Dear Steve,
I am happy to let you know that I was nominated by Teesside University for a 6-week language exchange program in Las Palmas, Spain. I arrived at Las Palmas on the 4th of July and was lodged in a hostel very close to the Las Canteras beach, an itinerary had already been drawn up for me by the Bancy Education – which was the organisation hosting the students from Teesside University.
As part of the program, the weekdays typically began with the students attending the mandatory four hour Spanish language lessons at ‘Nika Teacher’ training centre, at about 12pm when our Spanish lessons were over we would go back to the hostel for lunch, and from then on everyone was free to go about their personal business as it suited them. I particularly enjoyed surfing in the evenings, I must say learning to surf has to be one of the toughest activities I have had to learn as it involved quite a lot of falling over, but you would know this already as you are quite experienced in surfing yourself.
You would be pleased to know that for an intrverted person like myself, I made quite a number of new friends at Las Palmas, some of which were locals who were happy to show me around the city and introduce me to local food as well. I went to a number of festivals of which was the ‘Fiesta de la Naval’, which was a festival commemorating the repelling of naval attacks, it was very colorful with people, farm produce and livestock wearing ornaments as part of a parade.
The highlight on this trip for me was the four hour hike up the mountain called ‘El roque nublo’, it was exhausting and intense as we ascended the mountain, I felt myself gasping for breath as the altitude changed, and eventually when I made it to the summit, the view from up there was breathtaking. This holiday is one that I will always remember. We should definitely visit Las Palmas togther in the future, and catch the waves on a surf board together, and hopefully I can show you a few tricks by then too.
Yours Sincerely,
Simdi