Will McFadden: Spain

Spain 2012: Will McFadden

    After a three hour delay for plane mechanical issues, we were on our way to Spain. Eight hours later, running purely on airplane food and snacks, we walked through the Madrid airport to meet our guide. Over the next few days, we explored Madrid’s plazas (mainly the Plaza de Sol and the Plaza Mayor), palaces, and art museums. Seeing Goya’s and Dali’s paintings in real life was a memorable experience.

After Madrid, my group and I travelled by bus to Toledo, a cleaner but older-looking city. We passed a breathtaking view before we even got to our hotel. The main attraction in Toledo was a huge, ornate cathedral in the middle of the city. High ceilings, numerous murals, and a garden provided an excellent opportunity for a lot of picture taking. On the last night in the city, we explored a prison that was used during the Spanish Inquisition.

 

A week had passed in Spain, and it was already time for the homestay. Immediately after getting off the train in Jerez de la Frontera, we were greeted by our families who picked us out from the crowd based on our pictures. My host family was really nice, and I talked the whole way home to them, sharing about my life in the US. My host brother, a physical education teacher, and I ran to a gym, worked out, and ran back one day. The Spanish heat was sure to help condition me for cross country season. Almost every day, my group had an excursion to a different place to learn about a different city or culture. Some of these excursions included tours of Jerez de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera, and Cadiz. One day we made a native Spanish dish called gazpacho, basically a thick, cold tomato soup. Two of our excursions were visiting the beach and the local community pool. During both of these activities, the siblings of our group’s host families came along, allowing me to get to know more Spanish people that were my age. Because I had to speak and hear only Spanish during the homestay, my language skills definitely improved.

After the homestay, we took a train to Zaragoza where we did our community service project. For our project, we worked with the Red Cross (Cruz Roja in Spanish) camp for children whose families were from all over the world. My group helped out leading the children in activities such as going to the pool, seeing a movie in the theater, watching a play, and a whole lot of futbol (soccer). This part of the trip was particularly rewarding because we formed personal relationships with all of the children.

The final (and definitely coolest) stop of my Spain journey was Barcelona. After again taking the train, we went to where we would live for the last three days. Unlike the other cities in which we had hotels or hostals, in Barcelona, all the guys and all the girls had two apartments to themselves. I liked these living quarters the best of any on the trip. These last days in Spain were spent walking through Las Ramblas (busy shopping place), admiring the architecture of Antoni Gaudi (including the most beautiful cathedral I had seen on the whole trip called the Sagrada Familia), checking out an aquarium, and even seeing Lebron James walking out of a Foot Locker store before the United States vs. Spain basketball game.

Sagrada familia main sanctuary

Barcelona's aquarium