David: Spain Trip - Day 14

Sofia & Manu talking at the TIE Spain exchange farewell banquet

The Spain TIE exchange is coming closer and closer to till end. And on top of things my converter blew out this morning so I can't charge my laptop or anything else I own besides my iPhone since Manu has what I need to charge it. I'm without a razor though, so I might be a little grizzly when I come back. 

Today we went to the school for the whole school day and went to classes and played with the younger kids in the school. Connor and I were assigned to a classroom of four year olds and for about 30 minutes we played blocks and attempted to start a domino line, but it kept getting knocked down by the kids after we put up more than four. After the class Connor, James, Matt, and myself played basketball outside for a few hours to kill time before we went downtown. I slowly was getting my shot back and for those that don't know, yes, I used to be an athlete, but these days I'm 100% for TKFV, music, fashion, and I guess school can be cool too... sometimes.

Connor

Pooja, Becca, & the little kids at the school

When school was finished, Manu and I went downtown to meet up with Connor. Manu and Sofia had to work on their presentation for the farewell banquet tonight, so Connor and I had a little time to ourselves to just hangout and relax. The weather wasn't that nice out later today so we went to a bar to just sit, talk, and watch the soccer games that were on... and for the parents reading here on TKFV, going to bars is just a part of what kids do here in Spain. People simply go to just hangout with friends or watch a big sporting event. Seems like everyday we've been going to bars, but parents we are the most amazing kids in the world and you have nothing to worry about :). Anyway after Manu and Sofia were done we met up with Lucia, Amanda, and our friend Maria. We were with each other for a few minutes and then we went to the farewell banquet.

At the farewell banquet, Manu and Sofia began their speech talking about memories and things we experienced in both Vermont and Salamanca. At the end every Spanish student talked about their American students and gave us a gift. Manu gave me churros (a Spanish food that's really good) and a University of Salamanca hoodie, which I've wanted this whole trip. So Manu if you're reading this, thank you for everything you have been the best host anyone could ask for!

After the banquet we had our dinner. I was munching on the churros for a bit earlier so I was a little full, but I was still able to eat when I was there. The whole time we just socialized with each other as a big group and had a good time. 

Me & Sofia

Gonzalo & I

After dinner Gonzalo, Sofia, Manu, Santi, Alyssa, James, Jose Juan, Matt, Cristina, Sarah, and our friend Kata went downtown to the same bar we were at last night with the pool table. I sat and watched Real Madrid win seven nothing and then I completely destroyed in fusbol and got destroyed in pool. One more full day to go and I hope it ends up being a good one. I really am going to miss everyone here. It's going to be hard finally leaving. But for now I'm signing off. I can't charge my computer and now I'm down to 60% battery life. Just enough to hopefully do another one tomorrow.

The end of the game

Santi

Adios!

Read more...

David: Spain Trip - Day 13

Downtown Salamanca (Plaza Mayor)

Today was the day we had to present our presentations to people in the school. Pooja, my partner, and myself presented about skiing and snowboarding in Vermont and a little bit about Burton. Our presentation went really well all four times we did it and our video got a really nice response. Below is the video we used for our presentations. We started it around 1:20 each time. Check it out:



After our presentations, Manu and myself went to his grandparents house and ate lunch with them and his uncle. It was my first time meeting all of them and they were all really nice people. I really enjoyed my time with all of them and all the food that they had prepared. Even though it was so short, it was definitely a highlight to this trip so far.

After lunch Manu and myself met up with Connor to head back to his house for a little bit. We hung out and I beat Manu at a soccer video game again (I'm just too good). Connor finally had the chance to get onto a computer too since Luis, his host, doesn't have a computer. The good news of the day came after he checked his email. Congrats to Connor for getting accepted into UVM!

About an hour later Manu, Connor, and myself went downtown to meet up with another big group of people. Matt, Jose Juan, Santi, James, Amanda, Luis, Rachel, Luna, Kata and more were all in our group today and we went to two bars in the area. One of them had a pool table and Kata and myself played against Santi and Manu. We both got down to the 8 ball and unfortunately Manu hit the luckiest shot of his life and made it... after cheating for the whole game haha.

Pool

Matt & Connor

After playing pool it was down to just Manu, Kata, Santi, James, and myself. We all walked out of the bar and called it a night. Manu has me rushing all over the place these days. I don't think there hasn't been a day he's had me running for a car or bus haha. Manu, Manu, Manu.

Adios TKFV!
Read more...

David: Spain Trip - Day 11

Inside the cathedral in Salamanca

Sorry everyone, but I didn't take many pictures today. I'll try to explain everything with the few pics I have though.

To start, we walked around downtown Salamanca and checked out the cathedral, some of the monuments, and the university. The tour was okay, but it was very windy and kind of cold this morning so it was kind of a distraction when we were outside. It seemed like we had stepped into our 50th cathedral while we've been on this trip too since I've seen or been in so many. Besides the cathedral, the monuments, and the quick stop outside of the university though, we stepped inside a cafe where we ate churros and drank hot chocolate. Definitely the highlight to my morning that's for sure.

Another picture inside the cathedral

After our morning festivities Manu, Connor, and myself, met up with a friend of mine who I met on a bus named, Kata. She's also here for an exchange program with a group of American students, but she'll be here until June... so she'll definitely be 10 times better at Spanish by the time she leaves compared to me haha. All of us met in Plaza Mayor and went to a bar for a little bit. We hung out and talked and just chatted about whatever happened to come up. We also started the beginning celebrations for Connor's 18th birthday. After the bar Manu, Connor, and myself had to head to our friend Fermin's house who was having people over. Everyone from the exchange was there and once again I ate way too much to handle. It's been such a struggle over here when it comes to food haha.

The birthday boy Connor enjoying his 18th

After Fermin's Manu and myself went downtown to meet up with Kata again for a quick second. We were only able to walk around for a few minutes before we had to go though. We ran home... and by the way TKFV readers I recommend you never run in two jackets, a t-shirt, skinny jeans, semi dress shoes, and a beanie in low 50 degree weather. I felt like asthma when I got back. And since I still feel like asthma I'm going to get some sleep. I've never been so tired in my life haha. Goodnight!

Read more...

David: Spain Trip - Day 7

The Americans at Pedro Nieto's ham factory

Today, Manu's sister, Claudia, accidentally set the alarm an hour earlier than we were supposed to get up... 6 o' clock. Manu woke me up at 6:40 after he was done getting ready thinking it was 7:40 and told me to hurry up, so without thinking I threw on some clothes and right as I was about to brush my teeth my alarm went off telling me it was 6:40... A great start to the day. Luckily I had plenty of time to get ready today though haha. 

When we got to the school, all of the American students had a class for one hour about Salamanca and the districts surrounding it. Since I got up so early today I was a little tired, so I had a little trouble keeping my eyes open. Plus it felt like that class was taking forever. After the class we got on a 45 minute bus ride, where I was able to sleep for awhile, and arrived at our friend Luis' family ham factory, Pedro Nieto (also the name of Luis' dad) in Guijuelo. We had a long tour around the factory and learned the whole process of what goes through making the meat ready to sell and eat. It takes almost 3 years for one single ham to be ready. After our tour we had some food that was prepared for us and then went to Candelario, a village about 20 minutes down the road.

Some ham and I

The meal prepared for us after the tour

Chorizo

Ham

Matt

Fermin

In Candelario we just walked around and ate lunch. Nothing too special, but we enjoyed the warm weather and the scenery that it had to offer us.

After Candelario we went back to the school to get picked up and Manu and myself went downtown to meet up with Luis, Connor, and our friends, Becca and Beth. We finished the day just hanging out in a bar downtown chatting and having a good time. We had other things planned, but unfortunately those plans didn't work out. Hopefully tomorrow everything will go a little more smooth. But for now I am extremely sleepy so I'm off to bed. Ciao!

Connor & Manu

Read more...

David: Spain Trip - Day 6

Myself & Sofia

Before I get into day 6, I'd like to write a personal message to my parents because the picture above is the first picture I've put of myself on TKFV while I've been out in Spain. So mom and dad I am alive and well with no scratches on my face as you can see. 

ANYWAY, we started the day much like yesterday (at least the going to school part). We went to school, I fell asleep in philosophy class, attempted to take a test that I couldn't understand, went to technical drawing class, had a brain fart in technical drawing class, and then we went to play a game called, padel (which is a game much like tennis).

Younger kids in the playground

Dani

Manu in technical drawing class

My friend James and myself were partners for the day and we tried to play our friends Matt and Connor two times, but kept getting moved around every time we tried to play them. By the end we finally got our match, but unfortunately we lost 21-19 thanks to James hitting the ball out of bounds. Way to go James haha. After we finished playing padel we all went outside to eat lunch... on the pavement while it was easily in the high 70s today. I had a ham sandwich (and by the way the ham in Spain is ten times better than the ham in the United States) and a drink, which was quickly made warm by the sun. And after that I played soccer, which made things even worse for me haha. But I was on the winning team with 5 Americans verses 3 Spaniards... not fair I know, but they are ten times better than us. After we played soccer I had to rush to the sink to drink the tap water to cool down and then we got on the bus to head back to the school to get picked up to go home.

Padel

Connor at lunch

A few hours later Manu and myself went to our friend Lucia's really big house to eat merienda (which is Spanish for snack and the meal between lunch and dinner). We brought a few pastries for the party and everyone else that came brought food too. I ate A LOT and now I'm sitting here poking at my stomach I built up tonight. On the bright side of things though all the food was good. I have to clap for all the vegetarians from America on this trip because it definitely is not easy to be one in Spain.

Half of Lucia's house

Cristina & Gonzalo

Some of the food from tonight

After Lucia's we went home, where I am typing out this blog post on Manu's couch right now. We ate dinner, which in Spain is a lot later than it is in the United States. We didn't sit down at the table until maybe 10:30PM and I had bread and palete (the front leg of the pig). Manu's parents are yelling at us now though, so I'm off to bed. Adios TKFV!

Manu and the palete

Read more...

David: Spain Trip - Day 3

Toledo, Spain

Another day in Spain and our last full day in Madrid. Today my roommates and myself missed our wakeup call and overslept through breakfast, which was actually kind of nice since I've been pretty tired at some points during the trip and luckily we were able to grab a few things to bring with us on the go. But besides the sleeping perk, today's morning routine became a rushed 5 minute hustle in our rooms to get ready, a rush to put as many bread products as possible on a napkin, and a fast jog to the bus, which we took to Toledo, the old capital of Spain.

Streets of Toledo

Outside the first museum we stopped at

When we arrived in Toledo after an hour bus ride we made our first stop at a museum close by. The museum held some more famous artists including El Greco, where we saw one of his famous paintings, "La Inmaculada Concepción." And by the way, I was allowed to take pictures in this museum so nobody can get me in trouble for this one! It took us about an hour or so to go through the whole museum, where we saw everything from old sculptures, to paintings, to tapestries (some of which took people their whole lives to complete).

El Greco's La Inmaculada Concepción

A small garden and fountain within the museum outside

Tapestry

Once we finished our tour through the museum we went over to the Santo Tomé Church where El Greco's "El entierro del Conde de Orgaz" (considered the third most important painting in the world) was framed. I was not supposed to take pictures of this one either, so excuse the blurriness and don't tell anybody.

El Greco's El entierro del Conde de Orgaz (click for a better image)

After my stealthy moves I tried to put on in the Santo Tomé Church, we went to a jewelry store to kill time before we went to lunch. Unfortunately I couldn't help myself and saw a necklace I really liked so I got it for myself to add to the gold piece I have already. I guess I had to get something while I'm here, but oddly enough I'm not as interested in buying stuff here unless it's one of a kind or vintage.

New necklace

Once the time came around, we made our way to lunch, which was good for the most part and my friend, Connor Scagnelli, and myself tried a famous local pork dish, which was pretty good. Besides that I had a small dish of spaghetti and shrimp as a small course and salmon as an entrée.

Connor Scagnelli

When lunch was finished, our tour guide led us around Toledo a bit and through the narrow streets, which a lot of us wanted to see while we were here.

We made our way through the streets and finally ended up at a famous Cathedral in Toledo. Unfortunately I didn't capture any photos inside, but the architecture was amazing. Here's a website with a few photos found on the right hand side of the webpage taken inside the Cathedral that I was not able to get - click here. An interesting fact that our tour guide told us too was that this Cathedral was the only one in the world with a skylight.

The Cathedral was our last major stop on our trip to Toledo and we returned to the square to do a little bit of shopping (though there wasn't really anything at all) and when we were finished we got back on the bus to head back to our hotel.

We were able to relax for a little bit while we were back, but only for about an hour until we went out for our final dinner in Madrid. To end our short visit to Madrid, we were treated with the famous Spanish dish called, Paella. I've had Paella before in the United States, but tonight was honestly one of the best dishes I've ever had of the meal, which I guess would make sense since it's a Spanish dish and I'm in Spain. Check out the picture below of the meal:

Paella

And that capped off our last night in Madrid. Overall it was a pretty mellow trip to the city, and of course I plan on returning to experience the bigger city life within Madrid in the future, but it was a good first experience for sure. Tomorrow we'll be heading off to Salamanca where I'll be staying with my friend Manu and his family. For now I need to get some sleep. Goodnight to everyone reading on TKFV!
Read more...