1- WEEK 1: We have arrived at Amarante

The first day we went to Barcelona airport at 8am to catch our flight to Porto with some teachers who were accompanying us for the first week to make sure we arrived and adapted well.

I was very nervous because it was the first time I was flying, but at the same time I was very excited because I would be able to meet new people and a different town with new customs and traditions. When we arrived in Porto it was raining but it stopped at times and there we met Marcelo, our monitor in Amarante who took us to the Casa de Juventude where we were going to have lunch and then he would take us to the bungalows where we would stay this month.

All the food we eat at the Casa de Juventude is vegetarian except for one day a week when there will be meat and this was the first meal which consisted of tofu (it was the first time I tried it), white rice with onion pieces, stewed green beans with a sweet and sour sauce, bread and salad. For soups, we could try a vegetable soup with spinach leaves which was quite good.

After lunch we went to the bungalows where everything was still a bit wet from the rain to finish settling in and unpacking.

This is what the bungalows looked like on the outside, Rocío (the other girl who came to Amarante from IES Sa Palomera) is my roommate, we have the boys in front of us and the volunteers next to us.

And after unpacking while the boys went to look at a gym in the area we went with the teachers to have a snack at the Confeitaria da Ponte which is one of the oldest in Amarante and where we fell in love with the pastéis de belem which are cream-filled pastries although we also tried the Foguetes which were a bit too sweet for our taste.

Then we walked around a bit more and finally at dinner time we had the same as for lunch so we had rice and salad for dinner as that was what we liked the most and went to rest from our first day in Amarante.