In exploring a new place and trying to develop a more cosmopolitan worldview, trying to get more than the average tourist’s experience, we can look to a few things to get a better sense of a city’s cultural heritage. We can look at the locals, we can eat the local food, but we can also examine the architecture to tell us more about the region we are in, and the cultural and historic influence the region has on the local people, food, dress, and traditions, etc.

On our visit to Zamora, I was especially interested in the city’s architecture. Zamora was a Roman city established in the 9th century, situated in a strategic position on the Via de la Plata.  The city was fought over during the Reconquest.  The Romans lost the city but their architecture remained, and the 12th century Roman architecture is still a very central part of the city’s charm.  Walking through the city I noticed many of the ornate Roman styles throughout, with the beautiful smooth stone buildings with tall skinny windows and scale-tiled domes.  I was fascinated by how well preserved these buildings were and how they were adapted to serve the city.  I saw stores built into the first floors of Roman style stone buildings.  But along with the Roman architecture, there was almost every other style of architecture between Roman and our normal contemporary styles.  In the plaza, there were many of these 19th century modernist buildings, contrasting the ornate Roman fashions. And surrounding the city were more plain apartment buildings, similar to those we might see in Boston.

The architecture was telling of the local culture, that the people of Zamora were a mix of traditional and contemporary, living in a very current modernized city, but preserving the traditional styles that make Zamora its own very unique city.

Visita a una escuela española By Michelle Souza

Visiting an actual Spanish school was beyond nerve racking. We didn’t know what to expect from a school in a different country, would it be like the US or would it be completely different? The school itself was completely different from ours. Firstly, it was a Catholic school; BHS is definitely not a Catholic school, so that was interesting. Something that was embarrassing on our part was how unprepared we were. The Spanish students had PowerPoint presentations made with facts and numbers, and we didn’t even have an idea on what we were going to talk about. After about 30 minutes we all took a break and we got to get to know each other in a more relaxed setting. A group of girls from the school and a few of BHS girls, including me, went out to get coffee. We introduced ourselves and talked about what we thought of the school. When we got back to school we were all more relaxed and felt comfortable talking about random things in Boston. It was overall a fun time and I left with about 10 new followers on Instagram. 


A Taste of Salamanca – Athalia Lopez

Art- By Bella & Anna

So far, art has been my favorite way to learn about Spanish history and culture. My favorite museum by far was the Reina Sofia in Madrid. It had works from artists such as Picasso and Salvador Dalí. Seeing Picasso’s painting, Guernica, was amazing. Once I walked into the room I was stunned. It was breathtaking. It was so much bigger in person. Seeing the painting in person was such a different experience than seeing it in a textbook. We were in awe of such a famous and historical painting. It represents so much of the pain and anguish felt in Spain as a result of the Spanish Civil War.

Classes at Letra Hispánica- By Felice

            In Salamanca, we attend daily classes at Letra Hispánica. Our days consist of 2-hour grammar classes and various culture lessons. There is a total of 4 classes with varying levels of difficulty, based on students’ mastery of Spanish.

            My class has 9 students, 7 of which are from the Brookline High School trip. The other two are from Japan and China, visiting students just like us. Although grammar lessons may sound tedious, I am actually grateful we have them. Living in a country which speaks the language one is learning (like this trip!) is extremely helpful to fluency, but without the basic rules, it can be very hard.

Recently, we spent time on a tense called the subjunctive, the bane of many students’ existences. The subjunctive is not something that is used all the time; it is sentences like “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” where doubtfulness evokes a certain conjugation in verbs. What I have found is that, although tenses like these aren’t always useful, it makes for more eloquent language in the overall. My class ended the week with a grammar test.

The other classes, mostly conversation and culture, have the purpose of familiarizing students with Spain as a country. We have discussed art, the Carnaval, food, sports, music, poetry, etc. Spain, like all countries, has its little peculiarities, like the staying out in town until midnight.

Going to school during vacation may not sound very appealing, but it has been a pretty valuable experience to the students. We thank both the Brookline High and the Letra Hispánica teachers.

Food- Stefano & Steve

In Spain, we have eaten food that is authentic in origin and rich in flavor, consistency, and history. A common way of eating is to order tapas, or a few small, separate, and inexpensive dishes, similar to what we know as appetizers in the US. Some tapas choices are a deep-fried dish stuffed with cheese and ham called croquettes, tortillas filled with egg, potato, cheese, and onion, and small egg and cheese omelets. There are many other delicious options for food that can be found in all cafes and bakeries, such as Empanada, Hornazo, and Pastel Unidad, all pastry or sandwhich like snacks that are most often filled with chorizo, lomo (pork), ham and cheese,  or atun (tuna). When not eating a small meal in one of the various Plazas Mayor restaurants,  we have feasted on delicacies typical of the cities  visited such as suckling piglet  and hand cut fries in Segovia or Jamón with baked goat cheese salad in Salamanca. A desert common in Salamanca is churros con chocolate. Churros are a licorice shaped fried dough that one dips in a cup of sweet, thick hot chocolate. This, however, is a snack typical of siesta, or afternoon rest. Following meals we have snacked on rice pudding, chocolate cakes, or pastel San Marcos, a cake topped with creme brulee sugar.

We have been lucky to experience the amazing cuisine of Spain. Not only have we had the opportunity to try new foods on a daily basis, we have also enjoyed regionally exclusive meals on every excursión! We wish to thank everyone who has granted us the opportunities to eat these typical dishes of Spain!


Our Family in Spain-By Hannah & Michelle

Crying in Logan airport before leaving my family, I had no expectations for our families in Salamanca. I had no idea who or what to expect and decided to just  have an open mind. When the bus dropped us in the plaza, every family was waiting as if we were finally home from a trip. Esperanza, my host mother, quickly found us, kissed us and brought us to her car. We knew she ‘d be a funny one. We didn’t know we’d soon meet her husband, her fifteen-year old daughter and seven-year old son. All of our time spent at home is with them and I can’t picture a family that laughs and eats and has jokes only they understand. We are at peace at once with España, and at home.

 

 

Something I was very nervous about before traveling to Salamanca was my host family. I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with my family because I am still learning Spanish. I ended up getting placed with the best host mom ever. She is patient with me and helps me find the words. I have learned so much from her already. Having such an awesome host family has made this trip even better than I had expected. Along with having an awesome host mom there is also other exchange students in the house. I now have friends from England, Ireland and Japan. I am so grateful for this experience and already have plans to come back and see my new family. 

We arrive in Spain at 11 o’clock local time and sail through security and customs. Sleepy faces all round because it’ s only 5 in the morning for us and some have managed to sleep more than others. But every one seems excited. After a long lay over in New York we’re finally here!  We meet Cristina our bus driver, load our bags onto the bus, and start the last leg of our journey. The ride to Salamanca is nearly 3 hours long. We head westward out of the Madrid region and its multitude of satellite towns, with the snow capped Sierra de Guadarrama on our right.  An hour later we enter the plateau that makes up the region of Castilla-Leon, where Salamanca is located.  The landscape is stark with patches of snow. There is not much to see until the walled city of Avila appears on our left like a mirage.   As we get closer to Salamanca we begin to see more towns with their classic stone churches. We see lots of cattle roaming the high plains.

            We cross the Tormes River and enter Salamanca. It’s Sunday and traffic is light. Our ride comes to an end at pretty town square where our “new families” are waiting for us.  Lots of kisses on both cheeks are given out to our students by the waiting Spaniards and we head out to our respective new homes but agree to meet at 6 at plaza Mayor, the historic heart of the city.

            Ada, the director of our school takes us for a walking tour of the old city.

We walk though narrow streets marveling at the rust colored stone buildings

many of which date from medieval times. We stop in front of the main building of  the university with its ornately decorated façade to take pictures and continue our tour.  We do a loop around the historic center passing many coffee shops,  tapas restaurants and craft stores.  This is a lively city. Many “Salmantinos” (residents of Salamanca) both young and old are out for a stroll.  We run into several young people dressed in costumes for carnaval. We circle back to Plaza Mayor where we

stop at Café Las Torres  for churros and chocolate at Café . This is a tradition observed all over Spain especially in the cooler winter months where you dip the stick like churros made out of fried dough and sprinkled with sugar into a of thick hot chocolate.  I notice at the café that most of the tables are occupied by groups of nicely dressed people in their 60’s and 70’s for their night out in the town.  While we sit enjoying our snack at Las Torres, Laura one of the assistants at the school shows up with a map for each student highlighting where the school and their apartments are located.  We say goodbye and return to our apartments to catch up our sleep.

            Monday morning the families all walk our students to Letra Hispanica,

the language school we will be attending. It is an attractive setting with artwork on the walls and comfortable workspaces.  The school follows the European framework for languages that recognizes 6 levels of linguistic proficiency.  Based on the placement test they took on line, our students are placed into 4 different groups.  Over the next two weeks our students will work on grammar, conversation and culture from 9:15 until 1:30 in the afternoon with a 30 minute break in between.

            We reconvene at 5:00 in the afternoon for the official tour of the historical part of the city with Maria Gonzalez, one of the teachers at Letra. She is a font of information about the history and the architecture of the city.  She explains

how the two cathedrals were constructed.  We then stop at the Casa de las Conchas (house of shells) a renaissance palace whose outside is dotted with enormous sculpted shells,  a symbol of the founder’s connection to the order of Santiago, patron saint of Spain.  The palace now houses a library. We end our tour at the University of Salamanca, Spain’s oldest founded by King Alfonso the Wise in the 1218   We marvel at its beautifully ornate façade then take a detour into one the buildings that houses an impressive fresco of the Zodiac which dates from the 1400’s. We end our tour back in Plaza Mayor and our students return home to rest and have dinner with their families.