On Wednesday, I went on my first field trip in several years. I went with the youngest kids at my school (about 12-years-old) to the Parque de las Ciencias in Granada. The kids were incredibly loud on the bus ride there, so Julie and I had trouble taking a nap on the 2.5 hour trip. We stopped at a rest stop for some desayuno and ate with the three other teachers. It was great having our meals paid for by the school. When we finally got to the park, the kids were all very excited and yelling about the cool things we saw. I thought the museum was comparable to the Museum of Science in Boston as far as what it offered. But it did have a cooler outdoor part with activities, a fountain, and more cool sciencey things. After we saw a few sections of the museum and had a presentation on the solar system by a mildly cute Spanish guy, we ate lunch. The kids were free to roam around and eat the seemingly endless sandwiches, candy, and salty snacks that they had in their backpacks. Julie and I enjoyed an enormous meal in the cafeteria that was not incredibly delicious but that we were glad to have.
On the way to who knows where in the park, we spotted a giant chess board and one teacher challenged me to a game. I had no intention of playing an entire match at that time, but things got competitive. I took his queen early in the match so I was at an advantage most of the time. Students gathered on the board to help both of us, and, in the end, after chasing his king around for a while, I came out victorious! I was very excited to win, since I cannot even remember the last time I played a game of chess. Unfortunately, while I was excitedly looking at the pictures after the game, I dropped my camera. It seemed fine at the time except for a little scratch, but that would prove to be a lie later. Because we had dilly-dallied at the chess board for so long, we could not find the other group of teachers and students. So a few of us decided to go up to a watch tower to look for them and see the surrounding area. I saw the Alhambra, a very famous site in Granada, from up there and could see tons of tiny people on top of it. And there were incredible views of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It is too bad that while I was taking a picture of the Alhambra and having trouble focusing, I realized that my camera lens would not retract. Now my camera won't work at all because the lens will not go back into the camera. What a shame to have happen while I'm abroad!
I was basically stressed about the camera for the rest of the trip (and you don't get to see the pictures yet because they won't upload to my computer). We saw a bird show with some amazing birds, but I could not understand most of the presentation. Then we headed home for another noisy bus trip (these kids do not tire out). One of the teachers gave us a ride back to the edge of Sevilla, and it took me another hour and a half to get home from there. It was an insanely long day, but it is always fun to go see new places and I got to talk to a lot of the kids one on one. At school today, they were all excited to see me. I think I will relax tonight, as I am very tired from this busy week, but I cannot wait for another fun weekend. And it's Halloween! I still don't have a costume...not sure if I ever will. Nothing can really top the Bop It! costume I made last year. Spain is not quite the same as American colleges when it comes to this holiday.
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