Midpointe, April 5 - Southpointe Academy

MIDPOINTE April 5, 2012
Page 5
Los estudiantes de español en España
When asked to talk about our recent
Grade 10 trip to Spain I usually find
myself lost for words, because it was
a breathtaking experience. All of the
students truly got immersed in the
Spanish culture - everything from
classic architecture to bull fighting.
No matter how much you travel or
for how long, planes never become
entertaining. The flight from
Vancouver to London, if you’re
lucky, is about nine hours long, then
there is another two and a half hour
flight from London to Madrid, and
then we drove about another two
hours to the city of Valladolid, where
we stayed with our sister school.
Homestay life and Spanish culture
is not too different from Canada.
Really, the only odd thing I noticed
is that they eat their cereal out of
cups as opposed to bowls! On top
of this, they usually eat dinner at 10
or 11 p.m. every night, and that’s on
weekdays. On a weekend, you can
eat at midnight, maybe even later!
The bull fighting had to be the most
exciting part of the whole trip.
Your heart is thumping, you have
an adrenaline rush, and there is a
400-pound animal with horns chasing
you around a pen - exhilarating to say
the least! (Note from Señora Clarke:
the bull was NOT 400 pounds - it was
a baby.)
Although nearing the end of the
trip most of us were getting tired of
Our Grade Tens
with their Spanish
homestay students
seeing so many cathedrals, there is no
denying their beauty. Most of the time
you would look at just the façade and
think, “Wow, humans actually built that,
with no technology whatsoever”. They
were magnificent.
I felt very lucky: I got to see my
best friends and favorite teachers
everyday for two weeks. Being
so close increases your sense of
camaraderie. You get to know things
you didn’t already know about even
your best of friends. Being a person
of the male persuasion, I enjoy all
things food. Which basically means
Spain is about equivalent to heaven.
Never before have I been exposed to
so much good food. It doesn’t really
matter where you go, there’s no such
thing as a bad place to eat.
Wherever you go in Spain, there
are Real Madrid flags and jerseys
everywhere you look. And we were
fortunate enough to be able to go to a
game: Real Madrid versus Moscow.
The stadium itself was so large and
expansive it almost looked fake. We
might not have had the best seats but
we were in the stadium and that’s
really all that matters. Real Madrid
ended up victorious, which finished
our trip off on a very high note.
On the whole, this trip was excellent.
I saw amazing sights, had unique
experiences, and it brought me
closer to my peers and especially my
teachers. I couldn’t have asked for
anything more.
- Fraser Dodwell