Trip to France with U14, U16 and U18

Cisneros trip to France

Day 1

On Thursday 16th March, after school, we drove to the Colegio Mayor Ximénez Cisneros to get on time to the bus that would take us, the U14 team to a trip to southern France until Monday 20th, 21:00. To waste time, I tried looking out the window, but it was too boring, so I had to leave it. I, for my part. was very nervous that I'd get put in a room with U16s and/or U18s and wake up in the morning full of toothpaste, or without an eyebrow... Anyway, we were stuffed in that bus until 21:30, when we stopped to have dinner at a restaurant. We were given pasta with tomato sauce, meatballs and pudding which I found a little rancid. From there to 1:45am, there was even more bus. When we arrived, I discovered with relief that there were different blocks for each category. Some went to sleep in their normal clothes, so tired we were.

Day 2

In the morning, after causing a racket, as always, we changed into our rugby kit and headed for breakfast. We had all we wanted some pain au chocolat, cereal, nutella. We didn't need anything else. For breakfast.
We got in the bus and drove to the pitch where we would train that morning. But, unfortunately, I got tackled and, when I landed, my back gave a sickening crack and ached for two days. I got treated with reflex and continued training. After training and a hot shower, we all piled into the bus yet again. We got taken to a restaurant for lunch, where we ate paella, steak with fries and ice-cream. After that, we were given 90 minutes to do whatever we wanted. We saw this as a great opportunity to waste some money. Some of us even bought butterfly knives for 4€! The rest bought supplies for this night. In the evening, we went to St Jean de Luz, where we explored the beach, the shops, the food and the church.  We had dinner at the hostel. 

Day 3

This mmorning, we played a touch rugby game in the green. I scored some tries. Today, we also had our match in France against the... GETXO?! But those are spanish! It turns out that Getxo had joined the French league. We lost. But U16 won against La Única. In the evening, we were taken to the Toulouse-Bayonne rugby match of the Top 14 rugby League. I bought a Toulouse flag. Although Bayonne won, it was pretty awesome. We bought our dinner at the shops around the stadium.

Day 4

Today, we had another match against the St Jean de Luz Olympique. But we got some help from our sub 16 buddies. We won. Such a victory, I had never seen! Even I got close to the try. However, the U16s who playedd with the U18s had it more difficult. After the victory, we went to Biarritz, where we wasted the remains of our money in pringles, chocolates and sweets (I also bought a couple of postcards for my parents). After that, we had dinner at a Pizzeria nearby. It was great! Finally, we were driven back to the hostel. There, we all went into one room and turned on the TV. We watched and ate. Until 1:00am, when our coach Koi, a strapping, young english rugby player, burst into the room and demanded what was the racket about. We didn't want to mess with our coaches, especially with people like Koi. But we slept OK.

Day 5

Today was our last day in France. In the morning, we visited the Train de la Rhune, an incredible train that goes up a mountain using a complicated system of zips that lets the train advance when the wheels turn. After riding to the top of the mountain and back down after a short stop, we boarded the bus and gossiped until we arrived back to Madrid. There, my dad was waiting with the car. We drove home, where I showered and went to sleep.

This was an awesome trip. I loved it. We played two challenging games. One, we lost. The other, we crushed. But we had a great time at the match and had many great experiences. I hope we manage to go on more trips like this.