Students venture abroad

This past Christmas vacation our family and my grand parents went on a trip to Spain and Morocco. We had been planning this trip for some time and were excited and nervous to go to Spain. Although we both have been in the SI we did not know if what we had learned would help us while we were there. It was a bit difficult to start talking to people but then it came naturally! Knowing Spanish really helped our family through out the trip.

Bryce was the direction “go to guy”. We drove from Madrid to Malaga (558 km) about 350 miles and made many stops in small towns along the way. During our trip we took many day trips to see as much as we could while we were there. We went to the Picasso Museum, Rhonda which is the birth place of Bull Fighting and many other small coastal towns where some people really only spoke Spanish. He was able to get us to most of the places without any problems and the only time we got lost was when the parents got involved.

Driving on the roads in Spain is much different than the roads here. The drive was quite beautiful and there were Olive trees every where you looked! What was also amazing was the amount of solar panels and wind turbines! We asked how much power it provided and it was enough to run small beach towns even during the peak summer season.

Makayla was the “every day” small talk girl. She would make reservations for dinner, order meals, help at stores while we were shopping. Some of the meals we had were quite adventurous and ordered things that we really did not know what it was! For example, Rabo de Toro was one of our favorite meals and the waiter had to do charades for that one! Translation is Oxtail stew, really one of the best meals we had!

We were able to go see the Rock of Gibraltar that is actually in the United Kingdom. This was a great trip and we actually saw the Barbary Apes and they came to visit us! One of the Apes actually climbed onto my moms lap in the car and stole our breakfast! On the way home from Gibraltar we drove along the country side and went to the “Pueblos Blanco’s” White villages. The mountain roads are very small and winding and then you drive up to another really small white village in the middle of nowhere. We almost got our mini van stuck in a small village my mom wanted to explore but good thing our dad drove us out of there.

For New Years Eve they have the “Doce Uvas” or 12 Grapes. It is for good luck for the New Year. You have to eat 12 grapes on each stoke of midnight. You can buy really fancy grapes covered with real gold if you want. It sounds really easy but was kind of hard to eat all of those grapes and keep up with the clock.

We took a ferry from Algeciras, Spain to Tangiers, Morocco and really ended up in a very different country and continent and it was only 17 miles away! Morocco was amazing that people either spoke mostly Arabic with some French OR Spanish and very little English. Here it was more difficult to communicate but with our Spanish it was very helpful! The markets here were made for bartering and Makayla would talk to the shop keepers. Although we think we bought some really nice pottery and did well bartering a shop keeper actually gave us a “gift” so my mom does not think we did so good. We went up into the hills outside of Tangiers to a small “Blue” town called Chechoauene. This is a Moorish town and had many of the old customs and buildings. These are known as the Kasbah and Medina.

Once back into Spain for the final part of our trip we stayed in a VERY small town called Rute, famous for Christmas treats like mazapan and turron. We went into a small tapas bar and almost everyone looked at us as we walked in. Until we started to order in Spanish they really wanted nothing to do with us. The owner of the tapas bar became friends with Bryce and brought us over lots of extra little treats because we spoke Spanish to him! He would ask us all sorts of questions about USA and we would ask him about Spain. Talking to people in Spain lets you learn much more about the customs and culture that we did not learn in books, but it was much easier since we knew Spanish!

We took a day trip to the Alhambra Palace, the center of government when the Moors ran Spain. The Palace was quite large and very busy and it was rainy and cold for the Spanish people. It was only about 50º and the Spaniards thought it was cold and were wearing snow suits and boots! Our family was only wearing light jackets and they thought we were loco! The Palace is truly a beautiful building and was surrounded by many beautiful gardens.

The airport was where we were really lucky that we spoke Spanish. We were having difficulty going through customs and security and it was very helpful to be able to speak Spanish to them to help get out of customs.

We think both of us would love to do an exchange program where we could go to a Spanish speaking country and learn more about the different cultures and customs of that country. You just learn so much more about the language and you will really be surprised at how much Spanish you really know!

Above are photographs from trip
Submitted by Eddie Floyd-9th Grade Immersion Student

I had the incredible opportunity to live with a family in Spain this past summer. I flew from Boston to Madrid, my first time flying abroad and without my parents. I was fortunate to fly with an adult friend who was a seasoned traveler so the flight was long but enjoyable. I started speaking Spanish as soon as the plane took off, ordering our meals and movies in spanish. The flight attendant was impressed.

When we arrived in Madrid my host family, the Vega's were waiting for me. Their son Alvaro was a year older than me and his sister was 12. Alvaro was the only one in his family that spoke english. His sister was learning english but only spoke spanish to me. We headed off for our 2 hour drive northwest to the town of Cuéllar. Cuéllar is a town of about 9,500 people settled in a hill 60km from the city of Segovia. Cuéllar is a town of about 9,500 people settled in a hill 60km from the city of Segovia. Cuéllar is known for bullfights in the summer and I was fortunate to go to one and watch men jump in the ring only to jump out as fast as they could when the bulls were let loose, it was hilarious.

I immediately noticed how old everything looked. Castles here and fountains there, not like Upton. Although Cuéllar is hilly there were not many trees. I spent many days with Alvaro going to the town pool and playing cards with his friends. His friends Nacho and Ivan were easy to get along with and told me my spanish was very good, even my accent for an American. We spoke alot while we played cards and when we got hot we swam. We also played fútbol(soccer) almost everyday. It was great to be immersed in their culture and language.

We traveled to Segovia (about an hour away) a town with an aqueduct built by the Romans in the 1st century. Not only was it tall, it was still standing after all these year and without any mortar, just rock on rock. We went to a castle from the 800's which I still can't believe I was in. It was hot so we drank lot's of coca cola. Everday we had a light breakfast, a huge lunch and then a dinner around 9p.This took a little getting used to but I managed. Isabel was a great cook, treating me to lot's of local foods and drink. Often I drank a mixture of milk and juice that sounds gross but tasted incredible. We would go to bed around 1a and then get up around 10a.

One day we drove 2 hours to Madrid to go to the famous Aquarium/Zoo complex . It was huge with some animals I had never heard of before. It is really hot in the summer in Madrid so most people flee to the coastal beaches but we hit the city hard visiting the famous plaza mayor and the main streets for shopping and more sight seeing. We saw the Royal Palace, the Paseo de Prado which is the gardens where the three famous museums of Madrid are located around and the Neptune fountain. I could not help but notice the many old people dressed up for lunch. Lunch is the biggest and longest meal of the day. We enjoyed a nice one in the shade. My hosts were very generous to me showing me all the sights. I really enjoyed my whole experience in Spain and plan to go back next year.