With the enthusiasm and the curiosity of a 23 year old girl, who’s passing 3 weeks in a foreign country, knowing new persons from all over the world and bettering her Spanish level, here I am telling you my experience at AIP Language Institute.
Everything seemed a big question and I didn’t know what to expect, but I was sure that the country I had to go to was Spain, the motherland of flamenco, bullfight, paella and the nightlife, which was what I read in the tourist guides.
In particular my destination was Valencia, the city of paella par excellence. I had heard many different opinions about this place … many of which (the negative ones) I can now deny!
When I arrived, or better, when I was on the plane, I had the pleasure of meeting a guy from Valencia: that was an “initiation” to live up to my expectations. Thanks to him, even before touching the Spanish soil, I knew that, despite what all the tourists think, paella is eaten for lunch, not for dinner. Moreover, he talked me about the “noisy” tradition of mascletá during the Fallas festival, and the most cool clubs in the city.
This information made me feel involved in this new reality! What happened next was a series of pleasant surprises: the family welcomed me immediately and turned out to be like a real family that gave me a lot of attention, the house was very comfortable, big and near the school, and finally the school itself, where I met very nice and lovely people.
I arrived on Friday and took the opportunity to enjoy the city for two days with the family before starting going to classes and doing my internship. It was an interesting and instructive weekend: I got to know a little bit of Valencia and of Benimaclet, the neighborhood where I lived and where the school was. Moreover I got familiar with the means of transportation, and did a tour of the historic center where I buy a fan that turned out to be crucial to survive the summer heat wave.
On Monday I got to school, I met new students and some teachers who welcomed us. Then we went into a large room where one of the teachers greeted us, explained the rules and schedules of school and then they divided us into different groups, according to the level of knowledge of Spanish of each person.
The class I was in was very stimulating, the students were motivated and wanted to learn as much as they could and the teachers were really competent and available. The class I attended was to prepare for the DELE final exam, and I was quite worried because I thought that class work and homework would be heavy. This belief was refuted very soon, in fact these three weeks had running out without any dull moment. Each class was interesting and fun. The merit goes to my teacher for her patience and dedication.
When I was not in class, I had to work in the marketing office, helping to translate the website or the school blog articles, or doing research. I had to demonstrate that I was up to the task and had to develop my work in the best way possible; this was a very exciting challenge. All this was more enjoyable thanks to the atmosphere of harmony and tranquility among all the people who work in AIP Language Institute: from the others trainees to the teachers and the Chief.
I also had the pleasure of participating to extracurricular activities for students. In that way I knew another aspect of Valencia, less cultural, but also very characteristic, and together with the other students we went to the greatest parties at the port or in the Carmen district.
I can advise anyone to do this experience at AIP Language Institute, because for me was unforgettable. The only negative thing was the melancholy in my lasts days here in Valencia, thinking that soon I would return home.
Chiara Tramontani
