Written by Noah Sutton ’17 to recount Thursday, March 11, 2016:
Today, we had our third day of classes at CEM. Many of us started off with physics this morning while others visited a history class. Then, we all had the opportunity to have a Spanish class with señor Enrique Pradas. He taught us much of the language used here in
Spanish class!
Spain and even prepared a packet for us to keep that had many interesting and useful slang and other commonly used phrases. He also taught us the many differences between formal and informal phrases and questions which is very helpful.
The next part of our day included biology for some while others experienced a technical drawing class. When this class was finished we had a break. Many of us took a trip to the café down the street to grab a snack before returning to the school for our daily meeting for just our Norfolk Academy group. After our daily meeting, around 12:00, we had the option to return to class or stay in the library and work on our own school. Lunch was next at 2:00 and we had different types of soup with some fruit.
Flamenco!
Our next planned activity was a Flamenco dance class and that was really fun. For many of us, it really helped us connect with the culture here more because of how different the dancing is here in Spain compared to the dancing in the United States. Overall, it was a fun and interesting day in the life here at CEM!
We hope you are enjoying reading about our time in Spain and we will continue to post more soon.
Post written by Katie Mele ’18 to recount Wednesday, March 9, 2016:
Yum yum!
Today (after having yet another sugar filled breakfast), we went to school for a second time. School at Colegio Europeo de Madrid starts at 9, but they are never on time, so we always have a chance to meet and talk with new friends from CEM! The first class I attended was an English grammar class where we discussed the similarities and differences between America and España. Maria José, the CEM Exchange Coordinator, was the teacher and spoke to us in all English, so it was a nice break from trying to understand all the other teachers in classes like chemistry, math, economics, art, and history. Santi, one of the CEM students on the exchange, brought up the fact that our modes of transportation are very different because they take buses (or walk) everywhere in Spain, and he found it strange that we not only had the ability to drive at 16, but that we drove everywhere! Not surprisingly, we brought up the differences in eating schedules, as well as schedules in general– They eat SO late, not to mention about 20 meals a day!!! However, Señora Gorsline said she noticed that the student-teacher relationships were relatively similar which we all agreed on. After this and a technical drawing class, I joined the rest of the group for a Spanish History class. Although I understood absolutely nothing, I managed to get 17th place out of 19 in our Kahoot game after!
Lunch at CEM
Lily playing soccer.
We were given another break so we could siesta or do our homework before lunch, which was actually a very American meal of chicken, fries, berries, and a salad. On our way back from lunch, Lily and I met some of the kids from the younger part of the school, and after speaking with them in Spanglish, we played a soccer game with them for 20 minutes. We had to leave so we could meet up with the rest of the group in our cooking class where we made tortilla de patatas that were very yummy!! We were then dismissed from school, and I am in a movie theater right now with Chloe, Chessie, May, Aina, Paula, Sarah, and Maria watching How to be Single (in Spanish), so I-not so surprisingly-understand nothing… It’s been a great trip so far and I’m so excited to see what the next week brings!
Written by Hannah Auerbach ’17 to recount Tuesday, March 8, 2016:
Today was a semi-typical school day. We all arrived with our hosts to Colegio Europeo de Madrid and then went down to the cafeteria where we were surprised with churros and hot chocolate. They were delicioso.
After churros we were able to sit in on some classes. Some of the classes are taught in English and some in Spanish. Some of us visited a philosophy class and others sat in on an array of science classes. School is pretty much the same as in America and it is really funny and interesting to watch how everyone interacts. After a lunch that what muy rico we played a game of futbol with the Spanish students.
A friendly futbol match NA vs. CEM
Today was a lot of fun and we didn’t have to walk as much as yesterday which was nice. Later we are going to watch the Roma/Real Madrid game on television which should be super exciting. Hasta luego!
Blog post written by Emily Mesisco ’17 to recount Monday, March 7, 2016:
Hola de españa! So finally the entire Norfolk Academy group arrived safely in Spain on Sunday morning. We were greeted by a beautiful banner made by the CEM students and a sea of wide open arms and smiling families waiting to meet us. Everyone managed to overcome the jet lag and enjoy a nice afternoon with our new families.
On Monday, we spent the entire day in the beautiful city of Madrid- walking through the streets, talking with our Spanish and American friends, eating the best food, and visiting the most famous sights. Although everyone’s feet were killing them, it was totally worth it. We started the day with a trip to El Plaza Mayor, the historic square in the center of Madrid; and although we didn’t see the famous “Spydo-Gordo” (a street performer dressed like Spider-Man who frequents the square and has eaten one too many churros), we had a great time.
La Plaza Mayor, Madrid.
After that we walked to the Puerta del Sol and entered some shops to either eat or buy souvenirs. We quickly learned that “Meet back here in 20 minutes” means “Meet back here in about 30 minutes or whenever you want” in Spanish culture. Eventually we left from the Puerta Del Sol and walked toward the Museo del Prado, taking a quick pit stop at El Retiro- the biggest park in Madrid, which is similar to Central Park in New York.
In the Museo del Prado, we saw famous painting of Goya, Velazquez, and Picasso. After the Museo del Prado we had free time to eat typical lunch sandwiches of chorizo or tortilla de patatas and walk back to the Puerta del Sol. After that we visited the Palacio Real which is the official residence of the leaders of Spain, and the largest royal palace in Western Europe. Then we returned to the bus and drove back to the school, a ride that was filled with a chorus of both Spanish music and snores. It was a tiring yet amazing first full day in Spain, and we cannot wait experience the next two weeks!
Our Spanish exchange with sister school Colegio Europeo de Madrid (CEM) commences this year! Twenty-two CEM students and two CEM faculty joined us at NA September 3-25, and it was a highly successful visit. Seventeen Norfolk Academy Upper School students will travel to Madrid in Spain this March to continue the reciprocal exchange experience.
Today we did not hike mountains or get a surf lesson, we stayed at school. It sounds boring but today was one of my favorite days. Oh Tuesday we had prepared PowerPoint presentations to show to some 4th graders. We presented them today and it was a lot of fun. The topic my group spoke about was American holidays and traditions. Although it was a boring PowerPoint, all the kids were attentive and asked questions which made it fun. After we presented our presentations, we went outside for recess with the kids. We played soccer with this small, old, foam soccer ball that could barely even be called a ball. Nonetheless, the kids had a ball (pun intended) playing soccer with us and I had great time too. Toward the end of recess I accidentally kicked their ball on the roof of the school and we all laughed about it but we ultimately could not play soccer anymore. At some point after that I casually took out my iPhone to see if I had any notifications and all the little kids suddenly crowded around me in awe at my phone. Apparently iPhones are extremely expensive in Argentina compared to the US, especially a new iPhone 6, and very few people have them. I felt bad for kicking their ball on the roof so I let them play with my phone and they seemed to enjoy that even more. Eventually recess came to an end and it was time to say goodbye. We took a few pictures and I gave all of the kids a hug goodbye.
After that fun morning, we went to a classroom to write a short essay about our time in Mar del Plata and thank you notes to our families because today is our last day in Mar del Plata. That led to lunch, which was some sort of potato pie that actually tasted pretty good. With it we had salad and their classic alfajores dessert. After lunch we headed up to the senior library in the attic for a culture presentation. There was no air conditioning so the room was quite hot, but we survived. It was getting close to dismissal but before we left we were graced by a beautiful ceremony to say goodbye to us Americans. It was extremely sad to formally say goodbye to all the friends we had made during our week and a half in Mar del Plata. I know I will miss them a lot.
– Jack Wakeham
After school on the final day in Mar del Plata, Hannah, Vicky and I went to Guemes to go shopping! The shopping trip consisted of eating ice cream, buying gifts for friends, family, and ourselves, and strolling the streets. We headed home to get ready for our final meal with our host family at Antares, a local restaurant known for its awesome French fries! We met up with a lot of other hosts and friends there, laughed, and made the most of our last night together. We headed to Buenos Aires tomorrow and as sad I am to leave my host family and Mar del Plata, I’m so excited to see Buenos Aires and enjoy the remainder of the trip!
Today was close to a normal day at school but not quite. We were instructed into groups to create a powerpoint presentation for teaching 9-10 year olds on different American topics including food, sports, holidays, traditions and Norfolk Academy. Thankfully no bibliography was necessary!
While all of us had had a small breakfast we were craving a good lunch. However, at lunch time it was time to learn about empanadas and make them. While we all enjoyed creating our own lunch in different formations to keep the meat and other ingredients inside of the meal. Different shapes including squares and teardrop. It was very fun and as Señora was taking a photo of us she mistakenly stated for us to “show me our empanadas!” After completion of our masterpieces they were ready to cook… for 30 minutes! By the time we were served out piping hot meal our stomachs had folded in on themselves.
The rest of the day consisted of finishing our impromptu powerpoint and planning the rest of our evening! That evening I had the opportunity to go on a shopping adventure! My host Lorenzo was working out at the gym which gave me the chance to go with his mother shopping for my family. Listening to someone trying to sell you something speaking a foreign language at 100 mph is not easy…I ended up calling Lorenzo to help me translate! Eventually we found a store where I could easily purchase a gift. After a wonderful chickn lasagna dinner I had the opportunity to go to a small birthday party for Lorenzo’s friend where we played a game of billiards and got to view a wonderful 1980 BMW. The car topped off the day ending it with a taxi ride home and a quick entry to bed.
– Ryan Dixon
Hola! We began the day today with “chapel” where the director of the school delivered an inspiring address to the students about their potential and that they are able to do whatever they set their minds to. From there, the students dismissed to classes and we followed close behind, shadowing classes in the upper school. After a short break, we all ventured to the library where we dispersed into groups to work on presentations about American culture that we will present to the junior school. For my group, our topic was American food. Needless to say, we all got a little homesick from googling pictures of different American foods. Salivating from these pictures, it was time for lunch.
Instead of our typical lunch from the cafeteria, we got the pleasure of making our own lunches. This included homemade empanadas and a tasty desert. Before we were hands-on in our cooking experience, we viewed short instructional videos on how each recipe is made. Now it was our turn to try it out. For many, the folding of the empanada dough seemed to be the hardest part. After what seemed like an endless wait, we were served our hot, baked empanadas. We even made vegetarian empanadas for Haley and Megan which consisted of only cheese and onion rather than beef.
After our late lunch, we enjoyed an extended period of free time where many finished their presentations, worked ahead on homework, and played the new hit game, Dot Up (P.S. Josh holds the record with 206). As usually, we left school with each of our hosts. However, many met up later in order to either go shopping, work out, tan, etc. All in all, we had a great day together and we are enjoying our last few days in Mar del Plata. Adios!
To begin the second week of our stay in Argentina we took a field trip to “La Serranita” hills. We all arrived at school at the normal time except for Haley who we later had to pick up at her hosts house on our way to the hills. We left the school around 9:00am and got to the hills about an hour later. We immediately saw a small shack that held our food and our tour guides. We then begin our tour straight up the hill with a pre-determined path. Several minutes later 2 walking sticks chose me and Keivan. One tour guide called me Gandalf.
After a lot of walking, climbing, jumping and ninja like material we arrived to the place in which we would repel down. We would only be repelling halfway down the hill. The tour guides took groups of five to put on their helmets and hook up to the rope. We learned that one hand is used for feeding the rope and the other can be used to push away from rocks. Finally it was my turn and he hooked me up to the rope and gave me a quick debriefing. The start was the worst but once you started it was much easier. Once everyone made it safely to the halfway mark we all sat around on a rock with some shade to enjoy our two sandwiches and water. After our quick lunch one by one we where able to rock climb if we wanted to. Will Whitmore being the fastest one to the top in 60 seconds made it look easy. Indeed it was not easy. I tried and failed along with many others because the middle had no place to put your feet.
Once we were finished with that we got our bags and continued our journey back to the top where we originally started. We all made it down at around 3:00pm to give us 30 minutes to catch our breaths and buy some water. We got on the bus and arrived an hour later just in time for their school to be ending. As usual we dispersed into our families car and headed out to our host houses. ¡Adios!
– Josh Kemp
Today we ventured to La Serranita to hike and to propel down the mountain. We arrived around 10 in the morning and were all amazing by the height of the mountain, it was incredible. We started our trek immediatley while walking through a man made path through plants and rocks. The clOser we got to the mountain the steeper the steps were, but the more challenging it was the more fun we had. Getting to the top was one of the most amazing feelings I’ve had this entire trip and seeing the view was so rewarding.
After we made it to the top we hiked around the mountain and propeled around 50ft to the ground. When we all finished we enjoyed lunch and spent time together until we had to leave. Getting to experience the view and the gratitude of hiking a mountain made this exchange extremely unique and an opurtunity of a life time.
You know your day is going to be great when you’re running on about an hour and a half of sleep (and the day before you slept for maybe five hours) and you lose your voice and can’t get a sentence out without coughing or having a voice crack. But of the last 41ish hours I have been awake, there has not been a boring moment. Yesterday (Saturday) was amazing. We went to the farm and tubed and rode horses (as you probably know from the other blogs), but my favorite part was riding horses. I practically rode the horses all day, so my thighs are chaffed, the muscles that I didn’t know existed are incredibly sore, and I still can’t walk straight. All of yesterday’s activities are hitting me hard today, so getting out of bed was such a struggle this morning.
I spent the night at Leah’s host’s house, so my host mom came to pick me up with Laurie (my 10 year old host sister) at about 9am. We went straight to La Boston, a coffee shop with amazing crescents, for breakfast. Then we went to their second apartment to prepare it for the people that are renting it. They asked me to help them paint one of their rooms, which, although it may seem odd, was probably one of my favorite moments of the entire trip. We had become close enough to the point that they could ask me to do tedious, albeit incredibly fun manual labor for them! Not only did this knock something off of my bucket list (you’re never too young to have one), but it also showed how close me and my host family have become in a matter of a few days.
After that we sped back to the house to change for lunch reservations. The reservation was for 1:30, but we left the house at 1:35. My host family has a little difficulty with being on time and is always rushing and running all over town, so I felt right at home. After I ate the best pasta of my entire life, we went back home at around 4. I’d been at my host family’s house for a total of 20 minutes since Friday, so I decided that I would stay at home and just relax instead of joining everyone at the beach. I got home and rested for about 30 seconds then realized how much homework I had. So I cracked down for a few hours and then took occasional breaks to skype my parents and catch up on my social media. For dinner we had pizza and after dinner I stayed up until around 1 typing an outline due the next morning.
Hola! Today we spent the entire day on the countryside. We met at school at 9:00am and had about an hour bus ride to a ranch in Laguna Brava. When we arrived we met the owners of the house as they had tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and different desserts waiting for us on a picnic table. We then went to the backyard where we layed on hammocks, climbed the trees and relaxed while looking at the beautiful view of a lagoon with the Sierra mountains on the other side.
After about 30 minutes we all got up to ride the horses. There were two horses however, one was a little stubborn so we decided to stick to just the other one. Around 2:00 we returned to the picnic table to enjoy a well known Argentine meal, asado (barbecue). This asado was lamb. As a group we ate 1.5 lamb. We were told this was the freshest meat we will ever eat. It just died three days ago! Along with our lamb we had potatoes, deviled eggs, salad, and sliced tomatoes. For dessert, iced, vanilla pudding and postre balcarse, which is typical of the Laguna Brava area. Everything was delicious!
After lunch we retuned to our spots on the hammocks and in the grass. A few of us went out in the lagoon to go tubing, wake boarding, water skiing, and canoeing. Coralie and I went on the tube together. It was quite eventful considering it was my first time and it was with Coralie, who goes tubing on a regular basis. We were told we should wear shorts over top of our bathing suit bottoms because the current might pose a problem if our bathing suits were too lose. Coralie and I both had on shorts however, mine could not handle the current. The water not only took of my shorts, but also my bathing suit bottoms. I continued to hang on to the tube with one hand as I attempted to pull up my bottoms with the other hand and Coral tried to pull me back onto the tube. This did not work very well due to the fact that we were still going full speed. I told Coral I had to let go because I was going to lose my bottoms. I let go and secured my pants as I watched as Coral remained on the tube. After the boat came back to get me it was Leah and Hannah’s turn. They were both much better than me however they also flipped twice. Later, Coralie and I decided to go canoeing. We paddled against the current as Coral sang songs to me as if we were flowing down a river in Venice. Michael and Ethan decided they should come try to flip our Canoe. We went back and forth trying to flip the canoes but we realized we lost Coralie’s paddle. She jumped in the water to get it but the current began to blow me and the canoe away. It took awhile but we were able to meet back up and take the canoe into the dock. Keivan, Dillon, and Josh wanted to reach the other side of the lagoon in their canoe. They made it to the other side successfully but because they were forced to return against the current they were not able to do it. They flagged down the boat to bring them back.
Every now and then someone would hop on the good horse and take him for a ride around the ranch as the rest of us sat around and talked and slept. About an hour before we left the owners of the house brought us one more snack that consisted of juice, cake, and bocadillos. Today we learned that Señora Fox really likes to peel dead skin. We already knew Haley enjoyed doing this but to fine out that this is Señora’s strange addiction too, was very funny. Around 7:30 we got on the bus to head back to Mar Del Plata. We had a little difficulty getting the bus to start but we made it back safely! Over all the day was successful, relaxing and fun!
-Tyler Moore
Today was our excursion to a traditional Argentinian ranch. we took a one hour bus ride to get there. We arrived and relaxed in hammocks until tea time. While waiting we all climbed a tree. At tea time we tried matte, a traditional Argentina drink. Then a gaucho, an Argentinian ranch hand, helped us ride horses. One of the bigger horses was very nice and provided an enjoyable experience for all. However, the other horse was a bit dodgey, throwing out powerful rear kicks and was unable to be tamed by any of the students.
As we finished riding, the master chef completed his masterpiece, 2 lambs, that he had roasted to perfection after several hours of hard and dedicated work. This was part of asado, a traditional Argentinean barbecue. there were multiple appetizers but the main course consisted of different cuts of 2 whole lambs. When we all finished eating and were anxiously waiting for dessert, the host could not bring it out because Will (the person) would not stop eating lamb. Finally, we were able to enjoy a scrumptious dessert.
Afterwards, most people took a nap as the hammocks provided a magisterial view of the lake and the surrounding scenery. However, the few that did not take naps took two seater kayaks into the treacherous lake where they battled against gigantic half a foot waves and violent winds to reach the other side of the lake. At the other side of the lake there was a mountain that we wanted to climb. The people in kayaks soon realized that the host was right and climbing the mountain would be prove to be a difficult task. Then when the kayakers returned and the nappers awoke, the host took turns taking us wake boarding, tubing, and water skiing. When we all returned from water skiing, the host rushed back out on his motor boat to rescue the kayakers that had gotten stranded. When everyone returned the boys started playing soccer. Then, as we were about to leave, the bus would not start. Señora had a look of concern on her face. The problem was soon solved with the assistance of the host. As we were riding back in the bus a bird came soaring into the window and frightened everyone on the bus; he bird probably did not survive. It was a very fun day.
