Excursión: Excelente, un 10

Recently I went on a week-long trip with my 15-17 year-old students. That was an experience, to say the least. Summed up in two phrases we repeated during the trip, it was "Excelente, un 10" because "en Estados Unidos eso no pasa!" (that doesn't happen in the USA!) Something unexpected happened every day. The trip was almost surreal at times. Chaperoning is a loose term here: because of the age we tried to promote independence. For example, a lot of these kids have probably never been on the subway before, so we taught them to use public transportation. Also, we'd go around in a group for the cultural visits in the morning, and then set them free with a time to meet back with us in the evening to make sure they were alive.

Salamanca
We only spent a few hours at our first stop. Everyone told me how much I'd love the city, so I guess it fell short of my expectations. It was nice to look at, and I'm sure it's fun to go out in since it's a big university city, but it didn't blow my mind. We got to go up the Cathedral, which was very cool but also nerve-wracking. We went up so many winding steps, all the way to the bell tower. Great views of the city though. We also saw the cathedral and university walls which are covered in elaborate sculptures, and you have to find the hidden astronaut and frog. Then we had lunch and were off to...

Mérida

The theater, where they still hold plays in the summer

I loved it, and although some of my students would say they hated it, that's only because there was no nightlife ON A TUESDAY. Jeez, what did they expect? But also they'd be lying if they said they had a bad time by the end of the night--after walking around for an hour we finally found a karaoke bar. There was just one man there, plus our group of ~20. The kids had a blast singing Spanish pop hits together. I even learned some catchy tunes (si hay que ser torero oléeee). But the best part of Mérida is the Roman presence. It's like Lugo, except more like Rome or Athens. In the middle of the city there were random Roman ruins. Not to mention the glorious and pretty intact theater and amphitheater. Why pay hundreds on a flight to Greece when you can see some great ruins here in Spain? Also Mérida has the national Roman art museum. Very cool, even if we didn't have time to see it all.

Mosaic in the museum

Temple of Diana, in the middle of a plaza

Lisbon
I guess you could call it the main attraction of the trip, since we spent 3 nights there. We saw the typical things: a cathedral, the port, a castle, and that great Portuguese tiled architecture. With the other teachers I

Super Chaperones in the
 Castelo de San Jorge

saw the Café A Brasileira and an overpriced fado show. It's a trap! One day we took the kids to Belém--a neighborhood or suburb 20 mins away--when the bus drivers just happened to be on strike. Despite the fact that when the bus pulled up it was already standing room only, we manged to cram our group of 32 onto the bus. Uncomfortable, for sure. When we drove by stops people were indignant at the amount of people on the bus, and yet tried to cram in with us. I was basically sitting on the dash for part of the trip. In Belém we saw the necessary Monastery, Monument to the Discoverers, and Belém Tower. Of course I also deemed it necessary to get custard pastries from the famous Pasteis de Belém.

Here comes a surreal episode: One of the nights we all had dinner in this elegant ballroom. It was just our group, but people would walk up to the door to take pictures, that's how glam it was. Anyways, then the other two chaperones (a priest and a middle aged woman) started to waltz. The students were flabbergasted. Shortly afterward, the priest started singing the "Vals de las Mariposas" and about 5 pairs of students got up to dance! I couldn't believe my eyes! But wait, it gets better--one of my students asked me to dance! I don't know how to waltz! But I tried anyways, with my two left feet. For the rest of the night I didn't hear the end of it. "Americans can't dance! You need to learn how to dance. Dance is the language of love" Hahaha. Strange and amusing times.

In Lisboa I also learned to accept the Spanish hands-off approach to chaperoning. Like when we told the kids to meet us in the lobby at 2 AM. Then we'd go out for some wine. But we definitely had our kids under control compared to another group (there were 5 school groups in the hotel at once. I feel bad for any adult guests trying to have a nice getaway). The other group threw a bed out the window. Do you believe that?! I'm telling you, it was an unexpected trip.

Porto
Our last overnight stop was Porto. I can't really tell if I like it better than Lisbon. Since it was the last night, by that time I was pretty much mentally checked out. The weather was excellent, and we had lunch on the docks where they were having a little street fair. Some students were attacked by seagulls haha. We also saw a cathedral where they stored some bones, but frankly it was disappointing--you just looked through a small hole in the ground to see a few bodies worth of bones below. At night I know the kids were hoping to go out with a bang, but unfortunately for them, Porto's abundant nightlife is full of adults. People my age! I did feel bad that they were left so disappointed on the last night, though. We all went out together, then gave them a curfew of 3 am. Oddly enough, when we returned to the hotel at 2:30, all of the kids were back already. I also imagine they were tuckered out after a week of sleeping probably 2-4 hours a night! Ah, youth.

Tiles in the train station São Bento

Galician Coast
On the way home we drove along the west coast instead of the freeway. Lovely views! We then stopped in Santa Tecla, a huge Castro with amazing sea views. Then we went up to Vigo where we spent the afternoon on the beach. I didn't bring my suit, but did enjoy a nice nap in the sand. The kids got in the water...I dipped my toes in and it was freezing, so I dunno how they did it. I was also happy to see them playing volleyball, since we teach that in gym class and often they're a bit uninterested. So Vigo concludes this trip of unexpected moments. Glad I was able to go and bond with the students.