Spanish Trip to Salamanca

Salamanca, a final walk through history.

The Spanish study trip to Salamanca began on a clear, cool morning in York as we set off at 9am on Sunday 31 March towards Stansted airport. The drive down to London passed without incident and the flight was just as uneventful which made me worry that something amiss was about to happen and that we had walked onto the wrong plane. I need not have worried as when we arrived our Spanish driver, Javier, was waiting with a smile to whisk us off straight to Salamanca where our host families were waiting to greet us with kisses and best wishes and to escort us to our homes for the coming week.

The next morning was clear and dry but slightly chillier than anticipated and classes started at 9am where the students were left in the capable hands of their teachers for the week who they would be seeing for over 4 hours every day for the next five days. After the first day’s classes we managed to explore the local area and discovered a city similar to York which has the feel of a modern university town but with a rich culture and history which you can explore at your leisure without the fear of being flattened by an HGV. There is culture at every corner from the historic facades of the old university to the, very impressive, towers of the cathedral but there was also the incessant succession of students and strollers who packed the inviting terraces of historic cafés like “Novelty” that once played host to writers like Miguel de Unamuno and Ortega y Gasset. In the middle of the first day the sun began to emerge so we were able to enjoy sitting in the sunshine in the Plaza Mayor watching the world go by while stuffing our faces with every flavour of ice cream that we could get our hands on.

“There is culture at every corner from the historic facades of the old university to the, very impressive, towers of the cathedral.”

Luckily the sun decided to hang around for a few days and we were blessed with early summer temperatures until the end of the week when we had Yorkshire weather for a couple of days to get us ready for the return home. As well as spending a lot of time in La Plaza Mayor there were many trips including: visits to the cathedrals to search for “la Rana de Salamanca”, a visit to the “Casa Lis” to look at some very creepy dolls and a trip to “El Huerto de Calixto”, a lovers’ garden where couples have taken up the Italian habit of locking a padlock to a wrought-iron well in the gardens to signify their everlasting love. None of the pupils could be persuaded to leave a token of their undying amor for

each other and preferred instead to strike model poses and take “action” shots and a few thousand selfies.

We had lunch and dinner on most of the days with our families, the majority of the group seemed to enjoy the meals as they were given a real gastronomic variety of Spanish cuisine. Our hosts collectively cooked every Spanish dish under the sun and gently tried to force feed us every day which we did our best to work off by walking miles around the city. My personal record was 32,000 steps (16 miles) so not only did we have culture and education but sport as well. It is a positive experience for the pupils to meet people this welcoming and our hosts were open and generous at all times in the homestay. All of the other families and staff at the school were typically Spanish in their unreserved approach and showed a genuine welcome towards all members of the party. We did try to sample the local night life when we took a trip out for tapas, a movie (Almodóvar left us a little confused) and a visit to the “zona de los bares” but the Spanish work on a different body clock so while they were venturing out we were already tucked up with Cola Cao and galletas.

“It is a positive experience for the pupils to meet people this welcoming.”

There were many highlights on this trip: the usefulness of the classes, the constant exposure to the language or the first-hand experience of Spanish history and culture but I would say that the most important benefit that emerges from these trips is that our pupils learn more about the hospitality of a genuinely charming race of people and that our Spanish hosts experience the warmth and charisma of our pupils, of whom we should all feel very proud. I will miss many things upon my departure from teaching this year and the Spanish Trip to Salamanca will be very near the top of my list.

Thanks go to Mrs Lopez and the students for their full participation (with some pretty impressive dancing) and good humour throughout the week.

Mr Mike Duffy