On June 28th I began my journey by flying to Madrid with my group from EIL, all of whom I have never met. For me, I at first thought that it would be difficult to gel with a group of kids that I have never met before, but I would quickly learn how to adapt and get to know this group of people quite well.
Madrid
We spent a short three days in Madrid, so we did not have the best opportunity to see everything that I would have liked to have seen. On our first day, we went to what would be equivalent to central park of Madrid. The park itself is very large and has multiple ponds, fields, and gardens. My friends and I spent some time rowing boats on the large pond at the end of the park. This was our first time where I got to actually get to know some of the friends I had made on the trip, so it was quite a fun experience. The next day we traveled to the Reina Sofia, a famous art museum in Madrid. This museum taught me quite a lot about the history of the Spanish artists from the 1900s. The most interesting thing that I saw was a Picasso exhibit, which was from the early 1940s. This art was in tribute to the people of the city of Guernica in northern Spain. This art was very deep and heartfelt to me because it showed me the pain that the people had suffered during the bombings. Finally, on our last night in Madrid, we had the most typical Spanish dessert, being churros with chocolate! This was a very fun night where my friends and I once again really first got to know each other! At this point in the trip, we had only been here for three days, and I knew at that point that the rest of the trip would be very educational and fun!
 |
| Churros with Chocolate |
 |
| Streets of Madrd |
Toledo
Before we headed to Granada, we went to the old capital of Spain, which was in the small city of Toledo. Toledo is a very old styled city that looks like a city from the 1400s. It's like a castle from outside the city, which was something really cool to see since it is so different from any city in the US. We were only in Toledo for one day, and we spent the majority of our time at the cathedral in Toledo, which was a site to see! I had never visited any cathedral before, so seeing this one was so cool for me! I love architecture, and this place was very unique with all the pillars, small rooms, and stained glass windows. It had me in awe the whole time, and at the time it was one of the coolest buildings that I had ever visited! Also, while I was in Toledo, I discovered one of the best Spanish dishes that I had ever tasted: friend eggs with ham. In Spain, they use their own unique ham called iberian ham, which is the best tasting meat that I have ever had. During my time on the trip, I would eat fried eggs with iberian ham at least seven or eight more times! Overall, Toledo was also another place I wish I could have spent more time in, because we did have to leave suddenly to go to the best city on the trip, Granada!
 |
| Outside the Cathedral |
 |
| Cathedral of Toledo |
Our bus ride to Granada left me a lot of time to thinking about what would be coming up next for the rest of our trip. I began thinking about what it would be like to spend 10 days with a family I have never met. I was somewhat nervous, but at the same time I was very excited to meet some more new people! Any nerves I had were quickly put aside as I had a warm welcome from one of the kindest families I had ever met. My host brother, Kevin, is one of the funniest kids I have ever met. I quickly bonded with him and his parents over the first few days, and I was excited to stay with them and learn as much as I could about their Spanish culture and lifestyle! We did many activities together in Granada as a group with all the other Americans and their host families. My favorite by far was visiting the Alhambra, an old Moorish citadel just outside of the city. Since I am a history and architecture fanatic, having the opportunity to visit the Alhambra was fantastic! I learned a lot of the history of the Moorish rule in southern Spain while getting to look at some breathtaking architecture in the building. Our tour guide, Arturo, was very informative and funny, making the whole tour that much more enjoyable for me!
 |
| Gardens of the Alhambra |
 |
| Pond inside the Alhambra |
 |
| Moorish symbol for Granada |
On the weekend, I went to the beach with my host family. At the time, I only knew a few people in the family, but on that weekend I got to meet a large portion of the rest of the family and friends. Everyone in that family was so funny and they accepted me into their group quite easily! I had the opportunity to get to know even more about the Spanish culture and lifestyle with them, while at the same time I was able to tell them about my own life back in the states. It was very sad when we had to leave Granada, because I had made so many good friends, and I absolutely loved my family. I wanted to stay there for the rest of the trip and see more of Granada, but we unfortunately had to leave to have our classes in Guadix.
 |
| Host Brother Kevin |
 |
| Host father and mother |
 |
| Spanish Family |
Guadix
Guadix was the last city that we visited on our trip, which is a very tiny town outside of Granada. We took classes for eight days for Spanish, Flamenco, and pottery making. The Spanish class was entertaining and engaging, and I learned a lot of grammatical things that I had no clue existed before. The Flamenco class was one of my favorite activities we did everyday. Our teacher was very kind and a very good dancer, which allowed for all of us to learn the Flamenco easily. Finally, our pottery classes were the most fun. Art for me is not my strong suit, but during our classes I learned a lot about working with clay and I enjoyed making my own pieces to take home! Other than the classes, we visited some unique landmarks in Guadix, one of which being the famous cave houses. These cave houses have been used since around the 1400s, since the caves kept people cool in the summers and warm in the winters. The caves were yet another unique architecture style that are very different from anything that I have ever seen in the US.
 |
| Caves of Guadix |
On our last night in Guadix, we performed our Flamenco dance for all of our teachers that we had, and it went quite well! The dance itself was very difficult to learn, and we had troubles at time, but we performed it well and everyone enjoyed it!
Departure and Thanks
As we left Guadix and returned to Madrid, I began to think about the amazing experience I had just had. I met a lot of fantastic people that I will never forget because each and every one of them have their own unique personality that made them an awesome person. I will never forget the family that hosted me and their warm hospitality. The culture they showed me was something very different, but at the same time it was very intriguing to learn about. The food, music, housing, clothes, cars, and everything else different that I saw in all the cities I visited were amazing cites to see and experience head on. I am very blessed and thankful to have visited Spain and Europe before becoming an adult, as I know many teenagers do not get this wonderful opportunity. I would like to thank the Wilson family for providing me the opportunity to spend a month in Spain and the opportunity to experience the fantastic Spanish culture, and I hope to one day return to Spain so that I can reconnect with the awesome Spanish culture once again!
No comments:
Post a Comment