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!

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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!
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