Hertzlich Wilkommen nach Österreich!

Hallo aus Österreich, Hallo aus Klagenfurt!

After a hectic exam period in January in Valencia, I had 2 weeks 'holiday' before the big move to Austria, in which I caught up with friends, enjoyed the beautiful weather (we are talking 25 degrees in Feb?!?!) and made the most of my spanish experience before moving onto my new placement. After a few tearful goodbyes, a quick pit-stop back in Wales, I found myself plonked in Austria with snow up to my waist and temperatures of about -10! Quite a difference!

From enjoying paella in the February sun in Valencia...

















... to deepest, darkest winter in Klagenfurt!













Rather than studying in a university like in Spain, here in Austria I am working as an english language assistant in two schools in the small town of Feldkirchen. The schools are situated on the same site, but at one end you have the 'HAK' (Handelsschuleakademie) which is a sort of technical college, for more vocational subjects and at the other the 'Gynasium' a more academic school for pupils who will probably go on to study at university after they complete their 'Matura' exams at 18 years old (our version of a - levels, known as 'Abitur' in Germany)

In both schools I teach classes from about 14-15 years to 18 or 19 in the Gynasium, and actually up to 22/23 years in the HAK, as the austrian education system says that you have to stay in education until you pass your end of high school exams, regardless of your age and so it is possible to have pupils of 18 (normal school leaving age) to as old as 23 in the same class - can you imagine that?! High school until your mid twenties!!

Bundeshandelsakademie und gynmasium, Feldkirchen, Oesterreich - my workplace for the next 3 months!

I work at the school around 13 hours a week (with friday as a day off!), splitting my time equally between the two schools. The town Feldkirchen is pretty small (approx. population of 14,000) and is situated in the austrian state of 'Kärnten' or Carinthia for us brits, in the very south of Austria, on the border with Italy and Slovenia. Feldkirchen is in the middle of two of the states biggest cities, the capital of Klagenfurt to the south about 25 km away, and Villach to the west (about 20km away). Given its proximity to these bigger, busier and more bustling cities and the fact that I actually am only in work a few hours a week, I decided it would be a much better option to live in the capital Klagenfurt, and commute to the school every morning

Landkarte von Österreich, im Blau ist Kärnten

Quaint street in the town of Feldkirchen...

A very cold Sophie!!

















Given all my free time,  I have already been able to really take advantage of my new home in central europe and visited some awesome places.

One tuesday, I joined my 4AHH (equivalent of year 12) class to 'Dreiländerreck', a ski resort in the west of Kärnten, from which you can be standing on a mountain in Austria, and see across to mountains in Italy and others in Slovenia. We spent the day tobogganing down the mountain, completing a course of nearly 9km - it was great fun!

eine malerische Aussicht auf die Berge - beautiful views of the mountains

 I also took a trip across the northern border into Germany to visit the amazing city of Munich. I met up with two friends from Cardiff Uni (who are both also on their year abroad) to spend 4 days soaking up the bayerish (bavarian) culture!

Dachau concentration camp - some 20 mins outside of Munich city centre, Dachau was one of the first concentration camps to be used by the Nazis before and during WW2

My friend Emma enjoying the traditional bavarian cuisine - Currywurst mit Pommes und Sauerkraut

The two Sophies in Hofbrauhaus - the famous royal brewery of Munich 

A strange memorial to the prince of pop - Michael Jackson situated in the heart of the city...

Beautiful neue Rathaus (townhall) in Munich's Main Square

In just three short weeks in Austria I have already seen and experienced so much. It's a really different country and actually culture to Spain and to ours in the UK but I am really excited to enjoy my time here to the max!

Von Österreich... Bis Bald!

Amunt Valencia!

At the end of last year, some friends and I went to watch a 'partido de fútbol' at Valencia CF's Mestalla stadium.

The game was between Valencia CF and Real Sociedad, a football team from the north of Spain.

Emily, a fellow erasmus student here in Valencia to my left, and my friend Chloe, from home, and I enjoyed watching the game together...

The game got off to a good start, with Valencia scoring in the first 2 minutes!!

But...

It all went down hill from there!!

Real Sociedad equalised...













And scored again...

And again.. (we fought back a little bit too!!)

And again, and again! To make the final score 5-2 to Real Sociedad. Needless to say, the Valencian fans weren't too happy, so much so, half of the stadium left ages before the end of the match, many started shouting 'you're useless, go home', at the players, and the organisers of the game even switched off the main screens, to save themselves the embarrassment of the defeat!! 

Sore losers I say!

¡Felices Fiestas!

¡Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo desde España!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year! This is me and my flatmates (plus some extras!) enjoying an early xmas dinner before they went to their respective homes for the Christmas holidays!

Deciding to make the most of my year abroad experience, I stayed here in Spain for the Christmas and New Year holidays. My family came to stay with me here in Valencia from the 18th until the 29th of December.








Despite being almost 1300 miles away, I still enjoyed a roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings here this Christmas!














Buying the ingredients for the dinner was a challenge in itself though, as our typical tradition of turkey and a roast isn't common at all here. Instead, families eat together on the 24th (so Christmas Eve), and enjoy typical regional dishes, so for example, as Valencia is a beach resort, sea food is typically enjoyed here for the Christmas meal. My brother-in-law and I spent about 3 hours in Carrefour, running up and down isles, frantically trying to find a pavo (turkey) and jamón (gammon) but to no avail!!

Check this photo out! This was taken during a trip with my family to Javea, in the Costa Blanca on 23rd december - the weather was beautiful and sunny as you can see, and about 24 degrees... I even managed to sunburn my arm enjoying the rays - hope I haven't made you too jealous!!

 From the 31st until yesterday, 7th Jan, I stayed in the capital, Madrid, to see the new year in with some friends!

The New Year celebrations here in Spain are very similar to that in the UK, some enjoy a meal with family, others a night out with friends, but come midnight, when the clock chimes the first 12 'dongs' of the new year, the tradition here in Spain is to eat 'uvas' (grapes in english), one for every chime of the clock, and the aim is to finish the grapes before the 12th chime!

Attempting to de-seed the grapes, ready for midnight!











Here in Spain, 6th January is celebrated too. The holiday is called 'Los Reyes Magos' and this is traditionally the day that the children get their presents. Like Father Christmas for us, Los Reyes come on the night of the 5th, and leave gifts under the christmas tree for the children to open on the day of the 6th. Los Reyes Magos, are the three wise men we know from the Bible who were said to have presented the new born baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

Similar to us in the UK, children in Spain visit Los Reyes Magos in the days before the 6th January, to sit on their lap and tell them which present they would like

Also it is typical for the children to write a letter to their favourite king, saying why they have been a good boy or girl that year, and therefore why they deserve the present they have asked for!


Now we are in 2013 (where the heck have the last 5 months gone?!!) I'm suddenly in my last month or so here in Valencia, and starting to prepare for my Austrian adventure! I shall keep you posted about my last few weeks here in Spain...

¡Hasta pronto chicos!

La vida escolar en Valencia

As you may know, I have spent some time in a spanish school recently, helping the pupils there with their english. The students I have been teaching are a similar age to you in Dyffryn School, and they are very keen to become your pen-pals!

                                   

IES Jose Rodrigo Botet - Your partner school in Valencia!

This is the 'segunda clase' - the equivalent of year 8

This is the 'tercera clase' - the equivalent of year 9

                                             

This is another 'tercera clase'

 And again, another 'tercera clase'

                                                                                                              

In the 'segunda clase', the students are about 13 years old and in 'tercera clase', the students are 14 years old

Check out these videos of some of the pupils talking about what they like to do in their spare time!

                                 

                                       

La vida en Valencia

So I have been living in Valencia for about 8 weeks now, and I'm really settling in well to the spanish way of life, I could definitely get used to the constant sunshine and warm weather!

I live in a flat right in the centre of the student area 'Avenida de Blasco Ibanez' in Valencia. It's about a 20 minute walk from my university faculty, and the same distance away from the beach... you can guess where I prefer going!
I'm living in an erasmus flat with two french boys, 3 other english students (one  is actually from Cardiff too, which is nice for a bit of home comfort!), a spanish girl from Ibiza, a dutch boy and an italian girl. We all get on really well, and it's really interesting to live with such a diverse mix of people.

                        

Aquí tenéis algunos de mis compañeros de piso: Elena, Priya, Me, Quentin, Leo, Toon and Grace

                                                               

                                                      
 Aquí tenéis la vista desde la terraza de mi piso y mi habitación

Lectures at university started at the beginning of October, and I'm finally starting to get my head round the spanish way of studying. Classes can start as early as 8 in the morning, and some don't finish until 9 at night... a very long day and not at all like university in Cardiff. Recently, there have been a lot of strikes by students and professors who oppose the planned education cuts here in Spain, so this has meant a lot of my classes have been cancelled over the past few weeks.

I've taken advantage of my ample free time and the glorious weather by taking some trips and exploring this great country I now call my home...

Dos fotos de la playa en Javea, Costa Blanca

 La playa 'El Saler', unos 20 kms fuera de Valencia

                                 
                                                          Alicante

At the end of september, some friends and I took a trip to the island of Ibiza for a few days. 

As you can see from this map, Valencia is just a short ferry ride away from the so called 'white isle'. 


On the thursday night of our trip, my friends and I went to a club to watch David Guetta perform in his closing party for the season. Somehow, with some great luck, a friend managed to get us into the VIP area, where low and behold, we had the great pleasure of meeting... Jonathan Ross! I was so excited (as I'm a bit of a sucker for celebrities!!) We chatted with him for a good while, he was a really nice and down to earth guy, and even told me he knew where my hometown, Chepstow, is because he enjoys visiting the Wye Valley... who'd have known! 

Mis compañeros de piso Priya, Toon y yo con el cómico britanico Jonathan Ross!

Besides my trips around the local area, I've also had some friends from the UK come to visit me out here. It's been really great to show them around my new home, and of course, as nice as my new friends are, it's always lovely to see your home friends! The flight to Valencia from Bristol airport only takes two hours, and is pretty affordable, so my friends really have no excuses in not taking advantage of there free accommodation in Valencia!

Mis amigos Jess, James y yo, enfrente de la catedral de Santa María de Valencia





Aquí están mis compañeras de piso en Cardiff, Sammy, Rosie y yo enfrente de la Plaza de Toros, Valencia













The end of summer has seen Valencia hosting numerous fiestas and holidays. Some of these I attended with my friends and housemates

Disfrutando cerveza a la fiesta de 'Oktoberfest', en septiembre

La Tomatina de Buñol en augusto

I have also been enjoying the doing touristy things like visiting the city's aquarium 'Oceanográfic' en la Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias de Valencia









y 'Bioparc', un zoo en el corazón de Valencia...




The past few weeks in Valencia have been great fun and I am enjoying my spanish adventure so much! I feel very lucky to be able to live and study in such an amazing city... I'll keep you all posted with my new tales of 'mi nueva vida en Valencia!'

Hasta pronto chicos !

un fin de semana en Valencia - A weekend in Valencia

¡Hola a todos!

Before I make the big move next month, my family and I decided it would be a good idea to visit Valencia for a long weekend to do a spot of flat hunting, see the university and most of all, to see the city I'll be calling home for the next six months. And what a successful weekend we had!


After missing various metro stops, attempting to ask for directions in my somewhat broken spanish and several wrong turns, we arrived at my flat. It is on the same avenue as my uni campus, right in the hard of Valencia's student district. The flat is very modern inside, and very clean (something my mother was very pleased about!), and I will be living with 8 other students, from all over the world. So far I know I will be living with two other girls from the UK, a girl from Italy and a boy from Holland. The whole point of our year abroad is to experience life in a new culture, and it seems I'll be doing just that by living in my new and very international abode! Being on the 14th floor (there is a lift, thank god!), our flat has access to the buildings rooftop terrace, with views spanning right over the city. I can see many a glass of sangría being consumed there after a (hard!) day of lectures...

Here is a pic of the block my flat is in - right up there at the top is where I'll be living!

And here is the university building 'facultat de Filologia, Traducció i Comunicació' (in english - faculty of language, translation and communication) where I'll be studying modules like spanish grammar, translation and literature. Note how the sign here is written in Valencian rather than spanish - I noticed how the further you get into the city, the more the signs are written in spanish




Of course my trip was a good excuse to escape the dreary british weather for a few days, and Valencia didn't disappoint! Clear blue skies and 33 degrees by ten in the morning meant I managed to find time in our busy schedule to top up my tan on the beautiful beach

Las bellas playas de Valencia - I can't wait to head down here after lectures and on weekends. It's safe to say I definitely won't miss the british climate!










After a busy few days, we spent all day saturday sight seeing and strolling around Valencia city centre. From what I can tell, the centre itself is made up of plazas or squares, filled with shops, restaurants and bars. We spent our last evening in Valencia sitting in the evening sun in la Plaza de la Reina, enjoying a traditional Valencian paella (which was amazing!)

                                  La Plaza de la Reina - in the heart of Valencia

                                
La comida tradicional valenciana - Paella! Valencian paella is the traditional spanish rice dish, but with chicken, peppers and beans


As we wined and dined, bands played music through the streets, as the locals were celebrating the 'Feria de Julio' - July Fair. Traditionally, 'La Feria de Julio' was introduced by the city's government in the 1870's to encourage the people of Valencia to stay in the city during the hot summer months, rather than flee to the surrounding hills to escape the heat and humidity. Nowadays, 'La Feria de Julio' sees a month of various concerts, theatre, open air cinema, traditional fiestas, sports events, funfairs and bullfighting

 We were lucky enough to watch the official opening of the fair with the performance of the San Luis Bertran Bugles and Drums band through the plaza

And earlier in the week, we saw preparations being made to the sand sculptures display on the beach promenade

Just by spending three days in Valencia, I could already see a vast improvement in my spanish. I found that very few people speak actually english there, despite it being a fairly touristy city, so I was encouraged to speak their language at every opportunity. Having seen what the city has to offer, I cannot wait to move there. I have felt many emotions towards my time abroad; fear, nerves and a lot of stress, but finally I can see exactly why we are encouraged by our universities to do this. In just the three short days I was there, I fell in love with the city and I even got the thumbs up from my family, who up until now have been a bit apprehensive about the whole 'Sophie's moving abroad thing' - so that is definitely a result! It will be hard at times I am sure, but I can't wait to embark on this great adventure

¡Hasta luego, Valencia! I'll see you in five weeks!