Blogs from Spain, Europe - page 1088

Buenos dias, ¿cómo estais? ¡“Porqué no te callas”! (why don’t you shut up!!!) that’s what the King of Spain told the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frias to do during a conference in Chile. This sentence became famous across whole Spain just in a few hours and now there are songs and ringtones about it!!! Girona & Sant Felui de Guixols I arrived at Girona airport, where I took the bus to Girona station. There Paul was waiting for me and we went home. I knew Paul because we studied together in Rotterdam, but he did Mathematics. He also went to Curacao, where we did our practice at the MIL (stage), which was almost 5 years ago now! Paul is living for more than 1 year in Spain and is doing professional cycling in a team from ... read more

We had read that the train trip to Ronda was gorgeous, but it was more convenient for us to catch the bus from the main bus terminus in Seville. It was a very pleasant and easy journey and we got a cursory glimpse of the beautiful yet harsh country that is Andalucía. At times it reminded us of the dusty brown and pale green Australian landscapes and I think I even spotted a few eucalypt type trees, but the similarity ends there. The little villages built into the hillsides, the bountiful olive groves, and the goats and donkeys roaming the farms leave you in no doubt that you are in southern Spain. Ronda is one of Andalucía’s famous pueblos blancos (white villages) and probably one of the most incredible looking places I have ever been to. ... read more

Uiteindelijk dan toch op Erasmus. Eerlijk gezegd had ik liever in andere omstandigheden vertrokken. Langs de andere kant zorgden de turbulente weken voor mijn vertrek ervoor dat het nog niet eens zo fout aanvoelde om er eens vijf maanden op uit te trekken. Bij het afscheid op de luchthaven voelde ik mij zelfs een beetje klaar voor het avontuur. Eens aangekomen op mijn hotelkamer was er van die avontuurlijkheid niets meer te bespeuren. Wanhoop kwam zachtjes binnensijpelen met de simpele vraag: “Wat doe ik hier?”. Gelukkig kende ik hier al iemand van bio-ingenieur. Marleen was vijf dagen eerder in Granada toegekomen. Toen ik haar wou bellen hoorde ik dat haar telefoonnummer niet klopte. Haar bereiken zat er dus niet in, tenzij met rooksignalen. Dat deed toch wel even vies. Weten dat je eigenlijk volledig alleen in ... read more

In the final stretch of my trip and a little sad to be leaving. I have one weekend left and I am thinking about going to Montserrat. The TEFL course has been quite an experience and has really convinced me as to how much I want to teach. I had a great class today with seven students! Normally, it has been about 2-4 students. So this was great. After class, the other teachers and I went out for Indian curry and drinks before heading home. I am pretty much done with the class and we will go out and celebrate tomorrow when we will be officially complete with the course. This has ben such a great experience and I have met so many interesting, cultured people from all over the world. I will get pictures posted ... read more

With every place I see in Spain I just keep falling more and more in love with the country. Two weekends ago I went to Barcelona with the students in my program for four days. This cosmopolitan coastal city, with its superb seaside views, incredible architecture, and cultural scene has been my favorite Spanish city to date. We were blessed with benign weather the entire weekend, and from our hotel on Las Ramblas, the famous promenade in the heart of the city, we were able to walk just about anywhere. We started the visit with a walk along the three parts of Las Ramblas: (1) Rambla dels Ocells (Boulevard of the Birds), which is filled with vendors of caged birds, (2) Rambla dels Flors (Boulevard of the Flowers), which is filled with bizarre street performers and, ... read more