Spain

Visiting Malaga, Spain was an amazing way to mark my last year as a 2nd year student in Tramore Road Campus. There were 10 students altogether that went with me. We had a few meetings before going to introduce everyone, sort all the documents and travel plans and trying to learn some Spanish before our trip. We were told at our preparation meetings that we will learn bout the heritage, the culture, the language, the cuisine, and the work placement we would be doing over there.

When we got there, we had a bus waiting on us to bring us to out accommodation. The accommodation had all our rooms sorted and our key cards ready by the time we got there. The next day we had a meeting with our host organisers. They then brought us to our work placements where me, Finn and josh were working together in ‘Round fitness Training Centre’. Upon arrival we met Aza the manager and Marcelo a trainer and our new bosses. They didn’t have much English and we didn’t have must Spanish but we were able to say hello lovely to meet you and they told us we could start the next day observing the first class at 8 a.m. We came back the next day and observed the first class introducing ourselves to clients there for the circuit training. We participated in the next class and helped others. This is primarily what we did in work experience, participated, coached the warm ups helped with correct techniques and forms to do the exercises. 

The highlight of my Erasmus experience was the work experience. Round Fitness Training Centre and the coaches were so welcoming and so nice they made us feel so welcome that it just made my experience that much better. They were a pleasure to work with and I learned a lot just by observing how they coached even when I couldn’t understand what they were saying I could see by there actions and demonstrations how well they new their craft and allowing us to help them and to mobility sessions and warm ups and making sure that we were comfortable with doing it was amazing.

Thomas Kelly

I spent two weeks working with Viarca, stained glass, in Malaga. I really enjoyed working with Maitay, Alberto and their son Ignatio, it is a family owned and run business. They were generous with their time and their skills.

I was taught how to solder. I was also shown how to cut glass using a template for a fused glass piece. I prepared a 200-year-old window that had glass replaced in it. It needed prepping for re-painting. Ignatio explained how to polish the glass, using rubber lined safety gloves to protect my skin from the sharp edges. Alberto showed me how to edge the pieces with copper tape. Ignatio very patiently taught me how to cut glass, using my body to follow the curve of the glass. The line must be constantly within your sightline. Alberto also taught me how to assemble the cut glass pieces onto the backing glass, ready for fusing in the kiln. 

The language was sometimes an issue, but we muddled through with my dodgy Spanish and their dodgy English with a type of Spanglish that communicated our needs and directions.

I learned so much over my 2-week placement. I have never done stained glass before, and it was a wonderful experience. I appreciated the trust that was put in me. I was thrown in at the deep end with lots of support and encouragement. I look forward to exploring this medium further in Crawford College of Art and Design while studying Contemporary Applied Arts.

As has been my experience in Tramore Road Campus, there was excellent integration between the participants. What a lovely group of people. Driven , ambitious, kind and caring to each other… and absolutely great craic. We fell into the habit of cooking together in the evenings and it was a real pleasure to get to know the group. I have no doubt that these guys and girls will go on to succeed in their futures.

I believe that the Erasmus program was an immense success and would encourage students to apply in the future, I am incredibly grateful to Tramore Road Campus for the opportunity. My Spanish has improved and I have continued to work with Duolingo since, haven’t broken my streak yet!

Alison Culinhane

I applied for the Erasmus programme when it was announced in October. Upon finding out I had been selected to represent the college on this programme it has been a very enjoyable journey. For weeks before the trip we had planning meetings for the group to make sure that we had the best experience possible. When we did meet there was a lot of organising, but overall the fun we had getting to know other students, language learning and the possibilities that could be on this trip was worth all the time,

We departed from Dublin airport and arrived in Malaga where we were greeted by the host organisation and they immediately made us feel extremely welcome. They provided us with all the information we needed in case of emergency and were given a very detailed tour of our accommodation, which was fantastic.

The following morning we were guided to the door of the work experience by one of the team members and introduced which made the experience of work in a foreign country so much easier.

The work experience that was chosen for us was very well thought out and for me personally worked out very well, I chose to split my work experience in two different sectors, one being restoration and the other furniture making and it worked very well.

There was loads of activities planned for the two weeks we were in Malaga and at no point were we at a loose end, from cycling trips to beach sports and everything in between.

The overall experience with the rest of the students that all travelled, was absolutely amazing, I have learned some very valuable lessons and had a fantastic Spanish cultural experience and would highly recommend any student to consider this as an experience while studying at Tramore Road Campus

Kevin Field

On my Erasmus trip to Malaga in Spain I got the opportunity to work in two gyms. The first gym was called Iron Fitness where I had to complete daily tasks like cleaning which is very important in the cleanliness of a gym. In the second gym, which was called Upgrade, I got to observe PT classes where an individual who was booked in for a class would come in and meet the trainer and perform a w\rm up and then would get started with the session. After the session the trainer would take a progress picture as well as log how many reps you did of a weight and how heavy the weight was which helps the client to improve and progress. It was a great experience as that gym had a lot more modern equipment compared to the other gym, but it was great to see the two gyms and how they both work differently while providing the same service. 

Once we finished work, we had free time to go and explore the city of Malaga. We got the opportunity to rent bikes and cycle around the city and down by the beaches which were very beautiful. We also got the opportunity to explore the Gibraflaro and Alcazaba which is a historic castle in Malaga and once we got to the top of the castle the views were phenomenal. You could see the whole city from there as well as famous landmarks like the bullring which hosts many bull fights. We got to experience Spanish culture by seeing a flamenco show which is singing, dancing and music mainly from a guitar which illustrates the Andalusian artform. 

 On a Saturday we spent the whole day in Grenada looking at the beautiful place and learning about the Spanish history and culture. One of the evenings we enjoyed some beach sports like beach volleyball which was highly entertaining, and we ended the day with a swim in the sea and of course we were the only one's swimming as it was the middle of March, and we are Irish, so it was like summer to us. This two-week trip to Malaga was so enjoyable and such a fab experience that I would do it again and no doubt I would be recommending it to other students to apply for it as you get to meet so many new people and learn new things. It really was just a fantastic experience. 

Kate Corcoran

I went to Malaga in Spain on the 23rd of February for 2 weeks. I do Applied Biology at Tramore Road Campus and I was placed in a Pharmacy for my work placement in Malaga. I really enjoyed my time in the Pharmacy, and it was a great experience and working environment and made me consider this route for college or in the future as a job. The Pharmacy was a great working place and thought me many things, I learnt about how the medicines work, how to give out prescriptions and how to run a Pharmacy efficiently.

Before the Erasmus we had a few meetings to sort out details and documents and to learn the basics of Spanish which benefited us greatly every day when we're doing our working experience. This built up so much excitement and the day finally came, and we jetted of from Cork airport, when we got to the accommodation it was very nice and way better than what we were expecting.

 Before going I did not know many people from the trip but coming away from the trip a have made friendships that will last and lots of memories I will remember. The city there is beautiful and lots of tourist attractions, some of the attractions we seen were the big castle and walked up it all which gave us the whole view of Malaga, we also visited the Soccer stadium in Malaga and got a tour about the history of it which was very interesting. We are a short bus ride from Torremolinos which is another nice town where I went for a bit of shopping and food and walked around the town. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and work experience, and it gave me a great experience on learning the culture and heritage of Malaga.

Caoimhe Geoghegan