We set out this morning from Hella to the Skaftafell Region to visit Seljalandsfoss, our first waterfall of the day. This waterfall of the river Seljalandsá drops 60 meters over the cliffs of the former coastline and it is possible to follow a walkway behind the fall of water. We arrived early and found the place very quiet. Although the waterfall was undoubtedly stunning the whole area proved to be very picturesque with sunlight streaming through the clouds to light the surrounding fields and distant farmhouses. Walking behind the waterfall was a lot of fun, although obviously very wet. We followed the path round behind the fall and then back up the rocks on the other side. We headed next towards Skógar Folk Museum. We drove past several other waterfalls along the way - tiny streams ... read more

We began our second sightseeing trip with a visit to the beautiful cathedral. The Cathedral’s construction began in the 12th century, when the old Romanesque Cathedral was begun. The five original naves were reduced to three during the Gothic redesign while in the 14th century the central sculptures of the facade, depicting the apostles and the madonna, were added. The statues were all completed in Jaume Cascalls’ studio in 1375. Outside the cathedral was a second hand sale - many of the locals had spread blankets on the ground and were selling everything from beautiful antiques to genuine junk. We continued our walk through the 14th century gothic arches near the cathedral to the old 12th-14th century hospital which is now the county council building. We headed back towards our hostel, past the city hall and ... read more

"Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy - the joy of being Salvador Dalí - and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things this Salvador Dalí is going to accomplish today?" - Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí'' We set off for a day trip to Figueres today. Figueres is famous for being the birthplace of the artist Salvador Dali and the main tourist attraction is the museum, designed by Dali himself, which houses a vast collection of his work. In addition to paintings from all decades of his career it also houses numerous sculptures, collages and tapestries as well as the bizarre living room which when viewed from above looks like the face of the American actress Mae West. The museum was, well, there is no other word for it... surreal. The ... read more

Well as most of the CELTYL lot took their flights home or moved on to travelling elsewhere Francesca and I found ourselves the only two left in Barcelona. We'd made plans to visit the monastery at Monserrat today so I was up early making a packed lunch and heading off to meet Francesca by the metro stop. We reached Placa d'Espanya where we could supposedly get a train to the monastery. We found the trip was made very simple for us by the tourist stands offering an inclusive ticket for the train and cable car. We were handed our tickets, timetable and map and then wandered around the placa and sat in the sun until it was time to catch our train. We took the train so far then took the vernacular railway instead of the ... read more

I cannot believe I've successfully made it to the end of the course. The last two weeks have been exhausting. I have been swamped with lesson plans and essays to do and have generally worked solidly from 7am until midnight. I've managed the odd lunch break visit to Parc de la Cuitadella which turned out to be a 5 minute walk from International House and has become my sancturary from all the stress at the school. Anyway, the course is over and those of us who made it to the end all passed successfully. There are 6 of us left who made it all the way to the end. We had our unassessed teaching practice this morning which involved various messy activities including making chocolate spider biscuits, oragami flowers, and pasta shape pictures. This was followed ... read more