Spanish Exchange

In October 1999 I took part in a school exchange to a small village called Valdepeñas in Spain. I received a warm, genuine welcome from the Spanish family and instantly felt at home and as though the language barrier didn’t exist. The people were all very friendly, the village quite small but interesting and unique.

During the first few days we had a historical and interesting tour of the Town Hall, Church and La Plaza. We visited their wine cellars and learnt about the long, complicated process of wine making, we also visited a farm in the outskirts of the village specialising in sheep farming for cheese production, also for commercial reasons. As bull fighting is such a widespread, popular sport in Spain, we visited the bull ring in Valdepeñas, although we didn’t watch a bull fight, we were able to look around the brightly painted ring and at the bulls who were well fed and cared for within their stalls. We spent a little time in their school getting involved in class discussions and helping the Spanish students with their English and took part in various activities such as art and P.E classes. We also visited a primary school to help with their lessons and were taken of an interesting tour of the school, which had many similarities between primary schools in England. We visited the local windmill and briefly looked around its museum reading about its origins and history.

We also visited two historic cities quite far away from the village we were staying in. One was called Granada, here we were shown around the Alhambra, a palace, built for a King, set within beautiful gardens full of exotic plants, trees and waterfalls. We walked around the ancient building with their spectacular, beautiful architectures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery all around us. In Toledo, we were shown round a cathedral, mosque and synagogue, reserved in perfect condition for people to see and marvel at.

The exchange allowed me to make new connections with people in another country and to learn new exciting facts about another culture with its similarities and differences to my own. It also enabled me to practice my linguistic skills and to explore a country, which I had been very interested in for many years before I took part in the exchange.

Katy Dick