Spanish Exchange 

Elena Fuentes

March 2023

A week before February vacation began for Melrose High School, seventeen students, and two teachers landed in Valencia, Spain for the beginning of our Spanish exchange trip. We spent the first weekend with our host families, getting a chance to recover from jet lag, and immerse ourselves in the Spanish culture. 

Our first weekday was spent shadowing our Valencian host students throughout their school day. Spanish schools are very different from American schools, especially since they spend their whole school day in one classroom with the teachers coming to them instead of traveling to every period. Spanish schools also do not use technology, and the teachers write on chalkboards while students take written notes. 

The rest of our weekdays were spent going on field trips with just the group of us. We took the metro to the city center, and toured many beautiful, historical buildings. We also went to L'Oceanogràfic, a massive aquarium located at the “City of Arts and Sciences”. Personally, my favorite trip we took was to the towns of Sagunto and Peniscola. In these towns we saw Ancient Roman ruins and a castle that’s older than the United States. We visited many museums, and walked around the city center a lot. One of the most striking parts of our trip was touring the city’s cathedral, which had beautiful artwork and architecture. 

After eleven days spent in Valencia, we said goodbye to our host families and took a bus for a day trip to Toledo. In Toledo we took a tour of the city, and saw another beautiful cathedral. We also saw a famous painting by El Greco called “The Burial of the Count of Orgasz” from 1568. 

That same day, we continued our bus trip to spend the night in Madrid. We toured the Prado art museum, which had so many famous paintings. Later that day, we went to the Royal Palace of Madrid. Even though the royal family no longer lives here, the tour still allowed us to look at more gorgeous architecture. 

After our short stint in Madrid, we woke up early the next morning for our long flight back home to Boston. The two weeks we spent in Spain was a once in a lifetime experience for many, and was definitely worth it.