Summer in Review (including videos)

A summary of our travels:
Blog updates and videos from the summer

     This summer, we had a lot of fun starting out as early as our orientation in Bloomington, getting to know everyone and practicing our Spanish a little in anticipation of our trip.

     Once we had gotten to Spain, we took a couple of days to get acclimated, but soon we were settling into a regular routine, complete with our language exam and a tour of the city. After the first few days, we settled down together into our support and success groups and got the chance to consider what our goals were for the six weeks of summer. We even had the chance to meet up with students from the English program and see the stars that first week.

     It wasn't long before we started organizing our farewell show, working together in groups of dance, theater and music to prepare what would be a stunning spectacle for host families in few short weeks. Pictures from before, during and after that show can be found here! 

     We also started work on the course magazine, which would soon turn into a colorful booklet filled with pictures and memories (and accessible here!).

     After we took a trip down to Granada, spending time exploring the city, visiting the Alhambra, and trekking further south to the beach, we had two more excursions on the following Fridays. During one of them, we took a bus north to Toledo, where we took a lot of pictures in monasteries and wandered around looking at all the swords for sale. During the other, we took the Ave train up to Madrid to see the art at the Prado museum, wander through Parque Retiro, Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol, and tour the Royal Palace.

     Other fun things we did in the city included celebrating the Fourth of July together -- host families, instructors and students, all getting the chance to eat some American food and relax outside the city for an evening -- and meeting with the Alcaldesa of Ciudad Real -- plus getting to eat the ice cream she treated us to!! 

     Finally, the end was nigh. We celebrated some birthdays, had a debate, and took our final language tests in preparation for leaving Spain. Then, after boarding our bus far too early in the morning :-), we headed off to the airport in Madrid to begin our journey home.

Here is the video of our orientation:

Here is a video of our semester:

And here is a video of our farewell show:

I hope everyone had fun! Enjoy the memories! -M