Week 4 - 4th of July

July 08, 2018

Hola Hola!

This past week has been a doozy! But then again, what week isn’t? Week 4 included the 4^th of July, community outreach, Eleanor and Richie’s birthdays, and our first major excursion to Santiago de Compostela! Let’s hop right in shall we.

The 4^th of July was a jam packed day! Classes were cancelled and, dressed in varying outfits of red, white, and blue, we embarked on a morning out in the city.

First, we stopped at a chucherría to eat some delicious chocolate con churros! Then visited the Museum of Archeology. Because our group is so big, we were split into our Support and Success groups and entered at different times to stroll through the museum. Not known to many, Asturias and its neighboring autonomous communities house important archeological sites that have been influential in the world of archeology, geography, and paleontology. Take a look!

Afterwards the students had some free time to drink some much-needed coffee and relax before heading back to the school. Once there, we celebrated Eleanor’s 17^th birthday! Congrats Eleanor! Now, what Eleanor didn’t know (hee hee) was that we Profe’s were in contact with the León site and scheduled a surprise FaceTime session between Eleanor and her twin brother Benjamin who is also participating in the Honors Program. Her reaction to us giving her the phone, only to see her brother’s face saying “¡Hola!” was truly priceless.

Finally, we embarked on a small trek to visit a local retirement home for our community outreach activity. Once there, the students were a bit hesitant to speak with the elderly, saying “I won’t be able to understand them!” or “it makes me nervous!”, but once they approached with quiet greetings, they soon opened up and everyone was smiles all around. The elderly were so happy to talk to them about their experiences and it’s safe to say that, for a lot of students, this helped them get over some anxiety with approaching and conversing with new people.