This past July I had the pleasure of participating in a Short International Program (SIP) in Salamanca, Spain.

Salamanca is located in the community of Castile and Leon, in the north-west region of Spain.  I attended Spanish lessons in the morning at Universidad Pontifical de Salamanca, and I spent my afternoons and weekends sightseeing.

School

Spanish lessons consisted of the basics – counting (cero, Uno, dos, tres…), eating (yo como…), drinking (tu bebes…), days of the week (lunes, martes, miércoles…), months (Enero, Febrero, Marzo…), and colours (negro, Blanco, Naranja, Roza…).  Did you know that there are 27 letters in the Spanish alphabet?  The additional letter is between N and O and looks like this – ñ – and is used in words like “niño” and “niña”.
Even though our classes were 4 hours a day for 4 weeks, we learned quite a bit in that short period.  Everything from animals to different verbs to family members, we learned it.  During our last week was our final exam, graduation and grad party.  Graduation Day was absolutely one of my best days in Salamanca.

Culture

When I wasn’t learning in the classroom, I immersed myself in Spanish culture, which is its own education in and of itself.

My first week in Salamanca coincided with the 4^th of July celebrations, and those of us that found our way to Plaza Mayor was fortunate enough to be serenaded by a mariachi band.  That weekend I rented a bike, grabbed a map and took off on my own Tour de Salamanca.  The city is small and compact with loads of bike trails, so it was very easy to navigate.  I rode along a Roman bridge, through Jesuit Parque that had a pond in the middle of the park, filled with swans and ducks.

That same week my flatmates and I went to a Flamenco show which was outstanding, and the rest of the audience must have agreed as shouts of “Ole!” and “Guapa!” came from the crowd.

Being the adventurous type, I took a bus from Salamanca to Saville – the capital of the Andalusia community one weekend.

First up was the Real Alcázar, which is Spanish for Royal Palace.  The palace is still the primary residence used by the royal family and certain rooms were closed to the public.  I have no words to describe just how drop-dead beautiful this palace was.  Gorgeous doesn’t even come close to describing its stunning beauty.  I could’ve spent all day there and still not see everything.  Everywhere you looked, there was an art to be found, even on the ceiling!  The palace is the perfect mixture of Christian and Arabic influences.  And if I was gobsmacked by the inside of the palace, I had a shock waiting for me on the outside.  Real Alcázar has not one, not two, but three gardens, the next one more beautiful than the last!

Up next was Plaza España (Spain Square) which was walking distance from Real Alcázar.  Also another piece of stunning architecture, that was relatively quite new compared to Real Alcázar.  Plaza España was built in the 1800s for the Ibero-American Exposition World’s Fair.  It is a semi-circular park with a large and beautiful water fountain in the middle and a pond that surrounds it.  You can rent rowboats that take you around the pond and under gorgeous bridges.  While exploring Plaza España I ran into impromptu Flamenco dancers and singer.  I ended my day with tapas and a well-deserved sangria.

Trips

My final weekend in Spain was by far, the best of my entire trip! Our school organized weekend trips for my classmates and me so that we could practice our Spanish.  On Saturday my classmates and I went to Segovia to see the Roman Aqueduct, Alcázar of Segovia, and Segovia Cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful.  Alcázar of Segovia is now used as a war museum and had a very pretty garden in the shape of a maze.

After lunch, we made our way to Avila, which was only a short bus ride away from Segovia.  Avila is famous for its medieval wall, which provides beautiful views of nearby cathedrals and the town.  On Sunday, some of my classmates and I went on one of the school-organized weekly beach trips to playa Suances.  Suances is a 3.5-hour drive north of Salamanca and it was the best 35 euros I’ve ever spent.  The beaches were spectacular, clean and not over-crowded, the ocean wasn’t cold, and the weather was hot, hot, hot!

What I’m going to miss about Spain and Salamanca particularly is the manana lifestyle and siestas (seriously). I’m definitely going to miss the food, the beautiful architecture, the gorgeous beaches, and going to bed every night to this view.

If you get a chance to participate in a SIP, I highly recommend it!
You won’t regret it!

Ouida Shiers – SIP, Salamanca, Spain

I  had a great experience learning Spanish again in beautiful Pamplona, Spain, at the University of Navarra. This was my first Global Experience through Centennial College, for which I am so happy and grateful that I was one of many students selected to represent Centennial College and Canada.  On Orientation day, the first day, we were given an overview of the program and what to expect. – which was  a very intense 2 week program. The professors were all very warm and welcoming. This was what impressed me the most – the warmth of the people – just like the August weather,  proud of their culture and history, coupled with a very cool lifestyle. Very relaxed and stress free one.  This is what i like – the Spaniards  enjoy siesta everyday, which most likely contributes to their happy disposition.

The architecture is amazing, one to behold, particularly the many cathedrals where you can  also visit the museums which is very cool indeed, and the many castles, to behold,  which makes the architecture so unique and historic. To leave you breathless and in awe.

our of  As was very noporud of their coola cool culrue , which was very impressive. It was as though we  impressive way how the program was e were divided up into our propesective classes and asked to describe ourselves in aobut 2-3 paragrpahs. Vast beauty and greneyr.  on our first field trip to  i was azamed at the vast moutnas adn greenery of this northern town Continue reading “Pamplona, Spain – My Global Experience – August 29th, 2018” →

¡Hola! 

My name is Jodie and I am in the Travel and Tourism program. I did the SIP program in Oviedo, Spain, which is located in the Asturias region (north of Spain), for July. I applied to the SIP programs for the fun of it and to be quite honest, I didn’t expect to get in. But to my surprise, I got an interview and then found out I was accepted to the program while I was away in Colombia.

Before departing to Spain, I knew some Spanish but I didn’t know enough to have a conversation with somebody or even ask for help. I only learned on my own by listening to Spanish music, watching telenovelas, and by observation whenever I visited Colombia. I was scared when I arrived in Madrid because I didn’t feel comfortable speaking Spanish since I lacked confidence. This quickly changed because I was forced to speak Spanish since that was the sole purpose of me going, therefore, I needed to try. Also, the majority of the people in Oviedo didn’t speak English because it wasn’t a city with many tourists.

I was in the Intermediate I Spanish class and my teacher didn’t speak ANY English. At first, I thought this was a little bit of a challenge but this actually helped me improve my listening skills. My conversations class not only allowed me to practice speaking, but it also helped me to be more confident to speak. With the help of all three of my teachers, Lorena, Pablo, and Gloria, my Spanish has improved in every aspect.

To wrap it up, I was genuinely sad to leave Spain and I actually cried while I was on the bus to get to Madrid’s airport. I will never forget Oviedo’s overwhelming architecture, the relaxing lifestyle, and all the people I have encountered during my stay. I have a lot of stories to share about Oviedo and these pictures and videos posted don’t do much justice. One thing I could say is that this was definitely a life-changing experience for me and I would do this again in a heartbeat. Te extraño mucho, Oviedo. ❤

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Besitos,

Jodie

Hello,

My name is Yonghui. I have stayed in Alcala de Henares, Spain, for a month with my wife studying Spanish and travelling around. Alcala is the city where I would love to spend the rest of my life after retirement.  People are nice and kind, the city is not too crowded, beautiful and natural… It is such a blessed city! Thank you for this great opportunity.

Study Love in Spain.

Hello everyone!

My name is Bianca, 20 years old. I am Brazilian and this Summer of 2017 I have been part of the Summer International Program in Spain.

The total length of the program was one month (August). As you might already know, it is one of the hottest months of the year in Europe, so obviously I was melting everyday over there; but I can’t really complain about it. Everyday I would wake up with this huge sunlight coming into my window, would have breakfast with my lovely Spanish family and go to school by walking and laughing with the best roommates in the world.

During class, I will admit, we have learned a LOT of Spanish. All of the professors would only speak Spanish, so we had no other choice than learned it (some would say by the hard way, I would say by the funny way lol).

After class, me and my friends used to go out for lunch and everyday try a different Spanish dish. So on Mondays, for example, we decided to always go out for Tapas, which is kind of (INCREDIBLE DELICIOUS) side dishes given to you when you ordered any drink. Unfortunately, I don’t have any picture of it, cause I was always starving for lunch after class. PS. OUR CLASS USED TO FINISH AT 3PM, so you can imagine how hungry we were.

So having lunch, we normally went back home to take a nap because of the SIESTA. As Spanish people says “dormir la siesta”. Can you think of any better way to spend your day with a full belly? We slept around one hour and went back to streets for shopping, or eating more, or visiting some new places. The funny thing is, our small city would be completely empty from 3pm to 5pm. I guessed everyone was also taking a nap. But as I mentioned, the same time we went back to the streets, everyone else was also there, which always meant partyyyyyyyyy!!!

So from there to night time, the city was really alive and we had a lot of fun. I have many stories I could tell here, but I think I will just live some pictures from my GREAT Spanish adventure. Love to share my experience =)

– Bianca

Stepping into the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca for the first time was an unbelievable experience. The school was beautiful and old and bigger than I ever imagined. The first day we had an orientation where we were split into classes where we took a placement test to determine our level of Spanish. Following this, we went on a tour of Scala Coeli, a large bell tower with an amazing view of the city. Throughout my two-week stay in Spain, I met many new people, ate delicious food, and learned a lot of new Spanish words and phrases. The teachers at the university were excellent. We had a writing class in the morning then lunch and afterwards pronunciation class. The accommodations at the university residence were perfect, I had wifi, 3 meals a day, and my own room (with its own bathroom). The food was great at the residence and there were lots of options for every meal. Many different people were staying at the residence who I go to know during my trip. In addition to classes at the university, I visited an art museum and a car museum while in Salamanca, as well as a cathedral that took over 200 years to build. Overall, I had an amazing time on the SIP Salamanca and I cannot wait to revisit Spain in my future travels.

The sun is shining brightly

A long way!

A sigh of time memory.

Another church

Sagrada Familia Cathedral

A promise is a peomise

New jourmey

We were moved by their performamce.

(from left to right)Faye,Mia,Ali and Jessie, we were a studying team

Harvest festival

Poetic dewelling

Bicycling

1300 year-old Church in Oviedo

I am so lucky and I feel so proud of being a Centennial College student. This summer, I was selected to learn different language and culture in another Country- Spain by Summer International Programs. Fortunately, it is second time to be selected. Life is a continuous journey. Some journeys are short and some long. Some journeys are unforgettable to be erased by the sands of time. The journey of Spain I had was one memorable experience.

I was arranged living with a local family called a homestay. We lived along with each other, just like a real family even we were not able to communicate too much by language barrier in the beginning. My homestay mother is an elegant and knowledgeable lady whose name is Elizabeth. She has passion to teach everything to me and my classmates Faye, Jessie and Minyung whenever we need her.  She invited us to go to the concerts for many times. She introduced about history, food, culture and music of Oviedo to us. After 20 days, we were able to talk to each other in Spanish. Can you image we just stay there for 20 days? Ali is another wise lady I want to mention. Ali is a coordinator of University of Oviedo, she can speak many languages including Spanish, English, Chinese and some French. We were used to meet up in order to improve our languages. Also, Ali helped us a lot. I think there is no better way to learn a new language and culture.

The reason why I applied SIPs is that my program is Practical Nursing. Once, I had a trouble in communicating with a client who only can speak Farsi in my placement. I had to spend a lot of time to figure out what she needed every time. Sometimes, knowing one more language can save life. After that, I realized that how important of good communication skills were for people, especially, for a nurse. In this case, I think SIPs is a great opportunity for me to learn another language and culture in order to care clients easily and effectively. Meanwhile, it is a chance to widen my eyes which is beneficial for my future career. It is not only to enhance my global awareness but also to help clients who are Spanish speakers. It will be greatly improved in the programs, which are relevant to my major.

In the end, as a Centennial College student who is studying PN, I am proud of myself. Also, I strongly recommend all students to applied SIPs, you will definitely benefit from SIPs .It will light your future and color you experience.

– Meiling Miao (300801439) Practical Nurseing