SSSAS offers many spring break trips, and after my positive experience traveling to the Bahamas to research marine biology last year, I decided to look into more trips for this spring. This year, the exchange trip to Madrid caught my attention. The unique part of this trip was that each American student is paired with a Spanish student, whose house they would stay in for the duration of the trip to give a full cultural experience. When I received the contact information for my exchange student, Sonia, I was excited and anxious to meet her and immediately contacted her via email. We quickly friended each other on Facebook, and followed each other on Twitter and Instagram.
The Spanish students arrived October 16 and stayed for 12 days. While 12 days initially seemed like a long amount of time, it went by quickly. Everyday was busily filled with trying to give the full “American experience” to these teens who were so much like us, yet lived so differently. For instance, did you know that there is no peanut butter in Spain? It was small things like these that we insisted they try.
The best part of signing up for this trip was not just the excitement of traveling to a new place; I made amazing new friends both across the globe and within this school. We still have a Whatsapp group chat with all the students from both countries where we constantly talk in a mixture of the two languages. I got to know American students that I would have no way to get to know otherwise when we would hang out as a big group on the weekends or after school. With each passing day, I got closer to all of the students, and by the end I had made some of my closest friends.
It was sad when they left; the potluck on the final night and the goodbyes the next morning were teary-eyed and heartfelt, but I am equally excited to travel to Spain as I was to meet the students. I can’t wait to be reunited with my international friends and to emerge myself in a new culture in Madrid.
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| Hanging out in Georgetown with the exchange students on the weekend |
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| Getting ice cream in old town |
