¡Bienvenidos a España!

¡Hola a todos!

The government building in Pamplona where they light the famous txupinazo that starts the Fiestas de San Fermín

This academic year I am attending the University of Leon through the Holy Cross study abroad program. I’ve been in Spain for a little over a month now and I am loving it. I miss Mt. St. James a lot, but I am so grateful for this opportunity to better my Spanish and experience life in another culture. I am also excited to share this year with you.

Holy Cross offers three study abroad sites in Spain: A Coruña, León, and Palma de Mallorca. At the beginning of August all of the HC students in Spain meet in Pamplona for a three week orientation program before going to their respective universities. In Pamplona we stayed at Mendebaldea Suites and attended three classes a day (in Spanish of course!) at the University of Navarra: culture, grammar, and conversation. It wasn’t all work though! We went on excursions to a vineyard, the Castle of Olite, Loyola (the home of St. Ignatius – founder of the Jesuit order), San Sebastián, Bilbao, St. Jean de Pied de Port (France), St. Jean de Luz (France), and several other trips. Vineyards, castles, beaches, and museums were a wonderful way to start my year in Spain.

On September 1 I arrived in León. This beautiful little city is my home for the next 10 months. I am staying with a wonderful host mom who takes care of me as if I were her own daughter. She prepares WONDERFUL Spanish food and is patient in helping me with both vocabulary and grammar. Living in another country for a year can be pretty daunting, but Holy Cross and the University of León help make the transition nearly seamless with host families, advisors, and mentors.

Have a wonderful week!

Ali

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2015 at 9:24 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.