Taormina – A great place for holiday or study or both!

Have you got some time off? Want to spend it learning a new language and having an awesome cultural experience at the same time? If your answer is yes then I highly recommend that you look into booking yourself into an Italian language school in Taormina, Sicily! I attended the school for 2 weeks and if I had to name my only one regret it would be that I didn’t make my stay in Taormina a longer one.

Taormina is an old medieval town on the East coast of Sicily in between Messina and Catania. The town itself is situated on Monte Taoro and has spectacular views of the ocean and Mt Etna. Taormina offers a diverse range of activities to suit the likes of everyone, including… boutique shopping in the main street, beaching, possibility of going to the surrounding islands and grottos by boat, there are amazing walking tracks for those who are feeling energetic, and do I have to mention the wonderful Italian cuisine and the gelati!!

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We just got back from El Puerto…

¡Hola!

We are Jessica and Nadine, two friends from Switzerland.

We stayed three weeks at the school in El Puerto and profited a lot from the lessons. The teachers and the director Marisa are really friendly and helpful and the students very simpatico! We felt at home.

We had a lot of fun going on the school activities and excursions, for example: dancing salsa, concert flamenco, playing soccer at the beach, trip to Ronda etc.

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El Puerto – why you won’t have a moment to spare!

Hola! My name’s Livia and I spent six weeks at the school in El Puerto.

El Puerto de Santa Maria is a little town which belongs to Cadiz…

In the school there are so many things to do! You can dance salsa, and it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner! You can go to the cinema there’s a big mall where you can choose different movies. You can play bowling which is definitely good fun!

There are lots of things you can see in El Puerto (for example the Plaza de Torros, the castles, the tapas bars, and the beaches etc).

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Five weeks of fun and Spanish in Playa del Carmen

I ended up spending 5 fantastic weeks in Playa del Carmen, Mexico this summer after I graduated University and it was the perfect laid back atmosphere to practice my Spanish in.

Playa has something for everyone; less fast paced than Cancun, but still offers enough clubs, restaurants and shopping for those who can’t live without their creature comforts, not to mention turquoise water and white sandy beaches just a stone’s throw away from the school!

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Go to San Sebastian!

The thing I loved about San Sebastian is the diversity of the city – historic centre, modern areas, parks scattered throughout, beaches, stunning architecture, rich heritage, beautiful scenery, the list goes on and on … I have a soft spot for the old town. I spent a lot of time meandering along the narrow streets browsing in the shops and admiring the architecture. I loved the way you turn a corner and stumble upon a stunning church hidden away amidst the streets.

You definitely have to try pintxos (tapas) in one of the many restaurants – you really are spoilt for choice and as you walk past the restaurants you can see the pinxtos laid out in the bar making the decision of where to eat even harder. The school also organises a Pintxos cooking lesson which is a lot of fun, and just one of many activities they organise.

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Lindau: the small island with everything you could want!

If you don´t just want to learn German, but you also want to discover a new region, I personally recommend to you to go to Lindau. Lindau is a small island in the very south of Bavaria, just a walk away from Austria and Switzerland!

I came here to improve my German, but have been amazed by the beauty of the scenery here. You can find everything you want here: mountains, lakes, beautiful landscape etc.

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Why this is my third time at the school in El Puerto

This is my third time at the school in El Puerto de Santa Maria now. I really love the place! The weather is always wonderful and the beaches are outstanding.

The people in El Puerto de Santa Maria are really friendly and because the foreigners haven’t discovered the city yet, the real Spanish culture is still everywhere. Coming here is the best way to learn Spanish, if you ask me!

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Hamburg: my classmates made the local news!

Class finished at 1 pm on 1st August and the weather was very nice. We decided (since it was the end of the week and legal in Germany) to buy a beer and sit in the town centre – overlooking the Binenalster.

I left to go pick up some keys from a friend and whilst I was gone the local news team took my seat and interviewed my German course classmates on the weather in Hamburg. Normally summers in Hamburg are beautiful. Today was no exception but the last week has been a little less than perfect. Hear what my friend has to say 27 seconds (51 if counting down) into the video below. Next to him is another guy from my class who started this week.

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A postcard from Hamburg

Here is a short postcard describing my time here in Hamburg. Using the German that I have learnt in a week and a half I think I have got a typical day for me covered nicely 🙂 I would also like to apologise for those reading this with an advanced level of German but hopefully you are still a little impressed!

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Fashion & Design in Milan…what a great course!

Ciao! I’m Andrea from Colombia and I attended the Italian for Fashion & Design course at the school in Milan. I had such a great time that I now want to stay here!!

I have to say that this particular course has been really interesting. The course focuses on learning the vocabulary of fashion and design, but at the same time you do different activities. For example, one afternoon we worked on a project for a hotel. We had to do it with help of magazines pictures and then do a collage. Afterwards we had to present our ideas – in Italian of course!

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