Final thoughts

Jessica

Notable quotable: Hey, I can skip a stone five times!!!!

Jessica is really good at skipping stones. Jessica can be a bit shy but around her pals Sarah and Frieda she really likes to let loose. Jessica is extremely flexible, she goes with the flow, which makes for a great traveler. You never know what the day brings. As I say to all of the students: "The more flexible you are, the more stable a person you become. Jessica, you figured this out early. Good for you!!











Angela


Notable quotable (Me: Angela, you KILL me) Angela (Deadpan) "and yet you're still here"
Angela was our translator extraordinaire and she wowed all natives that we came in contact with her level of Spanish. Even our guide, Roberto, was impressed saying that her grammar questions were quite advanced. She is already fluent in Mandarin and English - I can see her as a linguist some day. Angela celebrated her sweet 16 in Barcelona. Hopefully this isn´t a birthday she won´t quickly forget.



Tejas
Notable quotable: "Ms. Gruner, there´s the cathedral! You mean we could've just walked through the town instead of doing this 25 minute hike!"
Yes, Tejas figured out in San Sebastian. That walk around the mountain was completely unnecessary but it was great exercise. Plus it got us nice and warmed up for the cool dip in the Cantabrian Sea - right?! Anyway, Tejas is a huuuuuuuge soccer fan, getting us all jazzed about the Spain and the U.S. soccer matches. Of course it was a bummer when USA got eliminated but he was elated when Spain beat Portugal. As was the entire town of Calella.





Sarah: Notable quotable: "This trip to Spain, on a scale of one to ten, I´d give it a ten. Nope, let me change that to a 9.25 - hey nothing´s perfect."


Sarah - in response to that: You kill me!!! Yes, and I´m still here. Anyway, Sarah always, but always, has a smile on her face. She´s always laughing and enjoying herself, even when she´s not quite feeling well. Sarah is also really athletic, is into Madrid´s soccer team ¨"Real Madrid" . Other athletic activities displayed on our trip: Bike riding, logging major miles in Madrid and Barcelona, swimming at Calella and, of course, pillow fighting with her roommates (like I didn´t know! :) Anyway, Sarah is planning to take Spanish next year at JLS!!! See you then.




Nathan

Notable quotable: (Me: Do you want go to the beach?) Nathan: "No"
(Me: Do you want to hang out at the pool?) Nathan: "No" (Me: Do you want to go bike riding) Nathan: No response - just a shrug. When Nathan shrugs, that means he´s excited about the suggestion.
Nathan or Natan, is a man of few words. But, according to Mr. Howard, he really is quite the cyclist. He´s very strong and understands the gears.
Also, Nathan is also a joy to have around, he´s gentle and has a wonderful sense of humor.





Frieda:

Notable quotable: "C´mon Ms. Gruner, I just want to take just one more picture of you!
Aside from hanging out at the beach, it seems that one of Frieda´s favorite activities is to take a picture of me. Preferably when I´m about to bite into something or some other funny pose. Thanks alot Frieda!!!!!Anyway, Frieda had a chance to chat with a Spanish boy who admired her using her Spanish learned at JLS (I told you all that it would come in handy one day!) Anyway, Frieda keep up your language skills!







Mitch: Notable quotable " Hay muchas chicas bonitas aqui" (There are many pretty girls here)


Ay, Mario! Mitch is a real charmer, always with a wide smile on his face and is very much a gentleman. Whenever I asked Mitch or his pal Tejas to do something they always answered back with an "okay, okay". Mitch loves Spain´s colacao chocolate, he guzzled a liter of it on the last day of our trip, proclaiming it to "be the best". He also loves KAS orange soda (only sold in Europe, I´m afraid). Anway, he´s very athletic, biking and paddleboating at Costa Brava, walking miles in Barcelona, no complaint. Fun times.



Jun-oh:


Notable quotable: "My legs are screaming but no one is listening"



I love that. Along with his taking out his roll of oreo cookies at the Barcelona Harbor and asking the waiter for a tall glass of cold milk. The waiter gave us a triple take. I loved that too. Jun-oh was kind and gentle and always went with the flow. He also had the local children in a fit of giggles at Calella when he wore his bull cap (see photo). Jun-oh don´t ever change!!!



Well, so many thoughts of my trip comes to mind. I just want to say to all of you that you were wonderful and I sharing this experience with you all. If you are going onto to high school, please come by JLS and visit. If you´re going to 8th grade - I look forward to seeing you around campus. Que tengan Uds. buen verano!!!! Abrazos, Ms. Gruner

Delta flights on time

Hello parents,

Please remember that we are on Delta flights: Barcelona to Atlanta (flight 115) leaves at 10:00 am and it now looks like it will get into Atlanta at 2:05 instead of 2:25 pm ( just a heads-up, Pete)

And from Atlanta to SFO (flight 2749), departing at 5:35 and arriving at SFO at 7:41.

All on time as of now. Please check these flights for any changes during the day tomorrow.

Well, signing off. Thanks so much for following our blog. Looking forward to seeing you all at home!

- Fondly,
JLS travelers

Barcelona and Costa Brava

Hello everyone,

Monday, June 28th was a walking day since we pretty much spent all of Sunday in sitting position on our long bus ride to Barcelona. We explored and explored Barcelona by foot, probably covering a good 7 miles. We started out in the ramblas, headed for the harbor, and negotiated the winding streets of the Bari Gotica (the older part of the city).

In the morning we were given a bus tour with an English speaking guide. She took us by the Sagrada Familia (Cathedral conceived by architect Gaudi and still not finished), Montejuic, hill overlooking the city and Park Guell (again a park and city respite gracias a Gaudi). (see photos of all)

Between our bus tour and our self guided walking tour, we stopped for more pinchos (bread canapes) and tapas at a restaurant just off the ramblas. The kids watched a replay of one of the soccer games. The next day we watched Spain versus Portugal (see Tejas´reaction on first photo). Everyone was very much into the game, routing for Spain, especially since USA had been eliminated after suffering a defeat from Ghana. (Ghana gano "Ghana won" I would make the play on words, since gano means won in Spanish. Nonethless, the kids didn´t appreciate it. Don´t blame em. ......

Now were at Costa Brava. Most of our team just went bike riding (see photos) the rest of us are shoppping for last minute souvenirs.

Hasta pronto

Sunday, June 27th

Hello everyone,

Trying to backtrack a bit to a few days ago and to go from there. My last blog entry we were in San Sebastian (actually it was Angela Chen who blogged) and you found out all about our adventures in San Sebastian. Hey, Angela, that walk around the mountain was good exercise and what they hey - we got to the beach after all!!!! ;) Okay, as you kids say "my bad" - if only one of you guys hadn´t noticed the cathedral......:)

The following day was a travel day. It took us nine hours to drive from San Sebastian to Barcelona. Actually the trip is only 7 hours but we took a two hour break in Pamplona. Good thing too, because our guide showed us the route of the ¨running on the bulls¨ (see photos). Did you know that the route is only about 4 blocks long and lasts only 5 to ten minutes? They set the bulls free every day at about 8 am. This last several days.

Then we are off to Barcelona, just in time for dinner. We were all treated to chicken paella and an accordian player who regaled the crowd. And, we celebrated Angela Chen´s birthday a day early (she had more celebrations the following day) with a ¨happy birthday serenade (check out pix). Sweet sixteen!

Back to the hotel at 10 pm (another full day). We all slept like logs.

Next blog - adventures in Barcelona.

Hasta pronto!

As we know a picture is worth a thousand words. So finally some photos! I

Finally a new blog entry

Hello everyone,

Sorry about the delay - just a lot going on and haven´t had a chance to use the hotel computers
Anyway, just a quick update to know that we´re on our penultimate day of the tour. We´re now staying in a small town on Costa Brava. On the agenda today is sunbathing, last minute souvenir shopping, walk through the town and again, more beach time. Today is really the most relaxing day of our voyage, the other days have been jammed packed!

Last night we watched Spain defeat Portugal and as they say in the states, " the crowd went wild." Tejas, especially was thrilled!!!! We all walked into the town center and amidst cheers of oles and upas we were amongst the fan revelry. Very cool. Then Mr. Howard (Keith) treated the kids to ice-cream. Very nice.

We were back in the rooms by 11 and the kids reported this morning that they all slept very soundly. Big days will do that to you!!

Okay, that´s all for now. I´ll be writing later today (with photos) and I´ll report on the flight status. We´ll be leaving tomorrow at 5:30 am for Barcelona Airport (Yikes)

Hasta Luego

"I thought they wouldn't notice!"

(ANGELA WROTE THIS, NOT MS. GRUNER. SO THIS IS A STUDENT SPEAKING. EXCEPT WITH MS. GRUNER'S APPROVAL. AND THIS IS THE RESPONSIBLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TOO.)

Today, we set off to the beach town of San Sebastian, or Donostia as it's called by the Basque locals. We had amazing views of the water, the beach, and the surrounding city (after our guide Roberto figured out which way we were supposed to look and not look. "Don't look right! Don't look right! Wait, we turned around... DON'T LOOK LEFT! LOOK DOWN ~~ Okay, now you can look... isn't it pretty :D?") In the morning, we stopped by Mount Igueldo amusement park, which was on top of a mountain by the Playa de la Concha, where we spent the afternoon.

For lunch, we ate some really amazing pintxos, a famous local dish, in the old part of the city. Pintxos (or pinchos as they're spelled in Spanish) are little bits of food like hors d'oeuvres, or canapés, except that they're bigger, more filling, and with with more interesting ingredients. Oh, and cheaper*! Two or three of those were enough for a solid meal (really. They're pretty big.) They're hard to explain... but they're really good!

In the afternoon, we went to the beach and spent a few hours there, after we managed to a) buy some towels (yeah. um. We all forgot those...), b) find the beach (great job, Señora! "I thought they wouldn't notice!"**) and c) find some shade (a toldo, awning, is not the same as a beach umbrella, a mistake I will never make again). It was sunny, the sand was hot, the water was cold, and we had some sodas and ice cream. It was great!

And now we're back at the hotel. Dinner is in a few hours, at the same time as the US v. Ghana fútbol soccer match... we'll brave the wrath of the waitresses to go run out to the TV between courses! (The waitresses are.... very controlling.... "No! You must all sit together! No, you must all come down to breakfast at the same time! No, YOU MAY NOT GET UP TO GO WATCH THE GAME!" and so on and so forth.)

*The per unit price of pintxos is higher than that of hors d'oeuvres or canapés, but the per meal price is lower, since you don't need to eat that many for a full meal.

**Ms. Gruner decided to lead us the long way to the beach around the coast instead of cutting back through the city center, wanting to avoid the students' complaints and "Hey We've Gone This Way Before What Are You Doing?". The "long way" ended up meaning "around the mountain", half an hour longer, and ended in the inevitable "Wait! That was the cathedral we saw in the city! Do you mean we could have just gone that way instead of all the way around!?" So much for not noticing...***

***Most of us wouldn't have noticed, except one student noticed... and that was the end of that. We noticed.