Lately I have been onnn the move..I spent a week in Madrid, the following week in Valencia, then after that in the south of Spain visiting cities over 4 days in Jerez, Malaga, and Cadiz.
I went there to recruit! Met with students at international high schools, met with teachers, administrators, in private schools, public schools, big, small, everything. It totally reminded me of grammar school and high school, the smells, sites, sounds just brought me back. It is really is an enjoyable experience. I get to meet with many students, talk about their futures, offer them guidance and knowledge about UNAV and gave them my advice on what they could do. And very often, they want to go to the states!
One interesting realization I have with my experiences is that generally, spanish students speak english quite well, (althought the students will disagree out of shyness). You have to realize that all of their lives they are exposed to American pop culture, it is everywhereee so words and grammar have infiltrated their culture, I think, in general, Spanish youth have a much better grasp on english, than American youth do with spanish, only because of the exposure that infiltrates their culture constantly.
It was nice getting out of Pamplona for a little bit. It is especially nice having hotel services and a super clean bathroom that I dont have to share with other dudes for a few days. So I soaked it up. I did a lot of exploring, and I have learned that being a good map reader actually takes practice. Now, I am a pro. In Madrid, I went to the famous Prado Museum. I spent 2.5 hours peruzing through works of art, I put my ipod on classical music, a very relaxed state of mind, I took it all in, or at least tried to with the time I had.
Madrid has starbucks..and it was deelishhh
After Madrid, I spent time in Valencia, Spain, known as "The City of Arts and Sciences" and manufactures tiles all around this world, there is a lot of very cool architecture like this...kinda like this..
This is the opera house, and it's "outer shell" is completely made of tiles.
I spent some days in Lisbon, Portugal and one of the schools I visited was a former palace. In Portugal there are mannnny castles and palaces, and the two are not to be confused; castles are built to be fortified and offer protection, palaces are built for comfort and design is primary, so if you get in a taxi and need directions to one, make sure you know the difference, or you might wind up in the wrong place. I spent time in Andalucia. Andalucia is the southern region of Spain. I was in the city of Jerez for a few days, which is world renowned for its Sherry and is also where Spanish Horses are bred and originated. While I was in Jerez I took one evening to go down to Sevilla and visit my sister. It was an hour trip via car so I grabbed a rental and took a little road trip for the evening. I spent a semester in Sevilla so I was able to navigate through the city, recollect on good ol' days and spend time with my sister for tapas and cervezas.
