’re off to somewhere different, time to go to Porte, in France! The journey is quite long, and just as we are getting to the border…

“Oh! Oh! I haven’t got phone coverage! I’m going to die! What do I do without Facebook?” – Elisa.

We get to the ski station, get off the bus… MY GOSH! HOW COLD! Minus sixteen degrees!

“Right, I’ll see you in the bar then!” – Mr. Alzuria. Clever fellow isn’t he?

All the same, the last morning’s skiing is cut short for quite a few. Mr. Alzuria isn’t alone in the bar for very long; Boyd, Nikolas, Elisa and Sarah come off the slopes pretty early moaning about the cold!

Lunch time approaches but there’s lots of people and the lunch area isn’t very big… What utter chaos!

“I’m hungry! What’s the meaning of this? Making me wait outside in the cold!” – Mr. Alzuria.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be inside in a minute…” – Alex (attempting to calm the angry giant).

Finally, after much suffering, we make our way inside and have lunch before going out for one last time on the slopes before going back to the rent shop to give back all the equipment. The afternoon doesn’t end without incident however, Alvaro has a nasty fall and hurts his shoulder and has to be taken to the doctors.

Luckily, it’s nothing serious, and while Alvaro’s at the doctors the rest of us give back all the loaned equipment and go back to the residence to get our luggage.

Everyone says goodbye to the residence and we all climb on to the bus. Time to get comfortable because the journey home won’t be short!

Mercè decides to place herself strategically around the middle of the bus, where she can control absolutely everything going on while Noé sits at the front and entertains the tireless Year 4’s. The older boys all sit at the back and put some music on while Sarah and Elena sit next to each other and have a good, long chat with one another… on their mobile phones! The 3 Alex’s sit together with an ipad and play the whole trip while Cristina and Elisa sit quietly and calmly nearby. But… who am I missing? Oh yes! Mr. Alzuria has to sit with Ilona! The little madam starts off by putting her head to one side while slowly dozing off and ends up sprawling herself out and using the poor teacher as a personal pillow, what a little Miss!

After several hours, we all arrive safely and soundly at school where Mr. Prestidge and Raquel wait for us together with the parents (who look pretty well rested after not having their children for four days!). It’s off home for everyone!

It really has been a wonderful experience, both for students and teachers. Lots of work, but lots of fun!

(Mr. Alzuria )