Leovdk1's Blog

Highlight of ‘PSV – Feyenoord’ in Salamanca (10-0)

Leo van der Kooij — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:07:36 +0000

From the day that I was born, I am a huge fan of football. Here in Salamanca, im following the Spanish Primera division and the Dutch Eredivisie. In Salamanca, the majority of the people are for the football clubs Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona. Last weekend, Real Madrid booked an enormous win of 6-1, F.C. Barcelona won 2-1. All the matches are viewed on the television or in the Irish Pub which is located in Salamanca as well.

In the Netherlands there have been a lot of changes in the past years in football. To quickly summarize, the top 3 have been AJAX/FEYENOORD/PSV. Last weekend there was the match PSV – FEYENOORD. Which resulted in an incredible result 10-0. Being born and raised in Rotterdam, but raised with the club Sparta Rotterdam, it was an extremly pleasure to watch the highlight of this game. Feyenoord is now heading to the relegation zone which completly is satisfying my needs.

With regards!

Weather in Salamanca

Leo van der Kooij — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:11:28 +0000

If I compare the temprature in the Netherlands with Salamanca, I can almost see comparisons with the Neterlands. The mornings in Salamanca are extremely chilly and it is obligated to wear at least coat. Salamanca did undergo a huge change in climate over the last month. In 1 month, the temprature decreased from an average of 25 to 15 in the afternoon. The morning in Salamanca has an average of 5 to 10 degrees.

Hasta luego!

Día de la Hispanidad

Leo van der Kooij — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:29:24 +0000

Tomorrow there will be a national holiday in Spain named Día de la Hispanidad. This day will be honoured to Christoffer Columbus who discovered at that day on 1492 America.

Almost everybody in Spain has a day off and big parties will be given in Madrid and other cities. In Salamanca as well, the capital culture. Madrid will offer parades, bull fights, fiestas and many more things to do. For me just an easy night in Salamanca!

Hasta Pronto!

Expanding the Spanish language independently

Leo van der Kooij — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:55:33 +0000

After following helpful languague courses at Universpain for 5 weeks, I will have to continue with selfstudy for the next 4 months. The people I have already met in Salamanca and the people who live here will give me the opportunity to practice daily. Due to Universpain, I learned the basics and can start conversations. However, it still is hard to keep up with the conversations and listen when the people speed up during the conversation. Therefore, listening cds and the television will be support during this months.

Next to the listening cds and television there are a lot of websites which offer the Spanish grammar for free.

Hasta pronto!

Adapting in Salamanca

Leo van der Kooij — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:11:26 +0000

After being more than one month in the European Capital of Culture of 2002, I can already come to the conclusion that the next four months will fly by. With the help of my friends of college and my Spanish compañeros, I can tell that adapting in Salamana has been easy so far. Summarzing the last month, I discovered many bars, cultural activities and did met many people.

To give an overview, the best places of the last month in Salamanca:

All with all, Salamanca will be an unforgettable work and social experience!

Hasta Pronto!

Erasmus Party, The Irish Rover

Leo van der Kooij — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:02:22 +0000

To discover more about the nightlife in Salamanca, I went with my new Spanish roomate and my classmate from the Netherlands to an Erasmus party on Tuesday night. It occurs that every Tuesday night, there is a Erasmus party with different themes. On the 5th of October there will be a Dutch theme in The Irish Rover which I am looking forward to visit. The party in the Irish Rover had an extremely good atmosphere. People from Honduras, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Belgium and many more other countries.

Furthermore, this week my stepbrother from the United Kingdom decided to start his study at the University of Salamanca. He will continue with his studies for Geography. However, he did not know where to start for looking on the internet to organise and plan his stay in Salamanca as a student. Luckily, my colleagues at Universpain knew a useful website which will help him to start his study in Salamanca.

Hasta Pronto!

First journeys through Salamanca, Spain

Leo van der Kooij — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:24:28 +0000

Having the last preperations at the university and home, the journey of Salamanca could finally start from the 28th of August. The schedule for the next upcoming months would be rather simple. From the 28th of August till the 31st, It will be an orientation tour through Salamanca, to explore the most beautiful places in Salamanca, the Spanish culture and try to listen and understand the Spanish language. From the start of 1 September, I will have an internship at the Spanish language school Universpain.

Choosing Universpain as an employee
This decision goes back to the beginning of my study, the goal to expand my knowledge in the business life (especially aimed at marketing) and speak one of the most spoken languages in the world, Spanish. After some desk-research and experiences of other people, I came to the conclusion that I had to do an internship in the Spanish city Salamanca. My Spanish teacher told and convinced me with the line: ¨In Salamanca they speak the most beautiful Spanish¨. Therefore I decided to continue my research on the internet with the destination on Salamanca. After seeing many companies, I came to the idea to look for language school instead of a company. Every company/school has a marketing department and I wanted to combine work with the language. Since I already had a few internships in the past which made me realise to focus myself this year a lot on the Spanish language and in the mean time expanding my marketing knowledge. Through some mouth to mouth contact I ended up at the website of Universpain. The website gave me a clear insight of their operations during the classes which interested me immediately. The line that they could guarantee me that I could speak Spanish after classes convinced me. After sending my C.V, the marketing manager of Universpain contacted me for a job interview. After a week I got accepted, which confirmed my internship in Salamanca, Spain.

Experiences first two weeks in Salamanca
In the first two weeks I could explore the city Salamanca. Many beautiful things could be explored like the Plaza Mayor, the university, the cathedral, the plaza del torros and much more things. Next to the beautiful oriantation tour, It was a hard week as well. Finding an appartment for two students for just 5 months is extremely hard. Because I am with my study mate in Spain, I have to find an appartment with at least 2 rooms. This road will be more explained in my next blog. Furthermore, Salamanca is in the middle of the fiesta. More pictures and stories of the fiesta will follow soon.

Hasta Pronto!