Hola! Buenos días!
This week the 7 of us have started settling into our new home in Madrid. Many of us embarked on some solo travel before our meeting here, but now we have moved into our apartments and are ready to begin teaching next week. For myself, I spent 2 weeks travelling around France with my partner and sister before going to Barcelona for a few days. Then I took an AVE train to Madrid. The experience was incredible, but it feels so good to settle down and unpack my suitcase, with the knowledge that this will be my home for the next two months!
Madrid so far feels like a dream. As soon as I exited the train station I felt a great energy from this city. The architecture is beautiful and our apartment is directly in front of the Royal Palace of Madrid, giving us amazing park access and stunning views. Every night we have been able to see the gorgeous sunset over the city, just steps from our front door.
Our training days were a bit of a whirlwind. Lots of information to absorb, but the staff at SEK Castillo have been amazing and incredibly welcoming. We aren’t 100% sure about our schedule for volunteering yet, but we do know that we will be able to teach within our specialization areas, which is very exciting! We are so lucky as well the school is providing us with buses to get to the campus (when classes start we will be on the bus with the kiddos!), as well as delicious meals while we are there.
The school and their programming seem phenomenal, I am already so excited about the educational philosophies they have and the caring environment of the school. It has also been interesting to learn more about the IB program, how international schools work and to get to know teachers from other countries. For our training we are mixed with interns from Spain, England, Ireland, France and elsewhere, as well as teachers who have recently been hired to work at the school itself. It’s been cool to see how teachers are trained and set up for the start of the year.
So far I have spent time getting to know my new roomies, having great conversations, absorbing the sights and the culture of Madrid as well as eating many, many tapas. Today we plan to see the Museo del Prado, and this weekend we are taking a quick trip north to Bilbao and San Sebastian. So far this trip has been full of surprises and I am so excited to see what comes next, and I am especially excited to get to know the kids we will be teaching!
Adios for now!