“Although I hadn’t had any training for teaching, I really enjoyed being in front of a class and lots of things came naturally.  I worked in a primary school and a secondary school.  There wasn’t much of an age gap between the older students and me so I had to gain their respect.  

Obviously there are differences between being in Spain and being in the Basque region.  Although everyone could speak Spanish they had to speak Basque while in the secondary school which made life a bit harder for me, although in lessons I had to speak English all the time.  Most of the teachers were very nice and would speak Spanish when I was around, except for one who was very political about being in the Basque region and not in Spain.

I lived in a flat with three students from the local university.  I also responded to a Spanish girl who advertised for someone to speak English with.  We became best friends and we would speak half the time in English for her to learn, and then half in Spanish for me.  

There were 15 other Assistants based in the area and I socialised with them a lot.  I also travelled around Spain including Madrid and Malaga.  I joined a gym and had great fun trying to do an aerobics class in Spanish, but on Sundays we would always go to the cinema as nothing else was open.

I am thinking about doing another Assistantship when I graduate, maybe in Latin America, because it was just such a fabulous experience.  This summer I worked on Eurocamp in Spain.  I definitely want to use my Spanish now that it has improved so much by my living out there.”