A great afternoon with students

The umbrella that I brought with me that I thought I would never need since it has been so dry finally came in handy this afternoon, not once, but twice! And today was also one of those days that reminded me of why I wanted to be a Spanish teacher.
　
I left Leon this morning at 9 after saying "hasta luego" to Sra. Bills. We are planning to meet in Barcelona before heading home, but for the next couple of weeks I'll continue my journey around Spain while she treks across northern Spain on foot toward Santiago de Compostela.
　
I arrived on bus in Oviedo around 11 a.m. Oviedo is home to about 217,000 people and is located in the Asturias region. Oviedo is only about 30 minutes from Gijon (khi-hon), which is located along the coast. The first university opened here around 1600 and industry really began to grow in the 19th Century. We passed through some mountains as we headed toward Oviedo, and when I arrived, it was cloudy but the temperature was very comfortable. It looked like it might rain later in the day.
　
I walked about 10 minutes to get to the hostel in which I'll be staying for the next two nights. I thought it might be a little too early to check in, so I kept walking down Calle de Uria, the busy shopping boulevard here and also the same street where my hostel is located. Soon after I passed my hostel, I saw a Corte Ingles supermarket and decided to go in to buy a few snacks for the day and some bananas. I haven't had much fruit since I arrived, and the bananas tasted great! Afterward, I headed toward the tourist office to get directions to the school in which my Spanish student from Homestead, Lucia, has been studying for the past several weeks. The kind woman behind the counter gave me a map and explained how to arrive to the Escuela Universitaria P. Enrique de Osso. I then walked back to my hostel to check in and eat lunch before heading out to explore a little. Lucia and I planned to meet at her school around 4:45 p.m., so I had about an hour before I needed to be there.
　
I passed a McDonalds and saw they had WiFi, so I went inside to get online for a bit since I can't connect at my hostel. I ordered a Coke and was surprised how expensive everything is on the menu. The coke was nearly 1.75 euros for a small, or more than $2 USD. The value meals are almost double what you pay in the United States. I sent a few e-mails and chatted with my good friend and colleague April before making my way to Lucia's school. It was a nice walk up to her school and gave me an overview of the area.
　
We had decided to meet on the steps that lead into the school, so I sat outside for a bit listening to the university students chat who had congregated there to smoke. It was funny to listen to their conversation as they talked about their classes, their teachers and their plans for the upcoming weekend. A little after 5 p.m., I met up with Lucia and many of her new friends who are also participating in the IU Honors Program for Foreign Language. There are about 30 students here from Indiana all with the same goal: To improve their Spanish. It was great to see her and meet four of her good friends. We chatted for a few minutes on the stairs before taking off on foot to explore Oviedo. Lucia and her four friends were going to be my tour guides for the next 1.5 hours as we walked around Oviedo ... and they were great guides! We visited the Catedral de San Salvador, a Gothic building built between 14th and 16th centuries. We also saw several plazas and took a stroll through San Francisco park, where we met up with two more of Lucia's friends who are also students in the program. From there, we walked to a pastry shop for a quick snack and then saw a little more of the downtown area. They told me about the area, the monuments, the food here, the stores, etc. ... all in Spanish!
　
They have been here since early June and still have a couple of weeks left and have been living with Spanish families since they arrived. They take classes during the day and return home to their host families at night. I was hoping to meet Lucia's host family tonight, but we had to cancel because of a change to her host mom's work schedule. Tomorrow, however, I have the opportunity to attend classes with Lucia all day. We're going to meet at school around 10 a.m., and classes last until 4:45 p.m. I am looking forward to sitting through these classes ... especially since I found out today that the grammar portion of tomorrow's class will focus on the subjunctive :-)
　
What a wonderful day it was! It rained a little during our tour through town and then rained a lot more as I walked back to my hostel later. That umbrella came in handy!
　
It was so great to spend time with Lucia and her new friends and hear them use their Spanish. Students who participate in the IU Honors Program for Foreign Language have to use Spanish all of the time; English is forbidden in class, outside of class, with their host families, etc. We spent 90 minutes or so just walking around, talking and laughing, and it was one of my best afternoons here so far. There is nothing more rewarding for a language teacher than to see his student use her Spanish skills in context in a Spanish-speaking country. I am so proud of Lucia, as well as her friends, not only for stepping way out of their comfort zones, but also for honoring the pledge to use only Spanish while here. They are so excited about using their Spanish that the rule doesn't seem like a rule. Spanish has just become a way of life for them now, and that is such a marvelous accomplishment. Moments like these inspire me to keep encouraging my students to spend some time studying abroad. It was one of the best decisions I ever made as a junior in college when I studied in Puerto Rico, and it was just what I needed to improve my Spanish skills. But more than that, it allowed me to meet new people, see new places and experience a culture that I came to love. It also gave me the courage to keep traveling and inspired two friends and I to take almost eight months off after college to drive to Alaska and back and then move to South America to do volunteer work and travel around eight countries. I hope all of my students have the opportunity to travel in college or afterward because such experiences help develop your character and give you such a better understanding of the world in which we live. Si se puede!
　
Around 6:30 p.m., we separated for the day, as the students had to return to their host families for the night. I walked back to my hostel in the rain and decided to write my blog for the night before dinner. Afterward, it was off to dinner. I'm now back at that McDonalds that is just down the road from where I am staying so I can post this message, check e-mail and then return to the hostel to call it a night. It's back to school for the teacher tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to meeting the professors, as well as the other students from Indiana who are here working on their Spanish and learning about Spain's culture.
　
Hasta manana!
--Justin