Yours truly,
TLT
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
-Oscar Wilde
Before coming here, I was asked plenty of times where specifically I was going to be teacing. I always said "I'm in Vigo, a city in Galicia." "Wait, what Felicia?" "No mom." "Oh Valencia!" "No mom that's where I studied abroad." Yes for those who have never heard of it you might have trouble pronouncing it too. I've come to find that there's a little bit more to it than that though. So Spain, from what I have understood so far, is an autonomous community made up of 17 communities. They are as follows--Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Baseque Country, Navarre, Catalonia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, La Rioja, Madrid, Extremadura, Andalusia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and Las Canarias . Everyone knows Madrid and very few know of Galicia. Anyways, you could think of each community as being equivalent to a state in the US. Within the community of Galicia are four provinces--A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, and Pontevedra. Within these provinces are cities. Vigo, is the largest city in the province of Pontevedra, and is larger than the province's capital which also happens to be named Pontevedra (similar to NY and NYC). You could think of each province as being synonymous to counties in the US. Each province has cities and within each city are neighboring areas called zonas. My place where I live is in zona traviesas, but my school is located in zona teis. Along with all of that, Galicia has 5 rivers--Ría de Vigo, Ría de Pontevedra, Ría de Arousa, Ría de Muros e Noia, and Ría de Corcubión. The first three are most accessible and draw in many tourists because of places like sanxenxo, finisterre, and costa de morte. I'm lucky that I live right by the Ría de Vigo--less than a 5 minute walk. Anways, that is how I understand it so far. If you read my post below--you would know that I was hesitant to accept my position in Vigo as I knew very little bit about of it and heard that it was very different from traditional Spain. From my experiences so far here I can say that Spain is very diverse and full of so much history and culture--check it out for yourself! I'm loving everything about Vigo so far and cannot wait to get to know it even better.
Yours truly, TLT
2 Comments
TLT
1/13/2015 03:18:10 am
Hi Heidy,
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The lost travelerExpat living in the beautiful city of Vigo, teaching English to teen something year olds Archives
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