Language Immersion, History, Culture, and Hiking

Accommodations

Our students are housed in a beautifully remodeled and comfortable dormitory, the best of its kind in León for the first 7 days of the program. The dormitory is equipped with individual and double rooms, Conference rooms, a dining hall, and a student lounge. It is centrally located and a few steps from downtown and most places of interest. Since everything is within walking distance of the dormitory, going to the stores, the market place, the bakery, the ice cream shop and the restaurants where our students are forced to order in Spanish, it is considered as doing field work. All these places become a natural extension of the classroom. The main entrance of the dormitory is supervised by a concierge 24 hours a day. Students are issued identification cards with their names, their pictures, and the dormitory address and phone number. This I.D. card is presented and left with the supervisor on duty when entering the dormitory. The card is returned to the student upon exiting the dormitory and is to be used as an I.D. in the city. This system is very efficient in safeguarding the security of the dormitory and is an effective tool to determine whether the students are in the dormitory or not when there is a call or someone is looking for them. When we begin the Camino de Santiago portion of the program, students will be staying in “casas rurales” which are beautiful country Inns that are run by families. This type of accommodations ensures that the students will be exposed to family life and be able to participate in activities as they relate to pilgrims walking the Camino.

Meals

All meals are served in the residence, except during excursions and special occasions when students dine in local restaurants. Breakfast is served from 8:30AM to 9:00AM, lunch from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, and dinner from 8 PM to 9 PM. Meals are habitually taken much later in Spain than in any other country in Europe; therefore having “tapas” (snacks) in between meals is a very popular Spanish tradition. The food in the dormitory is varied and well-presented. Fresh salads are served both at lunch and at dinner, accompanied by pasta, potatoes, vegetables, or beans, with steak, chicken or fish.