Anuncios de la Oficina
Transcription
Anuncios de la Oficina
AIFS IN BCN NEWSLETTER Anuncios de la Oficina Edición 304 Miércoles, 15 de octubre de 2014 Inside this issue: ¿A qué no lo sabías? 2 Grades 2 ¡Qué mal me encuentro! 3 Andorra 3 Grammar 3 Safari Fotográfico 4 How to change... 4 1. STUDENT COPY of your TRANSCRIPT– AIFS will mail you a photocopy of your transcript to your home once the semester is finished. We will receive your transcript at the end of February. Do not expect your University to receive it any earlier! 2. TRANSFER CREDIT– If you are worried about transferring credit from this semester back home, remember to save all your materials– syllabus, books, notes, etc. 3. TRAVEL LOG: IF YOU ARE LEAVING BARCELONA 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, October 16!!! This is a great opportunity to learn how to cook local food to be able to recreate a taste of your study abroad program 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 published in the AIFS website. Contact Inma for more information. ¡Queremos leer tus experiencias! 6. Make sure to like the AIFS in Barcelona to receive updates, tips on what’s happening in Barcelona, and photos from our recent AIFS excursions! https://www.facebook.com/ pages/AIFS-in-Barcelona/ 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 Sunday, all clocks will “fall back” one hour to 2am. Actividades Culturales Pirineos: Bergueda y Andorra. October, Fri. 17th– Girona and Besalú: Saturday, November 8th meet Sun. 19th. Meet at Plaza Universitat at 9:45am. at Plaza Universidad. We are leaving 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. 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 family visiting and they would like to join us for dinner – sign them up and they can pay directly at the restaurant. Page 2 AIFS in BCN Newsletter 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) 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 legendary, 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 outside 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 Morocco. 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 Gregorian 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. Pyrenees Packing List Grade Translations 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 Please note that your transcripts will not include the numerical grades, only the words and letter translations. 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 Edición 304 Page 3 Andorra: The country of the Pyrenees! Welcome to Andorra, the country of the Pyrenees. An independent 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 taxes 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 country is forest. than 1,000 shops and 7 large shopping centres | Days of the year when the trades close: 4 Andorra in figures Population: 78,000 inhabitants | Annual visitors: 8.000.000 | Hotel establishments: 315 | Hotel places: more than 39,000 | Ski slopes: 300 km of marked slopes | Shops and trades: more Algunas notas….en catalán 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. ¡Qué mal me encuentro!... Help for cold and flu symptoms 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 farmaceútico 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. SAFARI FOTOGRÁFICO AIFS IN B ARCELONA We bring the world together. Carrer Caps, 37 Pral.-8ª 08010 Barcelona Phone: (34) 93 667 44 49 Emergencies phone: 638 90 77 71 Email: [email protected] 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 pictures 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 download 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 recognizable 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 annunced on the newsletter on Wed. Nov. 12th. CHANG I N G T HE DATE O F YO U R FLI G HT HO ME 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 accommo-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 limited. 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.