Spanish Class Trip (Day 1)

We were supposed to depart school at 9 a.m. Friday morning, but a few people showed up “casually” late by almost an hour. The weather was also crummy which did not help at all considering it never rains in Madrid. About 3 hours into the trip we made a stop in the most random town ever. We literally arrived and the teachers were like, “Okay you guys have an hour to go find a place to eat, then we’ll get back on the road again”.  We started walking around and I feel like our group alone was just as big as the town population of 30 people. Everyone turned heads at us as if they have never seen that many people before even though 30 is not that many. Our first real stop was Ujue, Spain, which is part of Navarra. The town was perched high on a mountain with a desolate atmosphere. 

 

We took a guided tour of the town for about an hour and then continued on. It’s strange how Spain consists of small Pueblos (towns) with nothing around them except open land for miles. I could never live in a place such as this one regardless of how important to history it may be.  Eventually we arrived at our first hostel. Yes, I said hostel even though it should be called a ski lodge? Or maybe even just an apartment and not even consider calling it a hotel because this place was huge. I was in a 4 person room, but there were only 3 of us since one girl never came on the trip. Our room had a fully functional kitchen, dining area, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms. This was not what we expected at all but at least we got our money’s worth! 

Once everyone was settled in, we had a big group dinner downstairs which was very tasty and delicious. I had veggie puree/soup for my first course. My second course consisted of lomo (pork) and french-fries, which were delicious.  Dessert was simply drum-stick like ice cream cones. After dinner basically everyone hung out in one group’s apartment which was two floors high. I’m telling you, I felt like I should have had my skis/snowboard with me because it felt like a ski trip more than a Spanish class trip. This town is SO close to France you could literally take a rock and throw it over the border. I slept so well that night too. Not sure if it was because of the beds or because everyone was just tired from a long day of traveling and sightseeing! 

Me, Zach, Rob & Rita (SJU crew)