Students visit Madrid

24 Feb Students visit Madrid

During February half term a group of Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE Spanish students flew off to Madrid with Miss Williams and Mr Barratt to practise their Spanish, eat lots of traditional food, see the city and experience the Spanish culture.

When we arrived in Spain in the evening, we headed out to ‘El Tigre’ Tapas restaurant, where we ate our weight in Patatas Bravas, Jamón, Queso, Tortilla Española, Pollo and Champiñones. We also went for an evening walk around the area we were staying and grabbed a tasty ice cream.

Day 2 kicked off with a sunny walk to the local bakery where the students got to practise their Spanish by ordering their packed lunch. We then headed to Retiro Park, where we saw turtles, an edgy art exhibition and rowed boats on the lake. Some students got quite competitive and were rather aggressive rowers. After a relaxing row, we enjoyed a mini picnic in the park and enjoyed the Spanish sunshine. The afternoon was dedicated to visiting the Royal Palace, where we saw the luxurious residence of King Felipe IV and his predecessors. In the evening, we enjoyed a tapas dinner at 100 Montaditos, where all pupils got a chance to order from a menu of 100 types of mini tapas style baguettes.

Our final day was just as jam packed full of activities. After breakfast, we used our Spanish to order our packed lunch for the day and then caught the metro to the Santiago Bernabeú Stadium. The home of Real Madrid. We were on the hunt for Gareth Bale and “Fat” Ronaldo, but sadly we didn’t find them in the flesh. We enjoyed the trophy collection, tour of the changing rooms, sitting in the stands and dugouts and doing our own post-match press conference. After all that excitement, we needed some energy, so we visited ‘San Gines’ – Spain’s most famous and first ever Churro bar. We devoured platefuls of the traditional Spanish sweet with a hot mug of pure melted chocolate. ¡Qué delicioso! We then had some free time at El Corte Inglés department store to do some shopping and buy gifts for our families. However, we also had to complete ‘The Apprentice Challenge’ where Miss Williams set a list of 10 unknown objects that we had to find in Spanish within the store.

That night, to round off our lovely trip, we enjoyed a range of paellas in the local square before watching a traditional Flamenco show. The dancers were intense, talented and exciting. ¡Olé!

Miss Williams and Mr Barratt would like to thank all the wonderful pupils that went on the trip for their excellent behaviour and huge effort in practising their Spanish. It was a very successful and enjoyable few days.