ESCUELA (Camino Barcelona)
Our school (and apartment living) is Camino Barcelona...in the center of Barcelona.
It has many classes, many teachers, and it has many structured activities for us to practice Spanish. We love it! We took a short written test and then an oral test when we got here.
Nuestra Escuela y Hogar: Camino Barcelona
Each class has up to ten students and we take two classes a day from 9:30-1:15. It feels just the right amount of time. It goes quickly really. We get one break and the teachers change so that makes it more interesting. We use a textbook and other materials. It is a perfect mix of discussion, reading, and grammar. During the break, we all go try to get a coffee at the bakery...I like this time to chat a little with other people.
Our teachers usually give us a little homework, in each of the two classes. We like this...it is low-key but we feel like we are being productive. Some students skip class or go late. Some students seem to never go to class. Well, many have been studying here months so maybe they don't mind skipping a few. So far we have been "good students" but we have not done much studying after class. We are busy either napping, sightseeing or drinking the delicious beer and trying tapas.
The school has a center open almost all the time. They have many staff who greet us, help us if we need to find something or print something. They have many classrooms and study places. Actually there are two buildings where we go for classes, within the same block.
Our apartment is one of two sections on our floor. Our section includes two other rooms, 3 other "flatmates". Our part includes a somewhat big room with "almost a king size bed" and a private bath. We share the kitchen and a room that nobody uses that is a sitting room with a TV. We also share a balcony with the two guys in the room next to us. They are Juan and John. Juan is Brazilian and John is American. I think they have been here awhile. There is no place really to eat so we either eat on our balcony, on our bed or we go to the rooftop and eat there. We are eating in for breakfast and lunch and then we eat out dinner. We bought delicious breads and eggs for breakfast. We make lattes. And we bought fixings for sandwiches so we eat sandwiches every lunch so far.
Yvonne and I were probably experiencing a little "language overload" the first day of classes but we quickly acclimated. Of course it helps that the Spanish schedule includes a big siesta in the afternoon. Then we can "catch our breath" after intensive conversations in Spanish.
Yvonne was placed in A1 class, a class with about ten beginner speakers. There were two Americans and some Germans, Italians, Chinese and English students. I was placed in B2 high intermediate, in the class that was finishing the entire book and taking a 4 hour exam. So, I asked to be moved to a class slightly below this in order to avoid the big exam. I didn't feel I was ready to take it and I did not want to do "mediocre" on it, cold turkey. Well then I got put in a class with students who were not as advanced and I felt a little frustrated. This class had an older Australian man who has been here 7 months, a Slovakian girl, a Brazilian guy who comes late and "does his own thing", and a Tunisian guy. Only three of us seem serious about our classes. But the teachers are great! They only speak Spanish and they are teaching me a bunch of ways to advance my skills, for example they taught me many ways to say: Nevertheless...blah-blah-blah, and There are... using more sophisticated verbs, etc.
Here we are doing homework in our mini-apartment:
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