Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy Spain 2024

March 26, 2024

This day we officially got to explore the town from the big streets to the small alleys. It was so much fun walking to the flamenco class, because none of us knew where we were going so we were all just looking and taking everything in! The little shops and streets although hilly were amazing and beautifully paved with rocks. After walking for a little while, we attended a flamenco class. We learned a small routine and later went to dinner and watched professionals perform. We saw a lot of different cultures and people. Including the start of the Semana Santa, with all the outfits. It was sunny which was nice. We loved touring the city. We truly felt like real locals. We were able to indulge in the culture and embrace it.

By Brianna, Ella, Amelie, Anaiis

March 27, 2024

Today we all adventured from the city of Granada into the Fundación Escuela de Solidaridad to settle in and meet the community. We walked through the space and immediately helped the community with service of setting up chairs for their theater that this community has been excited for for the past two years. It made us so happy to be here and thankful for the opportunity to be here. We had a wonderful lunch and got to play soccer with some of the kids of the FES community. It was so much fun running around – it made our day!

After siesta, we had a walk around the premises of the community and got to have an amazing tour seeing all the parts of the community with its founder, Ignacio. It was so cool to meet someone so passionate about helping others. It made us feel so empowered and fortunate to be here helping this amazing community. We got to experience a super special evening of reflections and introductions from members of the community and are excited and thankful for this opportunity to be here with everyone.

Our dinner was super delicious and it was pretty cool to be able to connect and practice our Spanish speaking skills with them. We concluded our night with a group reflection and discussed our highlights and appreciations from the day. We shared a quote reminding us to always have an optimistic outlook and make the most of every experience we share!

By Sophia and Ava

March 28, 2024

Today we woke up at FES and shared a fresh meal of toast, tomatoes, ham, and hot cocoa! It was so special to share this meal with the community because of the hard work they put into cooking and sharing their skill with us. After breakfast we split into groups and were able to experience a variety of stations where we learned from the specialists in the community! The groups rotated through ceramics, sewing, marmalade making, mosaic building, and child care, and we all felt so empowered at the end of the period because of the new skills we obtained! My group started with the mosaic building, and we came up with the idea of crafting our school’s shield as a way to leave our mark. This was such a special opportunity because we worked alongside some members in the community to smash tile, form the design, and plaster it to the wall. Just like the food they cooked for us this morning, these activities were all ways we learned from the community and their own personal skills. Being able to learn from the members of the community made us feel special and welcomed as they all enthusiastically showed us their ways, even if there was a language barrier.

After lunch, we broke into two more groups and were taught to create masks and candles. The mask workshop was so interesting because we were able to use our creativity to help make masks for a parade that will be taking place in May. The theme was the five senses, and we used materials such as fabric, cardboard, paint, and string to craft our designs. We were taught to step out of our comfort zone and use materials we may not have been comfortable with before that point. We felt so appreciative for this special opportunity to share with the community.

For dinner we cooked pizza with our new friend Dora’s help! She showed us how to roll out the dough correctly and place the toppings in the perfect position for the most delicious outcome! As we waited for the pizza to cook, we played soccer and basketball with our new friends up at the field. This was such a special experience because even though we didn’t speak each other’s language, we figured out ways of communicating with each other such as acting out what we were trying to say, and using the few words we did know to help each other our. We taught them how to play the basketball game called horse, and they taught us a basketball game called veinte uno. We went back to the house feeling accomplished and proud to have made new friends whom we will never forget. We shared dinner with laughs and stories of our day and things we learned from the members of the community. After dinner, we all piled into the little cottage at the center of the FES community and were joined by a group of children along with our new friends as we snuggled in on the fuzzy carpets and watched a movie together. At our night meeting, we reflected on the wonderful experiences of the day, and went to bed so grateful for this experience to be in Spain sharing this time with each other and our new friends.

By Elise

March 29, 2024

Today, March 29th, we started our morning off with a delicious meal of tomatoes, bread, donuts and croissants! Que delicioso! After eating, we got ready to head into town to visit the Alhambra and go shopping at all the stores we previously passed by but couldn’t go into. The Alhambra was one of the most beautiful places I have visited. Although the weather wasn’t great, we made the best of the situation and were still able to take in the breathtaking views. Every spot that we visited was even more beautiful than the first. I never expected to be that shocked by it. Our tour guide, Marteen, was an absolute expert and had so much knowledge about every aspect of the palace. My favorite spot we visited was the Patio of the Lions, which consisted of a fountains, sculptures of lions and my favorite part, 4 streams of water leading to the main fountain in the middle, representing the paradise: Heaven. One of Marteen’s fun facts about it was built by Mohamed V, a Nasir sultan, who wanted the patio to be his personal oasis. I took so many pictures of every part of the palace, I’m honestly surprised that the storage on my phone isn’t full! Also, while we were waiting our turn to take a tour of inside the palace, we were able to visit the gift shop, and take a look at the amazing items they had to offer. After our beautiful tour, we boarded our bus which took us to Casa Kuna, where we had lunch. The wonderful staff, especially Dora, created a great meal of sandwiches, chips and sformato. Sformato is an Italian dish made from rice and eggs which is baked in an oven. It was so delicious. After finishing our meals, we did an activity inside Casa Kuna. Payton, Elise and I wrote everyone’s names down on little papers and we played a little game of Secret Santa, Casa Kuna version! The most fun part is that we included 3 members of the FES community, Dan, Italo and Diogo. We all randomly picked names out of a basket and began shopping around Casa Kuna to find the perfect gift for the person we selected. It was so hard to decide on the best gift, as there were so many options to choose from. We gave each other our gifts, and soon headed out to begin shopping. We first shopped on Calle Elvira, which consisted of many Arabian and Moroccan inspired stores. There were so many trinkets, and beautifully crafted gifts, I wanted to buy them all! After shopping on Calle Elvira for an hour, we regrouped and headed to Calle Recogidas, where the store we were all excited for, Zara, was. Unfortunately we got to the street and realized that because of Good Friday, all of the stores were closed! We were disappointed but kept walking down the street. To cheer us up, Carlos and Teresa were so kind and brought us to an ice cream shop, where they bought us all ice cream and other treats. After our much needed treat, we boarded the bus to go back to FES. We returned to FES and had some time to rest and get ready for dinner. Our dinner began at exactly 7:36 PM, because we were warmly welcomed by the Muslim community at FES to join them for Iftar dinner.
Lokà explained us the meaning of Ramadan and the feast, that teaches you discipline. The meal was one of the best dinners I have ever had. We began the feast with dates, to break the fast before eating harira soup, traditional chicken with olives and potatoes, hard boiled eggs with cumin and salt and for dessert, Moroccan pastries. The meal was flavorful, hearty and just so delicious. I truly enjoyed every dish. After dinner, we were able to rest and get ready for bed before the night meeting. At the night meeting, we shared our unforgettable memories and favorite moments of the day. Today was one for the books, as all of our activities gave me the opportunity to make great memories that I will forever cherish.

By Chelsea

March 30, 2024

Today we woke up at 8:00 to have breakfast at 8:30. All the girls get ready and we hurry to get in the bathrooms quickly before they are taken. We enjoy a meal with the community all together sharing bread, with tomatoes and ham, with fruits, juices and some donuts. After breakfast, we got our stuff and went back to the workshops for two more rotations. My group worked and helped the babies in the guardería, and then immediately went to the sewing shop to make bags. Maartje helped us in the shop and told us the do’s and dont’s of how to work with the materials. We made small bags with different fabrics and colorful pockets. After this, we took a bus to the mall for a few hours. We were able to check out all the popular stores in Spain and try Spanish food and snacks. We also visited an arcade and participated in this fun rope course! We went back home, ate this wonderful pasta had our night meeting to go over the day and plans for tomorrow. I journaled and Ms. Kozakar made her nightly tea. Some of the seniors did Kozakar’s makeup as we drank our tea and then had lights out at 11.

By Gabi

March 31, 2024

For our last day in Spain, we spent it in Malaga. After a quick breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed towards the city. We visited the Picasso Museum and were able to learn about his life and see his fascinating paintings. Then, we walked to a cafe close by to grab some coffee and churros with chocolate dipping sauce. We then had a quick drive to a place where we cooked a delicious meal the main dish being paella. We also made sides of cheese bread, guacamole, and sangria without alcohol. Our group then walked to the beach and enjoyed the view before driving back to a main street where we had time to shop and learn more about the city. We returned back to the FES community and had our final dinner which was a fiesta with burgers and karaoke. Today was the perfect end to our great adventure in Spain! Overall I think this trip made us all better and more respectful travelers and gave us the ability to learn some Spanish.
By Ava S.