Cultural immersion, language learning, and artistic design continue…On the first day of the program, Profe Evan asked his class about their esparanzas y temores (hopes & fears) for the program. In Retiro Park, home to over 15,000 trees in the heart of Madrid, the language class revisited their hopes and fears to gauge their growth. They were impressed by their progress and continue to break down language barriers to improve their Spanish. The art students and even some of the language students as an optional enrichment, explored el museo Thyssen (renowned as the second largest private art collection museum in the world). This experience provided additional artistic perspective for the capstone project that each student will present on the final night.

This weekend, a group enjoyed rowboats in el estanque del parque Retiro (a pond in Retiro Park) while another group ventured to Sky’s apartment to cook paella, gazpacho, and tortilla española hechos en casa. At night, we had a group picnic near el templo de Debod (an ancient Egyptian temple, which was dismantled in Egypt and rebuilt in Madrid as a sign of gratitude to the Spanish people). While there, we played games in the park and had a night photography activity as we admired the city lights.

El Rastro dominated our Sunday afternoon, which is most popular open air flea market in Spain. At El Rastro, some of our students met some new Spanish friends during their shopping experience and practiced their Spanish.  In the evening, we finally experienced the traditional Spanish spectacle of bullfighting. It was an interesting cultural experience, filled with occurrences never seen before by many spectators. It was definitely an unforgettable moment.

 

We will be in touch soon,

Sky, Evan, Krista, & Anthony