(This blog was written by Christina McCarthy)
OUR ARRIVAl AT SPARK – Nuestra Llegada
Today is our 3rd day studying Spanish inSpain here at Spark, and we’re loving every minute of it! ¡Qué bueno es! From the classes to the social and cultural program, we’ve been given so many opportunities to speak Spanish in a very natural way, just what you want when learning a language.
In order to get to the beautiful El Puerto de Santa María, where Spark is located, we had to fly into Sevilla and spend a night there. Lo que era una experience muy Buena!
Pero… ¡que viaje tuvimos desde Sevilla!
As we’re both students, the cheapest travel option is the one we opted for. That is, take a bus (un autobus), then a tram (una tranvía) and then a train (un tren) to get to Spark. All fairly straightforward…
Until…
My friend and I discovered we had to navigate through the streets of Sevilla – which are very beautiful, but which are built more for carts and horses than for suitcases and slightly confused ‘guiris’ or ‘foreigners’.
This was made more complicated by the fact that one of us is ‘ciega’ (blind), and therefore is reliant on the other for direction. ¡Qué complicado!
All was going well until we realised we were on the wrong side of the road for the bus – which was about to leave on the opposite side!
Another thing we learned about Sevilla – which, thankfully, hasn’t been a problem here in and around Spark Spanish – is that the pavements (las aceras) are very uneven … especially if you fall over them, as I did, taking my large ‘maleta’ or ‘suitcase’ with me and losing a shoe in the process. ¡Qué vergúenza!
Gracías a Dios – Thank God – we managed the rest of the journey unscathed, though it involved a lot of running as we very nearly missed the train. ¡Por poco perdimos el tren!
It was a relief to arrive at Sparkville, the cultural residence, where we were greeted by a warm and friendly atmosphere – and could put down our awkward suitcases.
We’re really looking forward to a great learning experience here at Spark, with lots of fun activities too! ¡Vamos!
