Zach Brown - Rome 2018

Arriving in Rome

When we arrived in Rome after a long flight, the group of MBA students there did not know what to expect. We arrived in the morning and began wandering through the airport to try and find a person from the program in which we would be: the Paideia Living Latin in Rome program. We eventually found a teacher from Paideia at the airport and were transported to St. Stephen's School, the school at which we would be staying.

St. Stephen's School

St. Stephen's School is situated in the middle of Rome. It is essentially right next to the Circus Maximus and is only around a 10 minute walk to the Colosseum. During the school year, St. Stephen's School is a normal boarding school in Rome. Because it was a school rather than a hotel or someone's house, we had some great facilities like a soccer field and classrooms that only a school would have.

The courtyard of our school

Unique Aspects of this Program

One of the best features of this program was that our teachers emphasized spoken Latin as well as translating and reading Latin. They constantly stressed this idea of "loquī in locō" which means "to speak in the place." Whenever we would go out and visit an ancient Roman site we would generally read Latin about the place where we were. Seeing a place that we had always heard about in our classrooms coupled with reading Latin about that specific place in that place generated a special learning environment. For the most part whenever we were in the classroom or reading Latin, we were expected to speak Latin with the teachers and to each other. I have never really tried speaking Latin seriously as I would speak French in French class, and this transition was difficult but also rewarding educationally. I think that most programs for learning Latin would focus almost entirely on grammar and translation, but this Paideia program emphasized other aspects of the language.

The First Few Days

For a typical day in Rome, we would have classes the morning from breakfast until lunch time. In our classes we would generally discuss a specific period of Roman history, or our teachers would give us historical information about the sites that we would visit later in the day. We would generally spend the time just before lunch reading Latin from ancient authors as well as discussing the text in Latin. On the first full day of our trip, we ventured out to see the museums atop the Capitoline Hill. While we were sitting on the edge of that hill, we read an ancient story about a tradition of being thrown off the edge of the hill onto rocks below as punishment while we were at that specific spot. The museums were also interesting, and we saw many ancient pieces of art there.

Finn, Roy, and I admiring a statue in the Capitoline Museums

On our second day, we saw the Ancient Roman Forum. It was amazing standing in the same places where so much history had occurred. While we were in the forum, one of the friends of one our teachers was participating in an archaeological dig in the forum, and we were able to go see what they were doing. Seeing a real, live archaeological site was an amazing experience.

View of the forum from the Capitoline Hill

For our third day, we saw an entirely artificial hill made of fragments of pottery from large pots called amphorae. It was just a massive trash mound from the imperial period. I felt strange just stepping on ancient fragments of pottery. These fragments called sherds were mixed with years and years of dirt and sediment to create this hill of trash. One of the best features of this trip was that Paideia, being an educational institution and having many connections in Rome, was able to get us into special places. That hill comprised of all the pottery was closed to the public for most of the time, but Paideia managed to have us see it.

Trip to the Beach and the Next Days

On our fifth day, we boarded a bus in order to take a day trip to Ceveteri which is a modern Italian town near the site of a massive ancient Etruscan tomb complex. The Etruscans built large mound tombs in the Earth. It was interesting to see the Etruscan tombs since they were a large influence on Roman culture. After seeing the burial mounds we went down to the beach. This day was one of my favorites as the large burial tombs were amazing. Later that day, the Americans and one French girl part of the program took to the Italian beach. On that night, we ate at a nice outdoor restaurant very close to the beach. For the next day, we ventured down segments of the Via Appia, looking at various ancient tombs and villas next to the ancient road. On our seventh day, we went inside remnants of Nero's Domus Aurea. It was recently opened to the public, but it was still a site not close to being completely excavated, and therefore, he had to wear hard hats for the duration of the visit. Being able to see the Domus Aurea was another reason why the Paideia program was special because they had to apply months in advance in order to be allowed to go inside it.

Sperlonga, Tivoli, and the Vatican

On the eighth day, we embarked on another day tribe, and this time we were going to Sperlonga to bask in the Italian sun at the beach and examine the villa of Tiberius. The villa, part of which was situated in a cave right on the beach, was beautiful, and the modern day town of Sperlonga was truly something from a movie as it was just a beautiful, small town situated on cliffs overlooking the bright waters of the Mediterranean. We spent the afternoon on the beach, sometimes making models of Roman villas in the sand.

A soccer game on the beach between us Americans and local Italians

Our entire group at the Villa d'Este

We went on another day trip the next day to Tivoli in order to see Hadrian's massive villa as well as the Villa d'Este, a 16th century Italian villa. Seeing the Villa d'Este's gardens sprawl out over the rolling hills of Tivoli was truly a beautiful site. The sheer beauty of the gardens and fountains combined with the verticality of the area created an amazing place.

On the next day, we spent all our time at the Vatican. The art collection contained in the Vatican is just massive. Strolling through all the hallways and seeing such famous works of art felt almost surreal. One of my favorite parts was seeing the Raphael rooms, specifically The School of Athens. We also saw the famous Sistine Chapel and were mesmerized by the size and splendor of St. Peter's Basilica.

The Final Few Days

We saw even more artwork on the next day when we visited the Villa Borghese. The Villa Borghese had some of Bernini's most famous sculptures, including his Apollo and Daphne. In our Latin III class last year, we read Ovid's original "Apollo and Daphne." The next few days were spent going to various sites around Rome, including famous places like the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon. We saw the famous ara pacis, which is the famous alter of peace created by Augustus.

On our second to last day, we boarded a train to travel down to the Ancient Roman port city of Ostia. Ostia was once a fairly large city, and we were able to see the layout of smaller Roman cities. Ostia was a very interesting place because it was essentially Rome on a smaller scale. For our final day, we spent a lot of time walking through Rome and translating various inscriptions. It was a fitting ending to the trip and was very enjoyable. I learned much Latin and the combination of Latin in the classroom, Latin from speaking, and Latin from seeing ancient sites benefitted my knowledge of the language greatly.

Enjoying some shaved ice on the final day

Thanks

Thank you to the Wilson Family and Ms. Ellery. Thank you to Ms. Ellery for helping organize the whole trip and helping us through it. Thank you to the Wilson Family for allowing me to have this amazing learning opportunity.

Pete Rowlett - Spain 2018

Our group arrived at the airport while the sun was still rising, but we were all wide awake.  The anticipation of our visit to Spain had woken everyone up and prepared us for a long day of flying across the Atlantic.  After saying our goodbyes, the group went to check our bags before heading through security to the terminal.  We first stopped briefly in North Carolina before taking our seats on a plane that would be our home for the eight-hour trip.  The intercontinental flight left us jet-lagged and exhausted by the end of it, but we perked up again when we met our host families in Salamanca.  Harrison and I would be staying with an active retiree named Genoveva, who would soon become like a grandmother to us.  She had two even more active dogs named Mari and Pocholo.

Harrison, Genoveva, and me in the apartment

We also took in the city for the first time.  Its historic nature is obvious as soon as you enter the Plaza Mayor and explore the surrounding area.  In the United States, a couple of centuries seems like a long time for a building to stand, but in Salamanca, we saw buildings over eight centuries old.  After dropping off our luggage at our new home, we all regrouped in the Plaza Mayor to discuss our stays.  We soon returned to the apartment for a home-cooked meal and a night of rest.  The following day started off well.  Our breakfast included copious quantities of chocolate in the form of Nutella and hot chocolate.  We quickly started for school with Genoveva there to guide us.  The city had a powerful rhythm that seemed to pull us along.  Upon our arrival we were greeted by our new teachers and some of the other students.  Our morning consisted of welcomes, a placement exam, and a review of the rules.  The morning was for class, but the afternoon would be allotted to us as free time.  After exiting the building, our exploration of the city began.  I discovered that ice cream, orange juice, and Fanta are all better in Spain.  In Picasso Park we found our new haunt- a basketball court.  We soon lost ourselves in the city, mentally and physically.  One of our first experiences using Spanish in everyday life involved asking for directions to the Plaza Mayor.  We took a convoluted route there, but it helped us to get a sense of our location and see parts of the city that we would have otherwise missed.  That night everyone returned home content and fulfilled.  Our expectations had been surpassed and our excitement had not been unfounded.  The next day was our first day of class.  The first part of class consisted of grammar review, while the second segment was a cultural conversation.  After lunch and our afternoon free time the group met back at the school for the evening activity.  On that particular day we learned the Salsa.  We soon got to know not only the other students but also the teachers on a personal level.  The first week went by quickly as we discussed our experiences in the United States and Spain, art, movies, and literature.  That weekend we had our first excursion to another location in Spain.  Our group traveled to the Alba de Tormes, an area with a beautiful tower that overlooks the Spanish countryside.

On the tower in the Alba de Tormes

The following weeks seemed to fly by even more quickly.  We played more basketball, explored, and chatted with local schoolkids.  During our exploration we discovered the wonder of churros with chocolate, bread with tomato sauce and olive oil, and other Spanish foods.  We also enjoyed the World Cup, rooting on the Spanish team with everyone else in the Plaza Mayor.  The restaurants surrounding the Plaza put up televisions so that customers could watch the game and enjoy themselves. The next excursion was to Segovia, an even more beautiful, if smaller, version of Salamanca.  A 2000 year-old aqueduct constructed by the Romans remains standing there today, a feat of human engineering if there ever was one.  A castle stood atop a hill with steep cliffs on all sides.  Olive trees were visible near the town below.  During the evening activities we prepared a salsa.  One day we visited a museum of Spanish anthropology and played the parts of different types of people.  Our final excursion was to Zemora, a place with a rich cultural history.  We visited another museum with everything from curios to large horse-drawn carriages.  That was our last day with the program.

A Roman aqueduct- 2000 years old, 720 meters long

After a sad goodbye to our friends, teachers, and adoptive mothers, the MBA students left for Sevilla.  Our train ride was comfortable but long, and at the end of it we lugged our camping backpacks to the hotel.  We were lucky, however, because the weather was far cooler than usual.  Afterward we were rewarded with a dinner of tapas at a local restaurant.  At the end of the day we visited the Plaza of Spain, one of the most beautiful structures that I have seen in my life, especially during the evening.  The trip back to the hotel was especially challenging.  Sevilla consists of large stone buildings packed tightly together with small plazas interspersed, making it easy to get lost.  We eventually found our hotel and rested for the upcoming day of exploration.

The Plaza of Spain

In the morning we returned to the same restaurant for a breakfast of coffee and toast with tomato and olive oil.  Our morning activity was to visit a nearby castle with gardens and a maze inside.  There was a mix of Spanish and Arabic architecture that made it unlike any place I had ever seen.  Peacocks roamed the grounds and fountains were sprinkled throughout the area.  Our second location for the day was a massive cathedral in the center of the city.  We were able to climb its tower all the way to the top.  From there the entire city was visible below.

The view from the top of the cathedral

A nearby restaurant was our chosen place for lunch.  I had the opportunity to try dogfish with lemon, a dish that isn’t very common in the U.S.  For dessert there was nata, a small egg-based pastry.  During the afternoon we were permitted to explore the city, and explore we did.  We traversed the streets and alleys, constantly finding new stores and restaurants with fresh aromas wafting outside.  Our activity before dinner was to watch a performance of the Flamenco, a dance originally from Sevilla.  We regrouped for dinner at another tapa restaurant.  The highlights were duck on a slice of baguette with olive oil drizzled over it and fresh tuna with peppers and oil.  While the Iberian pig liver was not my favorite item on the menu, I don’t regret tasting it.  It was a worthwhile part of the cultural experience.

The next morning we ate an early breakfast at a local cafe.  We had peach juice and sandwiches with ham- one more thing that is better in Spain- and tomato sauce.  Most of that day consisted of travel from Sevilla to Granada, but in the late afternoon we went out into the city.  After a long climb, we found ourselves at the top of a mountain.  I have no qualms with calling the view sublime.  Set among snow-topped mountains stood a grey stone castle, below which the city itself was visible.  

Granada- the castle and city

After taking it all in for a while our group headed back down the mountain for a restaurant with a selection of fried fish.  Our dessert was a type of smoothie called an horchata made with cinnamon and rice, a new experience for all of us.  After a night of watching soccer and resting in the hotel, we visited the castle that we had seen the day before.  It contained gardens and pools with the occasional stray cat among beautiful architecture.  At lunch we returned to the city.  That particular lunch was the most memorable of the trip.  We had a salad with olive oil followed by an omelette with tuna as an appetizer and first course.  The second course was a cold soup called gazpacho, and it tasted especially good on that hot day.  I had rice with milk for dessert.  The rest of the day was reserved for exploration before traveling to our final destination in Spain, Madrid.

The next day consisted mostly of travel, but we did get a first look at the city.  It was far larger and more fast-paced than our previous destinations had been.  In order to explore the city, Sr. Paolicchi had us complete a scavenger hunt.  It required walking all across the city with a teammate, which allowed us to get to know it as well as we could with the time that we had.  We saw the Gate of the Sun and the Main Square in Madrid along with many other features of the city.  We ended the hunt at the Temple of Debod, from which we could see the Royal Palace, the place we visited next.  It was truly magnificent with its bright white stone and wall of columns.  The following day we visited Toledo, a medieval city.  After seeing a cathedral, we were split into two groups to choose restaurants for lunch.  This was another creative way to encourage us to see the whole area.  Our final day in Spain found us back in Madrid to see the Guernica and Las Meninas, two historic pieces of art.  After seeing all these incredible things in such a short period of time, I had to remind myself of their extraordinary nature.  I know just how fortunate I am to have had the opportunity to visit these places and develop relationships with so many new people.  I could feel my Spanish comprehension and speech improving steadily.  I would like to sincerely thank the Wilson family and Montgomery Bell Academy for this phenomenal experience.  I know that I won’t ever forget it.

Henry Caver Spain 2018

Arrival

As usual, I arrived late to the airport meaning that I needed to hurry in order to catch up with the rest of our group. I may now be known as the caboose of the group of MBA boys to visit Spain this summer. The flight to Spain was the beginning of my first ever intercontinental trip. The flight would have been an average one for any regular traveler, but airplane meals and free movies were firsts for me and a very interesting start to my travels. Upon arriving in Madrid there were quite a few noticeable differences. For example, our wait for the bus from Madrid to Salamanca exposed our group to the reality of how much Spaniards smoke. The difference in architecture, natural landscapes, and surprisingly even graffiti were observed on each trip from city to city. Meeting my host mother and seeing our new home of three weeks were both a bit shocking, but I and the two other boys that shared my small bedroom in the apartment were calmed by the amicable nature of our wonderful host mother, her daughters, and especially their tiny dog.

Anti-corruption protest seen on the afternoon
of our arrival in Spain

The Plaza Mayor of Salamanca on
 night of our arrival in Spain

Salamanca

The plan was to stay in Salamanca for three weeks with a host family and attend a language school before traveling from city to city during the final week. We would learn much about the Spanish culture, realities of Spanish life, and how to improve our utilization of the language. We soon learned that most homes are much smaller in Spain than they are in the United States, warm water becomes cold very quickly, and air conditioning is optionable even in the summer. Each day we would spend three hours in school initially reviewing what we had learned about the language prior to our travels and then later diving into more difficult facets of Spanish grammar and vocabulary. Our classes were a mix of mostly American students our age, but I also had the opportunity to meet two Indian students and a Japanese-Italian student from Budapest, Hungary who also attended our language school. I encountered many different types of people while in Salamanca for various reasons. First of all, it is a bit of a tourist destination due to its large cathedrals, historic district, and the plaza in the center of the city. Second, Salamanca is considered as somewhat of a college town with its very old universities. This means that there were many tourists in the city whom I observed to usually be from Western Europe and Asia. There were also many students in the city. Some of which were students of the universities, but the majority of them were similar to myself: Europeans or Americans my age that had come to learn about the culture of Spain and improve their language skills. Whenever I would go out to the plaza or walk around the city, we would meet other students like us. I really enjoyed my experiences with students from Ireland, the Netherlands, Hungary, and France. Many of these experiences I had in my first week were organized through my language school. We would go on “excursions” each weekend to a different town or city nearby to see the various historic landmarks. We visited Alba de Tormes where we met a man who had dedicated his life to traveling by wagon, specifically on the “Camino de Santiago” and we visited an old cathedral where the heart of a saint was held. Our second excursion was to Segovia where we visited the famous castle in which Christopher Columbus asked the royalty of Spain for the funding of his first trip to the Americas and the ancient Roman aqueducts of the city. I believe my time spent in Salamanca were three of the best weeks of my life.

My friends and I playing soccer on a futsal court

My friends and I making gazpacho and messing around

Soccer field in a beautiful park next to the city

Sevilla

        My visit to Sevilla is highlighted by memories of the FIFA World Cup and tapas. In the mornings, afternoons, and evenings we would enjoy assortments of tapas highlighted by ham and cheese, coffee, Spanish omelets, and more. Our entire group went out for dinner one night at a tapas bar where they were showing the Spain vs. Morocco match on the television. This experience was fun due to the tense but exciting nature of our Spanish peers in the restaurant. Spain scored a last-minute goal and it was very exciting. We visited an enormous cathedral, a large garden, and a grandiose plaza. I can still remember the street musicians singing, “Sevilla tiene un color especial.”

Sevillan sunset

Breakfast tapas

Granada

In Granada, we encountered a culture that was different to the other Spanish cities which we had visited. Granada has a Mediterranean climate and much cultural influence from the Moroccan neighbors to the south. I tried sardines as well as calamari for the first time there and spent much time walking around the city looking for the city’s soccer team’s shop. We visited a spot upon the hills of Granada which provided a view of the city, the Alhambra, and the Sierra Nevada in the background. We toured the Alhambra which showed off the Islamic influence of the city. I did, in fact, end up finding the team shop and still have the jacket I bought there.

Left background: the Sierra Nevada mountain range; center:
the Alhambra; foreground: Granada

Madrid

I loved walking around Madrid and observing the similarities of the metropolis with familiar American cities as well as Spanish cities that I had visited. Parades, celebrations, music, performers, and large groups of people all seemed to be themes in the capital city. Our group had opportunities to visit the Royal Palace, parks, famous plazas, markets, restaurants, and renowned art museums like the Museo del Prado and the Museo Reina Sofia. We spent one of our days in Toledo visiting the large cathedral and touring the old city. We dined on our own a few times while in Toledo and Madrid providing us with opportunities to challenge ourselves in learning the language by ordering and functioning as a Spaniard. Madrid was a very exciting place to be but also an exhausting place to be due to the extensive walking required.

Scenic view of the Royal Palace and the city of Madrid

Thank you

I would like to thank the Wilson family and any teachers and administrators that made this trip possible. I learned and improved exponentially in my speaking and understanding abilities while in Spain. I learned so much about Spanish culture, how it compares to American culture, and what I can learn from my new understandings. I have countless memories and stories to tell my friends, siblings, parents, future children, and their future children. Finally, I made important friendships that I have continued since I have returned to the United States. It is not an understatement to say that my 2018 trip to Spain has genuinely changed my life.

Owen Albright France trip 2018

The Flights

Leaving from the Nashville airport, Aden, Bela, and I said goodbye to our families and Mr. Trotter as we were soon to embark on our 15 hour journey to France. We left from Nashville May 26 only to arrive in Bordeaux the next day extremely tired from our chaotic travel; our flight from Nashville was delayed due to thunderstorms and bad weather. The weather caused our flight path to be rerouted and took longer than expected. Landing on the runway at JFK airport, the three of us only had 45 minutes to make our connecting flight to Paris. Not having a gate for the plane to land at, we were forced to get off the plane then onto a bus. The entire ordeal took about 30 minutes. The bus ride, having taken 10 minutes, left us with only 5 minutes to board our next flight.

The three of us got off the bus and ran to a shuttle which would take us to a new terminal. With next to no time left we arrived and had to pass through security again. Sprinting to our gate, I arrived to see a big screen with the words Gate Closed. I began to speak to the man in French, asking if the plane had left and could the three of us still board. Reluctantly the man printed three new boarding passes for us and we boarded the plane. Having made our most important flight we felt relaxed for our 7 hour plane ride to Paris. Landing in Paris, we felt calm and relaxed. We missed our third flight due to the long wait at immigration. Though we missed the flight we rescheduled it, and we got onto the next flight headed for Bordeaux. We landed in Bordeaux and were welcomed by Madame LeClercq, the head of La Sauque’s exchanges. Prior to meeting her we received some bad news; our bags had not arrived because they were not advanced from JFK to Paris. The system had thought that we had missed our flight so they did not forward our bags. However, in the end we arrived at La Sauque and were reunited with our host family.

Week 1

After meeting with one of my host families, I met Sacha, one of my hosts. He was a huge soccer player and fan. However, he had exams during the week so he was studying, so I went with his father on their quad. As we drove around their forest where they hunt, we found some wild mushrooms which I ate in an omelet. The next day I was driven with Sacha to La Sauque, the school where I would attend. We participated in classes with "les terminal", students who were in their final year. I was lucky and got to be with Pierre, a student who had been to MBA the previous year. We attended many of their classes like math, english, science, philosophy, etc. Their classrooms were small and consisted of two person desks all pointing at a tri fold whiteboard. The seniors, knowing they were almost done with school, always joked with the teachers which created a light atmosphere. The teaching style was vastly different from the American one. In classes like history the teacher would just read off things which the students were expected to copy down. In classes like history I felt that there was a great lack of discussion between the students and the teachers. However, in classes like philosophy and science there was more open discussion of the topics at hand. The first week mainly consisted of going to classes with the seniors. Pierre invited me to go and watch their rugby practice because they had the big game of juniors against seniors on that Friday. We walked about thirty minutes to the field, stopping at the supermarket to buy snacks.

Upon returning, I met my other host Baudouin. Baudouin was a short red haired boy who like me shared a love for soccer. His favorite team is PSG and of course the French national team who are now world champions. We would sleep at La Sauque in a room with our hosts, me and Baudouin, Bela and Abel, and Aden and Aurelien. All of our hosts were taking their exams to go into their specialized areas of study. In France you take tests and based on your scores you can go into certain classes your junior and senior year. Baudoin wanted to go into L, language, so he was studying lots of French and English and little math. The reason for not studying math was because he would never take another math class  again because L does not have any math courses. On Thursday the seniors decided to do their senior prank which consisted of moving all of the chairs and tables onto the famous grass. No student was allowed to step on the well kept grass and if a student did they would be punished. The entire school had breakfast on the grass because there was not enough time to move the the chairs back inside. The teachers were very angry with us, yet they could not accuse one person. The following day was the Olympics. We watched and participated in sports like basketball, volleyball, and the big rugby game between the seniors and the juniors. The game was stressful and we were cheering for the seniors. The game was violent with many injuries the started with the juniors who scored a try 0-7. The seniors equalized 7-7 followed by a senior kick which they scored making the score 10-7.The juniors retaliated with a try in which a player jukes three seniors 10-15. In the final seconds of the game the seniors kick the ball forward towards the try zone, and a fellow senior races against a junior to get the ball. In the end the senior won, scoring the winning try, the crow went crazy.The seniors had won the game. Many celebrations followed the stunning victory by the seniors. We left the stadium and got onto a bus headed for Bordeaux. With Baudouin, I boarded a train headed to Poitiers.

The Rugby Match

The Senior Prank

Week 2

We arrived late at night in Poitiers, and Baudouin and I watched the France-Italy game where France won 3-1. I woke up the next morning and met his brothers and sisters, of which he had seven of them. We went and played soccer in the park with his three brothers. The park was made on top of the city’s old medieval wall. The rest of the day was made up of playing with the little kids and participating in activities with the family. The next day was Sunday, so we attended church. The church was enormous and filled with paintings and stained glass. We would later take a tour of the church. We climbed up into the attic of the church and went down into the tomb of the church. Baudouin and I left that monday early in order to get on a train to return to La Sauque. We arrived at 9:30 to meet Bela, Aden, and the SCA girls and their hosts. The week was going to consist of excursions to Bordeaux and its surrounding cities.

On the first day we went to Arcachon, a town which had a beach. We ate lunch there and got to explore the town for a few hours. Later that day we went to La Dune du Pilland, the largest dune in Europe. Atop the dune we could see the water and the beach on one side and on the other a massive forest. On the next day we visited St. Emillion a medieval town known for their wine fabrication and Leonie’s chateau. Leonie, a girl who attended La Sauque, was part of a family who made wine. They gave us a tour of the chateau and taught us how their wine was made. We got to taste test their wine and they gave us a bottle as a gift. Still without our luggage, Aden and I went to classes because there was no excursion planned for the day. Now that the seniors were gone we got to change our dorm rooms. The senior rooms were rooms of four. I was in a room with three other french boys. There we ate food during the night in celebration of the last week of school. After the splendid night full of jokes and laughs, we went out to the city of Bordeaux. We had a tour guide who showed us the city. After this tour was over, we were allowed to visit the city on our own for three hours. On the last day of the week we went canoeing. After which I stayed with Sacha for the weekend, but that night he had a banquet for his soccer team which is just across the street from La Saque. We played soccer with many of his teammates and ate food. We even visited La Sauque after hours just to see what was going on. We went home that night with two of Sacha’s friends, and they decided it would be a good idea to play monopoly at 2:40 am. After a late night, Sacha and I went and played indoor soccer with his friends for three hours. Exhausted from the last day, Scaha’s father took me on a bike ride. The bike was a two man bike which required coordination between the two of us, making the ride difficult. The following day I would return to La Sauque for the sophomore's Olympics.

La Dune du Pilat

Bordeaux

Paris

The fourth and final week was taken up by our visit of Paris. We boarded a train from Bordeaux to Paris, where we would meet Mr. Trotter. We visited the gardens surrounding the Louvre and visited the Musee d'Orsay. We dined in a room which had high ceilings which were painted--the atmosphere was incredible. The following day consisted of visiting Notre Dame. We were able to go to the top of the cathedral. We later visited the Musee de Picasso and the Centre Pompidou, which was filled with modern and contemporary art. On the third day, we visited La Saint Chapelle, La Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Montmartre, and le Champs-Elysees. On the final day of our trip, we visited Le Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and had an amazing dinner full of laughs.

On Top of the Eiffel Tower.

In Notre Dame

Thanks

I would like to give a special thanks to the Wilson family for allowing these trips to be possible. Without them my peers and I would not be able to make such great memories and have such great experiences. I would like to thank Mr. Trotter as well for his guidance when it comes to the language and his guidance on the trip. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to go on the trip, and I look forward to enriching my knowledge of the French language even more.

Campbell Garber Colombia 2018

The Trip

My trip began earnestly with a 5:00 AM departure from BNA to Dallas. My two classmates William Lummus and Graham Ragsdale, our teacher Srta. Hackney, and I were all full of both excitement and anxiety over our upcoming three weeks in Colombia, for Graham and I had limited experiences with international travel. Our travels finally came to an end as we were greeted with open arms by our host families at an early 2:00 in the morning.

Me at the San Victorino Marketplace

Host Family

While in Colombia I stayed with a very gracious family in the Bonillas. Mr. Bonilla is an officer in the Colombian military and was stationed in the North for the majority of my stay, so I lived mainly with my host mother Liliana and two host sisters Laura Sofia and Sara. Laura was the closest to my age, so she was the one with whom I attended classes everyday, and was closer. The first week I was there, my host mother threw a welcome party for my classmates, Srta. Hackney, and I. The party included a feast of traditional Colombian food, Salsa and Merengue dancing lessons, and a live performance of traditional music from the South of Colombia. This party was just one of the many examples of hospitality my host mother and family showed me during my stay in their household.

My host sister Laura and I at the Museum of Gold

My classmates and I at our welcome party

Bogotá

I spent the majority of my stint in Colombia staying in the capital, Bogotá

. With a population of over eight million people, it was easily the biggest city in which I have stayed. Since my trip was an exchange, I spent the majority of my time at the school Colegio Claustro Moderno, but I was still able to see and experience much of the city. One Saturday, my host family took me downtown to see all of the monuments and museums. I was able to see artwork by Fernando Botero, Pablo Picasso, and many more accomplished artists. I also went to the Bolivar Plaza where the Colombian Congress and other government buildings are located.

Monalisa by Fernando Botero

Traditional Colombian dancers in downtown Bogota

The school also took my classmates and I to different areas in Bogotá such as Monserrate, which is a church built in the 1600s that is atop a mountain that overlooks all of Bogotá. Aside from sightseeing, the school also took us to an elementary school for impoverished children, where we helped take care of, read to, and play with the children. It felt good to be able to help in a community that was not my own, and if it had not been for the school, I would not have experienced the City in those ways.

The overlook of Bogota from Monserrate

One of the classrooms at the elementary school

The Food

The food I ate in Colombia was some of the best food I have eaten. Before going to Colombia, I knew nothing about Colombian cuisine, but I quickly learned just how good it really is. I ate and enjoyed many of the traditional Colombian dishes, but I did have some favorites: Tamal (chicken and cornmeal masa cooked inside of a banana leaf), Lechona (A small pig cooked whole, then stuffed with its pulled pork, rice, and lentils, served with its crispy skin), Ajiaco (a stew of chicken, potatoes, garlic, and herbs), and Obleas (Often served on the streets, two paper-thin cookied with caramel and raspberry jam in the middle). I was well-fed in Colombia, to say the least.

Colegio Claustro Moderno

I attended the school Colegio Claustro Moderno for the majority of my time in Bogotá with my classmates William Lummus and Graham Ragsdale. The school had a beautiful campus with a large pond, courts and fields for athletics, and old brick buildings. We spent the majority of our time outside, for all of the hallways were outside along with the basketball and soccer courts. This school was different than any I had experienced, so it was fun to experience a new environment for learning. Each grade was divided into two classrooms, and the teachers would rotate classrooms rather than the students. Similar to MBA, their classes were an hour, but the way the classes were conducted was different. Their classes were more centered around discussion rather than just notetaking, and the teachers focus on creating strong relationships with their students. I enjoyed my time at Claustro because it broadened my perspective on how learning can be conducted.

My classmates and I at Claustro

Gracias

I would like to thank the Wilson family for the opportunity to broaden my perspective of the world, enhance my abilities in Spanish, and create new relationships with people I would not have ever met. I would also like to thank Mr. Paolicchi for organizing such an amazing trip.