My first month in Spain has been insanely eventful. Not only have we started and finished our intensive review of Spanish at CBCE but we have experienced Oviedo’s annual weeklong celebration by the name of San Mateo and have done a good bit of traveling as well. The review of Spanish in CBCE was extremely helpful because we were able discuss and review issues that we had with the language in real time. Not only did this help with the language but we were also given out of class activities that required us to familiarize ourselves with the city and to learn local jargon. On the days that we did not have class, typically the weekends, we alternated between excursions with our program director of nearby cities and independent trips to locations of our choice.
My first trip was to Madrid. Not only were we able to meet many cool new people but we also had the opportunity to bike through the entire city and see virtually every major attraction (with the exception of the Real Madrid stadium). Madrid is literally bursting with history with my favorite site being the Prado Museum. Our next trip was a program excursion to Gijon, the hometown of our program director, well known for its water based activities and fascinating museums. In Gijon we had the opportunity to visit Roman catacombs, the local aquarium with both domestic and foreign animals, and best of all, a futbol match between Sporting Gijon (recently promoted to the first division) and Valencia FC. This trip definitely exceeded my expectations and left me wondering what will follow in our future program excursions.
Our next independent trip was to Barcelona. Barcelona is hands down one of the most amazing cities I have ever visited. With a beautiful view just about everywhere you go, mild weather, endless activities and a great nightlife we could not have made a better choice. To make the trip even better we had the opportunity to link up with friends from the States and to attend our first Barcelona futbol game.
The next city on the map in Spain was Ribadesella, another great program excursion. We were able to see the caves of Tito Bustillo and several other unforgettable sights. Now that we have had the opportunity to visit the two largest cities in Spain, and will continue to travel Spain via our study abroad program, we have decided to plan our next trip outside of Spain to London. I have no doubt that more unforgettable memories will be made there and I look forward to sharing them on the blog.
To be continued..