Route 66 Idiomas language school students staying in Valencia in July have lots of choice when it comes to filling their free time.

For more information about any of these activities, just ask your teacher or the Route 66 office staff.

Every Monday at 21.00: Paella Party!
Meet other foreign students, practise your Spanish and enjoy this delicious local specialty.

Saturday 4 July: Calpe and Jávea
Come with us on a day trip to the beaches of Alicante.

Thursday 14 and 28 July from 21.30: English – Spanish intercambio
You can practise your Spanish at the Route 66 language exchange at Finnegan’s Irish Pub in La Plaza de la Reina.

Friday 15 and 29 July: Beach volleyball tournament

Saturday 16 July: trip to Picassent for their bull running festival

Wednesday 6 – Saturday 23 July: Feria de Julio outdoor concerts
Various artists will perform in Valencia’s Jardines de Viveros, including Seal on 18 July. Find out more and get tickets here.

Saturday 23 July: trip to Peñíscola

Saturday 30 July: Aquópolis water park
A good solution to the high temperatures. Come with us to the water park!

ADVANCE NOTICE OF THE TOMATINA!!
Wednesday 31 August: kick off at 11.00

Come with us to Buñol to join the world’s largest tomato fight. To find out more about the event and how it all started, click here. We’ll post more information about how to sign up to come along nearer the time – look out for information here and around the school!

Come with us to the beaches of Alicante!

On Saturday 2 July, Route 66 Idiomas Language School students can join a group day trip to Calpe and Jávea. A great opportunity to meet other students from all over the world and practise your Spanish.

The trip costs 20€, including return private bus transport and entry to the Peñón de Ifach (Calpe) and Cabo de la Noa (Jávea). Places are limited; sign up in the office before Thursday 30 June so as not to miss out.

Details:

MEETING PLACE AND TIME:
Palau de la Música, 9:45 am

PROGRAMME:
09:45: Depart from Valencia
11:45: Arrive in Calpe. Free time to enjoy the beach. The more adventurous can visit the Peñon de Ifach Nature Reserve. Please wear appropriate footwear for the trek to the summit.
16:00: Travel to Jávea.
Stop to take photos of the Cabo de la Nao and relax while taking in the amazing views of the Med.
17:30: Return to Valencia.
19:00: Arrive in Valencia (approx.).

Don’t forget to bring food and drink!

The night of the 23rd June is “la noche de San Juan” (Midsummer’s night). In Valencia and other parts of Spain one of the most common customs is to celebrate the shortest night of the year with bonfires on the beach. The brave jump over the bonfires for luck. Those less brave but who still want to improve their fortune for the coming year jump over the first seven waves that come onto the beach after midnight.

For most it’s just another excuse for a party on the beach. Students at Route 66 Idiomas language school who want to join in should head down to the Malvarrosa beach on Thursday night.

¡Feliz noche de San Juan! from the Route 66 team.

The Tomatina is one of the Valencia region’s most well-known events.

Every last Wednesday in August, many thousands of people come from all over Spain (and increasingly from all over the world) to the town of Buñol for this huge tomato fight.

The battle commences at high noon and lasts for an hour. During this time tens of tonnes of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the town’s streets, where canny shop and home owners protect the fronts of their buildings with huge sheets of plastic.

The history of the Tomatina goes back to 1945, when a random fight between local festival goers happened to involve tomatoes. Over the years this confrontation became organised and now it is the main event of Buñol’s annual festivities.

You can travel from Valencia to the Tomatina by train. Make sure you wear clothes you’ll probably never be able to wear again. Swimming goggles and earplugs are good idea too. Route 66 Idiomas language school are organising a group trip. If you’d like to go, sign up in the office!

Valencia’s City of Arts and Sciences has been invaded by dinosaurs.

The Umbracle is the new home to a group of 26 animatronic dinosaurs, ranging from 2.5 to 27 metres in length. Valencia’s own Jurassic Park is the largest exhibit of its kind in Europe and gives you the chance to see robotic replicas of the best-known dinos, including the triceratops, diplodocus and velociraptor.

The T-Rex and friends will be on display until May 2011. However, until 31 August the exhibit is open until midnight for those visitors wanting to avoid the heat of the day.

Route 66 Idiomas students who would like more information about opening times and ticket prices (in English) can click here.

Hace dos o tres semanas, un conocido me comentó que había terminado la carrera de Historia y que se había matriculado en el Máster en Educación Secundaria. Un nombre tan largo para definir… ¡el CAP! Sí, ese curso de cuatro meses en que te enseñan a enseñar, prácticas incluidas en un instituto, se ha transformado en un máster universitario con una importante carga lectiva de didáctica, pedagogía y metodología. Vamos, que ahora cuesta un poquito más.

- Y tengo que poseer un diploma B1 de un idioma extranjero para poder inscribirme -me dijo-. No está mal, a ver si los españoles vamos perdiendo esa mala fama de no saber idiomas.
- Vaya, qué novedad… tan apetecible -le seguí. Me costaba entender que los licenciados españoles no estuviéramos obligados a demostrar conocimientos de idiomas.
- Y no solo eso, sino que aquí en la Comunitat Valenciana es necesario demostrar el C1 de valencià ¡y también de castellano! -continuó.
- Vaya, qué tarde llega eso -me salió del alma. Me costaba entender, de nuevo, por qué nos obligan a demostrar que sabemos valenciano pero nunca castellano, con lo pobre que lo llevan muchos ciudadanos.

Así que, amigos y amigas de Route 66 Idiomas, si tenéis pensado matricularos en el máster, debéis saber que habéis de presentar el diploma o, si no, matricularos en las pruebas de acreditación del conocimiento de lenguas extranjeras que realiza la Universitat de València (se celebrarán el 18 de septiembre de 2010). Y no hay que recordar que, si deseáis preparar esas pruebas, podéis hacerlo en nuestra academia, que oferta cursos especiales para la realización de las mismas, así como del examen DELE de español como lengua extranjera.

Seen by many as the high point of the Feria de Julio, this Saturday night (17th) Valencia celebrates the “Gran Nit”. There will be dancing and music around the cathedral, in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento, and inside the City Hall and the Lonja from 8pm to midnight.

Route 66 Idiomas language school students might also like to take this opportunity to visit some of Valencia’s museums: six of them will open from 10pm to 2am. This year the IVAM is also taking part and the organizers hope that the events will beat last year’s attendance record of over 30,000 people.

As with every Saturday during the Feria, there will be a fireworks display at midnight at the Malvarrosa beach.

For more information, click here.

For Route 66 Idiomas language school students who aren’t going on holiday in July, there is plenty to see and do here in Valencia. The Feria de Julio once again offers a packed programme of events taking place all over the city.

Music lovers can enjoy a series of concerts in the Jardines de Viveros between the 8 and 24 July.

No Valencian public festival would be complete without fireworks, and there are free displays at the Malvarossa beach on Saturdays 10, 17 and 24 of July.

The 17 of July is the high point of the programme with the “Gran nit” – more details of that nearer the time.

As if that weren’t enough, there are also Arts and Crafts fairs, dance displays, and events for children. The fair comes to an end of the 25 July with the “Flower battle” where you can join 25,000 warriors pelting each other with 2,000 kilos of marigolds.

For the full programme and more information (in Spanish and Valencian), click here .

The night of the 23rd June is “la noche de San Juan” (Midsummer’s night). In Valencia and other parts of Spain one of the most common customs is to celebrate the shortest night of the year with bonfires on the beach. The brave jump over the bonfires for luck. Those less brave but who still want to improve their fortune for the coming year jump over the first seven waves that come onto the beach after midnight.

For most it’s just another excuse for a party on the beach. Students at Route 66 Idiomas language school who want to join in should head down to the Malvarrosa beach on Wednesday night. One word of caution, if you’re not planning on walking or going by bike, check out the situation with public transport before you leave home. Strikes on the metro and buses are planned – but might get called off.

¡Feliz noche de San Juan! from the Route 66 team.

Nos volvemos locos durante las competiciones deportivas. Las Olimpiadas y los campeonatos de fútbol son nuestros favoritos. Incluso para alguien como yo que disfruta del fútbol solo cuando mi Athletic de Bilbao del alma gana un partido o, casos excepcionales que se dan una vez cada mucho, llega a una final importante (el 13 de mayo de 2009 está en mi calendario marcado con rayas blancas y rojas y con lágrimas de emoción).

Mi amigo Roberto es intérprete en un equipo de fútbol, el Olympiakos de Pireos, al lado de Atenas. Es un tipo como yo, al que prefería leer las crónicas internacionales a las médicas de la sección de deportes; pero el azar lo llevó a usar la lengua helena, su pasión, como método de trabajo en un área interesante pero desconocida. A mí, los idiomas me llevaron hace dos semanas a conocer a Kaká, a Thierry Henry y a Rafa Márquez, tres ases del balón.

Y es que los idiomas sirven para mucho más que para viajar. ¿A qué esperas para aprender uno nuevo? Infórmate en Route 66 sobre los cursos de verano. Además, en la biblioteca tenemos una macropantalla para ver algunos partidos del Mundial en los descansos: ¡es el curso perfecto!