Category: Spain

My name is Lauren Scheerer and I studied abroad at the University of Valladolid for about a month while in Spain. Before leaving for the trip we took a placement test to see which level (classes) we would be placed in upon arriving to the University. When we got to the University, we had an orientation about our classes and then a tour around the city to get to know it a little bit better. In each class there is a combination of students from different Universities in the US or sometimes different countries. For example, in my culture class, there was students from California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and then there was also students from Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea. In my language class, there was about the same diversity of students from different colleges in the US but there was also a girl from England as well! It was super cool to get to know them! The first day of classes was like any other typical first day of classes, getting to know each other a little bit better and then we went right into learning. We all had two different classes for about 2 hours long each. One of them was Culture, and the other one was Language (grammar). A typical school day was going to your first class from 9:30AM to 11:30AM then we had a break for about a half hour and then go to your second class from 12PM-2PM. The days go by really fast especially with how much information, and fun activities you do in each class.

I really liked both classes but my favorite class had to be the language class mainly because of the professor. My professor’s name was Raquel and the reason I enjoyed that class so much was because of how she

taught grammar. She is very animated when she teaches and keeps your attention with the level of her voice or with her examples in class. If I had a video for you, it would be a lot easier to understand what I mean but for example, as she is explaining something she will use expressions, animal sounds, or she will whisper for half of a sentence and then her voice will get louder. It keeps your attention and helps you remember important things when speaking or writing in spanish. In my culture class, we learned about euros, different traditional celebrations in Spain, the different regions in Spain and how each region has different culture/music/food to it, the political history of Spain, and the current political system of Spain. A lot of fun, interesting stuff we learned in that class as well!

 
In addition to the classes we had at Uva, we had another “class” called conversation partners which was usually about twice a week in the evenings for an hour. What was really cool about this was that we would be paired up with a native speaker (usually a student teacher) and we would just have a conversation for an hour about a variety of topics to help us practice our spanish. I think this helped me a lot with my speaking and getting over some fears of speaking my spanish to native speakers because all we did was practice and it was okay if we messed up.

At the end of the program, we had a ceremony where each student was called up and received a certificate of completion of the program and then we had a beautiful reception afterward. My experience with the classes at Valladolid was unforgettable and I feel like I learned a lot from them. Some people think that because we are in Spain that the classes will be easy and fine to blow off, but it is actually taken seriously in a fun way while learning a
ton of cool stuff at the same time and at the end of the program you feel really accomplished. I will never forget the people I met, and the things I learned while at the University of Valladolid…it was so much fun!

My name is Miranda Toman and I am going into my senior year as a psychology student at the University of Akron. Spain has been an absolutely incredible experience that I will never forget. One of my favorite excursions we took in Spain was Segovia. The town was very old but beautiful. Luckily the rain held off until the very end of the trip and the weather was absolutely beautiful. There was also a lot of people playing music in streets which made it very pleasant to walk through the streets.

While in Segovia, I also tried the famous dish of the city, Cochinillo. It’s basically a part of a baby pig (including the bones and organs) which was a little too weird for my liking, but I’m really glad that I tried it. The beans served with it was definitely worth it though because they were delicious. I would definitely recommend trying this though because it was a fun experience and it actually wasn’t that bad.

One of the most incredible sites in Segovia was the roman aqueduct. Its absolutely huge and lines the entire front of the city. The most interesting thing i found about this was that it wasn’t even built by the romans. A wealthy family that lived there wanted one built, so they did. If you go, I highly recommend climbing all the way to the top. It’s not that bad of a climb and its totally worth it. It’s an incredible view.

Segovia also has a beautiful cathedral. It is probably my favorite out of the ones I have seen while in Spain. To me, it doesn’t look like all of the other ones. It has it’s own unique flavor. I was hesitant at first to go in because it cost 3 euros but it absolutely worth it. I definitely recommend seeing this cathedral.

This is  what most of the streets in Segovia look like. They are very small, simple, and elegant. I also got some pretty amazing raspberry cheesecake helado in small shop on a road similar to this one. So I definitely recommend exploring the city if you get the chance. You never know what you might find!  

Here’s just a few of the amazing students from Akron that i traveled with. Going to Spain has helped me make 13 really close friends who I will never forget 🙂

Hello everyone, my name is Dominic Musilli, and I am part of a lucky group who is studying in Spain this summer! In addition to going to class five days a week, we also take a trip somewhere new each weekend! The excursion I’m talking about in this blog was our beach weekend in Santander, a city along Spain’s Cantabrian coast!

What made this trip interesting was the sheer variety of experiences we had. Starting with the bus ride, we got a first-hand look at Spain’s beautiful and varied landscapes. Starting from the vast plains near Valladolid, we climbed the Cordillera Cantabrica, the mountain range in north. Along the way, we stopped at a picturesque town named Santillana del Mar, which had a rich history of cave drawings by early humans. While there, we explored a museum dedicated to Spanish torture instruments, which, not surprisingly, focused on the inquisition.

After feeling refreshed, we continued our bus ride through the mountains, and then quickly descended towards the coast. At last we had arrived in Santander! The first thing we did was take off our shoes to walk the beach. We also took some stellar photos atop a very square rock by the shore.

Regrouping, we bought ice cream cones and took a hike to a public zoo that had seals and sea lions! From there we continued through a shady park area to arrive at Magdalena Palace, a mansion that served as the summer residence of King Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia.

Unlike the majority of students visiting from Valladolid, my group from Akron decided to stay an extra day in Santander so as the tour was ending, we headed to check into our hostel. For me, staying in a hostel was a completely new experience, and I was impressed at how modern it was and how kindly the owner treated us.

In the evening, we took another walk, chatted atop towels on the beach, and then split up to investigate different restaurants for dinner. Afterwards, we explored the nightlife in Santander and went to bed early the next morning. The following day, I decided to attend my first ever mass in Spanish, and then we opted to check out a marine museum instead of going to the beach (the water was too cold to swim). The museum had an awesome aquarium, and they even had a giant squid encased in glass!

Reuniting for the afternoon, we again got ice cream, and slowly made our way to the bus station, not wanting to leave! It was a weekend of sun, history, and camaraderie, and definitely stands out as a highlight of my summer!

¡Hola! My name is Chloe and I am currently studying at the University of Valladolid in Spain! I’m living with a host family and a lovely roommate named Amanda, and I spend 5 hours each weekday in class. I’m speaking Spanish all day every day, and learning about the culture of Spain through complete immersion. Every so often, we’ve been going on trips to different cities in Spain. I’m here to tell you about our recent trip to Salamanca!

Salamanca is a beautiful city, located southwest of Valladolid, where I am staying.

Here’s a photo in case you’re not a huge fan of geography.

While this trip was super interesting and very fun, I have to point out that it rained pretty much the whole time (7 hours) that we were there. I had an umbrella and boots, and somehow I still ended up with a soaking wet backpack and sad, damp socks. This put a bit of a damper (DAMPer, haha) on the excursion. Regardless, it was still a really cool trip. We rode a bus the whole way there, for an hour and a half. It was a pretty nice bus and the route was probably very scenic, but I slept almost the entire way. Right when we got there, we were given 25 minutes for the ill-prepared students to buy umbrellas and ponchos. The rest of us got to explore the shops a bit. I got gifts for my little sister and my high school Spanish teacher, which was a fun experience. In one of the shops, I helped translate a conversation between the shopkeeper and some tourists. It almost made me feel like a bilingual grown up or something.

Anyway, after the super short shopping trip, were began our tour of the city. First, we saw the Convento de San Esteban.

We had two great tour guides while we explored the city, but between the pouring rain and the chitchat of the students from the other university (in English… *eye roll*) I didn’t manage to hear much. I did hear that while the nuns and monks lived in separate buildings (monks lived in this one, nuns were in a building close by), there are underground tunnels that connect them!

Next we walked over to the Plaza Mayor. I learned that in Spanish cities, the Plaza Mayor unifies three ideas (bear with me, since I heard all this in Spanish!): the city’s government, its economy, and its culture/history. You can see the city hall in my picture, which is the government part. The shops around the perimeter of the plaza are the economy part. Although I didn’t get a picture, there are images of famous Spaniards on the three other walls of the plaza to represent the culture part. One side is conquistadores, one side is writers/philosophers, and the last side is important political figures. Apparently, when the mayor of the city dies, his body is carried around the plaza three times. I think I like this Plaza Mayor better than the one in Valladolid, because in my opinion it is much more beautiful – and honestly, it seems to have better places to eat!

Our next stop was actually the Casa de Conchas, but I honestly couldn’t hear anything and didn’t manage to get a picture, so here is a photo from the following destination, la Plaza de la Universidad. On this building, there is a rana (frog) that is hidden among the decoration, and it is said that if a student finds the frog, they will pass all of their classes. You can’t see the frog in this picture, but it’s on the right. I actually couldn’t find it by myself since I left my glasses in the USA, so I’m probably going to fail everything but it’s fine.

After, we were allowed an hour and a half of free time to get comida (lunch). A group of my friends and I went to a very nice restaurant (Amanda and I haven’t been able to remember it’s name). I ate, for the very first time… traditional Spanish paella!

I really enjoyed the paella, though some of the seafood wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t really like eating the shrimp, because they had eyes and faces and legs, and I felt like they were very cute and friendly. They tasted really good though so I guess it’s okay.

Anyway, afterwards we went to… drumroll… LA CATEDRAL!

Somehow, this is the only picture I ended up taking of the outside of the cathedral, and it’s a picture of an astronaut. Our two tour guides had conflicting perspectives on this new addition to the cathedral. One said that it was a great way to keep recording world history, and that someday in a few hundred years students would look at it and think it was an amazing piece of history. Our other guide, on the other hand, hated the astronaut. He said its ruining the building and that the artist just wanted to be famous. I have to agree, it looks a bit strange and I don’t think it makes much sense to include it.

Each major Spanish city has its own cathedral, but Salamanca is special because it has two! The second church was built right next the first, instead of on top of it. Here’s some pictures that I took inside the cathedral:

Plus there was a severed arm, which is always cool:

I really liked Salamanca, because it is a city so full of history. Every place we went, we got to learn something that would be interesting to all audiences. Everyone I talked to was very nice and helpful. Before going on the trip, I read a bit about it on the Internet, and I think it exceeded my expectations. I especially enjoyed seeing the Plaza Mayor and eating the paella. I felt a little strange in the cathedral, because everyone else seemed to be Catholic and knew what was going on, but I was a bit lost at times. Compared to Valladold, Salamanca seems a lot bigger! I haven’t been inside the cathedral in Valladolid, but I have seen it from the outside. While it’s beautiful, it doesn’t hold a candle to Salamanca’s cathedral(s) (in my opinion). My Spanish abuela told me that Salamanca was much prettier than Valladolid, but I thought they were pretty even! Salamanca also seemed to have less open space than Valladolid. Additionally, there was a little train/tour bus that almost ran me over several times in Salamanca… they don’t have that in Valladolid, so that’s a plus

All in all, Salamanca was a great experience. I can’t wait until next week, when we head to Segovia. Hasta luego!