Hello to all, The Gailer School trip to Spain was an amazing experience. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to share such a wonderful, transformational experience with the people who went on the trip. Everyone had a wonderful time. The food, the people, the language, music and culture were all so interesting, inviting and delicious. I am still recovering from the experience, and still finding memories and moments that surface in my consciousness and make me smile. The following is a brief day by day recap to give you all a flavor of what we did. The Cast: Tobi Silver Kate Tilton Brie Patterson Piper Patterson Emily Arnold Isabel Lower Ben Silver Nathan Brilmayer Robin Hrynyszyn Ainaka Luna Lonny Edwards Sunday, Feb. 13th: We met at the Burlington airport at around two o'clock to catch the Delta flight to JFK. Everyone was in good spirits and nobody forgot their passports! This was the beginning of what every experienced traveler knows is the hurry-up and wait phase of traveling. There is so much preparation, packing, booking and making arrangements and then all of it comes to pass and you find yourself sitting around, waiting to get through security, waiting to get on the plane, waiting for the plane to taxi, take-off, land, blah, blah, blah... most of traveling amounts to about seventeen minutes of action and eighteen hours of waiting around. Monday, Feb 14th: The flight was uneventful and the plane food was actually somewhat palatable. Most of us slept a little bit, and were happy to meet Brie and Piper in the Madrid airport as our greeting party. They had flown in on a different flight, and enjoyed some sitting around, waiting time in the baggage claim area as we got in about a half hour later than them. The group was pleasantly surprised to meet my good friend Darwin on the other side of the doors as we left the arrivals gate. Darwin would prove to be a faithful

guide and friend throughout the trip. He arranged a very comfortable bus to take us directly to our Hostal – Hostal Nuria – and once we got settled in to our rooms, which turned out to be much nicer than we had expected for the price, he took us out to breakfast at Bistro Fuencarral; a restaurant that would turn out to be our home base for breakfast and lunch while we would be in Madrid. We got our first chance to read menus and try to order in Spanish. These skills came in very handy over the course of the trip as food was our primary activity and destination three times a day, and everybody – even the non-spanish speakers among us – got pretty good at ordering food by the end of the trip.

The group felt very much restored by our meal. Afterwards we strolled through the Retiro, the biggest park in Madrid. It was cloudy and a bit chilly, but coming from Vermont, it was downright pleasant. After the park we ate lunch at a very fancy (and cheap) culinary school restaurant and shopped along the street where our hostal was, Calle Fuencarral, in the heart of Madrid's shopping district. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner, somewhere?, (the meals all kind of blend together in to a delicious haze of memory with a few notable standouts). Everybody was pretty tired, but we managed to stay awake long enough to minimize the effects of jet lag. The day was an easy and delightful introduction to the culture of Madrid.

Tuesday, Feb 15th: We woke up early in an effort to get to the grand Museo del Prado at 9:00 AM. We found out that most people in Spain do not wake up that early and so we had to look for a breakfast spot. We found the museum fairly easily, walking distance from our hostal. Everyone was blown away by the scope and power of the works assembled in this magnificent museum. It would take days to go through the whole thing. My favorite piece was the picture of Saturn eating his son by Goya. This is a very disturbing and haunting painting. Amazing! I'm sure everyone has works from our visit that are still penetrating their consciousness even now. Wednesday, Feb 16th: Toledo.

The city of swords. This was a perfect day trip from Madrid. Half an hour ride on a high speed train and the city is easily walkable from the train station. Built on a hill and surrounded by a river on three sides, the city has a long an interesting history. Everyone had a great time and got in good shape as well. It would have been great to have more time, but that was true for every single place we visited.

Thursday, Feb 17th: We almost missed the train to Granada. It was a close call, but Ainaka did some fancy footwork to get us all on the train with a few minutes to spare. It was a good thing too, because Granada proved to be one of the great highlights of the trip. I wouldn't have wanted to miss a single minute there. Granada is south of Madrid, about an hour and a half north of the Mediterranean Sea, and was much warmer than Madrid. The rain we had been seeing for the first few days let up, the sun came out and revealed a startling snow covered mountain range illuminated behind the reddish walls of the Alhambra. We checked into our hostal, which turned out to be quite nice, and went for a stroll around the city. Granada is very accessible on foot, and our first evening introduced us to the Albacin – the traditional arab quarter – and some great tapas, views, and a fabulous tea shop.

Friday, Feb 18th: We got up early to tour the Alhambra. This castle, now a UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. Gardens, fountains, hedgerows and unbelievable wood and tile work dating from the 12th century. Everyone was awestruck. It is too much to take in all at once, but well worth the visit. The day was gorgeous and we got a bonus as a traveling exhibit of Matisse paintings and etchings just happened to be at the gallery of the palace of Carlos V while we were there.

You should put visiting the Alhambra on your list of places to go before you die. We ended the evening with a trip to the arab baths: Pools of hot, warm and cool water, steam bath, massage, hot rocks, tea – heaven.

Saturday Feb 19th: We met up with Natalia and her family and visited the Cathedral. This is the final resting place of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. 1492 was the year that Spain finally conquered the last of the Moors and the Alhambra was the last great holdout of Islam in the Iberian peninsula. It was really cool to be in a place where all that history was co-mingling with the modern day. It was great to see Natalia and her family as well. We went with them to dinner, and finally to a Flamenco show up in the Gypsy hills of the Sacramonte. What a performance! I was practically sitting in with the band, and I think everyone had a great time, except Jaime – Natalia's nine year old brother – who fell asleep half way through the show. Sunday Feb 20th: A quick train trip left us in sunny Sevilla. We followed the maze of streets through the city to the waterfront as the temperature got up into the 60s. Robin inspired us all to take a tour of the Bullfighting museum, a personal interest of his, and I think we all benefited from the experience. The afternoon was spent walking through the parks and streets and ended with dinner on the patio outside, a short, but very confusing walk back to our hostal. Monday Feb 21st: We started the day with a visit to the Cathedral in Seville. One of the three largest in the world, after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London. The pictures speak for themselves.

The afternoon was spent with some of the group visiting the Parque de Maria Luisa which included the Plaza de España a gorgeous palace like building where part of the Star Wars movies were filmed. (Remember the exterior of the palace on Naboo?)

Other people in the group spent the evening at the Flamenco Museum and took in a performance that caused grown women to moon about some guy named Oskar and burst into uncontrollable giggle fits. Apparently a wonderful show. Tuesday, Feb. 22nd: We saddled up and rode the high speed train back to Madrid. I was impressed with how well the group had packed and were able to transition from the train to the subway and walk back to the hotel with all their luggage. There were no complaints and aside from some huffing and puffing, and the feeling of looking like a herd of tourists there was relatively little discomfort in getting back to our hostal, and the same rooms we had left the week before. We met Darwin for dinner again. Being Cuban, Darwin wanted to take us out to an authentic cuban restaurant for dinner. Many of the travelers said this was their favorite food of the trip. Darwin taught us how to Salsa dance and he and Ainaka put on quite a show in the tiny restaurant, even Nathan got up to dance. I sure wish I had a picture of that. I also wish there were not so many pictures of me dancing. Wednesday, Feb 23rd: We went to the Reina Sofia Museum after breakfast. The Museum has many famous works of art including Picasso's Guernica, a room full of other Picasso works, works by Salvador Dali, Klee, Kandinski and so many others that one could not take in the whole museum in a single day. Every single person found something that moved them, and I am sure that we would all be thrilled to go back. We enjoyed another fine dinner of tapas with Darwin and spent all the rest of our Euros in the shops around the hostal. Thursday, Feb 24th: Darwin arranged transportation for us from the Hostal to the airport, and while I know everyone was thrilled with the time we'd spent, I'm pretty sure most of us were ready to go home. It was just about the perfect balance. No major problems or delays in the long journey home, although some of the group had contracted some sort of bug and were miserable, we all made it home safely. I think everybody came away from this trip with a better understanding of the language, and the culture. We certainly felt welcomed and we felt the kindness of the Spanish people. We were all amazed by the art and architecture and the introduction to the scope of the history and the many different cultural influences was profound. I was touched by how well the group traveled and showed patience and compassion with one another. We were blessed with very few difficulties or conflicts. I

saw young people opening their minds and being changed by their experiences in a wonderfully deep way that can only happen when you travel. One of the things I enjoyed the most about this trip was how cohesive the group was, and how generous, kind, tolerant and open to the experience everyone was. I truly enjoyed myself, and I was moved by how obviously everyone else was enjoying themselves as well. Gailer attracts some amazing students and families. The international trip is an incredible part of the Gailer experience. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to travel and learn with everyone in this way. I am finally readjusting to life in the cold white north, but already I am looking forward to next year. Darwin has agreed to try and help me set up a trip in Cuba! Keep your fingers crossed. ¡Viva Gailer!