Hotel Real de Barco Avila

Fin De Semana Integrada (FSI)

Basically a weekend trip where all the students in the program E-4 (people that would travel to any of the 6 schools or have) go away to a "secret" location and have a retreat.

Started off Friday afternoon an hour after class ended when we met to get on the buses to go to the hotel. By the time everyone arrived and got settled we were off at 4:45pm. They gave us t-shirts that said 2009 FSI and on the back roughly translated to ...

... view of the village and the mountains beyond. We enjoyed exploring the local supermarkets and cooking for ourselves for a change. We attempted some walks but it took us three days to break the code of how to follow them. Undeterred, Adrian had us clambouring up mountains and through the bush when the marked path disappeared and we had grand adventures. The countryside is really beautiful with lots of wildflowers, cows with bells and the mountains always as a backdrop.

... it was with no small amount of relief that I rode up to my hotel for the night, the Colón Spa, now a little dated but doubtless a grand hotel in its heyday. It was warm and comfortable and after I had showered off the day´s grime I went into town to buy my drinks and snacks for the next day. Unfortunately the rain refused to abate so photos were not to be had and I made my way back to the hotel. With dinner not served until 9 pm I settled down in the bar with some tapas and wine and ...

... The first was the burial site of the late General Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. The cross is visible from many miles away (see photos), and there is a rather large memorial that draws thousands from all over Spain. We didn't stop there....just driving by was enough. It was amazing to me to see such a huge memorial made to a fascist dictator who squelched so much of the passion of the Spanish ...

... city of Salamanca, asking every single Spaniard I saw "donde esta la calle rojo?" Not one *******ned person knew, and for good reason. It was located a downright impressive distance from any sign of civilization. After hours of walking, I ended up taking a 3 Euro taxi ride (there goes my pride), only to find out it was completely full. The issue compounded when I realized that *every* hotel, motel, inn, auberge etc was full. It ...

... of sensing, and to top it off this walking Sweat Gland slept in the bunk below me. In hindsight it was no surprise that in this packed town, in a good hostel, in a good location, there was one bed open and it happened to be above him. Moments after I had dumped by bags on my bed this SG sauntered into the room followed by his invisible, toxic, ammonia-emitting sidekick. I made polite conversation with him for a short time - as polite as one can be when ...

... my pizza was pretty gross and my mussels were OK but my dessert was AMAZING. Eric´s gazpacho soup was average and his dessert was alright but his pork knuckle roast thing was fantastic. It is just cool how it works out that way. After that, we went back and took a quick nap before the Spain v France game that night. It has been so much fun watching the world cup that I will be disappointed when it is over. Spain lost but every bar in town was packed and ...

We are in Salamanca Spain! It is a big university town and there is definitely the university atmosphere with lots of partying going on! Today I went look at the cathedral that is here, which I have actually seen about 7 years ago when I was here, and a wedding was taking place. It was really neat, they had about 8-10 kids playing guitar and singing during parts of the ceremony and in ...

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... else. As travelling has become so easy and safe, it has also dilluted the experience. I often wonder how it must have been like for the first expolorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus or the first western visitors to Egypt. Today, I spent the day in a charming city called Avila, located only 1.5 hours from Madrid. It is famous for its heavily fortified walls built by the Romans to protect this place ...