To Spain and back: one student`s chronicle

This summer Hawken School provided me the opportunity to travel to and study in Salamanca, Spain. On June 9, just after school had finished, 21 anxious students gathered in Cleveland`s John Hopkins Airport. After an exhausting 24-hour trip, we finally arrived in the city of Salamanca to meet our host families. We each introduced ourselves to our Se+â-¦oras and then followed them home. That`s how it started. A whole month in Espa+â-¦a to learn and have fun! School began promptly the next morning with a placement exam. We were each assigned to a classroom and three teachers for each of the classes we would be taking. The first class each morning was a grammatical class. This class covered all grammatical aspects of the Spanish language. Our second class of the day was conversations class. Usually this class consisted of us asking our teachers all about certain customs or events that kids my age would be involved in. Sometimes our teachers would also give us a topic to debate. The debates were usually quite interesting and humorous as we all searched for the right words to use or, at least, the words we knew the meaning of. Because of this, I would have to say that conversations class most definitely created some of my best memories. Our third class of the day was la clase de juegos. Although this class consisted of playing games, it was actually quite challenging. We played games similar to Pictionary, Balderdash, and some bizarre card games as well. Each class was an hour long with a 15-minute break between the next class. Usually on Mondays, although sometimes more than once a week, the Hawken students at Estudio Sampere took a Spanish history class with Se+â-¦or Tottenham and Se+â-¦or Soldevilla. After learning about how the Spanish peninsula was finally settled as the country it is today, we were divided into groups and given a small aspect of the city to study and report on. This report, depending on what it was that you were studying, helped us see the architectural differences throughout the city. We completed these projects during siesta. Siesta started in the city around 1:00pm and lasted for some businesses until 5:00pm. Basically, the entire city shut down so that people could escape the heat for a little bit and have a bite to eat with their families before they resumed working. At least, this is the definition that my Spanish mother, Nayely, gave me. Truthfully, anytime America would like to start bringing siesta into our culture I will have no problem with it at all! Each day at 5:30 p.m. we met with all of the Junior program students from Estudio Sampere to go on cultural tours about the city. We learned all about the Universidad de Salamanca, how to dance the Flamenco and the Salsa, and about legendary stories and characters that surrounded Salamanca. One example is the story of Lazarillo de Tormes. In Joaquin Sodevilla`s Intro to AP Spanish class, we read this entire story. It was quite exciting to go to the actual city where the story began! Did I mention that each Wednesday activities included going to the pool? Sunbathing with all of my friends in the warm Spanish sun may have tied for just as fun as learning all about the city. Dinners varied depending on each family that we lived with. For me, dinner was served around 9:30 every night. We usually had chicken or fish, salad, rice, some sort of soup, usually either potato or gazpacho, and bread. Everything Nayely made was delicious! My favorite dish of all, being dessert of course, is called Natilla. It is a creamy-like pudding, filled with cinnamon and sometimes coconut. At night I was able to spend time with all of the friends that I had made through Estudio Sampere. I believe that these experiences were truly what defined my trip. We all had met through the school, but were all from very different places. Thus, the only way we could communicate effectively while we were all togeth