Where are you from? Have you ever been to the opposite part of your continent to see what it is like? I have had two enjoyable experiences abroad with my school in the last two years. We went to Valencia in March 2009 and this year we have recently come back from Edinburgh. Fortunately we had the opportunity of visiting two very different cities – the former in Southern Europe, the latter in Northern Europe – and to compare different cultures, traditions and lifestyles.

Although the Scottish people were very kind, I found them quite cold and discreet, whereas Spanish people were more sociable and they chatted more

Valencia is a Spanish port on the Mediterranean Sea, so the weather is cold for most of the year but unfortunately it was rainy during the whole week we spent there. Edinburgh is next to the sea too, but in the far north of Europe, in the UK where the weather is unlikely to be sunny for more than three days; despite this, the sun shone during the whole week we spent there. Spanish landscapes are very similar to Italian ones, but Scottish landscapes are really unique and breathtaking. On the one hand Edinburgh is characterized by Gothic architecture and you can still feel a medieval atmosphere walking through the Old Town. On the other hand, Valencia is a Roman city, very colourful and with a lot of monumental churches. Both cities preserve a huge quantity of arts, monuments and museums.

Although the Scottish people were very kind, I found them quite cold and discreet, whereas Spanish people were more sociable and they chatted more. I improved the comprehension of both languages, but I managed to practise my spoken Spanish more than my spoken English, since in the school we attended in Edinburgh we just talked about Scottish lifestyle, culture and traditions, but we didn’t do any speaking or grammar exercises. In my opinion, both school trips were well organised, we did a lot of sightseeing and visited the most important attractions and the teachers even planned nice leisure activities for us, such as going to a local restaurant, to the cinema or bowling. I really enjoyed these two experiences, also because I could visit two very different European cities.