Day 15, Tuesday

Today was our second to last day of class here in Málaga. We went to school and started our first class at nine o’clock with señor José as usual. We reviewed what we had learned earlier about the subjunctive, then he taught us two new forms as well. With our second teacher señor Álvaro we practiced grammar and did a speaking activity after. Lastly, with señora Beatriz she finished teaching us about the different Spanish fiestas, which we started yesterday, and then we ended with a game. We learned about La Tomatina, San Fermines, and La Feria which all sounded very fun. We ended school at two o’clock and then went home to our houses to eat lunch with our families. After food and a little rest we got picked up again for our afternoon activity. Today we visited the Museo Carmen Thyssen of Málaga which is a collection of Andalusian paintings about "Costumbrismo Andaluz" (Andalusian Folklore). The first part of the museum that we visited was “Romantic Landscape” art. All of the paintings date back between the 1850’s and early 1900’s. One in specific that is famous for its romantic features is called Beach at Estepona with a View of the Rock of Gibraltar by Fritz Bamberger. It is a beautiful painting showing the sky when the sun is just starting to set and a view of the ocean, and of course the rock of Gibraltar. On the second floor, all of the paintings are of Precieux style and naturalist paintings. This type of painting and the paintings in this collection are from the second half of the 19th century. In Spain this style of painting is known as Preciosista. On the third and final floor we saw how Spain had been transformed into one of the most popular artistic clichés at the end of the 19th century. Young Spanish artists were known for their sense of modernization. Darío de Regoyos was one of the first Spanish artists to be internationally recognized for his paintings linking the modern approach and the use of traditionally Spanish subject matter. Afterwards our tour came to an end, but we still had two stops before heading home. First we went to a Taste of America store which we were all very excited about. We showed our ISA leader, Iker, all the best American foods to get and stocked up on some for ourselves. After that we went to a little café to enjoy the famous chocolate churros of Spain. They were delicious and we were all very pleased. It was a great way to end our fun day. With our stomachs full, we all loaded back onto the bus and returned to our houses to spend the rest of the night with our families.

Ellie N and Lauren