Our Weekend Excursions

¡Hola es Sarah y Alexis! ¿Qué tal? ¿Está Bien?

We have had an amazing weekend!Even though it was a little bit rainy, we had a fabulous time! On Saturday we woke up and all met at the bus stop at 8. We loaded the bus with the other T&E groups and headed to Segovia. There were no complaints about the two hour drive to Segovia, because all of us had a chance to catch up on our sleep! Segovia is amazing, and so beautiful. When we first got there we walked to the aqueduct. The aqueduct was built with NO cement. Nothing is holding the MASSIVE structure together, except the weight of the rocks! SO COOL! It was very interesting to learn about how and when it was built. This town is full of historic buildings. The view we saw overlooking the mountains in Segovia were unbelievable! Our tour guide took us all over the city to see old cathedrals and The Catholic Queen’s Castle. The most breathtaking thing about the castle was looking at the 100 meter drop from the ground near the entrance. The palace sits above a HUGE ditch. In total the palace and ditch are 300 meters. This castle is said to be the inspiration behind Cinderella’s castle. When we walked in the palace, the ceilings in all the rooms were so unique and beautiful. It was very interesting to see the meaning behind all of the artwork and sculptures. The Catholic Queen wanted every room in the castle to involve art and religion.

After we spent much time in the castle, our group had free time. Since it was a little chilly, we decided to sit inside at a cafe in the Plaza Mayor in Segovia. Every body in our group ordered something yummy! Lourdes opted for the chocolate cake! The pastas, sandwiches, and cake were so filling. At 3:30 we met back in the plaza, and we hopped right back on the bus for Avila. Avila is another historic city between Segovia and Salamanca. When the bus got close to the town, the first thing we saw was a gigantic wall. Someone yells,” IS THAT THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA?” This stone wall surrounded the center part of Avila and was absolutely amazing. We took a tour around the city with our leader Lourdes and another T&E group. We went into the church dedicated to Saint Teresa. Amazing statues and relics made out of gold inside. The pope came to this church on the fourth anniversary of Saint Teresa’s Death. Everything we have seen has been breathtaking. We headed back to Salamanca after our quick tour of Avila. We all ate with our families and fell right asleep.

This morning we all got to sleep in because our group was meeting at 11. After some of us quickly got breakfast, we headed to the local bus stop to go to the Rostro. The Rostro is a Sunday morning/afternoon market, similar to the Germantown festival. However, the Rostro was definitely more of a cultural experience. It was so fun learning about the Spanish cultures by looking at different shops. We walked around all the cool booths for awhile. After we all bought a few things, we headed back to our houses. We rested up, once again, ate lunch, then met back up at 4:30. Of course, we all enjoyed another cone of amazing gelato. After we stuffed our faces, Lourdes took us bike riding. For us, this bike excursion around Salamanca was the highlight of the trip so far. We went through parks and all over the city. Even though it started raining and we had to hike up a few hills, it was a great day! Alexis fell off her bike and yelled “Oh my Lourddesss” (our tour guide’s name)! And to top off this amazing day, we enjoyed chocolate and churros at Valor (the best chocolate in Salamanca)! We are all looking forward to our second and last week of school starting tomorrow! We hope all is well back in the states. To all our families, friends, and faculty, we miss y’all!

Alexis y Sarah

¿Que hora es?

¿Que hora es? Today we had another dancing class. We learned how to do the seville. To me, it is pretty much the same as ballet. I enjoyed throwing in the moves that we made up while alone in my room. Anyway, It was very fun to learn another new dance while everyone can have a joke and mess around at the same time.

Today we went to our classes and later visited the University of Salamanca. In our classes today we had a grammar and conversation class. In our grammar class today we studied indirect and direct objects. Conversation class was much interesting. We listened to a music video from the 90’s which was really hard to understand but really funny too. After our classes we visited the University of Salamanca, which is the third oldest university in Europe, founded in 1218.   Finally, to end our day, we hung out in the plaza!

Kyle, Blake, and Drew

Día 5 en Salamanca

¡Hola! Es Sarah y Alexis otra véz! Qué tal? Está bien?
Nosotros nunca quiere salir!Ojala que gustan de nuestro blog.
Hi! It is Sarah and Alexis again! Hows it going? Are you well?
We never want to leave! We hope you enjoy our new blog! 🙂

Today was a another beautiful day in Spain. The weather today was very warm and enjoyable. Our group has gotten very comfortable with our daily routine. We all got up this morning and met at the same, and wonderful, bakery have met every morning. Once the few of us got some amazing croissants and had a few early morning laughs, we walked to school to begin another day of fun classes. Classes are very interacting and many memories are made everyday. The first class was grammar once again. We reviewed our topics from the previous days and spoke tons of Spanish. In our (Alexis and Sarah) class, we played a trivia Spanish game with the ten people in our class. There were many laughable moments. The next class was a conversational class. The main topic of this class was learning about the different parts of the body. Knowledge was gained for all of us today as well as the past days.

Because most of us were tired after class, we all went straight home after school instead of walking around. Resting before our afternoon plans today was very smart and helpful. For lunch, our house mom Lola made us delicious pasta with a side of pork. It was good and unique! Trying new foods in this country is exciting, but sometimes scary. We decided if were going to live the life of an average student here, we must atleast try all the foods! After lunch, all of us met again underneath the clock at the Plaza Mayor. While waiting for Lourdes, our wonderful group leader/tour guide, we all had another cone of amazing gelato. Lourdes is becoming part of our group! She introduced us to her friends, and knows all the information about Salamanca. We teach her more and more English jokes everyday. Usually she just nods and smiles, when we are talking to fast. However, our “Spanglish” is even funnier. Lourdes speaks English and Spanish which helps our group navigate the city and the school. Most of the other teachers don’t know all of the English language. She has lived here for a long time, and knows how to get places. She is a great leader for our group!

Lourdes took our group to the two cathedrals of Salamanca. The old and new cathedrals were SO beautiful! There is detail on top of detail. Everything is so intricate, and the little details sure do make up most of it. As a group we walked up and down stair cases, onto balconies, and even went to the Love garden. Lourdes told us al the facts about the cathedral. We both agree that our favorite part of today was the balcony overlooking all of Salamanca. The city looks amazing up there! As a group we recognized certain monuments down below, and even recognized a few friends walking along the sidewalk. The balcony was a fantastic way to enjoy the view!

Our group walked back to the school and attended cooking class. We had a great instructor who taught us how to make potato tortilla (potato casserole). We used olive oil and potatoes with eggs (huevos) and onions. It turned out delicious!Everyone was having a great time relaxing, and enjoying the food. After tasting our delicious creation we all decided we needed some rest. We went home and enjoyed dinner with our family. Tonight we had “las hamburguesas” with “las papas fritas”. It looked like a regular hamburger and french fries, but Lola used a different type of meat. It is interesting to see something we know so well, taste so different. Although we do miss home, Lola is making us feel very welcome. We love practicing our Español with her. Last night we had a competition to name every item in the room using a vocabulary word. It was silly, but the more practice the better. Our spanish is becoming easier and easier. Ordering at restaurants is not impossible, but oh goodness thank you for Ms. Hellman and Lourdes. Tomorrow we have more classes and activities with Lourdes! Having a great time!

Adiós! Hasta Luego!

Sarah y Alexis

Tour de tapas!

¡Hola! From Chloe, Eva, and Mary. It has been a wonderful day in Spain, filled with laughs, adventures, and countless memorable comments from Mary Maddux!

In the morning we (Chloe, Eva, and Mary) were woken up by a warm ¡Buenos dias chicas! From our madre. We started off the day with meeting at the same bakery for the past two days. We spent a few minutes conversing and telling stories about what had happened with our families the previous night. We made our way to the school and had our first class, which was fun and engaging. During the break Ms. Hellman helped explain to Mary and I (Eva) with the work that he had just done in class. The class was a good prep for the beginning of freshman year for us because that will be our very first lesson. The second class of the day we practiced grammar and talked about the different foods of the students’ countries. By then everyone was hungry and ready for lunch. Haha! We came home for lunch and enjoyed some pasta with tuna covered in orange sauce. Which of course Eva dropped right onto her white shorts! We had planned to catch up on sleep with a two-hour siesta, but couldn’t hold back the urge to go shopping!

We started off at a store called Mango, where Sarah, Alexis, and Ms. Hellman met up with us. And then we visited a bunch of other stores and looked around and shared our thoughts on the trip. We were going to go to a jewelry store, but it was closed for 30 minutes so we went to go eat churros and chocolate instead. We ate them all and then drank the chocolate afterwards! We then left the chocolate store and went back to the jewelry store. While we were out shopping, the guys were going on a stroll around town and found the place that our group was very interested in visiting, the Garden of Love. We all eventually met up at the jewelry store and went to the garden. The girls got rings, necklaces, and bracelets from the store. We took a bunch of pictures and just hung out and laughed a lot! After walking through the garden, we all got to go to an art lesson at the school about the history of art in Spain. There were many beautiful paintings and pictures. We learned a lot about the topic and many famous artists.

After our lesson on the art of Spain, we went home to get ready for Tapas! Tapas are a tradition in Spain where you receive various appetizers that equal to the amount of a full meal. It was delicious. We went to four very different restaurants to get these tapas. The first item of tapas we received was a bread and meat dish that was beautifully put together and very delicious. The tables at the restaurant were about three feet high, so the chairs were just as small. Blake was hilarious when he attempted to sit in tiny chair. The second restaurant served us a similar meal with shrimp and bread. Though this dish was very good, some of us *cough* Mary *cough* voiced our opinions on seafood. At the same restaurant, we had another dish with beef and veggies kebabs on bread. The third restaurant we went to gave us some chicken empanadas and pizza. The last restaurant was just as amazing. We were served chicken with sweet onions on bread. We ate a lot of bread today. Then of course, we finished it with some helad (ice cream)!! Today was a great day.. the trip keeps getting better!

Eva, Chloe, and Mary

In the garden

Eating tapas in the Plaza Mayor

6/3/13

6/3/13

Hola, this is Blake, Drew and Kyle. We had our first day of school today.

Today we learned how to salsa like a pro… kinda. This was the first of the two days that we learn how to do the salsa. It was a bit confusing at times but I thought that it was very fun. I thought that one of the best parts of the class is when we split into groups and watched each other dance. I really liked this part because everybody was having fun and joking around at the same time. The class was so much more fun than I thought that it would be. It may not seem like it, but I don’t mind doing the boogie every once in a while. I cannot wait until we have our next salsa class!

The food in Spain is different but it is great!

Since we have arrived in Spain, we have tried lots of different food. In Spain, people usually eat a light breakfast, eat their largest meal (lunch) at about 2:00 and eat dinner at 9:00. At first, having such a different schedule was hard to adjust to, and by the beginning of our first dinner in Spain we were all very hungry (especially Sarah). For breakfast, we usually have a light one with a lot of bread products, especially from a panadería. For lunch, the biggest meal of the day, we had rice with a red sauce over it, eggs, bacon, and ham. It was all really good! Usually in between lunch and dinner, we have gotten gelato from a heladería (ice cream shop) because it is really good here in Spain. For dinner we had a lighter meal with la sopa (soup) and a type of lasagna. We all really like the food here in Spain!

Even with the salsa dancing and delectable food nothing tops our first Spanish classes today.

It started off as a difficult transition for all of us. But nobody ever said it would be easy. The teachers in Spain have a unique method of teaching: they like to to talk about Spanish in Spanish. Confusing. In a normal classroom we would learn vocabulary, grammar, and other concepts with a teacher for the most part explaining in good old English. But when most of the teachers at the school don’t speak a word of English it makes most of us a little uncomfortable. Almost everybody had to drop down a level after the first session because most of us were a little too confused. For now, most of us process Spanish speaking and listening slowly and it requires all of our efforts. We usually only pick up a few words here and there. However, with time our heads will adjust the fog should clear. We just need to keep our heads screwed on and practice more and more as the days pass. By the end of the week, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we could all speak casually and with rhythm.