Having arrived at Spark on Sunday, I was keen to attend the Welcoming Drinks on Sunday night. All of the students and staff at Spark went out together to get to know everyone before our Spanish course began on Monday. We went to a local tapas bar in time to watch the Euro 2012 final, where Spain and Italy competed for the trophy. Although we all come from different countries, we were all happy to cheer for the Spanish team.

Watching the match here in Spain was not like watching it in Ireland! The Spanish commentators are far more passionate that any others I’ve ever heard – they speak at a dizzying pace, they gasp, sigh and shout when their team scores and they make the match far more exciting. Listening to them was a good test of my Spanish listening skills, and confirmed that I’d made the right decision to come to learn Spanish in Spain!  The Spaniards in the bar were very excited too, jumping and screaming for their team. I’ve never seen so many people wearing red and yellow!

Spark Welcomg Drinks, 1/7

And when the final whistle was blown and Spain lifted the cup for the second time in row, the Spanish people began their celebrations. As we walked back to the Spark residence, we were passed by car after car zooming down the roads with giant Spanish flags hanging out their windows, sounding the car horns, and with some very happy Spaniards singing and cheering inside them. The car horns continued long into the night.

It was a great event to start off our experience learning Spanish in Spain! Not only did we learn to listen to some very fast football commentary, but we also learned the words to some Spanish football songs and some new vocabulary such as “marcar” (to score), “árbitro” (referee) and “ganadores” (winners). I can already tell that my stay in El Puerto de Santa María is going to be a great one!