Valladolid. Madrid. Fulbright.

I spent the majority of last week and this weekend in Valladolid, a city located in the community of Castilla y León, Spain, northwest of Madrid. The purpose of my trip to Valladolid was to take part in the Fulbright Mid-year Conference, in which all of the Fulbrighters (English Teaching Assistants, Graduate Researchers and Students) living in Spain and Andorra gathered together for a couple of days to reflect on our experiences, get to know each other better and find out how everyone’s projects were going.  I was super excited to get away, not only because I was going to be away from school for a couple of days, but also because I was finally going to be able to spend some time with a bunch of other people like me. I was also eager to speak with the Spaniards from this place. Castilla y León  is where the Castilian (Spanish) language was born, so I knew that I was going to hear some authentic Castilian instead of the fake Valencian-Castilian that I always hear.

On Tuesday evening, right after school, I took a bus to Alicante. Because I don’t have the pleasure of having lots of transportation options in Jávea, I had to catch a flight from Alicante on Wednesday morning. That night I stayed with one of my friends in Alicante. We went to a great Greek restaurant and went to bed very early to prepare for our trip

We woke up at around 4:00 am because we had to be at the airport early for our flight which was at 6:30. We arrived in Madrid about an hour later and we headed straight to the train station to catch our group train to Valladolid. Once we were on the train we finally saw some of the other Fulbrighters. Actually, all of the Fulbrighters from the Valencia region were all on the same train car. It was good to see everyone again and talk about what we’d been up to. The train ride to Valladolid was about an hour.

Hotel Room



When we arrived in Valladolid we finally saw just about everyone: all of the people from Madrid, Valencia, Santander, Barcelona, Sevilla and everywhere else in Spain. We all walked to the hotel together (it was very close), got our room keys, checked out the room and headed downstairs to have lunch. We had lunch at the ballroom in the hotel. They served us a soup, bread, some kind of meat stuffed with vegetables, and a dessert and coffee.

Shortly after lunch, everyone took a bus to the university to take part in the opening ceremony. During this time we also watched some presentations done by senior researchers. When we got back to the hotel later that day we watched some musical/dance performances done by some of the Fulbrighters and had dinner. I think that everyone went to sleep early that night. We were all very exhausted.  I must admit that I slept great in our comfortable hotel beds.

Outside of the Museum

On Thursday and Friday, the schedules were similar. We had to wake up early, go to a series of group sessions or presentations, eat, and we participated in cultural activities in the evenings.  On Thursday morning we had a group session with the ETAs in Valencia. There are about 10 people in the Valencia region teaching English. We talked about all of the experiences we’ve had, the problems we’ve encountered, and shared ideas on how we can better educate the students. Most of us had very similar experiences, and I think that one of the difficulties that most of us faced at the beginning of our time in Spain was the Valencian language that we were surrounded by.

On Thursday night I went to a sculpture museum with some of the other Fulbrighters. We had the opportunity to choose between 3 activities, and unfortunately, my first choice was already full before I was able to choose it, so the museum was my 2^nd choice. The museum wasn’t really what I expected; it was nice to look at all of the sculptures and hear the history behind them but I didn’t know that every sculpture and painting was going to have something to do with the crucifixion of Jesus. Don't get me wrong, I love Jesus, but to me it was very repetitive. I, as well as everyone else, was also very tired, not to mention that this was right after lunch and we had to stand up for about an hour and a half during the tour. So it was quite interesting.



"Afterparty" at the bar

 

Later that night we had a cocktail reception in the hotel. All of the tables were full of wine and the waiters also brought out tapas, some were very good and some were questionable. We all went around the room and mingled. During the cocktail, a representative from the Valencia region told a few of us in the region that all of the schools we work for commented on the wonderful job that we have all done and talked about how happy they were to have us. Go Valencia!

I’ve got to say, I feel very lucky to be in the Valencia region. From the conversations that I’ve had with some of the other Fulbrighters (especially those in Madrid) it seems like many of them are not as happy in the schools that they are in. I've heard people say that they don’t really like the administrators, or that they have a lot of troubled children or that they don't feel appreciated in their schools. But with the conversations that I’ve had with the Valencia people, we all seem to be very happy, despite a couple of conflicts that we may have had. I absolutely love my school and placement, and so does everyone else. I think that it has to do with the fact that we all live off of the Mediterranean coast, with beautiful weather and beautiful beaches and  we are located in smaller cities. Also, all of the ETAs in the Valencia region work in primary schools, whereas the Madrid ETAs work in secondary schools. These things can make a huge difference.

After the cocktail reception I sensed that most of the people were still in a really good mood (especially after drinking all of that wine) so mostly everyone went to a bar that was across the street from the hotel. It was so funny to see most of the Fulbrighters crowd into the small bar. There were at least 50 or 60 of us. I think that most of the Spaniards there eventually left. Everyone ordered more drinks, and as the night progressed, people became so much more funny, loving and amicable. It was pretty hilarious.

Inside the bodega



Friday was probably the most interesting day because the morning was full of presentations given by other Fulbrighters. This may sound very boring but I, as well as everyone else, was very entertained and inspired by the presentations. They were very interesting. The topics ranged from ETAs talking about their experiences outside of the classroom like coaching or participating in sports, starting after-school movie clubs and other activities or even working on creative blogs, to graduate researchers discussing medical-related research that they’ve been conducting. I learned a lot from the presentations and I really started to think about what more I can do while I am here.

On Friday night we all went to a winery, about an hour away from the hotel, for a wine tasting. We were there for about 2 hours and we took a tour around the bodega and learned how the wine is produced, packaged and exported. At the end of it all we had a little cocktail reception and learned what to look for when tasting wine. We tasted the red and white wines, and although I normally prefer red wine, the white wine was delicious. At the end of the tour the tour guide told us that we could keep the beautiful wine glasses as a souvenir. Fantastic!

Historic Valladolid



On Saturday morning (the day of departure) I woke up early because I wanted to eat breakfast and then explore the city a little more before I left. So I walked around (and got lost) for about an hour before it was time to head to the train station.

I decided that since I was going to be in Madrid anyway I might as well spend the night there and head back to Jávea on Sunday. Madrid is definitely one of my favorite cities in the world so I was so excited to spend the day in the city where there is so much to do. That day, my friend and I ate lunch and went to the Prado Museum, one of few art museums in Madrid. According to my friend, it was her favorite museum, so I was excited to see what the fuss was about. This museum was so big, and although we were there for almost 3 hours, I still didn’t see most of it. But I usually expect this to happen when I go to museums. The art was beautiful and I definitely plan to go back the next time I’m in Madrid.

Later that night, my friend that lives in Madrid was having a birthday party so since I was in the city, and was going to be staying the night with her, I went. The party was fun; I met a lot of new people and talked more with some Fulbrighters that I had already met. The dishes were great and so was the alcohol. We sang along to old and new songs, danced, and laughed endlessly.  After partying in her piso for a couple of hours we went to a bar, where we had more fun.

Once home of Miguel Cervantes

On Sunday morning I woke up early to head to the airport for my flight back to Alicante. Once I arrived in Alicante I had a few more hours until it was time to catch a bus so I went to my friend’s piso where she cooked some pasta and then we had hot chocolate. We then took a walk along the port to walk off some of that pasta and chocolate we had just consumed and afterwards I took a bus back to Jávea.   

Because I live in such a small town where there are no other Americans or people my age, I now really appreciate the time that I do get to spend with other people. I really enjoyed the Fulbright conference, it was very educational, inspiring and I had a lot of fun spending time with the other Fulbrighters. It was also amazing to see how everyone’s teaching and individual projects really reflected the purpose of the Fulbright Program. I am so happy to be a part of such a wonderful program that promotes mutual understanding between countries and scholarship and there is literally nothing bad that I can say about Fulbright. I truly believe that everyone left the conference feeling renewed, with new ideas for these next couple of months that we will spend in Spain.

The time that I spent in Madrid was also very fun. I had a really great time partying with my Fulbright friends and exploring the city a bit and I definitely plan to visit the city more often.

As much as I love Jávea, I’m way too lonely here, not to mention there is never anything to do, so I think that I will be doing a lot of traveling during the next couple of months that I spend in Spain.