Photo courtesy of Leslie Burwell
During Spring Break, a group of seven Northwood students traveled to Spain to experience the culture. They started in Madrid and worked their way through the towns of Cordova, Toledo, Seville, Malago and Costa del Sol.
One of the students on the trip, junior Joseph Lorbacher, particularly enjoyed Madrid.
“It was like New York City, but I think it was better,” Lorbacher said. “It was a lot cleaner and just more fun. It was nicer there too.”
While the group was in Madrid, they spent one evening learning how to flamenco dance.
“The flamenco dancing was probably my favorite,” senior Rachel Yanders said. “It was really personal; we were in a studio with one teacher and then we got a show afterwards.”
Senior Natalie Huggins liked Seville the best.
“My favorite place was Seville because it was less stressful than Madrid but not boring,” Huggins left. “It smells like oranges everywhere you walk.”
Art teacher Leslie Burwell, was the leader of the trip. She loved seeing all of the art in Spain.
“When you go to Europe as an art person, one of the reasons to go is that a lot of the art is not in museums,” said Burwell. “It’s just everywhere. It’s life.”
For Huggins and Burwell, seeing the Holy Week processions were especially memorable.
“When the big float with Jesus on the cross stopped right in front of us and it had the band playing really loud and we were right in the middle of it, that was really memorable and moving,” Huggins said.
A few of the students experienced a culture shock on their first trip to Spain.
“Everybody dresses to the nines,” Huggins said. “Lots of husbands—future husbands.”
Even the Spanish was different in Spain.
“Here in school we learn the Latin American and you go to Spain and the accent is completely different,” Yanders said. “They speak so much faster too. It is so hard to understand it. Like when we were on the plane, and they were speaking a different kind of Spanish than we knew.”
Travelling out of the country on a trip not connected to the school was a unique experience these students will remember for the rest of their lives.
– By Peri Kennihan
