I have been living in Villanueva for almost a week now! Unfortunately, I had a very long journey getting here; I missed two of my flights, as well as my train to Villanueva. I had to spend a night in Madrid, which I found out the next day was the same night that Madrid won the Euro Cup! Funny coincidence! But at the time it wasn’t so funny – just exhausting and rather stressful. I was relieved to finally arrive in Villanueva 2 days after I’d left San Francisco. My luggage arrived a few days later.
Villanueva is quite a beautiful town, and everyone I have met so far has been very kind. My host family have made sure that I’m completely at home, and I’m very grateful to be staying with them! They took me to the Romería on Monday, which is a Catholic festival celebrated throughout Spain, and it was amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like it; in Berkeley, where I’m from, there are few local celebrations of the same caliber. The fireworks were my favorite part. My host family also took me to Pozoblanco a few days ago, so I’ve had a chance to explore outside of Villanueva, and I’m hoping to take a quick trip to Córdoba in the coming weeks. This is my first time in Spain and I hope to make the most of it!
In terms of work, things at the Academia haven’t been very busy this week due to exams. I sat down with a few of the students directly prior to their oral exams and helped them prepare for their conversations and topics. Every student I interacted with was more than prepared and quite pleasant to work with. I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone at the Academia and helping them achieve their goals! Everything has been great so far and the future looks bright and full of paella!
-GMC 🙂