The Saline Reporter
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A whole new world Saline students travel to Spain
By Krystle Dunham, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008
Discovering a different culture is what nine Saline High School students did when they traveled to Spain during spring break.
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Students who have studied the Spanish language wrote an essay on why they wanted to travel to Spain and they had to submit personal recommendations.
Evan Kourtjian, Amanda Laurent, Preston Mueller, John Muhs, Erik Olague, Christina Pagalos, Lindsay Scobel, Dimitrios Smyrnis and Lauren Spangler were accepted and spent March 29 through April 7 in Spain.
Mary Thomas and Jason Wawrzyniak, chaperones for the trip and Spanish teachers at the high school, said being able to show their students the Spanish culture outside of the classroom was very rewarding.
At times, Thomas said she would tell her students, "I just wish I could take you (to Spain) because there is no way to describe it to someone."
Thomas has traveled there before and said she enjoyed seeing how the students reacted.
"It was kind of a high for me to see them have the same emotional response I had," she said.
While on the 10-day trip, students visited the site of the 1992 Olympic Games, learned about the architectural styles of northern Spain and the medieval period of Spanish history by visiting Barcelona's Gothic Quarter, and toured Madrid, Burgos, San Sebastian, Zaragoza and Barcelona.
Pagalos and Laurent said they enjoyed being around the people of Spain and being able to understand and immerse themselves in the Spanish language.
"It was really cool to explore by ourselves and get to experience a whole new culture," Pagalos said.
Spangler said she enjoyed the people she encountered and found visiting Madrid to be one of her favorite aspects of the trip.
"It was just a really good experience," she said.
While Pagalos, Laurent and Spangler enjoyed meeting new people, Olague said his favorite part of the trip was seeing the country side of Spain.
Besides being able to tour the country, students were able to attend a professional soccer game between the FC Barcelona team and the Madrid Getafe team in a stadium filled with more than 100,000 people.
The soccer game was unplanned and took place on the students' last night. Thomas and Wawrzyniak agreed the soccer game was a big hit with their students.
"The kids ate it up," Thomas said.
The students who went on the trip were not the first from Saline High School to travel outside of the country as a group.
When Thomas first started teaching, she took her students to Europe and found the trip to be a success. Since then, she said other teachers who have taught Spanish and French have traveled abroad with their students.
After receiving a large amount of positive feedback, faculty members in the school's foreign language department decided to take students on alternating years to Spain and France.
Thomas and Wawrzyniak said they enjoyed traveling with the teens and found the trip to be a positive experience for everyone.
"The kids made it an easy trip for us," Thomas said. "This was a great experience for Saline, not just for the families, but for the community as well."
Krystle Dunham is a freelance writer. She can be reached at krystleadunham@gmail.com.
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