Hawthorne School Spain 2023

April 25, 2023

After about 10 or 11 hours of travel, we arrived in Malaga. After an hour bus ride, we arrived at the Fundación Escuela de Solidaridad in Sierra Elvira. We got the tour of the surroundings, in español of course, and learned about the culture and the community, as well as our roles for the next day in each of the areas the residents work in as well. We also took a walk around the town, which is very small and quiet.

Showers were much appreciated and rooms were assigned before we went for a lovely meal made by our hosts. The meal consisted of chicken, potatoes, salad, asparagus soup and fruit. Afterwards, went over the schedule for the next day.
The night ended with much needed rest and a game of Uno to calm the nerves of arriving to a new place and we got ready for our first day of work tomorrow!
By Sam S.

April 26, 2023

We started our day off with breakfast at 8:00am with the FES community. Then we had a group meeting in the Casa Africana. By 9:30am we started our community service for the day. Some of us worked on making lunch in the paneria, some designed clothes to sell and made prints, others worked in the ceramic and candle making studios, or helped to paint the pool to ready it for summer.

At 1:00pm we met again at the Casa Africana to hear the stories of some of the FES residents. Then we had lunch with the FES community, and by 3:15 we were on the bus to Grenada. We got off the bus in a very cute town area and took a very cool flamenco dance class with a very nice woman. We learned the footwork, two different kinds of clapping (one when the singer is singing which is quieter and a louder one when the singer is quiet) and practiced with partners. After the class we found a cute cafe and got coffee and pastries and walked around.

Around 6:30pm we went back to the restaurant where we took our flamenco dance class at sat down for dinner. We had strawberry tomato gazpacho, Ham croquettes, bread and cheeses, Truffle potatoes and scrambled eggs, fried cod and various desserts. Then at 8:00 we watched a flamenco performance. It was super unique and interesting. Everyone was super intrigued by it and speaking on behalf of everyone it was a fun performance to experience for the first time.

We then took a bus back to FES, talked about things we learned about today, things we appreciate, our concerns and more…

Shortly after it was uno and bedtime 🙂

By Isola & Charlotte

April 27, 2023

Breakfast was at 8 am and then we got on the bus to Alhambra in Granada. Alhambra was a castle overlooking Granada, built in the 8th century. It was occupied by Moors and then by the Spanish monarchy. The grounds consisted of gardens, fountains and beautiful Muslim architecture. A tour of the castle from our tour guide, Juan, gave us insight into what each part of the castle might have been used for. The tour was long but we all made sure we got our steps in.
After the tour, a short bus ride and a longer walk took us to lunch. Afterwards, we went to Casa Kuna, a secondhand store run by the FES community. There we gained insight into the program and worked in the store, as some of us made bracelets with Maya, a volunteer.
Afterwards, we changed our money from dollars to euros and split up to explore. We met up at a Plaza and took a short walk back to the bus and we took a short rest for our feet. Dinner was burgers with the FES community and they presented us with gifts made here by the residents and volunteers. We went to bed a little early, exhausted from the long day.

By Johanna and Charlotte H.

April 28, 2023

Today we woke up at 7:30 to eat breakfast and get on the the bus to Córdoba. On the two hour bus ride most of us napped. When we arrived we went to a cafe and got espresso and tostadas. After we went to the museum of the Mesquita de Cordoba and learned about it though an interactive scavenger hunt and a self guided tour. Next we walked to the Mesquita de Córdoba where we learned about its history and looked at many intricate sculptures, paintings, and other artifacts most of which depicted Christian stories. Afterwards, we headed into the touristy shop area, and had lunch at Bodegas de Mezquita. Afterwards we shopped around until 3, at which point we met up and got back on the bus and drove two hours to our hotel in Sevilla. Once we got settled in, we went to Las Setas Plaza, and then broke into groups for dinner. At 9:30, we regrouped for ice cream and headed back to the hotel.

By Torrin and Henri

April 29, 2023

It’s still super hot today, about low 80 to 90. We took a tour in the Triana market (I was built in 1823) where we got to know saffron, a spice from a certain flower growing in the center of Spain. We saw different kinds of olives for dishes, beer and oil production. Our tour guide also talked a bit about the huge cow legs and chili powder, which also are the two popular ingredients in Spanish food. Then we hit straight to our cooking class. We took the class in a restaurant in the market called ANDALUZ. David, who’s both our teacher and the main chief of the restaurant, taught us how to make gazpacho, which is a drink made of tomatoes, one pepper, and a tooth of garlic, and paella, which is a dish consists of chicken, beans, peas, artichoke, rice, and spices.

We got a challenge of finding items in the market from Marcela and Teresa, our leaders, and after some free time for shopping and wandering, we headed back to our hotel. I believe everyone took a sweet nap because even the four boys got at least an hour of sleep.

At 5pm, we walked all the way from our hotel to the Feria fair grounds to see the Spanish dancing and the cool buildings. Then we went for dinner. We took a bus to join the Sevilla festival grounds right after dinner. There was crowded and loud music playing everywhere (I hope everyone had fun cause I did). At about 12pm we left the festival and found a neat place to watch the fireworks, which were the best ones I’ve ever seen!

By Lee

April 30, 2023

The morning started from the breakfast and meeting in the hallway of the hotel. Then we had a tour. It covered a lot of history of Sevilla, architecture and culture. We’ve seen the “mushroom” building and what is under it, and between the past and present. We also visited a castle, El Real Alcázar, and walked in beautiful gardens.
We had some free time to walk around and then had lunch in a restaurant. After lunch everybody went back to the hotel to take clothes to the laundry or take a shower.

Then some people went to see the cathedral and we saw and incredible view out of one of towers. Inside the cathedral were a lot of strained glass and altars. After that we had ice cream (Kinder Bueno was the best one!) Next stop was a museum of optical illusions. Probably the most fun museum (for me). We took photos and our eyes wondered in the infinity room. When we returned back to the hotel we had a 10 minute break and then we had dinner. When we went back to the hotel, we listened to music and packed our things all together.

By Anastasia