Sunday Summit: The Final Day

And we have arrived at a bittersweet moment: the final evening of our trip. As I write, students are relaxing here in the Snowboarder’s Palace. Luckily, there are plenty of common rooms for everyone to relax…and then crash the wifi. Seriously, this group is rough on the wifi. Anyhow, before we lose connection again, here’s the rundown of the day:

• We woke up nice and early this morning, as it takes a substantial amount of time for 1,600 kids to get into the convention center. Our morning started with a few speakers who all discussed the modern educational system and the necessary changes that must take place in order to prepare our students for the 21st century. There were a lot of interesting ideas put forth, and we all had some interesting discussions based on what we took away from the talks.
• After the opening speakers, we broke up to go to our respective sessions. Students went to classes varying from slam poetry to planning future careers.
• Our final session consisted of the final phase of the design thinking process. Students brought their prototypes and presentations together in preparation for the Innovation Hall, in which students presented their ideas to everyone at the convention. There were some impressive ideas put forth, which substantial attention paid to international experience, mobile apps, and language immersion.
• After the presentations, and dinner, of course, we were treated to the day’s keynote speaker, Shiza Shahid, who founded the Malala Fund. She had so much to say about the modern state of education of women in the world; her talk made quite an impression on everyone, especially our strong female students.
• After the keynote, we were treated to a barbecue (there was some confusion, since bbq to us means pulled pork, but to everyone else it means “to grill out.”) and a dance party in the outdoor inflatable tent. EF Tours did their best to wear everyone out, and it worked!

So, it’s now time to get packed! We are getting up at 4am this morning, and have to be downstairs, packed, to get on the bus. We’re all excited to get home, sad to be leaving, and overwhelmed by everything we’ve seen and experienced.

As always, check @SGSummit on Instagram to see pictures

Barcelona: Day 2

Today was another beautiful, sunny day here in Barcelona. We started off with a good breakfast because we knew it would be a busy day!  We all traveled to the starting point of our Barcelona Scavenger Hunt, where we were divided into 5 teams and sent off into the city to experience it using our five senses. We ate interesting food, explored historic squares, listened to authentic music, smelled the unique scents of the area, and constructed a puzzle of various interesting landmarks. Mr. Roszel’s team won the competition, but everyone enjoyed it.

We then ate an amazing lunch of paella, the most popular dish in Barcelona. With bellies full, we explored the beach, watched volleyball, ate gelato, swam, and soaked up the sun. We then did a tour of the city by bus. We explored Park Güell and the Sagrada Família, which were fantastic. After a quick dinner, we enjoyed a light show at the Barcelona Magic Fountain of Montjüic, which was a wonderful way to end the evening.

It was quite a day, and now it’s time for some sleep. Goodnight!

 

 

 

 

Cherishing Our Last Moments in Salamanca

!Hola es Sarah y Alexis!

Here is a list of what we have been thinking about:

1. We only have a couple days left in this beautiful city..
2. Donde está la Heladéria (Gelato Shop)?
3. Qué hora es?
4. How in the world did Ms. Hellman’s phone drop in the street drain..?
5. Do they sell Gelato at Kroger?
6. Can we have siestas during the school week in the U.S…?
7. Is there a Plaza Meyor anywhere in Tennessee?
8. Why are we mumbling to eachother in Spanish?

As we are approaching our last few days in Spain, we are trying to spend every moment wisely. We never new how fast time would fly. WE just sat down for one of our last dinners with Lola ( our “mom”). All of these moments are bittersweet! We definitely do not want to leave!

This morning we woke up and headed to school. Today in class, we reviewed all the subjects we have been working on for the past two weeks. Mostly in grammar we have been working on the past tense. All past tenses, including imperfect, preterite perfect, and present. We also reviewed the differences between haber/tener. This is just a few things we have been doing in class. We asked questions about the content, because we have an exam tomorrow at 1.

In our conversation class, we learned about physical traits of a person. It was very interesting to learn that there are so many adjetives…Then we learned all of the opposites. An example would be ugly to pretty (feo–>bonita) or calm to nervous (tranquillo–> nervioso). It is difficult to tell everything we have been learning in class, because of the amount of content. We are learning new things each day, and we are not just saying that. We have learned most of the history of Spain (in Spanish), but Lourdes helped us out and translated. Outside the classroom is even better. Just the small interactions we have each day. For example: We will sit down for dinner with Lola and Llys (student from belgium) and just have a vocab quiz around the room. We try and name everything and then if we don’t understand Lola explains. However, we usually ask Llys for help with the translations. Tonight we sat down for dinner and sang every vocabulary word in the room, and then went on Lola’s balcony and sang Feliz Navidad. Just the funny things, but they are definetly helping us to get closer to Lola. Whenever we all laugh together, we are learning at the same time. Whenever we walk into the room Lola asks if we need anything food or drink and always calls us Guapas! She has definetly made us feel at home.

After our daily classes, we went back to our host homes (Lola) for lunch. Our lunch was simple, but tasty. Lola made us noodles with olive oil and chopped fresh veggies. We also had a side of carne (meat). We have eaten so many new foods here. Lola is an AWESOME chef! Trying new food is one of the highlights of this trip that we will all never forget.

Everyone took a wonderful power nap before we met under the clock at 4:30. Once everyone was together, Lourdes took us to the Towers of Salamanca. We walked up about 300 stairs that took us to this breathtaking view of the wonderful city. Amazing. Sinking in how blessed we all are to be here. Seeing the skyline of this beautiful country is very eye opening, and feels very good inside.

Once we took pictures and enjoyed our view, we walked back down to the streets and headed to the Plaza. Of course, we all enjoyed yet another gelato at our favorite place in the square (Novelty). It has become apart of our daily routine to purchase a cone of delicious gelato. We all ate gelato then went straight to our cooking class. We had class in the same restaurant we ate at the first night. Once we all washed our hands, we went straight to work.

Half the group chopped tomatoes and decorated them, while the other group stuffed potatoes.  The dish we created was an apetizer (tapa). Tomato topped with goat cheese and a hand-made crouton on the side. Everyone loved the croutons we made. Sarah, Drew, and Chloe topped the tomatoes. While Alexis, Kyle, and Blake made the potatoes. The dish was a stuffed potato with mayonaise, lemon, garlic sauce, topped with cheese and small slices of ham. It was so delicious and different. It ended up being a very good experience to be able to cook in a well-known restaurant in Spain (Don Mauro).

Today was another memory-making day in Spain. We all had a very good time cooking and experience gorgeous views! However, we are very sad that tomorrow is our last full day in Salamanca. We are definitely cherishing these blessed moments.

Love and miss everyone!

Sarah Buechner and Alexis Margaritis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunes-Martes

Blake, Kyle and Drew –

¡Hola! Yesterday, on Monday, we continued our lessons of the Salsa. This class was very different from the last. We had a new fun teacher who really liked to Salsa. There were new students from Florida in the class so we also got to meet new people! Also, we learned more about the Salsa! Instead of being like the first class, where we learned individual steps, we instead learned our steps with partners. I was a bit confused saying that we did not use the steps that we learned on the first day but instead we learned new ones much different from the first. I really did enjoy the class very much!

We continued our journey through Salamanca in the local museum of the Spanish Civil War. The museum was designed to demonstrate a children’s viewpoints of the war through primitive, simplistic, and yet altogether graphic doodles.However, there were more drawings of the Second World War than the Spanish Civil War. The gory images were eye-opening and shocking. Beside each drawing was an explanation and description of the child’s thoughts. it is impossible to describe the feeling of knowing war has such an effect on even children. After the museum, we  walked around for the rest of the day and relaxed.

Today was a ton of fun! First we went to the school and took our classes, and then went home to eat lunch. In between this and our next activity Ms. Hellman dropped her Spanish phone and she happened to be walking right over a street drain ha ha! It was two feet down but she could not reach it so she had to get a new phone! After she got a new phone we ate together in a restaurant on the plaza. Next we tried some Iberian ham on bread in a restaurant and Iberian ham is really famous in Salamanca. Next we decided to go to the river and watch fireworks. Today was the San Juan festival in Salamanca which is why there were fireworks. Because of this, tomorrow the majority of the stores in Salamanca will be closed, and many people will not even have to work tomorrow. This is a holiday unique to and only celebrated in Salamanca, because San Juan is a patron saint of Salamanca. The fireworks were great and were very cool to see!