Monday was our first official day in Madrid. Not only was this our first official field trip, but it was also the day the students got to meet my personal hero, Ramón. Ramón is an incredible educator who loves life, languages, learning and people. Is incredible as he is, he is notorious for changing his walking direction 32 times in 1 minute and sprinting through Madrid! We walked 8.5 miles in total. We started off at the National Library, took a brisk walk to El Museo del Prado, arguably one of the most important museums in the world, where our Spanish 4 curriculum came to life. We took a break for lunch and shopping only to reunite at El parque de Retiro. More on our trip and Ramón below.
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“The walk around madrid was a blast! Such a beautiful place. Ramon is amazing! We went to El Retiro and it was such a beautiful scenery. The best part was riding the boats in the water and finally eating churros con chocolate. During the boat ride, we almost went under the fountain and tipped the boat. We got a little wet, while the boat got soaked. It was so funny because everyone on the stairs sitting and looking out at the water saw us and heard us screaming and freaking out. We caused a scene, but a great memory for all. The rain stopped and it became such a beautiful day, and we walked so much, but it was a great adventure.”
-Elaine
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“On Monday we went to Madrid and saw El Museo del Prado. We met Ramon and he is the cutest little man I’ve ever met. I feel like he’s probably been alive forever. We also saw this glass palace when we walked through Parque Retiro. We also went on these little boats and made Coleman row it.”
-Marissa
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“Madrid was really fun. We got to see paintings in El Prado that we had learned about previously in Spanish class. My favorite part was definitely the row boats in the park and the Crystal Palace. It was gorgeous. Ramon, our guide was awesome. He’s so nice and knows so much, though he never seems to know which direction to go!”
-Alexandria
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“Madrid was amazing!! I think I’ve walked more here these past couple days than I have in my whole life, but it is totally worth it.
The Museo Del Prado was awesome and it was cool learning about the backstory of all the pieces of art, even though we got lost once or twice or… 7 times.
The park was beautiful, and everything about it was calming and soothing expect probably Angela, Brie, and I laughing the whole time, and it was nice to relax and take photos. We went on paddle boats here and although I’m not a big fan I got to watch people get soaked by the water fountain, and people laughing at us as we almost get soaked our selves, so I guess it was worth it.
Palacio de Cristal was amazingly beautiful, and it reminded me of Uncle Montys reptile room, which is a great comparison, and also movie.
This exchange is such an amazing opportunity and I’m so glad I did this, I cannot wait to see what other great things and great laughs are in store for me!!!!”
The Museo Del Prado was awesome and it was cool learning about the backstory of all the pieces of art, even though we got lost once or twice or… 7 times.
The park was beautiful, and everything about it was calming and soothing expect probably Angela, Brie, and I laughing the whole time, and it was nice to relax and take photos. We went on paddle boats here and although I’m not a big fan I got to watch people get soaked by the water fountain, and people laughing at us as we almost get soaked our selves, so I guess it was worth it.
Palacio de Cristal was amazingly beautiful, and it reminded me of Uncle Montys reptile room, which is a great comparison, and also movie.
This exchange is such an amazing opportunity and I’m so glad I did this, I cannot wait to see what other great things and great laughs are in store for me!!!!”
-Becca
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“Today has been my absolute favorite day so far. Ramon was so cute and the best tour guide we could ask for he knew so much about everything. The museum was so cool to see the three different periods of Goya. The boats were amazing and the weather turned out so beautiful and it was so relaxing and an amazing experience.”
-Jaimee
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“Today was the best day so far!! We first got to meet the amazing Ramon:) then went to a beautiful museum. After, we got to walk around and see a new part of Madrid and also got to go on the boats a la Parque de El Retiro. It was by far the absolute best 6€ spent!!!”
-Carli
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“Monday in Madrid i had the best day ever! We saw many beautiful places including an old royal church, a museum, the library, and their center city park. My favorite part was walking around the park. Inside the park was many things including, a lake which we went on a fun row boat ride (which was my favorite part of the day) and then we walked around and saw a building completely made of glass it was so beautiful. but not once did i see a squirrel inside the park? it was weird. Spain is very different from America, I like it much more here.”
-Jada
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“Hola everyone,
On Monday, we visited Madrid and got to meet the infamous Ramon. The day began bus us losing him in the train station in Villalba, and having to wait at the National Library. Once we reconnected, we saw many of the very famous paintings in the Prado Museum. From Goya to Velazquez to Rubens, we saw many of the works we studied in Spanish VI, and were able to understand parts of them better because of that. Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures within the museum, but my picture is of the black swans on the lake by “El Palacio de Cristal” in the Parque del Retiro. I really enjoyed the buildings, the art, and the atmosphere associated with the park.”
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“On Monday, we took our first field trip to Madrid. It was incredible! El Museo Del Prado is so big I feel like I could spend days there and still not see all of the art. I really loved El Parque de Retiro, which is a park in Madrid similar to Central Park in New York. I think the one in Madrid is much prettier. There are even some wild cats who roam the park! We went out on the lake that’s in the park in canoes, which was very fun, especially because the weather was so nice. The sun came out and it was a lovely day to walk 10 miles.”
-Laura F.
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“One of my favorite experiences in Madrid today was the rowboats at the Parque del Retiro. The Parque del Retiro was so beautiful and I enjoyed walking down the seemingly endless rows of trees and shrubbery because I did not feel like I was in the middle of a bustling city. The weather was also great as we finally saw the sun shine brightly along with a blue sky while in Spain. The rowboats were my favorite part of the park because it was fun to spend time with my friends in them and enjoy the natural beauty of the scenery of the park together.”
-Sheila
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“On Monday, we all went to the famous museum Prado and saw paintings by Velazquez, a little bit of Greco, and Goya. After that we walked to Retiro Park and got churros, went row boating, and looked around the gardens of the park. We continued to walk throughout the park the whole day and saw many different fountains, animals, and monuments. We visited a building called the Glass Palace which is completely made up of glass and took many photos, then finished up our walk to the train station and went home.”
-Leila
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“Our first field trip to Madrid was amazing. Ramon took us to everywhere and had facts and stories to go with everything that he showed us. The park was incredible as it looked perfect in every way. The Prado was an overwhelming amount of art. There was so much to see and it was breathtaking to walk around in.”
-Coleman
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“Today was very fun, my favorite part of the day was the big park and going on the boats. At the park I got churros con chocolate which is my new favorite food :). I also enjoyed the dog we saw that was “singing” to the guy playing the tuba. The museum had many cool pieces of art and they were interesting to learn about especially with Ramon.”
-Sarah
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“Monday in Madrid was my favorite day in Spain so far. We saw so many cool things and the weather was so nice! We first stopped at a library and Ms. De Sousa’s friend, Ramon, told us about the statues outside. He then took us around Madrid and told us about important and cool buildings we would pass. Then, we went to Museo de Prado and Ramon showed us his favorite paintings. After, he took us to Retiro Park. After an hour to explore, we got to ride row boats. Before we left, we saw a “rain forest” in the train station.”
-Olivia
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“Beautiful day in Madrid! I had so much fun on the boats and had some delicious churros too.”
-Melinda
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“I had so much fun in Madrid yesterday. I’d have to say my favorite part was row boating. Everything around us was so beautiful and it was such a fun experience with friends. I also immensely enjoyed the glass palace. I have never been to a more peaceful place I could not believe it. I finally got to try churros with chocolate which, of course, were great!”
-Brie
