Waken up by Mother from the last dream of Valencia, I realized I'm now at my 6-hour-later world which is 14 hours by plane from the sunshine on the beach and the rosemaries in the dry river.

The first time in my life that I had a job, shared a flat with other students, partied, found out about life, study, work,independence, cooperation, responsibility, friendship on totally different culture, trip, relaxation, love, bars ¡­ thanks to IAESTE, that's what happened to me during the 2-month training in Valencia, where party is a way of life¡­.

Estudio y trabajo

As part of the project IAESTE, I spent a working training visit from July to September, 2002, in the Engineering Chemistry and Nuclear Department of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

The job assigned for the training was to implement a graphic module to control and visualise the data provided by an acquisition card installed in a personal computer.

Under the supervision of our helpful patient professors Gumersindo Verdu and Damian Ginestar and in collaboration with my partner, Chinese boy Carl, we developed a program called DataDrawer, which display one or more graphics corresponding to data previously stored in files ASC¢ò formatted. These files are created by a module written in C language, called 'prog', which simulates the data acquisition. Datadrawer module is based on TCL/TK interpreted language and it's extension blt2.4.

To tell the truth, I knew almost nothing about them when arrived. One of the main things I gained is having learnt how to start a completely new work step by step, and how to put the knowledge from the book into practical use. Thus we were finally able to implement a general module of windows with menus and graphics.

This good experience made me realize what I need for a social position and helped a lot on preparing me for future jobs after my graduation.
Thanks a lot to my professors and partner!! The job can't be successful without them!

Ciudad y Fiesta

My footsteps covered almost 30 cities and towns, sometimes with other students and more alone. Beaches, cathedrals, mountains, rivers, towers, ¡­ everyone has it's different beauty and stories, Toledo, Andalucia, Barcelona were most unforgettable, and also the fiestas such as pe?a in Palencia, Tomatina in Bu?ol, foam party in Oropesa, bull fighting and bull running¡­.

The way and concept of enjoying life is what I find most different from the way we have. It's amazing for them that Chinese would rather stay in front of TV or PC for weekends even if they have beaches just outside their windows. But there we had all kinds of parties and trips, international food party, salsa party, paella party, farewell party, even parties just for fun (that's a reason good enough) ¡­on the beaches, in someone's flat, in pubs¡­chatting, dancing, singing, joking, drinking, cooking, laughing, playing games,¡­in an European way, seemed crazy sometimes, but really enjoyed by almost everyone, no matter men or women, old or young, rich or poor.

Chicos y chicas

I think I already start to miss the flowers this summer, Valencia horchata... and of course most of all, those nice IAESTE people!! I can't finish my report without writing a few words for them.

Eduardo, a warm-hearted lovely humorous (I promise to write something good of himJbut those are far from expressing exactly how good he is!)Spanish who served for IAESTE, I miss his smile (he keeps smiling any time to anything, even in the worst situation), fast thinking, talking on different cultures, jokes and of course the authentic paella!

Songwoot, Thai boy, the first Asian I met there, thus we called each other hermano y hermana (brother and sister in Spanish). Like a true brother, he taught me about being a grown-up, cooking, enjoying life, travelling¡­I still remember those he told me: Don't keep asking, try to find out it yourself, others probably know no more than you do; Think it slowly, decide it fast and act calmly¡­

And still devout catholic Brazilian boy Lucas, lively helpful Spanish flat mate Lidon, super mega baby Gert, Greek classmate in Spanish courses Thalassinos ¡­Those friendship are my greatest treasure gained in Spain.
I'd like to show them more about China and tell the world how China looks today.

This song tells best how I felt when leaving, some changes were made

Goodbye to you, my trusted friend
We've known each other since we were being here
Together we've enjoyed life
Learned of love and travelled around
Skinned our hearts and skinned our knees

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
But the beaches that we lay were just seasons out of time

Goodbye my friend, it's hard to part
When the wind so mild from Mediterranean
Now that the autumn is in the air
Mum and Dad are waiting at home
Think of me and I'll be there

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song like the seasons have all gone...

The end

I'd like ending my report with the words by Ann in the movie "Roman Holiday": Each (city) in its own way was...unforgettable. It would be difficult to...Valencia, by all means, Valencia. I will cherish my visit here, in memory, as long as I live.