It all began with one phone call made by Spanish teacher, Ted Joseph, to get one of Tamalpais High School’s long-lasting exchange programs back up and running for the first time since COVID-19.
“It was about time for this program to start back up again, we [Joseph and Rafael Hernandez Manuleader, leader of the Pamplona program in Spain] were both fired up to get things started,” Joseph said.
The Pamplona exchange program is a legacy at Tamalpais High School that was started 10 to 15 years ago by retired Spanish teacher, Brian Zailian. Students from a small town called Pamplona Spain come to stay with Tam families for two weeks doing various activities around the Bay Area. Then a couple of months later Tam students will go to Pamplona to do the same.
Due to COVID-19, the program was shut down for around three years, but started again in spring 2023 and the Spaniards came to America on Aug. 25.
This year, the head of the program is Joseph. He has been teaching at Tam for 12 years and has led the trip to Pamplona three times before. He has taken the head position and was instrumental in coordinating and planning the trip. He said he enjoyed working with the exchange students this year, and one of his favorite parts about this program is the relationships students make with one another.
“When we go to Pamplona and leave that airport, there are a lot of tears because there are no definite plans to meet again, but there are plenty of examples of people who meet up again,” Joseph said, “There are people who recognize me walking around Pamplona who have come up to me and said my American [exchange student] has come back a couple times and has spent Christmas with us.”
Joseph went around to classrooms and advertised this program throughout the past school year and received lots of interest from everyone.
“Lots of people wanted to participate this year, in prior years it was sophomores, juniors, and seniors but due to the amount of space priority went to seniors,” Joseph said-
Twenty-one seniors at Tam got to participate this year and they all put lots of effort into joining the program.
Students from both countries made slideshows about themselves and then got to know each other through social media platforms to find out who they best connected with.
“I talked to many Spaniards through Instagram DMs for a long time, then eventually I chose a couple of people I thought I would have fun with and so did they, and eventually we all got matched up in pairs,” senior Katie Burger said.
Some field trips and activities that the Spanish exchange students did this year were visiting Alcatraz Federal Prison, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Fisherman’s Wharf, and going to the Academy of Sciences.
“My favorite part was visiting San Francisco because it was interesting to see Chinatown and because we went shopping through the financial district, and I like buying clothes and things when I am with [my] friends,” senior and Spanish student Joel Abrerizo said.
The exchange students described that life in Mill Valley was quite similar to their lives in Pamplona and they enjoyed coming here and would come back.
“Of course [ I would want to come back] I wouldn’t change anything, this has been a 10/10 experience,” senior and Spanish student Andrea Ezquerro said.
There were many tears shed when the Spaniards left on Sept. 9, but this is not their final goodbye as Tam students will be going to Spain on March 27 for 17 days.
“I’m excited to show them how life is here, and take them to see Spanish cities with good things and try to make them feel as well as I’ve been feeling in Mill Valley,” Ezquerro said.
Tam seniors are also very excited about their upcoming trip to see Pamplona and of course, excited to reconnect with their new group of friends.
“The connections I built with the Pamplonicas are so strong that they feel like family. I am beyond excited to see them again and this time experience their culture,” senior Ella Emison said.