On April 18th, I along with 24 other East Islip students went on a trip to Spain. This opportunity was offered all through the Spanish classes, but if you were in 11th or 12th grade and showed any interest in going, you were able to go, too. There wasn’t a lot of places that needed you to speak Spanish, so all you really needed was a basic understanding of the language. We spent about 2 months prepping everything to get ready for the flight. By the time it was time to go we had gotten our rooms, food plans, and itinerary for the trip. We were all ready to spend Spring break in a foreign country.
The week before the trip it hit me – I was going to be away in a foreign country for a week and I was going to be away from my family. Never had I done something like this before in my life. I had gone out the country the previous summer though so it wasn’t completely new, but it was the first time I was going to be this far away from my family for this long. But, I just told myself that this was a pre-example of what college life is going to be like. This was going to be an experience for the ages.
What we did:
The day finally arrived when we were scheduled to leave for Spain. We all headed to the auditorium to wait for the bus and say our goodbyes to our parents. Then it was an hour long bus ride to the airport because of traffic, then we made it to the gate with 30 minutes to spare. After, it was a 8 hour flight from JFK to Madrid. On the plane I watched the original Mean Girls, ate pasta, and only got a little sleep. Then once we landed we meet our tour guide, Philp. He was a very nice man who we all loved. Once we got our bags and boarded the bus, we headed off to the first city.
The first city was Madrid, where we spent two days. This was my favorite city out of all of the cities. Madrid was basically a European version of New York City. Pretty much all the cities that we went to were like NYC, but with a European twist. We toured around the city and saw some statues. Then on the second day we went to a Renaissance art museum. That was my favorite part at Madrid.
To get to our next stop, we took a 5-hour bus ride to the next city, Bilbao. Since we were on a bus most of the day, there’s not a lot to type about, but we did go to a modern art museum, where we saw a lot of unique and strange paintings and sculptures. But that’s the thing about modern art. Then we went to the hotel.
The next day was another bus trip to Pompeii. I did not like it. It was a beach town so the actual town part was cramped. They did have a carousel, which was fun, and was quite nostalgic. The water was cold, since it was still April, but there was still a bunch of people swimming in it. Not for me. Then in the nighttime we saw and learned what happens at the Running of the Bulls, by walking along the streets.
The last city was Barcelona. This was another two day stay. This also was a 5 hour bus ride. So we really did most of our activities in the nighttime. I mean we did go to a beach town, where we walked on some rocks and took some pictures. We did some shopping for our families here so that was interesting. We went to a mall the next day where I got some things for my family. The exciting part though of the day, was when we went to a church called La Sagrada Familia. It was really big and spacious inside. When I checked online, I learned it’s apparently the largest unfinished church in the world. The pictures below really tell how amazing it was.
Unfortunately, this was our last day here so it was time to pack up and head home. We had a tearful goodbye to Philp and just caught our flight to New York. Then after an hour ride on the bus we arrived back at the school, were our parents were waiting for us.
What we ate:
Let me describe the food: it was amazing. We had the hotel’s breakfast which was alright, but the lunches and dinners were what I really want to talk about. The lunches were good, and one day we had a fried calamari sandwich. They had small restaurants and fast food chains, like Burger King and McDonalds. The Burger King was surprisingly like the ones here but healthier (this is another country). The dinners were amazing. Most though, there was a fish and a tapas (appetizers) night and some were bad. What we mainly had was bread and salads for appetizers and yogurt for desert. We had steak, pasta and the famous paella. The paella was with chicken instead of seafood, though but it was still good. They had a pizzeria as well. The Bolognese pasta was good but the pizza there was just bad. It tasted like a Cheez-It. Their deserts though was good. We didn’t just have yogurt. We had churros and gelato. Those were my favorite nights. After whatever we did for that day, we got to walk around the city and shopped for our lunches and souvenirs. This is how every night ended and after our morning tour. The pictures really tell the story of what we did.
Some Reviews:
Paul Ruotolo: “It was a pretty good trip, seeing all the historical locations, like the churched and museums. My favorite part would have to be the art museum in Madrid.”
Keith Klein: “It was pretty cool, fun, saw a lot of things.”
Anna Carino: “I thought it was so much fun , so many beautiful places, the food was so good, it was just a wonderful experience. Probably Madrid was my favorite because everything was right there.”
Mrs. Lisa Rapiejko: “These young men and women are our next generation of global citizens, and they returned home with a greater understanding and appreciation of the world around them, thanks to the support of their families and the East Islip school community.”
End Result:
To conclude with this story, I would say that the trip was a 7 out of 10. Yes, it was a really fun and great experience, but there are always some bad apples within those fun activities. For example, the modern art museum in Bilbao, was okay. They had very… weird sculptures. The beach was cold and the water was freezing. But ignoring all those things and focusing on everything else, the trip was a magical experience and I seriously recommend going out of the country if you can. You will love it. Trust me on this.
