"It was just a holiday, but it changed my life..."

Dear students,

here you are the stories that take part in the competition.

You are all part of the jury, so read the stories and send a short comment with the one you like the most, (if you prefer you can send the name of the person). You can vote only once, and the last day to vote is next Tuesday so prizes will be given next Wednesday or Thursday in the time of the lesson.

I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I did. I will also vote my favourite.

"It was just a holiday, but it changed my life..."

My name is Sara, I am 52, but my true life story began twenty years ago, here in Argentina. I was on a trip with Olivia and Ana, two of my best friends .We were travelling across the country during a month, I had just broken with my engaged and I was sad and lost. Two days before we had to take our flight, we met Mario, who was a well-known tango dancer, incredibly handsome and charm and we got on very well at first sight.

Anyway, we came back to Spain, but I couldn´t take him out of my mind and my previous life didn´t exist anymore ,so after a few months I finally decided to get back to Buenos Aires and look for him.

Although I found Mario and we had a short romantic story, with Ariel, my son, as the result, I had to understand that he wasn´t a one-woman man; but despite all, we became a successful couple of tango dancers with international fame around the world.

Finally I found my place far away from my country and I love it.

Sara Fernández Fernández,1º B1

In the past, I was a very important business man in my country, England. I had worked hardly to get my own discography, one of the most important discographies in the world.

Five years ago, I decided to go to India on holiday. I was exhausted and much stressed .Therefore I needed some time to think about my life. Although I had been successful in my work I was unhappy.

Then, I travelled to India by plane and alone. When I arrived in this country I discovered a different world. The people were poorer than me but they were happier than I had ever been. So I decided to find out the reason about the difference between my situation and people who hadn´t got as many things as I had. I sold my discography and moved to India definitely. I began to work in a hospital and I have been working there since then.

On the other hand, I got married with an Indian nurse.  In the end, I don´t know why, but I feel better now.

Javier de Prado Santos, 1 B1

When I was a nursing student yet, we were offered a University grant to go to a children camp in Saharan Africa to collaborate with other students from different degrees.

At first, it was very hard because we hadn´t got the resources that we used in our daily lives in Spain. Besides, the food was very different. To make things worse, to get some water, we had to travel some kilometres and what was harder for me, my daily hygiene. Then we began to understand what is really necessary to live and how those people that had not got any material things were really happy and offered us all they had.

After this experience I decided that I would finish my degree in Spain and then I would come back to Africa. So I did, I have been working in different NGOs since then and I can´t imagine my life in another way.

Silvia García 1B1

Last year, my best friend gave me a very special present: a round-trip ticket to Hawaii!!!

I was sad, because I had split up with my boyfriend, and she wanted to cheer me up.

She though that a change of scene, would be good for me. I only thought about him...

Suddenly, I was boarding in a plain. I had never flown alone; therefore I was very nervous and a little worried. Then, I looked to my side, and I saw a nice woman, who began to talk with me, and I got more relaxed. After a long flight, my plane landed in Oahu; and I listened "ALOHA" for the first time.

At first sight, the light covered everything, it was sunny, and I perceived a gentle breeze... a sea breeze. It looked like a paradise. Afterwards, I felt calm. Later, I was in my room, into the hotel, and I decided to go for a walk along the seashore. I was alone, and I was far from my country, however, I felt as if I were at home. The next morning, after having a typical American breakfast, I went to The Waikiki Beach, where an instructor would teach me to how to surf. It was a funny morning, and the instructor was very nice and... very handsome too; so we became us good friends.He showed me the South of the island. He was the best guide you could have. And that night, he invited me to have dinner at a restaurant on the beach.It was love at first sight. I had never felt anything like that. The next day, he asked for a the day off to celebrate my birthday. He took me to snorkell to Hanauma Bay, then we ate at the hotel, and in the afternoon, we went to visit Pearl Harbor. Finally, in the evening we ended with a surprise party on the beach.It was a great day!!! The following days we continued seeing each other, knowing the island, and above all,  we were together every minute.

 Unfortunately, the day to say goodbye had arrived. None of us wanted to be separated. So, he invited me to go to the beach for the last time. And we were there near the sea, where it all began. He asked me if I would like to stay with him. I said yes... and then I cancelled my trip home.

Now, I live in Hawaii, and I am with somebody who loves me and makes me happy!!!

Covadonga  González 2B1

Some years ago, when I was in my twenties, I didn’t know what I could do with my life. I was extremely sad and depressed and I didn’t feel like doing anything.

Fortunately, a day I met a friend who I hadn’t seen for ages. We were talking for a long time about our lives and she ended up inviting me to stay at her home in Mallorca. She told me that her parents had a big house near the beach and they went there every summer. I was really shy and at first I said her no, but she encouraged me and in the end I decided to go the following July.

Those holidays changed my life. I knew a lot of people and I enjoyed the wonderful landscapes in the island. On the other hand, I fell in love with a handsome guy and…few days later I started looking for a job and a house to live there. To be honest, I have to admit that it seemed crazy. Everything had happened too fast, but I quickly realized I felt very happy. 

 When I said it to my family, they couldn’t believe what I was doing! Anyway, I think it was the best decision of my life because I never felt so good.

Ever since, I’m living there with my husband and my two children and I’m still working as a waitress in a nice hotel.

If I hadn’t gone to Mallorca with my friend, I wouldn’t have been so happy.

Rosa Malagón 2B1

My 4 best friends and I, were working all the summer to pay us the trip that we had always dreamed about since we were children: a trip across all the country of U.S.A.

We took the plane in Madrid without problems and after almost ten hours of flight, we finally landed in New York. Our plan was to visit the city and after, to rent a car to begin our long journey.

We crossed different States, such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, we visited all of them and we bought a lot of souvenirs. When we arrived to Kansas, we discovered that we had spent most of our money! We managed to arrive to the state of Nevada; we were driving on the desert when the car ran out of petrol! We were in the middle of a desert, with not enough money and no idea about what to do. Suddenly, we looked at the horizon and we saw a beam of light, and later we screamed: “Las Vegas”!!!!

We were walking for one hour and there it was: the city of Las Vegas, I had never seen so many lights in my life. We had a crazy idea: to enter in the Casino and bet all the money that we had. We had never bet before, so we stopped in the first table that we found, we chose to bet all the money on red colour, number five. After five seconds of heart attack, the people who were around us started to scream: we had won!!!! One million dollars!!!! I couldn´t believe it.

All the people congratulated us and a group of guys invited us to a party in their suite of the hotel and we accepted. The suite was enormous and luxurious, and there were millions of bottles of expensive champagne everywhere.

I woke up next morning, and I thought that it had all been a dream, but when I tried to get up, I had a big headache, maybe a hangover, but the most important was that there was a big diamond ring in my finger, I thought: “we were in Las Vegas, I have a ring on my finger; Oh my God!!! I got married!!!!! But, who with???

I looked for my friends, they didn´t know who my husband was, so we decided to come back to the church to ask someone. Finally I found my “husband” there; he apologized because the idea of the wedding had been his. When we divorced a few days later, I discovered that he was a famous baseball player, I didn´t know it, most of his fortune was for me!! A week later, my friends and I decided to take a plane back home.

We didn´t go to California, the last state that we wanted to visit, but nowadays I am a rich divorced woman, I can visit California whenever I want, I can say that this trip changed my whole life!!!!

Seila García González 1B1

The holiday took place in March of my last year at university and it changed my life forever .

A lot of my classmates and me went to Tunisia to the end of studies trip. It had been planned for five days but in the end it was for some days more. In the first three days we went across the country from the coast to the desert. We were happy and funny because we wanted to enjoy every second of our last time together, but the happiness didn´t stay much time. Two days before that we caught the plain to Spain a revolt broke out in the capital and other important cities. Young people were shouting for a change in the government.

We couldn´t go out from the hotel as a way of precaution. Our families were worried about us. Some of my friends were frightened, “in that moment we didn´t know when we could fly to Spain”. The manager of the hotel had just told us that we couldn´t catch the plain because it was dangerous.

Amir, one young boy that worked there, told us what was happening and the reason. While we were listening to him the fear assailed us but it wasn´t the only I felt. I was seeing him telling about the liberty and justice, about a better future for him and his sisters and family when I could watch a shine in his eyes. A tear ran down my face because I had sawn the same shine in my grandfather´s eyes when he told us about the Spanish Civil Guard and how the Spanish continued fighting to become our Country in a liberty and democratic State. He saw me and he knew that I had understood him.

Before Amir went home he was looking for me to ask if I wanted to go with him home and meet his family the following day if it wasn´t dangerous. He was going to meet his friends in the city centre that night. If the revolt was more calmed I would go his home in the morning. I accepted and he was happy.

He told me about his family. His old sister was married and she had just finished her teaching job in a school to look for her new family. His young sister, that was only twelve years, had to work like a seamstress because her mother was seriously ill. Their mother couldn´t afford the best medicines for her pathology because they were very poor. Amir was very angry, he wanted to help much but he couldn´t find a second job, her mother was very ill, his little sister didn´t go to the high school because they needed her salary and his other sister had shut up in her home because of Muslim traditions.

The next morning I was waiting for him but I couldn’t speak to Amir until the afternoon. He told me that his father didn´t want that he started a friendship with me. The staff of the hotel had forbidden it and he could lost the job. I told him that I wouldn´t see him while I was in the Hotel but when I got home in Spain I´d send him an email to keep in contact. He accepted my proposal and I didn´t know anything about him until this.

When I arrived in León and could meet my family I told about this story and Amir. I couldn´t forget that I wanted to help them and other people in the same circumstances so I sent an email to Amir as I had promised him.

I found an NGO with activity in the Arabian countries, Tunisia is one of this. They work with women principally in new created schools for them. There, they learn some medicine aspects as what is the best way to help in home birth, in the domestic accidents, or to use the typical plants to relieve some common illnesses, I´m a volunteer of this organization now. Twice a year I go with them to these countries and I work in the medical care activities.

When I travelled to Tunisia I met Amir and I knew his family. His little sister has been going to one of this organization schools and has improved her life a lot. All of them are delighted with me now

Verónica Llamera Arias 1 B1

September 19, 2011 a trip, that I knew it was going to be special, began. But I had never imagined that it would be so incredible.

We travelled by plane for twelve hours to a fascinating country: Argentina. The journey lasted for seventeen marvellous days when we went around the country from the South to the North.

It was a trip full of contrasts and unforgettable experiences. We visited full of magic places with spectacular nature phenomena: from the striking Perito Moreno glacier to the deafening Iguazu falls. We were left speechless although we need to speak only we wanted to look.

We have always liked much the animals and there we saw many animals such as whales, penguins, sea lions…We had never seen these animals so close.

We loved the country. When we returned home we only had an idea in our minds: living in Argentina. So when we arrived to Spain we sold all our possessions and we left our jobs. One month later we went back to Argentina, in particular to Ushuaia. Now we have a company which organizes trips for tourists. We love our new job because every day we can go to enjoy the landscape and animals. We are very happy living in a little cottage surrounded by nature.

Nuria Pérez, 2 B1

Last summer, my family and me went on holidays to Costa Rica because my parents needed some relaxing days. They had been working very hard last year.

We went by plane and it was the first time for me and my little brother that we travelled by plane, it was very exciting but not for my parents because they were arguing all the time. They told us that they had been under a lot of stress but I didn`t think so.

When we arrived at the hotel we had to wait for the check-in and suddenly my little brother disappeared. Nobody saw him, then we started to look for him but no one could tell us anything. When it got dark we hadn´t found him yet and my mother couldn´t stop crying but in this moment my father held my mother tight an said “don’t worry mum, we´re going to find our little child, don´t cry please you´re the most important for me and I need you here so stop crying and calm down yourself, Okey? It was the first time that I saw them so affectionate in months, in fact many times I thoght that their marriage was broken.

Then a policeman arrived with my brother, he had found him playing with other children in a park completely carefree. My parents told him off for leaving the hotel but that incident was the best thing that I have had in my live because my parents started paying more attention to us so I remember this journey as a new starting point for my family that changed our lives.

Eduardo Blanco 1B1