I’m back. And when I’ve had chance to sort all my photographs from a lovely summer I will share some of my favourite places.
I also have a new happy place in Yorkshire which I discovered last weekend while having a lovely day of calm and relaxation. I’ll tell you about it soon because it really is special.
But today just a quick update …………………………… something I’ve been meaning to do for a while to keep me out of mischief…………so I’ve done it and I’m excited and determined!
I’ve had a lovely day trip to the vibrant city of Manchester to sit a level test at Instituto Cervantes and enrol on my Spanish course. It’s about time I did this properly and became a whizz!
I sat an online test last week but knew the outcome was incorrect. It graded me higher than I know I actually am and there is nothing worse than being in a class which is too hard for you. It was an online multiple choice test and being fluent in another latin based language I was able to deduce the answers without being that great at Spanish so I was reluctant to enrol at the level it gave me.
I contacted Instituto Cervantes in Manchester who said they were having an open day today with free level tests so I decided to go along as this was a written and spoken level test, not reading and multiple choice. It also gave me the opportunity to have a day in Manchester which is such a lovely city where old meets new and everything is so colorful.
The building itself is lovely, an old Victorian conversion and it has a lovely Spanish library and all sorts of resources so I can see me visiting often. They not only offer language classes but dance, film clubs, reading clubs, special event evenings on food and culture etc.
Surprisingly I am not in A1.1 but in A1.2 ……………. which means I am very much a beginner but not 100% useless when it come to Spanish……………..just 99% useless……………………..which I already knew! 😆
This is more where I thought I was and I’m happy to start there as I’d rather solidify what I know already before moving onto A2.
So an early get up and I arrived at Instituto Cervantes. Everyone was so lovely and I sat my test. It was quite hard for me but I was able to write a full side of A4, all in present tense admittedly, but most of it correctly, respond to the questions I was asked about my job, my family, my town, where I had visited and then ask the examiner a number of questions about themselves.
So I have my text book and I’m excited to start and be a really good student! I’m looking forward to putting it into practice on my visits and am going to celebrate when my Spanish is so good I get answered back in Spanish instead of English! 😂
Manchester was its usual colourful self even though it was pouring with rain later in the day.
I got to visit Duke Street Coffee which has the most gorgeous coffee……….I recommend it if ever in Manchester. I always pay it a visit, and I needed it after my Spanish test. It’s tucked away in the Castlefield area and roasts its own coffee which is superb tasting.
And being such a rainy day followed by sunshine I was treated the the most gorgeous double rainbow on my arrival back home into the village.
So all in all a productive little day for Instituto Cervantes’ newest recruit!