Spain 2-Week

We start our two week adventure in Madrid. Upon arrival from our overnight flight, we are greeted by our Global Works leaders at the airport and transported to our hostel. We'll have some time to rest before beginning orientation and language activities in the famous Retiro Park.

For the next eight days we will be based at the Fundacion Escuela de Solidaridad, near historic Granada. As we learn over the course of the week, FES is a very special community composed of people from all walks of life throughout Spain, Europe, and even Africa!  Everyone who lives there contributes to different work projects throughout the community, while also learning job skills that will help them upon departure from FES.  Our projects vary from day to day and include working in the preschool, teaching English, preparing meals, gardening, building greenhouses, making candles, and even creating a mosaic as a reminder of our presence and the important projects we have completed.

Being so close to the city, we'll be able to visit the beautiful Alhambra, a moorish palace-city and "paradise on earth" for the rulers who lived here in the 13th century. We'll get on our dancing shoes for a flamenco dance lesson and enjoy a performance at one of the caves in the gypsy neighborhood known as Sacromonte. Our time here is short, but the lessons learned here stay with students for a lifetime.

We return to Madrid for the final days of our trip. Our hostel is right off the Puerta del Sol and gives us easy access to the cosmopolitan inner city and the palaces of another era. During our stay we'll visit the world-renowned Prado Museum, stroll through the Plaza Mayor, relax in Retiro Park, and take in an optional bullfight. There will also be a day trip to the historic city of Toledo, once the capital of the Spanish empire and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A final celebratory dinner will provide the backdrop as we exchange laughter and stories from the past two weeks. Although you are sad to be leaving, you are confident that Spain's allure will be tempting you to return for many years to come.