Up to now, the idea of my first day at school has always evoked rather negative associations: the holidays are over; you are surrounded by many unknown classmates and teachers and, as a result, you sometimes feel a little bit lonesome.
However, my first day at the Spanish school Costa de Valencia was quite different and has changed my opinion on first days of school in general.
When I began my Spanish course at this school 3 weeks ago, I soon realized that I was in good hands and that you cannot feel lonely here at all. At Costa de Valencia, one immediately gets to know many nice people and in the friendly atmosphere of this school, it is not difficult to make friends. Already before the placement test, which was written at the beginning of my first day of school, I got into contact with many nice people. The classification test itself also went quite well. According to the results of the test, I was assigned to the class which corresponded exactly to my level of Spanish.
Because my first lesson began in the afternoon, I took a guided tour, which is offered by the school every Monday, after the test. This was a good opportunity to get to know the city centre of Valencia and the most important places of interest. For example, we visited the bullfight arena, the central market and the historical city centre. But I think the most impressive building was the imposing cathedral of Valencia. Some of us climbed the 202 steps of the steeple and had a fantastic view of the town. There, I noticed how huge Valencia is. Usually, with its comfortable atmosphere, this town does not give the impression of being a gigantic metropolis.
After the guided tour, my first lesson began in the afternoon, which has also surprised me positively. In my course there were three other students so that the contents could be conveyed much better than in my Spanish class in Germany, where there are 29 other pupils. My teacher was also absolutely nice and open-minded so that, in no time, a personal relationship developed between her and us students. This way, it was actually fun to learn properly!

In the evening, a welcome paella party took place. Here, I got to know the other language students whom I had not met yet. While eating the tasty paella, we began to talk with each other. When I came back to my room in one of the school flats that evening, I finally realized that my panic concerning the first day of school in Spain had been groundless. At Costa de Valencia a lot is simply better than expected!

Jana E., 05/2010

Because I did want to learn Spanish, I went to Spain to do a Spanish course in the Spanish school Costa de Valencia. Soon I realized that not only my Spanish lessons were excellent to learn how to speak Spanish, but I also come to see how useful all the activities that Costa de Valencia offered to us were. During my free time I practiced my language skills and I could learn to speak Spanish fluently in a daily life situation.
For me it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that I could join the salsa lessons in Valencia, because I have always been interesting in this exotic dance. I had the pleasure to participate in all the parties that almost all Wednesday nights took place in Tucán club. In this club everybody lost all sense of shame and even the most monkey one went to the dance floor to enjoy these Latin rhythms, which also represent a great aspect of the Spanish culture. After all, salsa has been a source of inspiration for people of all over the world during decades and I could not find a better occasion to learn these Latin rhythms than the Spanish night life, where you can see how people breathe this music.
These salsa lessons were the perfect way to have fun, while we were also learning many things about the Spanish culture and its language. To learn how to speak Spanish was not so difficult for me in such a good environment. In moments like these, without caring much about it, your Spanish comes out automatically when you try to speak with someone else. I think that it was so easy for all my friends from my Spanish course and me to learn to speak Spanish, because we all were from different countries and our only way to communicate with each other was this language. And if you really want to learn Spanish, it is not such a big deal.
Although, we were sometimes out until late, we did not have any problem to follow the lessons the next morning. With Costa de Valencia it is always fun to learn to speak Spanish and all the Spanish classes are very interesting. Everything is so well organized that you can never get bored and it is impossible to fall asleep in any of the lessons.
The people from Costa de Valencia teach you not only how to speak Spanish, but how to enjoy this language and its culture. I highly recommend these Spanish classes if you really want to learn Spanish and enjoy the marvellous city of Valencia.

Thorsten S., 03/2010

During this spring, I have been 3 weeks in Valencia doing a Spanish language program with Costa de Valencia. While I was in Spain, this Spanish academy has given me the opportunity to participate in many activities and to enjoy different excursions, where the other students and I could practice our language skills and learn many interesting things about Valencia and the Spanish culture.
But the best day for me was, without any doubt, when we were in the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (The City of Arts and Sciences). This small city inside the city of Valencia left every of us impressed when we gazed at the buildings from the outside. The organization and distribution of the different buildings provided us with an incredible view that can only be compared with a science fiction film scenario.
The Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias consisted of 6 different buildings: the extravagant building of the opera called Palacio de las Artes Reina Sofía; the Hemisférico, which is a 3D Imax cinema with planetarium and laserium, its design is an eye that can be opened and closed; the Umbracle, which is a huge structure that encloses a greenbelt of vegetation, from which you can perfectly appreciate a beautiful panoramic of the CAC; the interesting Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe; the Oceanográfico, which is definitively the biggest aquarium in Europe; and the Ágora building, where 500 tennis tournaments of the ATP are going to take place during the next years, among many other events.
During my stay in Spain with Costa de Valencia I could visit the inside of the Hemisférico, all my friends of my Spanish class and more others that were doing a Spanish language program enjoyed the time we spent there accompanied with one of the guiding teachers. We watched a film about the ocean, but before the film started we were given some headphones and we could select in which language we wanted to watch the film. This one was showed in the vault curved wall of the inside of the building, in this way, the spectators were totally immersed in the film universe and it managed to convey a much more real experience.
In our next trip, my friends from my Spanish class and I visited the Museo de las Ciencias, which was amazing just with having a look to the entry hall. It was really odd how it was build, because there was no right angle in the whole building and the entry columns made shapes of 45º angles, which produced a weird sense of vertigo and imbalance.
In the museum we found many explanations about natural laws with descriptive demonstrations. In each floor was explained a specific science field and all was accompanied with many interactive activities, which were so funny that we could not stop making the same little experiments time after time.
But what I liked the most about this city was the Oceanográfico. I had not seen until that very moment an aquarium so well organized and big. And I was not the only one that thought that, because all my classmates from my Spanish classes in Valencia were also amazed. The different habitats were organized according to the continents and the natural areas of the earth. On the upper floor we saw see animals, such as seals and walrus, and many different types of birds. On the lower floor there were underwater animals, like whales and morays, among others.
The park was also subdivided into 10 other areas:
In the sea areas we could appreciate the Mediterranean habitats, the Polar areas from the Artic and Antarctic, the tropical seas, the Island worlds and the warm water areas like the one from the Red Sea. On the other hand, there were also a dolphinarium and a wide variety of plants which were part of the park green zones. The innumerable birds’ species were placed in some of these green zones and so they could enjoy the sun light of Valencia during the day.
These enjoyable excursions were very well organized by Costa de Valencia, where all my friends and I were taking part in a Spanish language program. Thanks to these Spanish classes together with all the activities promoted by this academy, my Spanish proficiency has improved a lot, while at the same time, I was having a great time in Valencia.
Sandra L., 05/2010