LAURA DOXSEY (Curso 2009-2010)

Eight months in Mugardos

  
   When I arrived in Galicia in September I was so happy. Everything I had read about the region told me that it always rains here but when I arrived it was sunny and hot! I couldn´t belive it! I thought that the guides were wrong and that I would be spending eight months on the beach sunbathing, but in the end it was me who got it wrong. After six months of incessant rain (which I have been told "is not normal") the sun is finally starting to emerge once again and my dreams of sunny weekends on the beach may be coming true.

Aside from the somewhat interesting weather, I have had eight amazing months here in Galicia. I have been working at IES Mugardos since October as an English language teaching assistant, as part of my university degree (I study French and Spanish at the University of Leeds). It is a compulsoty "practical" year for language students... and a year away from studies at our English universities.

After initially applying for a placement in Andalucía, I was instead sent to Galicia, which I knew nothingh about. However, after eight months here I can honestly say I wouldn´t have preferred to be anywhere else. Contrary to popular belief, I have found the people here to be frendlier than anywhere else I have visited in Spain and felt at home here from the firs day I arrived. The food is delicious I will really miss it next year when I return home to fish and chips and roast dinners!

Galicia really isn´t like the rest of Spain but that is what makes it so special, it´s nice to be able to tell people in England about other traditions in Spain -not just bullfighting and flamenco! This year has helped me in so many ways and working at the scholl has been a wonderful experience.

All the students are brilliant and you really should be so proud of yourselves, I wish you all the best for a fantastic future that I know you are all capable of achieving.

And remember... there is always a house in Bolton ready to welcome you if ever you need it!