Language Studies Abroad

In this online magazine "veintemundos", there is an interesting article in Spanish on doing language studies abroad:
- http://www.veintemundos.com/magazines/86-fr/

At the bottom of the page, there is a video in English about a company specializing in this (www.yalea.com - to note it's the same company behind "veintemundos"). There is a terrific overview of all the places they arrange this for in French:
- http://www.yalea.com/sejours-linguistiques/espagnol-tous-les-pays/

I couldn't seem to find the same descriptions in English (I only saw info on doing online courses), but you may have more success than I did by surfing around the site.

 

I spent quite a bit of time looking for the study abroad pieces in the Spanish language version. They all seem to point back to the online classes.

Mmm, those business practices seem at best "iffy". Disappointing. If you access the French URL and you see a location that looks interesting, let me know and I'll pass on to you the names of the schools they work with in that location. If those schools have a web site, you may be able to contact them directly (or through Yalea, as you wish).
 

¡Hola Esteban! Todo bien. He estado viajando in China por la última semana, y no tenía ninguna conexión de internet.

Saludos,
Dan

¡China! Debió de haber sido una visita muy interesante. Me alegro que estés de vuelta con nosotros.
 

¡Gracias, Esteban!

I was in the City of Nantong, which apparently sees few westerners. I saw exactly 2 other westerners the entire week that I was there, and I got very curious looks from the people there, especially children, who would point at me and talk excitedly to their parents. Very few people there spoke English, almost none fluently or without a strong accent. The most interesting thing was that since I was not hearing others speak English, and to try to speak English was pretty much pointless, I noticed that I was thinking in Spanish a lot more, and a couple of time I spoke Spanish while trying to convey what I wanted to a Chinese speaker.

That must have been odd for a Spanish speaker! Thinking in Spanish must be fun (usually for me it's about 2 words at a time...). What brought you to China?

I am a retired firefighter with a background in fire and life safety code enforcement, and I now do a little part-time work inspecting factory-built structures for power stations, cell tower equipment, etc. The company contracted me to go there and inspect some buildings that are being shipped to the US for installation at a power plant. I was there for a week, but only worked the first and last days I was there. The rest of the time I had to myself to explore.

It must be nice to have a job that can take you to such an interesting place. At some point I would like to go to Japan. (Maybe after 3-4 more years of Spanish and 1-2 years of Japanese?)