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Last day trip:

¡Hola de España!

It’s so hard to believe that we only have one more full day in Spain. Today was our last day trip, and we spent it going to Portugal and the city of Pontevedra, Spain. The bus ride was about two hours to Portugal, and once we got there, we went to the Fortaleza de Tui. We learned about the history of the fort in relation to the wars between Spain and Portugal, and then we had some time to walk around and explore.

Later in the afternoon, we drove back into Spain and walked around Pontevedra. One of the highlights was eating tortilla española for lunch. The food here is amazing.

See you all on Thursday!

Halfway through:

¡Hola de España!

We are halfway through our exciting trip, still dreading the moment we have to leave. Tuesday’s excursion was packed with sightseeing and never ending walks. In the morning, we walked the Camino de Santiago, which ended up being 12 kilometers (about seven miles) through fields, woods and neighborhoods. This landed us at the Cathedral of Santiago. After climbing up to the rooftop and taking way too many pictures, we visited the very famous landmark called Cathedral of Saint James.

Wednesday was our first full day of experiencing a school day in Betanzos. Many of us took much joy in speaking to the English classes with such ease and watching the Spanish students struggle with their English. Their school works very differently than ours. The Betanzos students stay in one classroom for the day, and the teachers move from class to class. In the afternoons, we all meet up in the city square to be shown around Betanzos by our fellow students and have fun!

¡Hasty Luego!

We have finally arrived:

¡Hola from España!

After over nine hours of sitting on a plane, we have finally arrived in Betanzos, Spain. We spent the first day getting to know our host families, starting off with a huge meal for lunch. The rest of that night, the group walked around the city and explored a few of the small hidden caves in the area. The following day, we traveled to school with our hosts for a bit, and then went on a guided tour of the city, exploring many of its beautiful churches. Day two winded down with a group dinner, which started at nine o’clock! It may take awhile to get on their time schedule. All together though, it has been a nice entry into the next two weeks!

After recovering from the initial jet lag, our first big day trip was going to see the city of La Coruña. La Coruña is about 20 minutes from Betanzos and is right on the water. Our first stop was the aquarium, which was amazing! Next we went to the Torre de Hercules, which is an ancient Roman lighthouse. The Plaza de Maria Pita and a science museum followed the Torre de Hercules. The city was pretty – there are lots of open green spaces and a nice view of the ocean. There are a couple major cultural differences. One of the biggest differences is lunch. Lunch is a big meal like dinner is for us.

¡Hasta luego!