TIE Spain/SBHS Exchange

Spring, 2007

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Today we went to class with our students. Most of the teachers speak so fast that it’s really difficult to understand them. After School, Celeste and I went home to have lunch with her family as we do every day. After lunch, we went to meet David. Guille has music school from 4-10 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so we usually go shopping with David and walk around the city. Today we went shopping, and then went to a bar to have Patatas Bravas and Coca Cola. We took David to meet Guille´s parents at 8:30 and then walked home. We had dinner at 10:00, watched some TV and went to bed.

I don´t have any pictures of today, but here are some random pictures of the trip thus far.

Tons of different kinds of cheese brought to our table at the best restaurant in the province.
(Ledesma)-David and I went with Guille´s parents.

La Plaza mayor at night.

Tuesday, March 6
Dylan Freeman and Emma Brady

Today the group had an interesting excursion. We went to visit the Chaca Campillo, a combined slaughterhouse and meat factory. We walked in and the tour guide showed us some machines used to kill pigs. We then saw, as we stepped over blood and guts on the floor, where they hang the recently deceased porkies. It was interesting, but very sad and disturbing at the same time. We saw where they make sausage, and learned a lot, maybe too much, about the meat packing industry. We saw over 30,000 ham legs in various cellars and storage areas at the facility. Although we may have been a tiny bit grossed out, well maybe really grossed out, we realized how important the meat packing industry is to Spain. Our tour guide, the manager of the Chaca Campillo, was very passionate about his work and he realized the importance of the meat he sells to Spain. Spain prides themselves on the quality of the meat they sell to their citizens and countries all over the world.

Our next activity was visiting a pottery studio in a nearby village in Spain. The owner of the studio made many traditional water jugs and plates. He's been doing his work for about 60 years, so his stuff was pretty amazing.

Sunday March 4, 2007
Meret Thali

Sunday was the last day of the planned family weekend. Since it was the family weekend, all of us did something different. I started out my day by waking up at 9:35 a.m. which was later than it had usually been. For breakfast I headed to a churreria with Javier, (my exchange student), his mother and his brothers. At about one o’clock I went to Javier’s grandparent’s house with the whole family. At the house I met all of Javier’s cousins as well as his uncles and aunts. After a lunch of paella and strawberries I headed over to another field with all the cousins and Javier’s father in order to play soccer. There were only four kids on the team from the town and therefore Javier, his father, and I played on the team with them. We had been playing for quite a while and then suddenly it began to rain. At first it wasn’t raining too hard and so we continued playing. But then suddenly it began to really pour, and we had to run to the car. Once we returned to the house we were all soaking wet. A great ending to a great weekend!

Friday, March 2
T.J. Shapiro

This morning we had a great tour of Salamanca from one of the art teachers at the school. We started at the cathedral where the guide talked about how the facade was restored in 2002 and that there was an astronaut hidden in the designs. Then everyone was hungry so we went to a really nice café and had hot chocolate that was as thick as pure chocolate with churros. Then we went back to the cathedral and went into an area that we needed to pay for. There was a lot of old tombs and a huge alter with pictures of the life of Jesus. Then we went to a famous wall that is part of the University. It is very ornately decorated and there is a random frog hidden in the designs. I had been brought there a little earlier and so had already seen it. Then we went to see this old convent called the Dominicas where Christopher Columbus went to get approval for his great trip to the Americas. Finally we went to the Plaza Mayor and to the office of the Mayor where we were met by a rep. We were presented with city plans and thanked for being on the exchange. Later that night the whole group went out to a pool joint and had a good time making fools of themselves. We took a lot of time deciding where we would have dinner and we finally settled on a nice little shop. It was a great night on the town. Hope you’re having as much fun as we are!

Thursday, March 1
Caitlin Pecor

At eight o´clock we all arrive at school, excited for the day ahead of us. Instead of following our students around all day, we go to visit the younger kids, which was a blast for everyone.
As we walked into the different classes, the kids would all point and say ´los americanos´. Some of us worked with preschoolers, teaching them how to count in English, while others worked with fourth and fifth graders.

I was with the preschoolers in the morning, and after recess I worked with second graders. We learned about contamination throughout the world, and for the first time I actually understood a Spanish lecture, the ones with our brothers and sisters are way to fast to understand. It was fascinating to see the young kids learning English at such a young age.
After school we all went home to have lunch, which was delicious (I went with Emma and Elena, because Ari had another class, and practice).

In the evening I went to a dance class with Elena which was very interesting, and very different from anything I had ever seen.

At about 10 o'clock I sat down with Ari and her family and ate dinner, composing of lots of different hams, and spreads.

At about 12 o'clock the day ends, and everyone goes to bed.

Wednesday, Feb. 28
Heather Megivern

Today we all went with our Spanish brothers and sisters to their classes. It was difficult for many to follow the lessons, since the teachers all speak quickly. Sara takes many languages, including Latin and Greek. It's especially difficult for me to understand these classes, because even if I understand the Spanish, I can't understand the Latin or Greek.

Most of the teachers are very nice, although they are all really strict about tardiness. Most of the classes are the teachers lecturing. In our school, teachers lecture sometimes, but we also do projects and group work.

After school, we went back to Sara's house for lunch. Sara's mom cooked a huge lunch. We had bread, a Spanish vegetable soup, pork, and fruit salad. Later in the afternoon, we had coffee and tea with her parents and some of her parents' friends.

In the evening, many people from the exchange went bowling and played pool. Then we all went out for pizza.

February 27, 2007
Andrea Luxenberg

On Tuesday morning the majority of us went to their English class for their first period. After that, we met in an empty classroom and waited until the ceremony. When they were ready we walked down and into a room that was decorated and had music. There were people watching and little kids with flags of Spain and many of them were dressed in traditional Spanish clothes and they were very cute! At the ceremony, first, their director Nancy and our American teachers made speeches. Then, all of our students introduced each of us like we had for them. One boy and one girl student who were about five or six danced and did a traditional Spanish dance. After, they gave us bags of goodies from Salamanca like maps and a booklet on Salamanca. After a few more classes we had a recess and some of the Spanish students play basketball or soccer and others went to get food other places. After school we all went to our houses and got ready for Ivan´s ranch.

When everyone came to Ivan´s ranch about fifteen minutes outside of Salamanca we first went on a ride on his tractor to see the whole ranch. It was amazing and he owned a lot of bulls and horses that we could take pictures off. When we got back from the tractor ride, we all went up the plaza that he had where the practice bull fighting. The point of the bull fighting at his ranch is for them to take notes on which bulls perform well so they can take them to the more competitive bull fights. The first bull that fought was black and it was really interesting but it was a little hard to watch because the bull was bleeding very badly. There were a few different people in the bull ring that were taunting the bull and it was running around. It was definitely something most of us had never even imagined before. After they took the bull out, another bull came into it and we watched a second bull fight.

After the bull fights everyone was hanging out and eating all the food that was there. There were some really good samples of meat and cheese and other Spanish food there. They also brought out amazing deserts. We took a lot of picture and people were playing soccer in the place where they were fighting bulls earlier. It was overall a really interesting and fascinating day for us and I feel like I learned a lot about bull fighting and their culture.

Monday, Feb. 26
Lauren Harris

Monday was out last day in Madrid. We went to the Royal Palace. It was HUGE! The guards had funny hats. There are thousands of rooms that are all ornately decorated; many off the rooms were wall-papered in silk. After touring many rooms we went to the armory. There were so many suits of armor, even the children had it. It was pretty funny to see little suits of armor. When we left the armory there was a peacock out on one of the patios of the palace. We all started taking pictures and then it spread its feathers like it was posing for us.

At noon we left for Salamanca. The drive took about two and a half hours. When we got there everyone was waiting. I greeted Stefy (short for Estefanía) and I met her mom. We went back to her house and had lunch (they usually eat at around 2:30 to 3:00). Stefy´s cousins were there and we visited the church of the University of Salamanca and went up the bell tower. It was an amazing view; we could see the whole city. The huge Cathedral of the city was magnificent.

View from the bell tower at the University of Salamanca

Later, for dinner, we all met at the Plaza Mayor, it's beautiful at night. After we ate we walked up to the Cathedral and took a group picture. After the picture, Stefy and I had to run to catch the bus back to her house.

Saturday, Feb. 24
Dylan Freeman

Today was the first full day of the trip. I had been awake pretty much since the morning we left from Burlington, so last night was the first extended period of sleep we had all had.

After having breakfast at the hotel, we took the bus to San Lorenzo del Escorial, a town about an hour from Madrid. There, we visited El Escorial, a huge monastery that used to be the palace of King Phillip II. It had many beautiful paintings by artists such as Goya and El Greco. It was also the home to the Pantheon of Kings, the burial site of most of the kings of Spain. Here are some pictures (I would have more, but I kept getting yelled at for having my flash on and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off):

We then went to the Valley of the Fallen where we saw a gigantic 450-foot cross that could be seen from miles away. Underneath the cross was a cathedral that was carved into the mountain. It must have taken and amazing amount of time and work to build it.

Then, we returned to Madrid to go to the Prado Museum to look at paintings by artists like Goya, El Greco, and Velasquez. Our tour guide, Angeles, made this visit more enjoyable because she knew so much about the artists and paintings.

Finally, at eight, we went to dinner and returned to the hotel after an exhausting but fun day of sightseeing.

Friday, Feb. 23
Emma Brady

After a long and tiresome trip, we finally landed in Madrid, Spain.  We were greeted by our tour guide, Angeles, who is one of the most educated people we have ever met.  She knows everything! No one could ask her a question to which she didn’t know the answer.  We went on a bus tour of the city and saw many famous monuments, buildings, and parks.  At about 12:00, we checked into our hotel and then went out again for a long stroll around the city.  Everything was so beautiful and magnificent and unlike anything most of us had ever seen in our lives.  We looked at monuments and parks and buildings.   We then walked back to the hotel and had about an hour to rest and unpack.  After that we went out to dinner at the Serte restaurant.  After dinner we went for a much needed rest.  Most of us had been up for 30-40 hours without sleep!

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Last edited March 09, 2007