6th Grade Class Tip to Pamplona

When we moved to Spain, I attended an all-boys school run by the Catholic priests called Los Augustinos, or the Augustinians. I attended what would have been the equivalent of a 6th grade here in the States.

In Spain, the kids attend school and stay in a single class room and the teachers come to the class to teach the lessons, instead of the student moving from class room to class room. You, therefore, grow up with the same kids from a very early age all the way to the start of High School.

In the third grade the students elect classroom officers, class president, treasurer, etc. and it was the responsibility of the treasurer to collected from each student a monthly payment that was to be used by the graduating class to fund an end of 6th grade trip to anywhere that the class decided.

For me to participate in the classroom trip, my parents had to make a single payment to “catch me up” to what the other students had already paid over the years. 

At the start of the 6th grade, the class had the opportunity to select the location we wanted to travel to. My class picked the city of Pamplona – yes, the city of the Running of the Bulls – but off season.

We traveled by bus to Pamplona and we stayed at a sister school in the city. We had the chance to tour the city and see the narrow streets where brave “mozos” taunt and run along or from the bulls.

Many people believe that the bulls have their horns trimmed or sanded down for the event, but as you can see from the picture, that is not the case. These bulls can kill you with a single goring, and have done so in the past. 16 people have died since 1911!

We all had a great time pretending to be one of the runners trying to elude a bull through the narrow streets. We had a chance to visit a nearby castle and see other historical sites in and around the wonderful town of Pamplona.

Pamplona is a hugely historic city, ancient and beautiful, well worth a trip should you be traveling to Spain!