Author: Rachel Lynn

Eleanor was a high school abroad participant last semester in Spain. During her time in Spain she was able to join the Greenheart Travel Club and volunteer by tutoring English to young kids. As a result of her volunteering Eleanor received a $250 grant from Greenheart further a project back at home in the USA. Below she describes how she used the grant.

Attending youth conferences and camp at The Mountain Learning and Retreat Center in Highlands, NC was a very rewarding opportunity that encouraged and facilitated a personal growth of character and leadership skills in me.  Therefore, I decided that the best use for my award was to make available the opportunity for other kids, like myself to attend a youth conference or camp at The Mountain.

In June of 2013 I attended services at the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowship of Franklin where I gave a brief presentation about Greenheart Travel, my experience living in Spain and attending high school, and the volunteer programs and activities that I participated in. I explained to the fellowship that I had been recognized with a financial award to be given to a worthy not for profit organization. During this presentation I formally passed the check to the Youth Department for Youth Conferences and summer camp.

The UU Fellowship of Franklin was extremely appreciative and thanked me for this wonderful donation. The award money is to be used only to help youth attend conferences or camp at The Mountain Learning and Retreat Center. Conferences are held in the fall and spring of every year.  I am actively speaking and encouraging the youth that attend the UU Fellowship of Franklin to consider the dates and to make arrangements to attend the fall Youth Conferences for their appropriate ages.  These youth could not consider this without the financial assistance that will be available from my gift.

Food food food. Oh boy food! I have to admit food has had a big impact on my experiences here in Spain. First of all, meal time here in Spain is so different. Breakfast is at the normal time of 7-8 am or whenever you wake up, but lunch and dinner are very different. Lunch is after school around 2:30 in the afternoon and dinner is around 9:30- 10 at night. This was absolutely crazy to me at first. My whole life I have been eating lunch around 12:30 and dinner around 6 pm, so when I first arrived in Spain my internal food clock went all out of whack.

My first two weeks here I was absolutely ravenous by lunchtime at 2:30 and so I ended up over eating so much. I ate way too much food and sometimes felt sick after lunch or dinner. But now I have 100% adjusted to meal times. I now get hungry round 2 and again around 9. I am not looking forward to having to switch back to the time meals are in the USA when I go home.

Another thing I find very interesting is the actual food here in Spain. Here, I eat a lot of lentils, garbanzo beans, eggs, rice, pasta, and fruit. I have enjoyed everything I have eaten here so far. Paella is a classic Spanish dish that I have eaten a lot of. It is made out of rice and either meat or seafood. Its so delicious. I have totally fallen in love with paella and get so excited when it is being made for lunch or dinner. Another classic dish from Spain is tortilla de patatas which is eggs and potatoes. Also, another interesting thing is that bread and fruit is eaten with every meal. I can’t wait to go home and make all these delicious Spanish meals for my family.

When my parents and I chose to go with Greenheart Travel as the company I studied abroad with in Spain we chose this partly because of the volunteer options I would be able to participate in. I have volunteered many times in the past and really enjoy helping people in need. I couldn’t wait to come to Spain and volunteer in a whole new country.

After living in my town for a few weeks I started volunteering at a local play production to help build props for a play. The play is about a child who meets a vampire. My first day volunteering there, I used paper mache to cover a huge coffin. It took about three hours and I was extremely happy with my work. The next few times volunteering I helped the stage managers move props around, cleaned up the stage, and just simply made sure the director and actors had what they needed. I am so happy I chose to volunteer with the play production. All the actors are so fun and every week I have so much fun with them. As you can see in this picture we like to be goofy and fun. The thing around me is a tree I built for the play.

Other volunteering I have done while in Spain is at my school. Before coming to Spain I knew I wanted to somehow volunteer with children. I love working with children and every summer I work at a summer camp for kids. I talked to the principle at my school and we worked it out that twice I week I would go to a children’s class in my school and help teach them English. On Tuesdays I teach 10 year-olds and on Thursday I teach 13 year-olds. Every week I come up with new and exciting ways to teach them colors or animals or about random topics in English. In the 13 year-olds class, they know English pretty well and we usually work on pronunciation. I will usually read a passage about some topic in English and they will translate it into Spanish. I also tell them a lot about the USA and the differences between the USA and Spain. I am so lucky to have the opportunity to work with kids in Spain. 

I will continues to volunteer in Spain. Next week I will start volunteering at the Senior Citizens center in my town. I  don’t really know what to expect since I have never worked with old people before but I know it will be a fun new experience. 

So far, studying abroad in Spain has been absolutely incredible. I have seen so many amazing places and cities. The people I have come in contact with are so helpful and friendly. This trip is changing my life and I still have a month left.

When I first arrived in Spain I was very nervous. It is difficult to go somewhere where you don’t know a single person and don’t speak the language very well. After meeting my host family I felt a lot more relaxed and confident. My host parents are very sweet and I fit in with my family well.

I have a host sister named Nuria who is the same age as me. I love having a sister now and am thankful to have Nuria. I arrived in Spain at a time when there was a holiday going on. It is called Carnival. I am not sure if it is celebrated all throughout Spain, but where I am living it was a big deal. Over a weekend in February everyone dresses up in crazy costumes and has fun with their friends. The costumes were absolutely crazy. I saw people dressed up as Hello Kitty, Indians, Peacocks, Disney characters and lots of other crazy people. Nuria and her friends and I were Smurfs. We even painted our faces blue.