During Michaelmas half term a group of Year 10 students visited Santiago de Compostela for their study trip.
On the morning of Thursday 15 October I woke up for a coach journey and two hour long flight to Santiago, one would expect typical trip boredom, but of boredom there was none.
All the host families were welcoming and willing to help us. They were respectful in their speaking of Spanish, making it easy to communicate. It gave us an insight into the real Spain, outside of the classroom.
Learning about Galicia’s Celtic past merged with Latin present, visiting pre-Roman remains while speaking a Latin language was also a high point.
The Spanish food was delicious too, in masses of variety and tastes, incorporating various different combinations and ingredients.
But perhaps the apex of the trip was the meeting of Spanish children our age and the tour around their school which I found the best way to learn and connect with the Spanish language.
The trip is a perfect decision for all with interests in history and Spanish culture and language.
Jonathan Buhl-Nielsen
Sixteen Year 10 students arrived in Santiago de Compostela with the hope that we would return having greatly improved our Spanish speaking skills. We had an interesting week and praise must go to the Galicians who had the confidence to perform a folk dance in front of 16 bewildered students. We did some interviews with locals to help with the vocal aspect of our Spanish learning. I hope we didn’t end up looking too much like tourists. One afternoon we had a Salsa lesson and had to learn several simple Salsa steps much to the amusement of our teachers; but we succeeded and surprised our dance teacher. We came home armed with many vocabulary notes having had a great time.
Rachel Sparkes
