Events And Gallery

REPORT: SPANISH EXCHANGE PROGRAMME
-by Sonia Aroul
Date : 20 April 2019
DATES OF THE TRIP TO SPAIN: 05 – 14 APRIL 2019
NAME OF SCHOOL: COLEGIO VIRGEN DE EUROPA
ADDRESS: C/ Valle de Santa Ana, 1 - Urbanización "Las Lomas" 28669 Boadilla del Monte – Madrid -Spain ; WWW.CVE.EDU.ES

NAMES OF STUDENTS:

Name of accompanying teacher: Sonia Aroul

05 April 2019 – Friday: Arrived at Madrid, met host families and relaxed

06 April 2019 – Saturday: Spent time with their respective host families and had a welcome party in the evening at Equinocio – Mall with Bowling alley and games hub.

07 April 2019 – Sunday: Spent time with their respective host families.

08 April 2019 - Monday: Welcome at school. They attended different classes and interacted with Spanish Students. They went to an IB Class and spoke about Indian Culture.

09 April 2019 – Tuesday: A full day excursion was arranged by the school to Madrid. The “recorrido” or walk started from the “Palacio Real” or Royal Palace which has around 3500 rooms and has an imperial architecture. After the palace, we went to the cathedral of Madrid called “Catedral de Almudena”. The Arab walls that used to be like a fort around the city of Madrid were seen after that.

10 April 2019 – Wednesday: Students started their day making “gazpacho” – Spanish cold soup made with tomatoes. The head chef of the school cafeteria guided them to prepare the ingredients for the soup. All students enthusiastically helped in washing and peeling tomatoes, cucumber and soaking bread to make the soup. Using a hand grinder each student helped in finally making the soup to a uniform consistency. Everyone enjoyed the joint effort and the result of the activity was the “gazpacho” which was appreciated at the end.
The students had a dance session and they learnt to dance “sevillanas” –

Flamenco – Traditional Spanish dance.

Classes at school – they attended different classes at school – English, Philosophy etc

Students as Jury: they attended an English Oratorical event of the School and they evaluated the performance of the contestants. The results of the Suncity students matched with that of the teachers.

11 April 2019 – Thursday: The school arranged a day excursion to Toledo – a beautiful medieval city in the autonomous region of Castile–La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive monumental and cultural heritage. Students enjoyed the scenic beauty of Toledo which encompasses the splendour of three cultures – Arabic, Jewish and Catholic in all spheres of life especially in architecture. They visited the famous museum of the artist “El Greco” and saw the famous cathedral.

12 April 2019 – Friday: The last day excursion arranged by the school was, to Segovia, a city in the autonomous region of Castile and León. The city is famous for its historic monuments including its midtown Roman Aqueduct. The city centre of Segovia was declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1985. The Aqueduct which is more than 2000 years old was visited. The castle – “El Alcazar” which was an inspiration for Walt Disney for Disney Land was also seen.

13 April 2019 – Saturday: Students spent time with their host families and had their farewell parties.

14 April 2019 – Sunday: Morning Departure from Madrid

SOME SUGGESTIONS:

1. Minimum of 2 teachers to accompany children so that in case of any untoward incident there can be better control and support. Besides, in case any thing happens to one teacher there could be the other one to pitch in.

2 Contingency fund – in order to meet any unforeseen expenses. 

3. Per diem allowance for teachers to cover their basic expenses.