Taller de Salsa

After a relaxing lunch and siesta on the beach I headed back to school for a salsa class with a spanish instructor. We all had a great time learning the moves and the teachers kept the class entertaining. Being a dancer, it was an amazing opportunity to learn firsthand a style that I´ve had little previous exposure to. Salsa dancing is just one of the many exciting optional activities I´ve been able to participate in. I´ve taken a spanish pastry class, discussed spanish literature in spanish, and climbed to the top of the beautiful cathedral as well.

Las Torunas

This Saturday we took a bus to a national park; Stacy and Jose had promised that there would be a beach as well as other activities like kayaking and biking to work off all the rich Spanish food we´ve been eating. When we arrived at what appeared to be a desert landscape, somewhat resembling the African Savannah, we were skeptical as to the existence of this beach. Nevertheless, we trustingly followed Jose down a winding, dusty path for what seemed like miles untill after what seemed like miles we reached a wide, sandy beach. We spent a couple hours there playing in the considerably warmer water than the beaches here in Cadiz and getting to know some of the new two-week students. After the beach we made our way back to the main building where we´d begun our trek to get ready for our bike ride. As our Spanish guide instructed us, we wound through the beautiful landscape, cruising down narrow paths across the salty river and over quaint wooden bridges in a single file line to avoid collisions. At 5 pm, out of the heat of the day the ride was enjoyable and a nice way to do something a little out of the ordinary for us. After a brief kayak ride, we headed back to Cadiz for showers and dinner with our host families. I love our weekend excursions, they provide us with a great opportunity to see other parts of beautiful Andalucia, and step out of our newly found comfort zone here in Cadiz.

Corrida de Torres

Last night many of us chose to opt out of a restaurant night with friends to witness one of the oldest, most exciting, and most controversial Spanish traditions, the bull fight. After a short train ride to San Fernando we arrived at the arena and found our seats in the less expensive seats on the sunny side. Earlier that day, many of us had learned about the roles the different colorfully costumed men and horses played in the fight, we had some understanding of what was happening when a man riding a heavilly armored horse was trying to stab the bull as it charged at him. Depending on your point of view, we were either very lucky or very unfortunate to witness a particularly dramatic bull fight where the matador was nearly trampled by the bull, and a sword flew out of the horses back, nearly hitting a spectator in the first row. No one was injured, but it did make for some frightening moments and amazing action shots. Many spaniards are strongly against this unique tradition, as the point of it is to torture an animal to death. While at times graphic and bloody, I found the bull fight to be an exciting way to witness aspects of traditional spanish culture first hand. I was far more impressed by the colorful, ornate costumes, and the bravado and excellent horsemanship of the matadors.

el fin de la semana

We're always busy here in Spain. Between group activities, classes, time spent with our homestay families, and enjoying the city with friends, its been hard to find the time to write about all my amazing experiences. After a week and a half I finally feel at home in Cadiz, like I truly live here and am more than just an american tourist. This saturday we took a trip to arcos de la frontera, another white village about an hou from Cadiz. We followed the winding cobblestone streets, admiring the breathtaking views of the spanish countryside, up the hills to a closed convent were you could buy cookies from a none through a rotating door. The cookies were amazing, but we never saw the faces of the mysterious nuns who made them.

Back inCadiz we´re all enjoying the beautiful sandy beaches, quaint street cafes and plazas, and the annual sales that luckily coincide with our trip! Of course we still have daily spanish classes, but they are far more enjoyable and beneficial than anything I´ve ever taken before. We spend far less time memorizing grammatical concepts and more learning about the culture and customs of Spain. We work on our speaking and listening skills by discussing the La Pepa, the Spanish constitution while admiring a monument conmemorating it, learning about the architectural aspects of the two breathtaking cathedrals here, and talking about nutrition with people in the market. Our language skills come with learning about the culture, allowing us to fully appreciate our time here.

La Primera Semana

After almost an entire week here in Spain I don´t know how I can begin to explain all the things I´ve seen, people I´ve met, and unforgettable experiences I´ve had. Cadiz is one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been, with its narrow streets, multi-colored, centuries old apartment buildings and spacious plazas. As I wander the streets, soaking up the sights and sounds of the spanish language, I notice how much more social and relaxed the lifestyle is here. During the day, pedestrians by far outnumber cars on the cobblestone streets, and at night everyone, from the youngest children to the oldest grandparents gather in the plazas for food and conversation. It´s amazing how much more comfortable I´ve become speaking spanish not only with my homestay mom and my teachers but with people on the street as well. To find the internet cafe I´m in right now I had to ask directions from a friendly woman on the street, something that I would have been hesitant enough to do in America with an english-speaking person, much less someone who only speaks Spanish.
Everything I´ve seen here so far, from the beaches of Cadiz to the white village of Conil to the bountiful market in the center of the city inspires me to continue learning Spanish. My limited vocabulary allows me to accomplish so much here that I never would have that I was capable of doing. It´s empowering, having the capability to venture so far out of my comfort zone and feel so at home.

On the Cusp

There's something about the end of the year, a nearly tangible essence that filters through the halls lined with just emptied-lockers, seeping into sticky rooms, reassuring anxious test-takers that the promise of summer will soon be fulfilled. A luscious melange of anticipation, regalement, and quiescence, I revel in this blissfull denoument as I have for the past ten years, knowing I will soon be free from the constraints and pressures of public high school. This time around, the feeling is different, heightened, more acute. This year I'm drawn to more than lazy days of endless TV and time at the pool. The sense that I'm about to embark on a unique journey, across oceans to a place I've never been before, a place that I know little about is both frightening and attractive in such a tantalizingly close way that I can't help but count the days till my departure.

My home in Connecticut is a bubble. When I was eleven I ventured out of its protective walls when I moved with my family to Tokyo, only to find myself in another bubble of the expatriot lifestyle and American International Schools. In Cadiz, I'll live with a family who doesn't speak my language, a daunting but enthralling experience. I look forward to this challenge of communication and adaptation and view it as my first steps down the path to becoming a truly global citizen, not just someone who reads and studies and sees other cultures on TV, but envelopes themselves in it in order to fully understand. Speaking the language, enjoying the food, participating in the customs, is the only way to do more than soley observe a place but go as far as to be a part of it. I feel like I'm on the cusp of a life-changing, eye-opening, (yes, cliche-filled) experience, and I can't wait to meet my homestay family, the staff, and the other students and begin my journey.

As I wade through the waters of the final days of my sophomore year, I feel the promise of Cadiz and the unknown treasures it holds all around me. I submit my summer, a misshapen lump of clay, to the spirit of Cadiz, and allow it to mold it into something that I know will leave an indelible mark on the impressionable clay that is me, I just don't yet know what shape this imprint will become.