Our amazing race around Spain

"You're taking HOW many students abroad??"  Haha, we got this question a lot when we told people how many kids (plus parents) were in our group heading to Spain.  In all we were 36 - 26 students, 6 parents, 2 teachers and our spouses.  Sure, seems kind of crazy, but God was SO good, and blessed every step, from leaving the RHS parking lot on June 14 to our arrival on the 24th.

Madrid

The trip schedule itself was really awesome but really demanding.  We flew to Madrid overnight, and immediately on arrival ate lunch and began touring (no naps!).  Madrid is such a bustling city, but a great way to introduce the kids to Spain with huge landmarks like the Prado museum (with works by all the "greats"), the Reina Sofia museum of modern art where Guernica by Picasso is held, Plaza Nueva, and el Parque del Gran Retiro, all locations we'd studied or discussed in class.

Guernica by Picasso

A few from the group heading down to Retiro stopped for a photo op in front of el Palacio de Comunicaciones

Proud of the boys acting like true Spaniards, playing soccer in El Retiro

In el Parque del Gran Retiro - it's huge and beautiful!

We had an AWESOME night of tapas in this little cave-like restaurant - the kids loved it!

Córdoba

We moved from Madrid to Córdoba, home of the extremely impressive Mezquita - a mosque/cathedral all in one! Another landmark in Spanish history we studied extensively in Spanish 3/4

Sevilla

From Córdoba we traveled on to Sevilla, where I spent 6 months studying abroad in college.  I spent a good portion of the first morning in tears (happy ones) as I reminisced about all my amazing memories there.  This place really is magical, and it was SO cool for Danny to finally experience it!

The whole group inside la Plaza de Toros

One view of the Catedral

Inside the Alcázar - a Moorish castle right next to the Cathedral

Shot of the city and bull ring from La Giralda (Cathedral´s bell tower)

Group shot in front of the Catedral/Giralda

The fearless leaders in Plaza de España

It´s soo beautiful (and was the set of a scene in Star Wars!)

I had to pose proudly at the door of my "alma mater" - la Universidad de Sevilla

Fuengirola and Morocco


We reluctantly left Sevilla and drove to Costa del Sol, to a small town next to Málaga.  There part of the group got a free day at the beach, while 15 of us braved a bus, ferry, and another bus ride into Tetuan, Morocco!  While it certainly wasn't as relaxing as a day on the Mediterranean, I'm so glad I went.  I can't imagine the next time in life I'll 1) go to Africa 2) be in anentirely different culture (we even were there for call to prayer) or 3) ride a camel!

On the ferry, in front of the rock of Gibralter

Typical street passage, learning about where they draw water

Kind of like riding a horse?

One night in the hotel, the entertainer put on a little dance party for us.  We had an awesome time and laughed soo hard!

Look at Danny's moves!

Granada

From Costa del Sol, we trekked east toward Granada, home of the Alhambra.  The kids were really impressed with its size and beauty, and afterward, that night, we got to go to a REALLY authentic gypsy Flamenco show in a cave... actually the Obama's had been to that very show a few months before, so we knew it was legit!

View of the Alhambra at night

Sweet girls!

Valencia

Tired of reading yet?  Imagine how tired we were!  From Granada, we had a loong bus ride to Valencia, a city I'd never visited before.  We were only there for one day, but I would love to go back sometime.  It was beautiful.

This was an amazing complex with an aquarium, science museum, an IMAX... 

Fun modern art outside

Danny liked the sharks!

Old town of Valencia

Barcelona

The final leg of our journey took us to Barcelona, also new to me.  Such a cool city with tons to see, but I was definitely the most nervous here, as it's known for its pickpockets.  I didn't even get a picture of La Rambla, the famous tree-lined street, because we adults were on full thief-protection mode of the group as we walked through it.  I did get some good shots of the other sites though!

Sara, Matt, Danny and I over the city

One of Gaudí's homes

La Sagrada Familia, which we'll all have to return to see in 2026 when all 18 towers (and the rest) are complete!

A few of the group in Parque Guell, my favorite part of Barcelona

Parque Guell

Sara and Lexi in for a "family photo"

These four called us "mom" and "dad" the whole time, and we felt like it most of the time!  Love them :)

So that's just the bare bones of it, and look how long it took me to write just that!  Overall, we simply could not believe how great everything went.  The hotels were great, food was great, and the KIDS were wonderful.  We had virtually zero problems and actually really enjoyed spending 19 hours a day with all those crazy teenagers (5 hours of sleep was a GOOD night).  We haven't laughed that much maybe ever.  They were such troopers through tooons of walking, history lessons, bus rides, and heat.  Not one got sick, injured, lost, or as much as a Euro stolen.  What an answer to prayer!!  Our tour director even told me on the last night, "I haven't felt like I'm leading an EF tour, I just feel like I'm part of the team of a really great group of people."

For me, like I mentioned before, really the coolest part was getting to share with Danny two of my biggest passions - Spain and my students, both things I'd only tried to explain in the past.  Before the trip he was fairly certain he "didn't like high schoolers" and preferred to stick to their older college-age counterparts.  Regardless, he jumped right in and started investing in every one of them immediately.  He even led the whole group through Habitudes every other night (his idea), a character development program he's been piloting at work.  The kids responded so well to him, and we felt like we got to invest in them far more than just a "fun trip" - we had multiple GREAT conversations with the group and with individuals about character, choices, and life in general.  Danny was such a natural with all of them, and on the first day back to work this week, he emailed me and said, It really feels weird SITTING at my desk all day today and not having any funny high school kids to crack jokes with. Working with adults is boring.  So awesome to feel like he really "gets" that part of me now!

I think we also got a glimpse into what parenting older kids - especially GIRLS - will be like, more so than I had before in the classroom... Danny was so awesome and such a trooper, even as we dragged ourselves to the billionth H&M with the girls.  I can't wait to see what he'll be like with our little Addison!  

We now can't wait to see how we can stay involved in this group's lives over the next year.  Many of them now have our phone numbers, and we plan to have them over, get lunch or coffee, go to games, movies, etc.  Again, I can't say how cool it is to feel like we can now minister to these dear lives as a team now rather than me as an individual.

So would we do it again?  Um, yes, yes, YES!!  I just need a few more days' sleep, and my poor ankles could use a few more days without the serious swelling they underwent the whole time.  Then we're ready.  We are so blessed to have had this opportunity - thanks for reading!