I’ve been on St. Petersburg College’s study abroad Spanish program for two weeks now; the term “immersion’ is quite appropriate.  The classes are taught in Spanish. The SPC professors almost always speak Spanish.  And when dealing with all the shop and restaurant owners, most do not to speak English. For example when a student’s sandal sole came loose, I had to ask in Spanish what kind of shops sold glue, then get directions to the shop and finally ask the clerk where to find the glue. It was a practical exercise in the use of Spanish, and the student has had no problems with his repaired sandals.

I have had many “one-of-a-kind” experiences during our many excursions.  The following are two examples: Salamanca had a four-day festival celebrating St John of Sahagn, Salamanca’s patron saint. On a Friday night we walked to the Tormes River and had one of the best fireworks displays I had ever seen. Then Sunday night we went to Plaza Mayor. The plaza is a 4 and 5 story square.  It is actually a trapezoid but it is hard to see that it does not have square corner. Residences occupy the second, third and fourth floors, most with wrought iron balconies. The city put on a light show there. The light show was projected on one wall of the Plaza. The area used was 5 floors tall and the width a little wider than the height. The city had put on a contest and the six top winning digital productions were shown. They were animations of the building rotating, falling apart or turning.  Another showed a transformer figure with many movements, such as running and jumping.  The colors were vibrant and the images played off of the columns, windows, balconies and other features of the building. It was a very imaginative and creative show and nothing like  I have ever experienced before.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about a few of my experiences. I certainly have really enjoyed my trip so far.