All of that and way more aspects made our stay to Spain unforgettable. 13 students of the 10th grade had the chance to benefit from the experience of living in a host family and exploring Spain for about five days. Due to the focus of the exchange, we did many activities all around water but also had a lot of fun getting to know Spain and its culture.

During our stay we experienced the life in host families and in general the everyday life of our new friends. For example, we went to the so called “centro” where we spent almost every evening eating dinner with our partners and where we tried many different Spanish snacks.
Every day, we did diverse activities like getting to know the school, canoeing, visiting a water museum in Madrid or doing a scavenger hunt in Nuevo Baztán. Because of the topic of this trip, “Erasmus Water”, our Spanish partners and us worked on different presentations all about water problems in general and in Spain.

Apart from the school activities, we had a lot of fun in the afternoons. Not only did we try a lot of different food options, we also went to many football games of our friends or played football ourselves. Also, we went on walks on beautiful streets, went shopping in Madrid and even got to know the Spanish trains and busses ;-). That’s not to say that the school activities weren’t fun though! On our bus journeys, we sang a lot of Spanish and German songs and totally enjoyed spending time together. Even though we spend most of the day outside, we always returned to our host families, who cooked typical Spanish food for us and were always very welcoming and friendly.

The last day was, also because of some complications due to the cancellation of our flight, very eventful but very sad for all of us. But despite all tears and goodbyes every single one of us was very thankful for this experience and for getting to know our new friends!
And hopefully we will see each other again very soon!

P.S.: not to forget our mascot Pablito who traveled everywhere with us :-)) Lotta and Alisa

¡Hola amigos!

What comes to your mind when thinking about Spanish culture? Bullfights, Flamenco and Tapas? Well, you’re not wrong but there is more hiding behind these stereotypes. In terms of our Erasmus project „Future of Water“, we visited Eurovillas, a suburban part of Madrid. And we’re happy to report our observations of the cultural differences to you.

First things first: the greeting at the airport. As soon we arrived, we’ve been pulled into a warm hug followed by kisses on the cheek. But the surprises didn’t stop there. If you enter a house, what’s the first thing you do? Take off your shoes, right? But not here! Our host parents were seriously worried about us getting cold feet. And that in a hot country like Spain! Anyway, when they showed us around the house – or should we rather say mansions – the enormous pool, which almost all the host families owned due to the high temperatures in summer, stood out to us as well as the amount of pets. Especially adopted street cats.

After a long day full of new experiences it was about 10 p.m. …and time for dinner. Finally, cause we – not used to such a late dinner – were almost starving. Having dinner together is a very central custom in Spain. Either with our host families, for example while watching TV, or with other students of the Erasmus group at a local diner. And what’s a natural consequence of a group setting? Sharing of course! So it’s common for everyone to have a taste from the same plate, often filled with fried meat and fish, sometimes outnumbering the vegetarian foods.

All in all, they were very welcoming as well as open-minded in general and invited us for a future visit. This hospitality appears to be a characteristic part of Spanish culture.

So? What comes to your mind now when you think of Spain? We hope to have successfully given you a more colorful picture. But to see the full spectrum of colors you have to go there by yourself! ¡Viva España! <3

By Leona and Lara