The greatest year of my life so far was the year I spent in Spain with AFS International Student Exhanges. I was lucky enough to win a scholarship from my union which gave me the unforgetable experience.
I spent the year living in Manresa, a city of 60,000 people, about 60 kilometres from Barcelona in the North-East of Spain. Manresa is in the autonomy of Catalonia which has its own language so I was able to learn both Spanish and Catalan during my year.
I lived with a Catalan family during my stay who were all very nice to me and I cannot thank them enough for the special memories which they have given me. Their names are Carles (my host father), Montserrat (my host mother), Jordi (my host brother) and Meritxell (my host sister) who was on exchange in Germany during my stay in Spain.
I made a number of very close friends during my exchange. I made friends in my city, my school and with the other exchange students in Catalonia. The other students were: Rogier van den Heuvel (Holland), Becky Cressman (USA), Ryoyu Hotta (Japan), Shaun Reynolds (Australia), Lauren Messmer (USA), Julia Neave (Australia), Nicole Cowden (USA) and Elena Bodnar (Russia). All these people became a very special part of my life and despite the long distances between us we will always have a special bond which will keep us together.
My year in Spain was more than just a holiday. It was a lot more. I did not consider myself to be just another tourist. For that year I was Catalan. I lived the life of a Catalan student, did the things they did, and I thought the way they did. It was a year which really changed my life. It was a year in which I learnt a lot about Spain, the world and most of all about myself.
Back to my home page.
