If you like to take advantage of christmas and new years holidays to travel this is the ideal time to get a different "taste" of the sunny Spain and get to know more about the spanish culture!

This time of the year is maybe not the sunniest but it will give you an extraordinary experience during this holiday season. What do the spaniards do during this time of the year?

There are a lot of christmas markets where you can find anything at the best prices where you can even buy your gifts until the 6th of January, given that spanish people believe in the Three Wise Men legend, that says they visit every home during the night of the 5th of January when they leave gifts for all the well behaved children and coal for the badly behaved. Spanish people also organize a parade during that day where children can also go out with their parents to see the Three Wise Men walking by the most important streets.

Before the 6th of January, Spanish people love to gather with family to have dinner on christmas eve, enjoying a diverse menu depending on the region: from lamb or seafood to pork, so is always something for everybody!

The new years eve is also an important and fun celebration: everybody go out to party with family or friends, and enjoy the tradition of eating the 12 grapes at midnight, while making wishes for the new year!

Are you planning to enjoy these festivities in Spain? If so, where are you planning to go? What are you Spanish holiday expectations?

Share This

In this Spain Travel Story you will have  a look at a foreign student experience in Spain. If you want to share your own Spain Travel Story, don’t hesitate and contact us! 

Hi, I’m a 20 year old student from Holland. I’m in Spain to study Spanish, a language I need for my next education. I’m studying Spanish in Salamanca at Mester, besides my study I’m working for an internet company as well. My next education in Holland will be Hotelschool, for that education I need 2 foreign languages, in my case those languages are English and Spanish. A friend of my parents told me of a language school in Salamanca and someone who owns an internet company in Salamanca. I got an email address and started to make arrangements for my intern combining my study Spanish.

I am here now for almost 2 months, from the 21^st of October till the 21^st of December. In the beginning the weather was really good, pretty warm and the sun was loads of time present all day. Right now the weather is much colder and it’s raining a bit more than before. Although Salamanca is a great city, it’s really monumental but also quite modern. There are loads of impressive old buildings which you must have seen being here, but the thing that makes Salamanca so modern are the loads of students. The most of them are joining an education on the University, but there are also a couple of people like me, who are just studying Spanish on a language school. The people in Salamanca are really nice and very polite to foreigners.

In Salamanca is a lot to do for students, there are a lot of them so that’s pretty obvious. There are countless bars in Salamanca and places where you can go for lunch or eat some tapas. Going out in Salamanca is not a problem, well it’s just great to go out here and meet other students and nice people. The things I like to do are just hanging around with some friends in a bar or disco and having a good time and watching a movie and chill out at my apartment. Sometimes on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s you should go to an Irish Pub in Salamanca because on that days they will show the European football games on a big screen. It is really nice to watch those matches with some friends enjoying a beer. And if you don’t like football don’t be bothered because Salamanca is full of nice places where you can go for a drink anytime in the week. There’s always something for everybody.

As you’ve read I’m combining an internship and studying Spanish for 4 months here. It is really nice to do that because you gain experience working for a company and your Spanish will improve the longer you’ll be here. My accommodation is taking care of by the company because of my intern, and school did I had to pay for myself. I’m going to school in the mornings starting at 9´30 till 13´00, and after that I will be working till 18´00 in the evenings.

The first thing I did notice when I got here was the time on which the most of the shops are still open, it’s because of the Spanish siesta which means having a really long break during the afternoon. For me it’s quite handy, I finish work at six o’clock and after work I can go shop for things I need.

Salamanca is quite famous because of its nightlife, and that’s exactly what I’m enjoying the most here, off course it’s important to keep concentrated for school, but in the weekends there is time to go out and have fun with people you know. There are a lot of disco’s and pubs which are full of people when the night falls. I am having the time of my life here, and there is no way I would have wanted to have missed it.

Share This

One of Spain most important attraction and activity is Football (Soccer), the “king” sport of Spain. The Spanish league is worldwide famous with teams as: Barcelona Football Club and the Real Madrid, that have some of the best players of the world, as: Ronaldinho, Leo Messi, Van Nistelrooy, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o… and many more!

Even if Spain National football team has never won a Football World Cup, they are very competitive and always looking to improve its game. A recent example was the match against Sweden for the Eurocup, where they won 3 to 0.

If you come to Spain don’t lose the opportunity to attend a football match famous stadiums as Camp Nou in Barcelona or Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, where you will have the time of your life!

Here you have a sneak preview of a Spain National Team match:

Share This