Traveling to Spain

[stephania]

I just write to tell people of the wonderful experiences you can have if you divert away from the norm a little and what great benefits it can bring! I had a prestigious job in a solicitor’s office yet it bored me – I was with the same people every day and though the job was very interesting, the working conditions were not and I felt neither interested nor challenged. So I did something completely out of the ordinary. I left my job and took an
año sabatico travelling through Spain. Though not exactly far from England, it is far enough to be able to notice a difference in culture and this excited me greatly. I loved being able to integrate with the local people and having learnt Spanish at university, I was able to communicate reasonably well. I loved the Spanish culture so much that I took on a little job out there which allowed me to meet local people – teaching English as a foreign language. Doing this I was able to put my Spanish to use but also help others wanting to learn English. The classes I gave were private and I have even kept in contact with some of my students – many want to come to England to do a curso ingles extranjero and I have told them I would be delighted to play the host family – help them learn English in the evenings after their formal classes. I am back in England at the moment but planning my next trip already – back to Spain I think, briefly to the Andalucia region where I will see all the friends I made (and the gatitos persas who I shared my apartment with!) but then to the North – I hear cities such as Salamanca have many students wanting to learn English and so this seems perfect for me. Anyone have any tips of other big university cities in Spain?