Hello everybody!
This summer I decided to go on improving my English and I applied for another Junta de Andalucía Linguistic Training Abroad Programme. Although I was not admited at the beginning, the reserve list spread like wildfire and I could be part of a group that was going to Brighton, so I had the chance to travel abroad with other fourteen andalusian teachers looking for experiences.
So Brighton was my town for 2 weeks and I could live, study and enjoy their custom and culture in the South of England. It is a city on the south coast of England, in the county of East Sussex and although Brighton was for many centuries nothing more than a tiny fishing community, nowadays it is best known as the Londoners beach, a seaside resort because it is positioned just 76 km south of London and because of the weather, the sunniest place in England. However, this summer was different, drizzly and breezy the most days we were there.
Apart from the beach, Brighton has interesting places to visit, like the Royal Pavilion. It was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became King George IV in 1820 and it was built in the Indo-Saracenic style prevalent in India for most of the 19th century. It is also relevant the Brighton Palace Pier, located in the city centre opposite the Old Steine, Airways i360, a 162 m moving observation tower on the seafront of Brighton, St Peter’s Church, sometimes unofficially referred to as “Brighton’s cathedral”, Sea Life Brighton, one of oldest acuarium in the world, and The Clock Tower, a free-standing clock tower in the centre of Brighton.
Brighton’s location has made it a popular destination for tourists, renowned for its diverse communities, quirky shopping areas, large and vibrant cultural, music and arts scene. Brighton has been called the UK’s “hippest city” and “the happiest place to live in the UK”. We were lucky in this way because the annual Pride Community Parade showed up the weekend we spent there and we could inmmerse into the most exciting visual event in Brighton & Hove’s calendar.
While the most of teachers were enjoying their holidays, others were involved in intensive classes studing grammar, vocabulary, useful expressions (like Inma's idioms😄)... and practicing listening and speaking all the time. It was a 50 hours English C1 course for bilingual teachers, led by a travel company called Interway and the EC English School Brighton, where we spent around 5 hours everyday. After classes, we visited museums, theaters, typical places, and also took part of local activities, sometimes by our own and others with native teachers who guided us in order to get to know the city propertly.
The accommodation was in apartments of 8 people, in Abodus Student Living residence, with single bedrooms and bathroms for every teacher and a shared living room and kitchen. It is not too bad situated, just about 15 minutes on bus or 30 minutes walking from the city center and the academy.
On the other hand, we took advantage of our free time to discover other cities or towns from this part of England. In my case, I had de opportunity to visit London (twice), Lewes and Seven Sisters, so I could have the big picture of this land, instead of focusing just on Brighton.
According to my subject, Physical Education, I just could visit 2 football teams stadiums, Emirates Stadium and American Express Stadium, from Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion FC. As a matter of luck, Rocío and I got tickets for a friendly match in London, Emirates Cup, where the Gunners retained the trophy, as part of their traditional summer match at the Emirates Stadium, but they were forced to rely on a penalty shootout to secure victory against Ligue 1 opposition team.
Taking into account that we studied a lot, we also enjoyed our free time. We enjoyed the typical pubs with live music, visited some picturesque towns practicing and improving our English in a real context. All in all, we took advantage of the resources and people around us and we are looking forward to applying this knowledge to our classes. I would like to encourage the Junta de Andalucía for going on offering this kind of program. It is really worthwhile.
