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U4 Spanish Exchange
Trip To San Sebastián
Maha Dannawi, U4S
On the 27 October, twelve Bancroft’s pupils flew to
San Sebastián, Spain, where we all took part in the
Spanish Exchange trip with the school
Axular Lizeoa
.
When we first arrived, we were all quite nervous, but
as we progressed through the trip, we all improved
our Spanish whilst also making new friends.
On the first day, a few of us went to watch a traditional Basque
dance performed by the school. It is the folk dance of the Basque
people, which gave us a bit of cultural insight into the Basque
region. We all went on a guided tour around San Sebastián on
the second day, when we learned a lot about the history of the
town and how it developed into the beautiful touristic destination
it is today. Unfortunately, we were not able to go up the Igueldo
Mountain due to the adverse weather conditions, however our
exchange friends made it up to us with a trip to the
churros
café.
We visited the Cider Museum on the third day, where we made
apple juice in the traditional way and tried some cider. We were
also treated to a selection of different Spanish foods, including
chorizo and a special jam from the museum. We visited the town
of Hondarriba, which looks onto France and the views were
amazing. We discovered the town centre and ate some
tapas
and
pintxos
, which were delicious. In the evening, we went shopping in
the centre of San Sebastián with our exchange partners.
On the fourth day, we visited Bilbao and the Guggenheim
Museum, which was near the MTV EMAs stage! The museum had
art from many different time periods, from Picasso to a modern
exhibition by Joana Vasconcelos; it was very interesting. After that,
we went to the centre of Bilbao, where we were able to go the
largest shopping centre in Spain:
El Corte Inglés
. In the evening, we
all went out for some pizza, where we all had the opportunity to
talk to each other.
We spent the last day with our exchange families and my family
and I went up the two main mountains in San Sebastián: Monte
Igueldo and Monte Urgull. Both mountains looked out onto San
Sebastián and the views were breathtaking. After that, we got
lunch and then headed back out into San Sebastián’s lively centre,
where we spent the whole evening chatting and socialising.
Overall, the trip was great fun, as we practised our Spanish and
discovered a new region, but most importantly, we made new
friends and I am very excited for them to come to us in March. We
would like to thank Mr Urreaga and Ms Hague for organising it.
6 MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Spanish Tapas
Workshop
Davissen Thielamay, 5E
On Tuesday 13 of November all Fifth Form Spanish
students had the fantastic opportunity to take part in
an interactive tapas workshop. Organised by Mr Hay,
we were sure to have ‘
una experiencia inolvidable
’
and that’s exactly what we got. With all of us
embracing the language fully over our lessons this
widened our knowledge of Spanish culture and not
only improved our grasp of the language, but also
our skills in the kitchen!
With Spanish being as popular as it is there were pupils
aplenty, thus the sessions had to be split throughout the day
to ensure the richest experience overall. As an introduction to
the world of Spanish culinary art we were tasked with creating
our own
pan tumaca con jamón
(bread with tomato, olive oil
and ham). This task put us through our paces for the rest of the
session but regardless it was great fun.
Secondly, we all had the chance to contribute to the making
of a classic Spanish cold soup,
gazpacho
. Such a soup is
generally consumed in the hotter regions of southern Spain as
a refreshing dish. Our job was to dice the different vegetables
provided which were taken in and pieced together by the
professional Spanish chefs. As budding chefs this was a real
pleasure.
Finally, desert. We never lost interest or a drop of enthusiasm
throughout the session and we were fully rewarded. On the
menu was a Spanish treat known colloquially as
lenguas de
gato
. Translating as ‘cat tongues’, this was on the stranger of
sides of Spanish delicacies but nonetheless an enriching taste
followed our efforts. After piping the dough, we waited what
seemed hours for our gifts and once ready, Mr Hay took the
stage to judge what we had produced.
Having come third, I was very disappointed, but the real
purpose of today was to immerse ourselves in a world of
Spanish culture and food, and, thanks to Mr Hay and all of the
staff who helped organise this for us, we managed to gain an
irreplaceable experience.