We cannot believe our last few hours are upon us. We have learned so much about ourselves and from each other.

A few days, we visually recapped a highlight from our program: our day trip to Toledo. The students truly understood the city of three cultures (or Toledo) – admiring the gothic cathedral, identifying the moorish influence, and visiting the various synagogues throughout the city. The language seminar recreated a funny story inspired by Toledo’s history to present to group while the art seminar students identified the moorish influence on the architecture and the elongated artistic design of El Greco. From that experience, the art students created ceramic tiles to contribute to their portfolio and the final presentation.

Throughout the program, we had a food challenge to help the students get to know Spanish delicacies and bizarre foods from the culture, including: pimientos en vinagre (peppers in vinegar); gulas (baby eels); callos (beef tripe); bonita (tuna); morcilla (blood sausage); los sesos de cordero (sheep brain). The challenge was to try as many of these delicacies as possible and jump in feet first into Spanish food. The students that at least tried each challenge went out to a really nice brunch this afternoon as a prize/celebration. It was a nice treat to have some of our brunch favorites from the states (several time zones away) in Madrid.

Last night, we had the famous “Putney” coffee house, highlighting the amazing talent that has invaded our program. The night was filled with dancing, improv, student-made videos, singing, games, personal stories, etc. We had a blast with each other and it was definitely a night to remember!

As mentioned earlier, each seminar has been working on the final project to present to our pre-college community. Tonight, the art and the language seminars presented their capstone experiences. The art students presented their still-lifes, passion-insprired stickers with uplifting messages (each program member received a set), ceramic tiles inspired by Toledo, portraits, sketches, and photos from the city. The language students created a video in Spanish about the top spots in Madrid, adding the own flavor to spice up the presentation. Overall, we were extremely proud of their culminating experiences.

Finally, we had our final outing and dinner together. It was surreal to think that these two weeks have flown past us – great times & great memories. Thank you for such an amazing summer with an unbelievable group of students – we genuinely hope that our paths will cross in the near future!

Continue to maximize the shade (inside joke).

abrazos GRANDES,

Sky, Evan, Krista & Anthony