Buen Viaje
Our ten Spanish students and two Holton teachers departed for Madrid today. They will be welcomed by their host families tomorrow morning and begin their adventures.
We arrived safely in Madrid yesterday. We were all tired, excited and even a bit nervous to meet and spend time with our host families.
Today, we went to school for the first time at the Centro Español de Nuevas Profesiones. We met our teachers and took a placement test so that the teachers could identify our level of Spanish. From there, the split us into two classes.
After school, we walked around Madrid and visited a bike store where we got bikes and rode them along the river. It was fun and relaxing. Most of us stopped afterwards for an ice cream break.
At the end of the afternoon, we all went back to our host homes. Overall, it was really fun day and none of us can wait for more good times tomorrow.
-Eliza Smith
Today in Spain, we started off the day at school. We were split into 2 classes according to level of Spanish. After classes and lunch, we traveled into the center of Madrid and visited the Museo del Prado, a world famous art museum. Both the exterior and the interior were gorgeous. This picture features Diego Velázquez, the court painter for King Phillip IV during the 17th century.
We visited the museum with a guide who knew everything there is to know about the art and the history of the Prado. We saw art by the artists El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, and Zurbarán.
We learned about the significance of the uses of light and dark and perspective and other interesting details about the pieces that we would not have been able to decipher without our guide's expertise. Unfortunately, we weren´t able to take photos inside the museum, but it was an amazing experience!
-Madeleine Hyde
About the Prado http://www.aviewoncities.com/madrid/pradomuseum.htm
The Prado Museum's permanent collection is one of the largest in the world. It consists of about 9,000 paintings, 5,000 drawings, 2,000 prints, 1,000 coins and medals, and approximately 2,000 decorative objects.
The Prado boasts the world's finest collection of Spanish art, with extensive examples of works by El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, and Murillo. You can also explore a fine collection of works by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens and Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch as well as a number of Italian masterpieces.
Because the collection is so extensive, only about one-seventh of the museum's entire permanent holdings are displayed at a single time.
We visited the museum with a guide who knew everything there is to know about the art and the history of the Prado. We saw art by the artists El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, and Zurbarán.
We learned about the significance of the uses of light and dark and perspective and other interesting details about the pieces that we would not have been able to decipher without our guide's expertise. Unfortunately, we weren´t able to take photos inside the museum, but it was an amazing experience!
-Madeleine Hyde
About the Prado http://www.aviewoncities.com/madrid/pradomuseum.htm
The Prado Museum's permanent collection is one of the largest in the world. It consists of about 9,000 paintings, 5,000 drawings, 2,000 prints, 1,000 coins and medals, and approximately 2,000 decorative objects.
The Prado boasts the world's finest collection of Spanish art, with extensive examples of works by El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, and Murillo. You can also explore a fine collection of works by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens and Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch as well as a number of Italian masterpieces.
Because the collection is so extensive, only about one-seventh of the museum's entire permanent holdings are displayed at a single time.
La Puerta del Sol and La Plaza Mayo
Today, during the first half of classes we were split into two separate groups, but we later regrouped and studied sequence of tenses and comparisons.
In the afternoon, we traveled to la Puerta del Sol. La Puerta del Sol is a large plaza chocked full people and stores. In la Puerta del Sol we looked at the symbol of Madrid, a statue of a bear next to a madrone tree. Then we saw kilometro cero. Throughout the entire visit we learned about the history of the plaza including the meeting of Napoleon´s army with the Spanish and the creation of the plaza. Later, we went to a well known bakery in Madrid and tried napolitanas, which are a chocolate or crème filled pastry.
After a short walk, we came to la Plaza Mayor. The Plaza Mayor is surrounded with old apartments and shops. In the center of the plaza there is a statue of King Philip III. After many pictures we visited Sobrino de Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world.
We continued to walk throughout the city and look in different stores until we came to la Plaza España, a large monument to Miguel Cervantes occupies most of the plaza. The monument consists of sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. We took many pictures throughout the day and had a wonderful time walking in the city.
-Tess Iannarone
Today, during classes we talked more about the different past tenses and explained American childhood stories to our teacher. After eating lunch, we took the metro to one of the largest train stations in Madrid, la estación de Atocha. Short and long distance trains, the AVE (high speed train) and metro trains stop at Atocha; more than 2 million people pass through every day. Inside, it has a very pretty garden with tall trees and a small pond with turtles and goldfish. With all the stores and small shops, it looks more like an airport than a train station. We learned that on March 11, 2004, Atocha was bombed by Al-Qaeda terrorists. The bombing didn’t go as planned. The terrorists wanted all the bombs on the trains to explode at the same time when reaching the center of the station, but the trains exploded before reaching the station. The damage wasn’t as bad as they had intended, but it was the worst terrorist attack in the history of Spain. One hundred ninety-two people died and more than one thousand were injured.
After we spent some time at the train station, we went to the Reina Sofia, museum of modern art. We looked at a painting titled La condesa de Pramere, whose name was Sonia de Klamery, a painting of a woman lying under a tree in a garden with a pretty bird in the corner. The painter, Hermenegildo Anglada Camarasa, wanted us to notice the woman’s beautiful dress with the vibrant colors in contrast with the dark colors of the forest. He also wanted us to notice the warm, pretty colors of the bird in the corner. We then made our way over to a blurred painting of a poor woman. At first glance, you would think that the painting doesn’t belong in the gallery, but as you learn about the background of the painting you begin to appreciate the meaning of the art. The woman in the painting is poor, her face isn’t very clear and her clothes are blurred together. Picasso painted with very dark colors because of the woman’s poverty. Picasso wanted us to see how the poor people felt at that time, in contrast with Sonia de Klamery where the woman was rich. In Camarasa’s painting, his precise lines, colors and detail represent the lady’s high status, and how much her clothes mattered. In Picasso’s painting, the woman’s blurred clothes show her state of poverty and that her clothes don’t matter to her, they’re not worth anything.
We also saw one of the most valuable paintings in the world, Guernica, by Picasso. We learned the history of the painting and what each element in the painting represented. He painted Guernica, to bring the Spanish Civil War, to the world’s attention. The black in the painting represented the dead people. Picasso drew a bull in much pain, representing the pain that Spain was in during its Civil War. The painting shows people dying and hurting because of the War. Picasso wanted to show everyone what was happening during the Spanish Civil War.
- Sydney Chapman
Enjoying time at a cafe and chatting!
Host Family Weekend!
ESPAÑOL:
Este fin de semana fue muy interesante y divertido. Estoy feliz que haya tenido la oportunidad de pasar mucho tiempo con mi familia. El sábado por la mañana, mi hermana Noelia y yo fuimos la Calle Princesa para ir de compras. Ella me ayudó a comprar un bolso negro nuevo para usar durante mi viaje. Después, tomamos el metro a mi tienda de i madre. Fue su cumpleaños el sábado, por lo que le compramos un pastel en nuestro camino a casa. Cuando llegamos a casa, mis dos hermanas, Noelia y Beatriz, mi madre, Raquel y su novio, David, y todos comimos comida y, a continuación, el pastel. Fue tan delicioso. Nos hemos relajado, visto televisión y tomado una siesta después del almuerzo. Luego, fuimos a Buffalo Grill para la cena. Comimos costillas y también celebramos el cumpleaños de mi madre. Después de la cena, fuimos hasta el Templo de Debod a dar un paseo alrededor del parque a eso de la medianoche. Había mucha gente allí con sus amigos, divertiéndose, tocando música y hablando. El parque era muy hermoso, ojalá que pudiera verla a la luz del día. Después de nuestra caminata, llegamos al apartamento y fuimos a dormirnos.
El domingo, mis hermanas y un gran amigo de la familia, Mauricio, fuimos a la Feria del libro en el Parque del Retiro. El Parque del retiro es un gran parque en el que se llevan a cabo varias actividades. Por ejemplo, en la Feria del libro, hay fichajes de libro, muchos niños e incluso barcos de equitación. Mis hermanas y Mauricio compraron varios libros, incluyendo unos en inglés para que pudieran entender mejor el idioma. Después de comprar los libros, caminamos por el Parque del Retiro un poco. Durante nuestra salida, vimos la Puerta de Alcalá y la Cibeles. Entonces tomamos muchas fotos en la Calle Serrano. A la Calle Serrano le dio su nombre en honor del político español y militar Francisco Serrano y Domínguez. En esta calle, hay varias boutiques y tiendas. Pero lo que le hizo realmente única fueron los muchos zapatos decorados con diseños diferentes en cada bloque. Todos ellos eran muy hermosos e interesantes mirar porque todos tenían diferentes estilos, Después, los cuatro de nosotros caminamos a cenar en un restaurante y una tienda llamada VIPS. La comida estuvo muy deliciosa. En general, mi fin de semana fue increíble porque ya tengo vínculo con mi familia que se formó mientras recorríamos y admirábamos Madrid.
Este fin de semana fue muy interesante y divertido. Estoy feliz que haya tenido la oportunidad de pasar mucho tiempo con mi familia. El sábado por la mañana, mi hermana Noelia y yo fuimos la Calle Princesa para ir de compras. Ella me ayudó a comprar un bolso negro nuevo para usar durante mi viaje. Después, tomamos el metro a mi tienda de i madre. Fue su cumpleaños el sábado, por lo que le compramos un pastel en nuestro camino a casa. Cuando llegamos a casa, mis dos hermanas, Noelia y Beatriz, mi madre, Raquel y su novio, David, y todos comimos comida y, a continuación, el pastel. Fue tan delicioso. Nos hemos relajado, visto televisión y tomado una siesta después del almuerzo. Luego, fuimos a Buffalo Grill para la cena. Comimos costillas y también celebramos el cumpleaños de mi madre. Después de la cena, fuimos hasta el Templo de Debod a dar un paseo alrededor del parque a eso de la medianoche. Había mucha gente allí con sus amigos, divertiéndose, tocando música y hablando. El parque era muy hermoso, ojalá que pudiera verla a la luz del día. Después de nuestra caminata, llegamos al apartamento y fuimos a dormirnos.
El domingo, mis hermanas y un gran amigo de la familia, Mauricio, fuimos a la Feria del libro en el Parque del Retiro. El Parque del retiro es un gran parque en el que se llevan a cabo varias actividades. Por ejemplo, en la Feria del libro, hay fichajes de libro, muchos niños e incluso barcos de equitación. Mis hermanas y Mauricio compraron varios libros, incluyendo unos en inglés para que pudieran entender mejor el idioma. Después de comprar los libros, caminamos por el Parque del Retiro un poco. Durante nuestra salida, vimos la Puerta de Alcalá y la Cibeles. Entonces tomamos muchas fotos en la Calle Serrano. A la Calle Serrano le dio su nombre en honor del político español y militar Francisco Serrano y Domínguez. En esta calle, hay varias boutiques y tiendas. Pero lo que le hizo realmente única fueron los muchos zapatos decorados con diseños diferentes en cada bloque. Todos ellos eran muy hermosos e interesantes mirar porque todos tenían diferentes estilos, Después, los cuatro de nosotros caminamos a cenar en un restaurante y una tienda llamada VIPS. La comida estuvo muy deliciosa. En general, mi fin de semana fue increíble porque ya tengo vínculo con mi familia que se formó mientras recorríamos y admirábamos Madrid.
ENGLISH:
This weekend was very interesting and fun. I am happy that I had the chance to spend a lot of time with my family. On Saturday morning, my sister Noelia and I went shopping on Calle Princesa. She helped me buy a new black purse to use during my trip. After, we took the metro to my mother´s store. It was her birthday Saturday, so we bought her a cake on our way home. When we got home, my two sisters, Noelia and Beatriz, my mother, Raquel, and her boyfriend, David, and I all ate lunch and then the cake. It was so delicious. We relaxed, watched television and took a nap after lunch. Then, we went to Buffalo Grill for dinner to have ribs and to also celebrate my mother´s birthday. After dinner, we drove to the Templo de Debod to take a walk around the park at about midnight. There were a lot of people there with their friends, having fun, playing music, and talking. The park was very beautiful, and I wish I could see it in the daylight. After our walk, arrived at the apartment and went to sleep.
On Sunday, my sisters and a great family friend, Mauricio, went to the book fair in Retiro Park. Retiro Park is a large park in which several activities take place. For example, the book fair, book signings, children shows, and even riding boats. My sisters and Mauricio bought several books, even in English so that they can understand the language better. After buying the books, we walked around Retiro Park for a little while. On our way out, we saw the Puerta de Alcala and Cibeles. We then took a lot of pictures on Calle Serrano. Calle Serrano gets its name in honor of the military and Spanish politician Francisco Serrano y Dominguez. On this street, there are several boutiques and shops. But what made it really unique are the many decorated shoes with different designs on every block. All of them were very beautiful and interesting to look at because all of them had different styles. Then, the four of us walked to eat dinner at a restaurant and store called VIPS. It was very delicious. Overall, my weekend was amazing because I got to bond with my family, while touring and admiring Madrid.
- Drue Foster
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