International Fair of the book of Guadalajara

GUADALAJARA.- What Andalusia is for Spain, Jalisco is for Mexico, for the reason that in this region are a few of the most important symbols of the Spanish identity, according to Raúl Padilla López, president of the International Fair of the book of Guadalajara , Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara, FIL, which celebrates in 2006 its 20th anniversary with this Spanish region as the guest of honor with exile as the main point of the literary programme.

In 1987, the Fair of Guadalajara was considerated as a communication-link between the Hispanic world and the United States, and according to the president, within two decades, it would be consolidated as the most important thing in the Spanish language . From 1993 it has been established ´as an instrument to connect with other nations´ like Comombia, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Catalonia and Puerto Rico, which are a few of the nations invited by the Fair wich takes place on the 25th of November til the 3th of December.

Diario de un grupo de estudiantes Suecos en España (Spanish)

Nosotros somos dos estudiantes estudiando sciencias sociales, orientación idiomas. El año pasado estudiamos la primera etapa de español y durante este año escolar vamos a estudiar la segunda y tercera etapa a “media distancia.” En la primavera 2006 nuestro profesor de español fue contactado vía email por una academía de idiomas que se llama, Mester Spanish Courses. Nos informaron de sus actividades y esto nos interesó. El otoño 2006 nosotros, doce estudiantes de diferentes edades y de diferentes niveles de conocimiento de español, fuimos junto con nuestro profesor, Sven-Erik Gerdin, durante una semana a Salamanca en España para participar en un curso organizado por Mester.

Antes de viajar hicimos una prueba diagnóstica para ver en que nivel estábamos y allí fuimos colocados en diferentes grupos depende del resultado de la prueba. Fuimos colocados en grupos de diez estudiantes de diferentes partes del mundo. La enseñanza fue muy provechosa y aprendimos mucho. Durante la estancia en Salamanca vivimos en grupos de dos en familias españolas. Gracias a esto aprendimos mucho de la cultura española y además teníamos muchas posibilidades de practicar hablar español. Mester organizó también actividades por la tarde, visitas guiadas, cursos de diferentes bailes y de cocinar. Además tuvimos la posibilidad de ir a Madrid para ver el partido de fútbol Real Madrid contra Dynamo Kiev en Champions League.
Nosotros recomendamos de verdad que otros estudiantes, como nosotros, estudien español en la academía Mester en Salamanca. La estancia fue estupenda y nunca la olvidaremos.

Ya somos algunos estudiantes planeando después del bachillerato volver a estudiar con Mester en Salamanca.

Daily of Swedish students in Spain (English)

We are two students and we study social sciences and lenguage orientation and we are in our last year of the higher secundary education course at Härnösands gymnasium in Sweden. Last year we followed the Spanish lessons of the first grade and during this year we are going to learn the spanish of the second and the third grade. In Spring 2006, our Spanish teacher contacted by e-mail a language school, Mester Spanish Courses . They informed us about their activities and we got very interested. In autumn 2006, we went to Spain with 12 students of varies ages and with different knowledge of Spanish, with our teacher Sven-Erik Gerdin, for one week to participate courses of Mester in Salamanca.

Before we went to Spain, we had to do a diagnostic test to decide on which level we were and according to the results of the test we were devided in different groups of ten students from varies parts of the world. The lessons were very interesting and usefull and we learned a lot. In Salamanca, we leaved in groups of two with Spanish families and thanks to this, we also learned a lot about the Spanish culture and we could talk a lot to practice our Spanish. Mester also organized activities in the afternoon like, guide tours, dancing clases and cooking clases. Furthermore we had the oportunity to go to Madrid to watch a soccergame of Real Madrid against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League.



We strongly recommend to students just like us, to study Spanish at Mester Academy in Salamanca. Our stay in Salamanca was really great and something we will never forget.

We strongly recommend to other students just like us, to study Spanish at Mester academy. We really enjoyed our stay in Salamanca and it was something we will never forget.

There are even a few students planning to go back to Salamanca to study Spanish at Mester, as soon as they have finished their higher secundary education.

Projects & realities

From the 22th of Septembre 2006 till the 14th of January 2007 in the pavilion Villanueva in the Royal botanic Gardin (Real Jardín Botanico) of Madrid

Commmissioner: Terence Riley, commisioner chief of Arquitecture and Design of the Museum of Modern Art,MOMA


Work: 53 buildingprojects in construction or are constructed recently

The current arquitectural vision realized in Spain is concentrated in the expositions which you can find in Madrid these days in the newest exposition since the first exposition in the museum of modern art (MOMA) of New York, which got more than one million visiters between February and May of 2006. 53 Spanish arquitectural project and also projcts from other countries of Europe, Asia and America, which were finished in the last 8 years or are being constructed in different cities of Spain.

With the expositions of the economic and social development in Spain and the introduction of the democracy, the arquitectural fenomenon and the public constructions show an exceptional leadership which nowadays converted the Spanish production in one of the richest and most exceptional ones in this moment. Because of the experimentacion and excellenceness, there are many projects which demonstrate this progress, design and technology with the realization of new constructions.
When Spain joined the European Union in 1986, it brought about a big progress because of the new source of income, allocated to the constrution of motorways, bridges, stations and civil infrastructure.

Houses, hotels, airports, health centres, schools, hospitals, markets, museums and arquitactural landscape, varied and more and more sophisticated.
The exposition also shows two Spanish projects which were awarded the Europan (competition which started in 1989 for European arquitectures under 40). The projects are about las Viviendas Sociales Junto a la SE-30, from Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano and the "Estadio de Fútbol of Eduardo Arroyo" from outside Bilbao.

The fact that Spain is different from other countries has been the slogan of many public campaigns and it has been something that characterized the particular way of learning the life and wealth of Spain. However, nowadays it seems to be the tendency that more and more, in the lenght and breadth of the western world, we are all more the same. The so called globalization which also affects the arquitecture is conducted by the big business and institutions which all want their building to be a reflection of their company. This is not a bad thing because we all want to live and work in beautifull and well-designed buildings but in this there is the risk to be classified, when you say who constructed it and I tell you who you are, or there is the risk that the company doesn´t emphasize the most important things of a good construction.
It´s a deed and an honor for the best Spanish arquitects of which a few are very young, to be the object of expositions in museums like MOMA, but they still make it, where the other Spanish people just live and work in the general Spanish cities, to settle a longwaited development.

A typically Spanish corrida de rejones

Everybody knows a normal bullfight, but in the case of the “rejoneros” you’ll see the “toreros” up on a horse fighting a bull!

This month we had the chance to go with Mester to one of these terrific fights and although we all felt very bad about the bull we’ve been even more worried about the beautiful horses, which did amazing things……

When the “toreros” did their tricks, the bull followed the horses and have been just one centimetre far away from each other we almost fainted and had to gasp every single minute….