AIFS IN BCN NEWSLETTER

¡Queremos leer tus ex-

periencias!

6. Make sure to like the

AIFS in Barcelona to

receive updates, tips on

what’s happening in Bar-

celona, and photos from

our recent AIFS excur-

sions!

https://www.facebook.com/

pages/AIFS-in-Barcelona/

Anuncios de la Oficina

Actividades Culturales

1. STUDENT COPY of

your TRANSCRIPT–

AIFS will mail you a pho-

tocopy of your transcript

to your home once the

semester is finished. We

will receive your tran-

script at the end of Feb-

ruary. Do not expect

your University to receive

it any earlier!

2. TRANSFER CREDIT– If

you are worried about trans-

ferring credit from this se-

mester back home, remem-

ber to save all your materials–

syllabus, books, notes, etc.

3. TRAVEL LOG: IF YOU

ARE LEAVING BARCE-

LONA OVERNIGHT

THIS WEEKEND, BE

SURE TO SIGN IN TO

THE TRAVEL LOG AND

LET US KNOW WHERE

YOU ARE GOING, BUS,

TRAIN OR PLANE INFO

AND HOSTAL.

4. Cooking class: Students

should sign up for this

before Thursday, Octo-

ber 16!!! This is a great

opportunity to learn how

to cook local food to be

able to recreate a taste of

your study abroad pro-

gram back home! We will

be making paella and

crema catalana.

5. ON LOCATION: AIFS

is interested in hearing

about your study abroad

experience. Short essays

about your trips, daily life

in Barcelona, your

classes, etc. can be pub-

lished in the AIFS web-

site. Contact Inma for

more information.

Pirineos: Bergueda y Andorra. October, Fri. 17th–

Sun. 19th. Meet at Plaza Universitat at 9:45am.

Spend a weekend at the Pyrenees.

Safari Fotográfico: Oct. 27th to Nov. 3th: A very

peculiar photo contest– prize for best photo 75€

for use at Mussol Restaurant or the Baños Árabes.

Cooking classes: November, Friday, 7th: Learn how

to cook a “paella” and the typical “crema catalana”

and the “pan tomaca”. Sign up before: Thurs. 16th.

Girona and Besalú: Saturday, November 8th meet

at Plaza Universidad. We are leaving at 9:45am.

Thanksgiving dinner: November, 27th. Dinner to

be held at a local restaurant. All students who

plan on attending this dinner should sign up in

the office by Friday, November 14th. (Vegetarians

should let us know.) If you have any friend or fam-

ily visiting and they would like to join us for dinner

– sign them up and they can pay directly at the

restaurant.

Inside this issue:

¿A qué no lo sabías?

2

Grades 2

¡Qué mal me en-cuentro!

3

Andorra 3

Grammar 3

Safari Fotográfico

4

How to change... 4

Miércoles, 15 de octubre de 2014

Edición 304

DAY LIGHT

SAVINGS ENDS

Next Sunday, Oct.

26th marks the end

of daylight savings

time in Europe. At

3am on the night of

Saturday to Sun-

day, all clocks will

“fall back” one hour

to 2am.

10. España is the world’s largest producer of olive oil– a fact that surely won’t surprise you. Andalucia produces so much aceite de oliva that they sell it to other countries, like Italy, who in turn bottle it and market it as their own. (Next time you’re at a Soup’er Salad check out the bottle of Bertolli.)

9. Antoni Guadí, the famed and eccentric Catalan architect dedicated 43 years of his life to building La Sagrada Familia– the leg-endary, unfinished church in Barcelona. Considered the master of modernism, Gaudí spent the last 10 years of his life living in a little room next to the Sagrada Familia. After he died, there was a fire and all Gaudí’s plans for the building burned and were lost.

8. With over 52 million tourists entering Spain every year, it is the most visited country on the planet. The actual population of Spain is just over 44 million Spaniards. Tourism is such an important industry that it has its own Ministry (the US equivalent to a Secretary and Department). Turismo is a university major and tour guides are licensed- you can be fined in Spain for explaining a monument or site without a permit.

7. Euskera, the language spoken by the Vascos in the north has puzzled anthropologists and linguists for hundreds of years. No one can positively identify its origins. Yet the language is remarkable for another reason: It has no swear words. Even those completely fluent in Euskera have to dip into Castellano when they want to curse their heads off. ¡Jo-er!

6.Spain is the second largest per-capita consumer of seafood in the world (behind Japan.) It is the largest per-capita consumer of bleach.

5. Pablo Picasso painted his searing black and white portrait of war, Guernica, in protest of the 1937 Nationalist bombing (carried out by Nazi warplanes) of the small Basque town of the same name, during the Spanish Civil War. (Guernica is located just out-side of Bilbao.) Picasso refused to allow the painting to be exhibited in Spain until after Franco died. Guernica remained in the NY’s MoMA until 1980. In 1991 it was moved from the Prado museum to the new Reina Sofia museum.

4. At 194,884 square miles, Spain is Europe’s fourth largest country after Russia, Ukraine and France. This is about the size of Arizona and Utah combined.

3. Spain maintains sovereignty disputes with neighboring nations over several territories: Spain considers Gibraltar Spanish but according to the natives “Gibraltar is British because Gibraltar wants it to be British”, the town of Olivenza (Spain) on the border of Portugal and Badajoz (Spain) is disputed by Portugal and the island of Perejil (Spain) in the Mediterranean is disputed by Mo-rocco.

2. Spain’s greatest author Miguel de Cervantes died in Madrid on April 23, 1616; coincidentally William Shakespeare also died on that date, but not on the same day, Britain was still using the Julian calendar, whereas Spain had already adopted the Gregor-ian calendar. In honor of this coincidence, the UNESCO established April 23 as the International Day of the Book.

1. The most important newspapers in Spain are El Pais and El Mundo, both of which are liberal in outlook. But Spaniards read fewer papers than almost all other Europeans– and the best selling newspaper in the country is Marca– dedicated to fútbol.

Page 2 AIFS in BCN Newsletter

10 SOBRESALIENTE Y HONOR translates as an A+ 9-9.99 SOBRESALIENTE translates as an A 7-8.99 NOTABLE translates as a B 5-6.99 APROBADO translates as a C 0-4.99 SUSPENSO translates as an F AI- Asistencia Insuficiente translates as an “I” Incomplete NP- No Presentado translates as an “I” Incomplete

Grade Translations

Please note that your transcripts will not include the

numerical grades, only the words and letter translations.

España y ¡Olé! Top ten things you didn’t know about Spain (or maybe you did)

(sources: www.state.gov; www.wikipedia.org; www.ine.es; www.bbc.uk; Spain for Dummies, 2003, The Rough Guide to Spain, 2004)

Pyrenees Packing List

Your PASSPORT!

Comfortable walking shoes, such as sneakers, for a light hike

A warm jacket—it will be cold at night!

Normal clothes for sightseeing, such as jeans, t-shirts, and sweaters

Pajamas Personal hygiene items: toothbrush &

tooth paste etc. Shampoo and soap will be provided in the hotel

Money for lunch of Friday, snacks, and souvenirs

Andorra: The country of the Pyrenees!

¡Qué mal me encuentro!... Help for cold and flu symptoms

Algunas notas….en catalán

than 1,000 shops and 7 large

shopping centres | Days of

the year when the trades

close: 4

Welcome to Andorra, the coun-

try of the Pyrenees. An indepen-

dent state with an area of 468

km2 and more than a thousand

years of history in the southeast

of Europe, between Spain and

France.

Known internationally for its ski

resorts, shops with very low ta-

xes and its modern hotel and

service infrastructures, each

year the country receives nearly

8 million visitors.

Andorra is also a paradise for

nature lovers: 90% of the coun-

try is forest.

Andorra in figures

Population: 78,000 inhabitants |

Annual visitors: 8.000.000 | Ho-

tel establishments: 315 | Hotel

places: more than 39,000 | Ski

slopes: 300 km of marked slo-

pes | Shops and trades: more

Hoy vamos a aprender a presentarnos y poder preguntar información sobre las personas en catalán: Español– Catalán: ¿Cómo te llamas?- Com es dius? ¡Me llamo Pepe!- Em dic Pepe! ¿Cuál es tu apellido?- Com et dius el cognom?

¿Dónde vives?- On vius? Vivo en el Eixample– Jo visc a L’Eixample. ¿De donde eres?- D’on ets? Soy de Estados Unidos– Soc dels Estats Units ¿En qué trabajas?- De qué treballas? Soy estudiante– soc estudiante. ¿Cuántos años tienes?- Quants anys tens? Tengo veintiuno– Tinc vent-i-u anys.

Colds and the flu are going around. A few precautionary

measures can spare you a lot of € on pañuelos:

Don’t go outside with wet hair.

Dress warmly– don’t underestimate the weather. The

natives have good reasons for not wearing flip-flops,

shorts & t-shirts in cool weather!

Wear good shoes– especially in the rain!

Try to eat lots of vitamin C– fruits and leafy green

veggies. You can buy “Vitamina C” supplements in

the farmacias.

If you already have a cough (tos), sore throat (dolor de

garganta), catarro (cold) or flu (gripe) a good idea is to

stop by the farmacia to purchase some meds. Tell the far-

maceútico your symptoms and ask for a recommendation.

Some suggestions are:

Frenadol or Ilvico (for general flu symptoms),

Frenatós, Pectox (for cough)

Mucovital (for runny nose and cough)

Couldina (for colds)

If you have a fever or persistent cough you should see a

doctor. Stop by the office. We can make an appointment

with the doctor to see you. Just please remember that

the doctor’s office does not open after 1pm. To see the

doctor you should stop by the office o email me ahead

of time so I can make the appointment for the next day.

The cost of the doctor is 70 Euro and

you should have exact change.

Page 3 Edición 304

AIFS IN BARCELONA

Carrer Caps, 37 Pral.-8ª

08010 Barcelona

Phone: (34) 93 667 44 49

Emergencies phone: 638 90

77 71

Email: iarenas@aifs.co.uk

We bring the world together.

SAFARI FOTOGRÁFICO

It is time for our favorite AIFS in Barcelona contest!–

el Safari Fotográfico.

We are depending on you for its success!

1. Form a group of 3-4 AIFS students. On Lunes, 27

de octubre, stop by the office to let us know who you

are and pick up your instructions. We will provide

you with a list of 10 places you should find and take

pictures of (yourselves included in the picture). Here is the deal– the pictu-

res should be as creative and catalogue-ready as possible. (This is a way to

get into the AIFS catalogue– all pictures will later be submitted to Stamford

– but sorry, you will not be eligible for the Stamford contest with

these shots!! You must enter their contest with your own photos.)

2. You will have until LUNES, 3 de Noviembre @ 4:30pm to turn in all

your pictures. Bring your camera and USB cable to the office and downlo-

ad your pics onto our computers.

3. AIFS staff will then pick the “best” group– the one who put the most

energy into their pictures, who did the best job at following the “ruta” and

handed in pictures that say “AIFS students having a great time in Barcelona

studying abroad”. We look for color, clarity, fun, happy people, great re-

cognizable background,

4. First prize for the most voted picture= 75 Euros for use at either the

Arab baths or toward dinner at Restaurantes Mussols (catalán cuisine).

PLEASE NOTE: We need at least TWO groups to HAND IN pictures by

Monday at 4:30pm or the contest will be cancelled. Best picture will be an-

nunced on the newsletter on Wed. Nov. 12th.

C H A N G I N G T H E D AT E O F Y O U R F L I G H T H O M E

Some of you have inquired about changing the date of your flight home in December. First, log in to your personal account on the AIFS website http://www.aifsabroad.com/login/ And log in your AIFS account. Now on your page, on

the left hand side “Request a return flight date change”

– this will then take you to a page which will con-firm

your current flight arrangements and will give you the

space to enter 3 preferred date options for change and

then reconfirm your e-mail address so that you can be

contacted directly by the AIFS flights department in

Boston.

Please note:

1. Only date changes are accepted. The airline will not

permit any itinerary changes.

2. Corresponding fee: AIFS Administrative fee plus

Air-line fee is $300. (If your request cannot be ac-

commo-dated, your credit card will be refunded.) 3. Your departure is very close to the holiday season–

a very busy travel time. Availability will be limi-

ted. So make your FINAL plans soon.

4. Let our office know if you’ve changed your flight

home.

If you can't remember your aifs account login, let us

know– we'll find it for you.