Ben Patterson, Trip to Spain

Nervousness consumed me when getting off of the plane in Madrid about to head to Salamanca, the city where I would spend 3 whole weeks speaking, learning, and experiencing the Spanish language and culture of Spain. I was exhausted when we arrived in Salamanca, and I really was not in a good mood because 12 hours of sitting on a plane really changes even the happiest of people. However when we were getting off the bus in Salamanca, our hostess greeted us with a big smile and open arms, no matter how exhausted we were, and in that moment I remembered that this trip would be one that I would remember for the rest of my life.

La Plaza de Salamanca

Salamanca

Fireworks in downtown Salamanca

When we stayed in Salamanca, we mostly reviewed spanish vocab and grammar while learning about Spanish culture. The first week was mainly mean to get us familiarized with the city and our hostess. The activities that we did with Estudio Sampere were things such as cooking, playing soccer and basketball, dancing, and writing. All the activities were fun, but I really wanted to explore the city more during that time. For dancing we danced the Salsa and Zumba for the first two times, and in the last session we danced with a partner. I thought the best activity was soccer because we got to meet new people, and better our spanish while talking to them. The people we met were very nice and talented with speaking different languages like this student named Mario who could speak Spanish, English, Japanese, Hungarian, and Italian. Overall, Estudio Sampere did well in teaching culture and conversation, but lacked a little in grammar. The city of Salamanca was a very fun town, but it was still very small, so it was really hard to stay occupied. Usually if we had nothing to do we would go to places like Cafe Novelty, Smooy, the frozen yogurt place, or Valor to get churros or watch the world cup games. It was very fun watching Spain play in the World Cup because we could see their reactions up close. Some of the other restaurants included Good Burger and La Cafe de La Abuelita. For the foods our hostess cooked for us, we had lentejas, tortillas, and paella. I thought the meal schedule was a little strange with breakfast being light and lunch being heavy. There were also a lot of festivities going on at the time such as a light show and Fireworks. When we had to leave I was very grateful for my hostess and my teachers for helping me explore the spanish language. When the train started to leave I realized that I was going to miss Salamanca, but that sorrow was overcome by excitement for the travel portion of our trip.


Excursions

Aqueduct of Segovia

Castle of Segovia

While we were staying in Salamanca we got to go on many excursions to cities such as Alba de Tormes, Segovia, and Zamora. In Alba de Tormes we went to the Basilica de Santa Teresa de Jesus, El Convento de las madres carmelitas, La Castilla de los Duques de Alba, where we found an amazing view, and then got to explore the city. On the second excursion we went to Segovia where we saw the Castle of Segovia and the Roman aqueduct. There we learned about the ancient history surrounding the castle, and I admired its pristine condition as it sat on the cliff side . After we explored the castle, we ate our packed lunches and went to a bakery where I got a Napoleonic powdered croissant. For the third and final excursion, we traveled to Zamora where we went to the museo de Zamora, and learned about the history and culture of Zamora. The excursion to Zamora was probably my least favorite excursion because we all we really did was walk in the heat, however, it was still a good experience. However it was not as good as the week of travel we experienced.

Sevilla

La Plaza de Espana

As soon as we arrived in Sevilla, we went to a bar where we had tapas such as fried bacalao, taquitos, octopus and cabra cheese. After we ate at the tapas bar, we took a brief tour of Sevilla and saw the Plaza of Espana which was very beautiful. It had a river surrounding it with people riding gondolas. The Plaza is meant to represent all of the Arabic, Spanish, and Jewish culture Spain has to offer. The next day, we had bocadillos for breakfast like usual, and then went on to the Royal Alcazar Palace Gardens. These gardens were very beautiful and had a lot of arabic influence, which can be seen in the structure and art. After we explored the gardens, we went to the cathedral of Sevilla where we saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus and saw the whole city of Sevilla from the cathedral’s bell tower. We then had lunch at Mateo’s restaurant where I had steak and eggs. We then had a lot of free time to explore the city and get ourselves lost. Before we ate dinner, we saw a flamenco dance show, which is very common in southern Spain. I then ate tapas such as duck liver, meat, and tocino del cielo. The next morning we packed up for Grenada


                                                         Grenada

View of Alhambra

        When we got to Grenada, we toured the city and and saw an amazing view of the palace and fortress that overlooked Granada, Alhambra. The next day we just toured Alhambra and ate Durums and fried seafood. The Palace was probably the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my life. The Arabic architecture mixed in with the gardens of the palace mixed together perfectly. The amount of detail that was put into the architecture is too much to think about. It is the most beautiful and enjoyable structure I have seen so far. Grenada was amazing, but we needed to go to the heart of Spain, Madrid.


Madrid

Downtown Madrid

In Madrid, for the first day, we saw the pride parade while briefly touring the city. The next day we had a scavenger hunt around the city and saw some of Madrid’s best landmarks such as the statue of Don Quixote and the Temple of Debod. Then we toured the Royal Palace of Madrid. The art and the structure were all amazing, but we could not take photos. The next day we went to the ancient medieval city of toledo, and saw one of the oldest cathedral in Europe, and then explored the city. Then the next day we went to the local market el Museo Nacional del Prado for admiring the works of Velázquez and Goya,  and el Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía for Pablo Picasso. After visiting both museums, we decided to go to El Corte Ingles to see what they had. Finally we had our last dinner at SteakBurger. When we left, I felt sad, but ready to go home and finish this wonderful adventure.

The Royal Palace of Madrid

 Thanks to the Wilson Family
            I would like to thank the Wilson family for this amazing experience that increased both my ability of speaking spanish and my knowing of Spanish culture and interaction. The amount of things that I learned and experienced are too much for me to explain in words. For example, before I arrived in Spain, keeping a conversation with someone in spanish while also being fluid with the pronunciation and grammar of the language was something I struggled with, but then became natural after speaking the language time and time again. Also the people in Spain were a little more laid back than I thought. When I left Spain, I felt depressed, but grateful for this wonderful adventure which I am liable to never forget               

View from el Castillo de los Duques de Alba