Day 1 29 August
In order to halt my decline in Spanish, I decided to take a 2 week course in Valencia (where I'm staying with a friend). I decided upon InterEuropa which is based here in the heart of Velencia. The main reason for choosing this school was the cost (235 Euros for a two week intensive 4 hours a day course). They seemed to have a good set-up as well.
On the first day we started on imperatives as our grammar subject. Later we discussed the changing roles of men and women, particularly in the house. As the only guy in a class of 5 I was soon on the defensive!

Day 2 Tuesday, August 30
Again the grammar focussed on imperatives. I thought at first that this would be below my level, but soon discovered that there were aspects to the imperative (especially as regards placing of pronouns and nouns) that I didn't know about. The conversation classes covered embarassing social situations such as bumping into someone and breaking their shopping, or fogetting to post someone´s letters.
I found out today that internet access is free with the school. My perceived value from this school is increasing every day.

Day 3 Wednesday 31 August.
The class is down to 3 today - one girl has gone off to the Tomatina festival in Buñol, and one girl from Sweden has had to return home.
Grammar today again was on Imperativos. This time we practised the negative. Both this and the conversation classes went very quick today.
At lunch (one thirty) I took advantage of the school menu. Instead of 2 dishes you have one plate with bread and water for just 3 Euros 50. I had quite a filling pollo asado (I know, not the most adventurous choice, but I can't eat rice every day!!!)
One thing I have to guard against is speaking in English after the class. Although all the other students seem to be from non-English speaking countries (Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Holland etc) it feels as though everyone wants to speak English with you.

Day 4 Thursday 1 September
September has arrived and the city is back to work. One of the girls arrived 40 minutes late this morning as she failed to compensate for the extra traffic.
Grammar class this mornnig was very good. After practising what we had learnt already on the imperative, we switched to doing the conditional. Very enjoyable. The conversation class was also good. At first we spoke about the differences between Spain and our respective countries (UK, Austria, Germany, Ukraine) and then started on food. I had to defend British food (naturally!!!). Then we had a listening exercise with a song called Soledad from La Oreja de Van Gogh. The class had the dubious pleasure of hearing me sing.
Thanks for yr input Rob! The teachers seem to be both friendly and professional, as you would expect!

Day 5 Friday 2 September
Our grammar class today again went over the conditional and the different situations in which it is used. Then we practised using it in role-plays. Our conversation classes covered clebrations, weddings etc in Spain and abroad, and also what plans we had for the weekend. Since England are playing this weekend this led into a discussion about football and how some fans sometimes misbehave (apparently in Valencia it's German fans who have the bad reputation).

This course has been exactly what I was looking for. I don't mind the grammar classes, but I can always study that at home. Being forced to talk in Spanish all the time on different subjects has been very useful.

Hi Filbert
Keep the "blog" going! This really reminds me of my recent time in Benalmadena during the summer and earlier in the year, in Madrid.
I will try and check out your blog on a daily basis. From my experience doing the same, it is quite hard work to post each day.
A couple of questions:
How do you find the teaching?
Are there trips and social activities organised for you?

Good luck with the Spanish, but, do try to use Spanish as the common language with the others in the class or at lunch. Just keep Speaking Spanish to them, they will soon back off with the English.
Robbieroy

To answer yr 2nd question Rob, yes there are activities and excursions laid on. Tonight is salsa dancing, tomorrow is a visit to the marine museum (I forget its name here). For differing reasons, I've not partaken of the activities this week, but I'll remember to post them here next week.

OK Filbert.
We look forward to hearing how the sala goes
Robbieroy

Sorry, but no salsa class for me! I may stroll down to Johnny Maracas here in Valencia one night to see how it's really done...

One more question Filbert - What book are you making use of in class?
When I was in Benalmadena we used "Avance (Intermedio-Avanzado)" and then "Curso Superior de Español", both by Concha Moreno.

Day 6 Monday 5 September
Today the class has some new students. There are now 3 German speakers (Germany and Austria), one Italian, 1 Brazilian and me. The grammar today was spent on the Preterito Pluscuamperfecto. The conversation class started by talking about what we did at the weekend (aparently there was a big concert by Juanes here in Valencia) and then went on to discuss different forms of behaviour that may be considered offensive in some countries, but not in others.
The school has compiled its own book, with both explanations and exercises. This will I hope be useful for self-study when my course is over.
At the moment there don't appear to be any Brits in the school, which is good for me as I can chat with the others in Spanish.
The school excursion today is a walk around the old town. It seems as though they do this every Monday to show new starters around the city. I'll be giving this a miss because I've already got to know Valencia and also because it's currently far too hot to wander around in the afternoon.

Day 7 tuesday 6 September
Again the grammar class started with the Pluscuamperfecto but then went onto to revise our preteritos. Very useful, I think the key to learning a language is repetition. The activity today was a Spanish film in the school meeting room (I didn't see the film so can't comment on it I'm afraid)

Day 8 Wednesday 7 September
We covered expressions of time in the grammar class today (desde hace, llevo 5 dias, hace que, etc). In the conversation part we talked about some of the different peoples of Spain (the Madrilenos, the Catalans, the Gallegos etc) and their stereotypes. As you can imagine, Madrilenos don't have a nice image here in Valencia, although our text admitted that they were hospitable people. Incidentally, for the first time in 2 months here, it rained this morning and everything feels a little fresher.

Filbert, I know this thread is about your time studying in Valencia, but if you could share with me your thoughts on the city of Valencia I would really appreciate it. I'm mostly interested in everyday stuff, like traffic, weather, pollution, services, rush, people, size, etc., etc. Any impressions you may have of this city. Thanks!

Day 9 Thursday 8 September
The summer heat has gone now and it's rained two days in a row (although not consistently). There've been pictures of tornadoes in different parts of Spain in the local media.
The grammar class today continued with time expressions, and then we practised role plays talking about our time in Spain. A very useful phrase came up (especially for the mujeres who wish to go de compras) ¿Me hace mucho el culo? is the equivalent of "Does my bum look big in this?" The conversation class was also very interesting. First of all we talked about the stereotypes we have of the countries of our fellow class mates. Later we listened to a Spanish version of the Rod Stewart classic Maggie May. We had to fill in gaps in the lyrics handed to us and find sinominos for various words and expressions.

A quick opinion on Valencia for Jabch. It's a more easy going city than somewhere like Madrid or Barcelona. It certainly feels a lot safer in regards to street crime, but it's supposed to get worse when the city is in fiesta. Some things are cheaper (like accommodation) but be careful. The climate tends to be warm most of the year - they escape the cold of the central meseta. However in July and August it can be very uncomfortable with the humidity. If you enjoy rice dishes (paella, arroz al horno etc) this is an excellent place to come. Like some other cities in Spain a lot of places shut down in August so it's probably not a good time to come here. Lastly, there's plenty of places not too far away that you can visit (Sagunto, Cullero, La Albufera) if you get tired of the city.

Day 10 Friday September 9
Final day. In the grammar class (after asking about our plans) we were given texts with blanks in. In pairs we had to devise questions to find out the words in the blank parts. Quite a useful exercise to work out how to form questions. In the conversation class we covered many different subjects including sex, flirting, boozing and partying. You know, the normal stuff. Anyway, it was surprisingly quite a sad occasion; I only wish I could have stayed another month.

Thanks! Filbert.