Since coming back from Spain students have had the chance to ask questions, see pictures, and learn more about all things Spain. Many of the questions have been centered around school, students and what life is like for kids growing up in Spain, which makes sense since students are kids. I tell students all about my observations from my school visits, but it’s just not the same as going yourself. The next best thing would be to learn about student life from actual students. Luckily there is a way I can make this happen. I contacted our tour guide from […]
Easter in Cuzco
Happy Easter weekend! Although this Easter will be spent at home with family, I will never forget the Easter I spent in the Andes in Cuzco, Peru. It was my first big trip without my family and I was a bit terrified to travel with a group of people I barely knew. The leap of faith was totally worth it! Traveling during a major holiday was an experience in itself. We were in Cuzco for Easter and the main square was abuzz with activity and people. Men and women were dressed in their Sunday finest. Indigenous Quechuan women walked through […]
Spain Day at DWS
Happy Friday! This week our school celebrated global learning in a big way. The whole school participated in Spain Day, a day filled with fun activities and celebrations of all things Spain. Teachers who recently traveled to Spain have share much of what they learned with their classes, but this gave teachers a chance to share what they had learned with the school as a whole. To gear up for the big day, 5th grade students made posters to remind students to wear red and yellow for the Spainish flag or a soccer jersey, since that is the […]
Preparing for Greece
Time to dust off my suitcase again, not that it has had much time to accumulate dust. In less than a month I will be on my way to Greece! After an overnight flight, transfer to a second flight in Germany, where my sister and I will meet up with a friend, we will be in Athens. We will spend a few days in Athens and then hop on another plane to take us to Santorini for the remainder of our trip. Honestly I can’t decide what I am most excited about as we plan out our time in Greece. Here is a […]
Learning to Salsa- Classroom Connection
Travel sometimes presents some unexpected benefits. A little gem that emerged from Spain was learning to Salsa dance. You may wonde how salsa dancing translates to the classroom? Well, on a large scale our school is preparing for a Spain Day, to celebrate everything students have learned about Spain. Students from my classroom are learning to salsa dance each morning from their very salsa dance skilled (not!) teacher. Each morning for the last two weeks, we have begun our day learning new steps and practicing a routine I put together from my lesson we took in Spain. It has been […]
First Time For Everything, Hostel Stay in Helsinki
Well, I went ahead and did it. The other day I officially booked my flight to Helsinki and back home from Munich for my summer adventure. June can’t come fast enough! I am so excited to spend a few weeks exploring Finland, where my great grandparents came from, and then set out to see a few other places in Europe. Even better, my sister and I will get to spend some quality time getting to know relatives we have in Turku! But before we meet our relatives, and before my sister arrives in Helsinki, I have decided to take a […]
Sagrada Familía- Classroom Connection
Happy Friday! Before we jump into another weekend I thought I’d share a fun travel teachable moment from this week in my classroom. I could not have asked for a better connection to my recent trip to Spain. This past weekend in the Sunday Boston Globe, there was an article in the travel section about La Sagrada Familía. Thanks to my mum and dad (who still reads a print paper these days?!) I was made aware of this perfect connection to my recent trip to Spain. Thanks mum! Big color pictures of the famous basilica and a short article filled an […]
Alhambra
One of my favorite sites we visited in Spain was the Alhambra. What made this place extra special besides the beautiful views, intricate details and amazing history, was the fact that my mum and grandmother visited Alhambra when my mum was in high school. I felt an extra special connection to this site knowing that the two women that I love the most in this world had also seen it. I miss my grandmother, Gikee everyday and so visiting a place that she had seen and told me about made the experience all that more magical. Alhambra is located in Granada […]
Las Ramblas and the Boqueria
Happy Friday! I can’t believe it was now two weeks ago that I was in Spain. Today I thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane to our last day of the trip. We ended our time in Barcelona and after a full day of sightseeing it was perfect to enjoy a few hours to strolling down Las Ramblas, a hustle and bustle pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants. Here were some of my favorite moments from those few uninterrupted hours. 1.Eating paella with friends. I was bound and determined to try some paella […]
Tapas and More
Talking about my trip to Spain would not be complete without a post about the food. As someone who has eaten the same breakfast everyday for the last 3 years, and easy find myself in a food rut, it may surprise you that while traveling I throw all caution to the wind and will eat just about anything. My feeling is I may not have the chance to have camel (Australia), guinea pig (Peru) or blood sausage (Spain) again, so I might as well give it a try! Spain did not disappoint as far as new foods were concerned. Everywhere […]