Sunday, July 9, 2017

4th of July, Caves, Gijón!

Dear families, friends, and fans of Team León 2017,

Well, here we are about to enter the final full week of our time in León. It always comes as a bit of a shock, but this summer in particular has really flown by. Students as well are beginning to feel the excitement to be back home again mixed with a pre-nostalgia for their new home-away-from-home. Nevertheless, we've not let the heavy emotions keep us from having a packed week.

This past Tuesday was, of course, the 4th of July, which we were thrilled to celebrate with host families in a public park in the outskirts of León. Many host families arrived with extended family members and friends as well, all decked out in red, white, and blue, so the scene was very festive and full of great people. As always the 4th of July party featured an apple pie baking contest and a Spanish tortilla contest for host families to compete among themselves.

Celebrating the most American of holidays in Spain
Some of the entries in our highly competitive apple pie and tortilla contest, complete with American flags

Wednesday afternoon saw us heading about an hour outside of León to a network of caves called the Cuevas de Valporquero. These caves are ancient and display extraordinary geological formations and isolated subterranean water bodies.

Team León about the enter the caves
Team León just inside the mouth of the cave hearing the first explanations of what we're about to see

Our tour guide took us through each of the rooms, explaining the differences between rock formations in the various sections, and many students were asking impressive questions to the tour guide as we went (he later remarked that he wished that the typical Spanish tour group could be so interested and attentive).
Team León deep within the caves
At the peak of the mountain we had just caved through. Not a bad view, no?

Friday morning took us to beautiful Gijón in Asturias. While the day started off cloudy and cool, the sun quickly came out and warmed things up a bit, which was great because Gijón is located directly on the Cantabrian coast with an excellent beach. The city itself is impressive and has a relatively famous historic downtown area, but many students were just as excited to have a day to relax by the sea and practice their beach soccer abilities. It was a much-needed day of unwinding before the final full week on-site.

Team León in Gijón with the Cantabrian Sea in the background


While Saturday was supposed to be our optional trip to the Peaks of Europe, we discovered the evening beforehand that there would be rain and storms all day with a projected high temperature in the 40s (Fahrenheit), so we made the unfortunate decision to cancel. Instead, we offered the students the option of a day in León, including a visit to the historic Basílica de San Isidoro (unfortunately no photos allowed inside, but they claim to have the real Holy Grail), a walk over to the cinema to see "La mujer maravilla" (Wonder Woman), and an evening of tapas with the professors. Despite the slight disappointment from canceling the Peaks of Europe excursion, it seemed like everyone had a great time.

And yes, alas, that brings us to our last full week here, which will be busy as we work to wrap up classes, prepare for the farewell show, and make plans for departing.

Look forward to another post soon about the farewell show as well as information about our final two excursion sites: Segovia and Madrid before departing to see you all on the 18th. It's been a wonderful summer so far, and we're looking forward to making the most of the final days in Spain.

As always, thank you for sharing this group with us for a few unforgettable weeks!
~Mark (and Isra, Sarah T, and Sarah G)

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La despedida

Dear families, friends, and fans of Team León 2017, Well, here we are in the final full day in our host city, León. It's almost unbeli...