On Friday July 26th, those of us in the Advanced Spanish Class had our presentations. We had to talk to the class in Spanish about a topic of our choice on Hispanic culture. Most of us chose a public figure who represents hispanic culture. I chose one of my favorite baseball players, Juan Soto, to talk about as I feel he is a great present day example of someone who embraces their culture in a space where it can sometimes be discouraged. On a normal day, our classes are broken up into 2 sections (8:45-11:30 and 12-2:15) with a lunch break in between. Some friends and I like to walk to a market that is close by to the school and get a little treat. For me, I always go for the chocolate croissants but we were so busy preparing for our presentations that I stayed at the school to go over last minute details.
After school, we got lunch at the dorm and then went grocery shopping to get some snacks for the remainder of the trip. I love the grocery stores here because the fruit and baked goods are always so fresh and it has the perfect combination of Spanish and American snacks. I have found new flavors of many of my favorite snacks from America, including Paprika Lays and Tex-Mex Doritos. Once we finished that, my friend and I dropped our groceries off and went shopping until our activity at 5. She found a white dress at a pop up stand in the middle of one of the plazas (Plaza de los Flores).
Next, we went to the activity of the day which was an archeological museum with remains from when the Phoenicians and Romans lived in Cadiz. It is so interesting to be reminded of how old humanity and the world truly is. We saw remains of a human, cat, and cow as well as bits of the ancient city. After that, we climbed up a tower that is the highest point in the old city of Cádiz to see the view of the city. It was so pretty and cool to see all the places we’ve been to from a higher angle. After, the tour guide showed us a scope within the tower that showed us the same view that we saw from above, only it was able to zoom in so far that we could see people walking on the street.
The night ended with a bunch of us eating the snacks we got in my room and then my friend and I having a chill night dressing up and going out to dinner. Then, we grabbed our sweatshirts and beach towels to sit on the beach and see the stars. I think my favorite thing about Cádiz is the diversity of the activities you can do in one day. Never in the U.S. would I get to go to school, shopping, a museum, and the beach all in one day and, all within a 20 minute walk from one another.