Madrid
Day 1- July 1st
After flying out of Nashville with my buddy Sam Carey who is also going on a similar program, I met up with my group for the first time in the middle of airport. At the terminal we played small games to get to know everyone. The US world cup game was going on at the same time and so after we finished the games, we watched the world cup game in a bar together. This game was the starting point of great relationships that were created at the trip because we were brought together, all cheering as loud as we could for the US. During the flight most everyone’s phone died which allowed us to bond quickly because everyone began talking with each other.
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| First time meeting each other in the New York airport. |
Day 2- July 2nd -
We arrived in Madrid at 9 in the morning Madrid time. From the airport, we went straight to the hostel, which is called Hostal Persal in the middle of Puerta del Sol which a large Plaza in the historic part of the Madrid. We then walked around Madrid to the Plaza Mayor and to the Schweppes building. For dinner, I had my first Spanish meal at a tapas restaurant where we ate many things such as Tortilla espanola and Calamari.
Day 3 -July3
On the third day, we toured Palacio Real which was the Palace for all the King and Queens for many centurys until about 50 years ago. We had a long tour where someone told each detail of every room. It was truly spectacular because each and every room was exquisite and really well designed. Afterwards, we had a scavenger hunt around the cities which was my favorite activity in Madrid because it was the first time we spoke with the natives of Madrid.
Day 4- July 4
We visited the Museo de Prada where most of the paintings are about religion. We had on of the best tours of a museum in my life because we didn’t go to every single painting in the Museum, we went to the most famous and best paintings in the museum and then went into detail about each painting. We saw Las Meninas which by far is my favorite painting due to the mysteries behind it and how the viewers are the King and Queen of Spain watching Pedro Velazquez paint their daughter. We saw a painting that looked almost the exact same as the Mona Lisa but the only difference is that Da Vinci was not able to finish this painting but instead his apprentices did. Also we went to the Reina Sofia where we didn’t have a tour but just walked around. The only highlight of this museum was the Guernica by Pablo Picasso which was I think the only good painting in the museum because all the others were very modern. That night, Brazil won a world cup game and all the Brazil fans went to the streets and began to chant. We went to the balcony of our hostel and began to chant also. All the Brazil fans began chanting towards our balcony.
Day 5- July 5
We left Madrid towards the South West. We drove about an hour to Toledo. It is one of the coolest towns I have ever seen in my entire life because it was on top of a Mountain with a natural creek being almost its moat. We walked around the city the rest of day. We did go to an Artisan shop where very fancy and nice jewelry that are only made in Toledo were being made. We went to a Mosque and Synagogue which are very very old. The rest of the day we drove to Granada.
Granada
July 6-17
In Granada, we stayed in dorms for a very small College called Ave Maria with another group of 14. We had classes for 4 hours every day besides Sunday and activities after school. We ate in the cafeteria in Ave Maria which served very local food. We visited the Alhambra the first day which was incredible. We had a tour guide that explained to our group the history of the Alhambra and the fight between the Moors and the Spaniards. We visited the Spanish Palace and the Moorish Palace in the Alhambra. The Moorish Palace were very cool because each wall and ceiling had exquisite. I was put in the highest level in the Academy based on a test we took in Madrid. Our professor, Diego, for language is a professor at the age of 31 at Oxford University who mainly taught us the language and vocabulary specific to Spain. We also had another professor named Fabia who had a deep Southern accent and could only speak Spanish. She taught us about the culture of Spain.Throughout these 11 days, we bonded with the local Spanish people who were also taking classes but for English. We went to a concert down the street that had musicians who played a satire, cajon, and a Flamenco guitar. The music was very pleasant. Over the next week and a half, we truly learned lots of aspects of the Spanish culture. We studied their literature, learned how to dance some traditional Spanish dances, ate all sorts of traditional food, learned about the history of Granada and the gypsies in the country and their neighborhood, went hike through the countryside, drank local tea, played soccer on a court, and immersed ourselves in many other things. We visited a beach near Granada with the Spanish locals where the sand was actually rocks and a lake where the water is crystal clear.We visited Arabic baths where we got massages and got to relax in the different pools and later that same night we went to a Flamenco show in downtown Granada. We had a final assembly to show everyone what we learned and my class decided to perform and sing a Spanish song named Pedro Navanja. In the performance, I was an escort who ends up dying at the end. At the end of the week and a half, I increased my knowledge about the Spanish culture exponentially and created some great friends.
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Lookout at the Alhambra  Group picture at our residence   Homestay in Priego de Cordoba |
July 17-26
Our homestay was in a small town that was mainly and agriculture town that produced lots of olive oil. The town was on a small plateau that had a large cliff surrounded by mountains. One could look for miles and see only fields of olive trees. My family was a large one that lived on the edge of the town near. My father was a bricklayer while my mother cleaned houses some days and other days she just helped out with the kids.I had two brothers, one 16 and the other 14, and a little sister who was 3 years old. Throughout the week, I followed my brother around as he did his normal summer life. We went to the pool for most days but some days we just went to his friends' houses. Almost every day my group met up to do a plan activity. For example, we went hiking through the mountains, went on a olive oil tasting, and went to a beech in Malaga. On Saturday nights we would stay up really late and go dancing in clubs until about 4 in the morning. This is where my Spanish truly improved because my family could only speak Spanish besides my brother. I grew very close to my brother and he might come visit me in the US the following summer. This part of the trip was my favorite because we became part of the Spanish society and got to see what life is truly like.
Me with my homestay family
Me with my friends and their homestay sisters on a hike to a small town in the mountains nearby
Conclusion
After we left our homestay town we returned to Madrid to debrief and say our lasts goodbyes. As I walked through the airport in New York heading home, I realized that I might not see all of my friends that I have made during this trip again but then it came to me that I doesn't matter because I will never ever forget this experience. The trip is a part of me and will stay a part of me until the day that I die. I made some friends like my host brother, a guy from Boston named Eric Nakamura, a girl from Florida named Sofia Ahad, and a girl from Hawaii named Sancia Nash. These friends I have stayed in touch with and will hopefully stay that way for many years to come. I would also like to thank Sr. Paolicchi and Sr. Kamm for teaching me Spanish and getting me to fall in love with the language like they have done.I would like to sincerely thank the Wilson family for giving me this great opportunity that will last me a life time.
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