Tag: Spain

2021 Fall

Tanner Voliva: Post 2

Tanner VolivaUVA ValenciaValencia, SpainFall 2021 Hola from Valencia! After spending about a month in Spain, I have come to find many new aspects about Spanish culture, American culture, and new aspects about myself! It’s quite interesting to see how all of these interact with each other and how they make me view life here in Valencia, Spain. One brand new aspect of life for myself is that of the daily commute; before arriving in Spain, I had never taken public transportation before! However, I now use the public metro as a way to arrive at the University and the public […]

2021 Fall

Tanner Voliva: Post 1

Tanner VolivaUVA in ValenciaValencia, SpainFall 2021 Greetings from Valencia, Spain! My name is Tanner Voliva and I’m a senior here at Hampden-Sydney College. Given that I am a Spanish major, I knew I would be studying abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, so I decided to look into the programs that were being offered during this time. The more I talked with native speakers, the more I was advised to study in Spain, as Spain has the more proper Spanish. After brushing through the programs, I found the UVA in Valencia program! This program had many different options for courses and […]

2021 Summer

Zac Richman: Post 4

Zac Richman: Post 4ISA 2021Florence, Italy A list of advice for studying abroad1. Do it! The experience is more valuable than any dollar amount.2. If you fail, try again. I had 4 programs cancelled before my Florence study abroad worked out.3. Learn a little of the language wherever you are going. As Italy was my 5th choice, I learned almost no Italian before I went. Studying on a plane doesn’t actually work out so great when you sleep through most of it. 4. Get out of your host country at least once. If you can’t, get out of your host […]

2021 Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 4

Taylor McGee Instituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 2021June 29, 2021 This will be my final blog post from my trip to Spain. Overall, I’ve had a truly wonderful time, and my final weekend here will be one that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Toledo, one of the most historic sites in all of Spain, and Valencia, a beach city on the Mediterranean with a rich history, killer gastronomy, and beaches that are to die for. My program took us through a guided tour of Toledo, […]

2021 Summer, Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 3

Taylor McGee Instituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 2021 June 20, 2021 My two favorite parts of every city are the museums and the hiking. Alcalá de Henares (and Madrid) have both in spades. The three biggest art museums in Madrid are the Reina Sofia museum, the Thyssen Museum, and the Prado Museum. When in Madrid, I would recommend going through all three. While many of the museums have restrictions against taking pictures in certain wings or exhibits, much of the Reina Sofia can be photographed. One of the most famous paintings in the Reina Sofia museum is the painting I’ve […]

2021 Summer, Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 2

Taylor McGeeInstituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 20216/7/2021 One of the things that has come to hit me pretty hard is just how different things are in Spain than in the states. The first thing I really noticed was the birds. For as long as I can remember the birds have sounded more or less the same, but in Spain they have a very different set of birds, which make different, and sometimes truly disturbing, noises. For example, the city of Alcalá de Henares is well known for it’s storks. The University has storks on its crest, there are massive stork […]

2021 Summer, Summer

Taylor McGee: Post 1

Taylor McGee Instituto FranklinAlcalá de Henares, SpainSummer 20216/2/2021 June 2021 The trip to Spain was less than ideal. Besides the baby screaming on and off during the 8 hour transatlantic flight, the air crew nearly forgetting to load 1,000 pounds of fuel into the plane (which feels like my flight almost ended up on the news), the Delta agent who insisted that only people with Spanish passports could enter the country, and shifting my sleep and meal schedule has been exceptionally difficult. Thankfully, I’ve got a really cool host family, made up of a single father who’s daughter is off […]

2020 Spring, Semester

Anthony Vinson: Post 4

Anthony Vinson UVA in Valencia Valencia Spain Spring 2020 The Beginning of The End It feels like yesterday when the alarm on my phone was ringing at 7 am to start my day. I had a nice routine of waking up and running to the gym a mile away to lift for an hour. Followed by a casual stroll home through the market to buy a ham and cheese sandwich for an afternoon snack before going to my usual neighborhood bar to eat a few eggs, potatoes, sausages, and drink a café con leche. I read the Wall Street Journal […]

2020 Spring, Semester

Anthony Vinson: Post 3

Anthony Vinson UVA in Valencia Valencia, Spain Spring 2020 March 6 Before I walk into the classroom, I can hear screaming and yelling down the hallway and the clashing of chairs and textbooks. For the first time in the past three weeks I arrived early, mostly because I did not get lost navigating the hallways. I walk into the room and am greeted with a hundred “Hellos” in English, while a swarm of fifteen-year-olds run rampant, unsupervised. To my right is a kid sitting in the trashcan. Another one is having his faced wrapped in masking tape by his friends; […]

2020 Spring, Semester

Blake Page: Post 4

Blake Page AIFS Universitat Autonoma Barcelona, Spain Spring 2020 March 26 As this comes as no surprise, unfortunately I am typing my farewell blog from my home and not from the beautiful city of Barcelona. As a result of the current health pandemic we know as the virus Covid-19 my program, just like every other student studying abroad this semester, abruptly ended and all students were informed they had to return home. Although I am disappointed my time in Barcelona was cut short, I can not overlook the time I did get to spend in Europe, which I will be […]