Fernando Fonseca

Marta Martínez Marcos

Hello!!! My name is Marta and I am studying English at the University of León. I share a flat with other three flatmates, one of them is my boyfriend, but I am not from León but from a little town nearby where I go back every weekend to see my family and friends.
What else can I say about me? Well, my most outstanding characteristics are that I am a very organized and perfectionist person; I love order and do everything the best I can, something that my flatmates are sometimes a bit fed up with. I am also a hard worker a very active. I really like what I am studying but I would also like to study a degree on History, one of my hobbies. Another of my hobbies is watching football matches with my father and my brother, something that is not very typical of a girl at least in Spain, but I really enjoy it. I also love watching films; most of them are in English so watching them I can practise and learn new words. The last film I have seen is Babel, and it is one of the best films I have seen lately, very good actors and excellent plot and dialogues.
In the future, I would like to be a high school English teacher: I love working with people and teaching them what I know; besides, it has good wages and a lot of holidays!

Marta Martínez Garnelo

Hi everybody!
I´m Marta and I´m studying a BA in English at the University of León. I live here with my grandparents so I feel very comfortable although I´m far from my town.
I like going to the cinema, especially to see romantic films because they make me feel happy and all I want when I go to the cinema is have a good time not crying or scream full of fear. Every month, I buy a cimena magazine and I read it very carefully to see what I´m interested in, what films I could see.
I love swimming and even some years ago I took part of a swimming club where I went to competitions too. Now I´m a little bit lazy and all I have time to do is having a nap after lunch which gives me energy for the rest of the day.
I have, according to my mother, an obssesion with the tv series Friends. I love it. I´ve seen all the chapters several times and everytime that it´s on television I see it again. No matter how many times I´ve seen it, it´s always wonderful for me. See you soon!

Laura Juan Antón

Hello everybody!
My name is Laura. I'm studying a degree in English at the University of León. During the week I live in a flat with other three students, one of them is my sister.
Something peculiar about me is that I collect all kind of earrings. My friends said it has turned into an obsession since I can't leave home without being sure I'm wearing a pair of them. I also have more normal interests like reading books; my favourite one is Ana Frank's Diary. I really like reading about other people's experiences. I also enjoy listening to music. I always try to understand the lyrics of foreign songs without reading them; I think it's because of the degree I'm studying.
Meeting new people is always difficult, but I hope I can help you with anything you want to know. Laura

Dana Hoffmann

Hello, my name is Dana and I'm a 24 year-old exchange student from Germany.
I've been studying English, Spanish and Mathematics in Göttingen, a small town in the middle of Germany, for four years. As a language student I have to spend at least one semester abroad and after some futile tries to get an affordable place at a British university (the tuition fees are incredibly high, so I'd have needed a scholarship but didn't get any), I finally ended up in León. This was not so bad a choice because at least until now I feel very well here.
I like soccer and volleyball playing myself much more than just watching it. Joining a team and having regular practice and matches helps me to feel at home after a change of place. The only problem is that sometimes I'm so busy with sports that I don't have much time for studying or meeting those friends who are not in the teams.
Moreover I'm interested in learning something about different types of languages. That's why I have done for example a little bit of Nahuatl and Sauk. I wanted to get an idea of how people might express their thoughts in non indo-european languages.
After university I'd like to work as a teacher. However I'll still have to learn not to be so nervous when talking in front of larger groups and I've to improve my English and my Spanish, part of which I'll achieve here in Spain, hopefully.

Javier del Valle Pérez

Hi everyone! This is Javi a twenty-one-year-old student at the University of León, where, as you may have already guessed, I am doing a degree in English Studies. The reason why I ended up doing this is not only because part of my mother's family and friends live in the States and England (which motivates me to study the language) but also because I would like to become a Spanish teacher in an English-speaking country. Although my parents cannot say further words in English than "yes, ok, please, thank you," I have a twin sister who is doing the same degree as I am, and an older brother who has just finished his degree and have moved to work in Iceland and learn his most-hated subject at school: English.
If I had to describe myself in just one word I would say "procrastinator" (what a word!); honestly, I do not really like reading (since it makes me sleepy), but I like watching Spanish movies (e.g. Abre los Ojos) and movies in original version (e.g. Braveheart). However, the thing I like the most is travelling and getting to know new countries; two summers ago I did a trip with my brother all way up and down through Portugal and I lived in Scotland for almost a year (of which I just can say was AWESOME!); and I intend to finish my degree next year in New York (if everything goes my way). As a through-and-through Spanish guy, I enjoy having siestas very much (especially when I have been out the previous night with my friends partying until the break of day); this nap is much nicer when my cat Garfield sleeps next to me (since his-never "its"!!!-purring relaxes me a lot). Well guys, that is all for now. See you later! Or, as you say: have a nice day man! ;)

Paula Bayón Álvarez

Hello! I am Paula, a Spanish 21 year -old girl that studies an English degree at the University of León. During the semester I live in León with my two brothers, but the rest of the time I live in Ponferrada with my parents. If I had to describe myself I would say that I am steadfast in every single thing I do. Sometimes I can be a little bit shy but I do whatever is in my power to change it.
Something I learn in my life is that you have to be courageous and leave out what doesn't matter in life. From my experience I think that it is a good idea if someone forget about yesterday and live their life day by day and doing their best. "Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well. -- Josh Billings"
I used to be so pessimistic that nobody could stand me but I do everyday an effort to keep in mind only the good things and learn from the bad ones.

Alberto

Hi everyone! To start things off, my name is Alberto, I'm 21 and I'm studying English at the University of León. It is often difficult to tell which frame of knowledge this degree covers, since we study from linguistics to literature, from old texts to modern technologies. Anyway, I'm enjoying university so far, although I would like to learn a little bit more about literature, to be honest ?. I consider myself as a passionate reader, I like almost every kind of book, as long as it does not bore me! My favourite one is Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar, though not so long ago it was Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. I also love music of every kind, from Heavy Metal to Folk. My favourite band is Deftones, altogether with Pearl Jam. It is hard to decide between both! I am a bit of a musician myself, I play guitar, bass guitar and drums, and I'm singing in a rock band at the moment (we do not have a name yet). I am concerned with arts as well, I love painting and working with my hands. In fact, I am a frustrated artist! In this respect I admire the most Salvador Dalí and Rénoir. My favourite quote is Robert Briffault's: 'No myth of miraculous creation is so marvelous as the face of man's evolution'. I must advise you that the first impression I give when meeting new people is shyness, but I gain confidence quite easily, so do not bother. I hope we will make wonderful friends! ?

David Fernández

Hiya folks!
My name's David and I'm 27 years old. I live in León, Spain, and I study in the university here. I am studying B.A. English and at the same time I am attending a police academy, you may wonder why I started studying English and ended up wanting to be a police man, well, this is something I really don't know. I felt myself being called to the police while I was studying for my degree; who knows, maybe I will end up working for the NYPD.
In my spare time I like to listen to music, watch soccer or NBA on T.V. and during my holidays I always go to Ireland with my girlfriend given that she comes from there.
So I hope to see you all soon here in León and I'm looking forward to learning more about your culture while you are here. Bye bye my friends

Beatriz Blanco

My name is Bea and I am a 21 year old girl who studies English at college. I am currently living only with my parents although I have a brother, but he has already struck out. When I am off from college I get a kick out of hanging out with my friends and well, I am mainly into my average age group tastes, which vary from shopping to travelling going through other activities such as staying in enjoying a good movie. About travelling I must say that I have never gone beyond the European borders (yet), although I have visited a wide variety of spots within this continent, countries such as Ireland, Germany or Malta have been some of my favourite ones; but... I am really looking forward to widening my travelling scope by going to the States as I am one of the lucky people going over next March. So that is all by now since I hope to be able to tell you lots of more things when I am over.

Victoria Frade Cid

My name is Victoria, but I go for Vicky. I am a 4th -year student of a degree in English at the University of León, and it is because I had to move from my hometown to keep on with my studies that I am currently sharing a student's flat with four more people. Whenever I have the chance (and the nerve), I immensely enjoy experimenting with new recipes and flavours, and fortunately none of my "guinea pigs" has ever said a word about me stopping doing it, so I assume I am on the way to cooking mastery! With regard to travelling, I have never been to the States before, but I do have travelled to several European countries such as France, Italy and Ireland, just to name a few. As an anecdote, I have to say that I usually bring home a thimble from every country I visit, so I am really looking forward to showing off the one from the US on the shelf.

Ana Sahagún González

My name is Ana and I'm a twenty-three-years old student of Filología Inglesa at the Univesity of León. I live in a flat with my mother and my elder brother in the outskirts of the city.
I like very much watching movies in the cinema, rather than at home or downloading them from the Internet, because I simply love the ritual of buying popcorn and the extra-large Coca-cola and enjoying the movie in front of the big screen. Above all, I like watching horror movies, and those based on Japanese stories and videogames are among my favourite ones. I also love reading novels, and Isabel Allende and Paulho Coello are two of my favourite writers, but actually I read everything that comes to my hands, regardless of the writer.
I hate doing the washing-up and the housework in general, and spending more than two hours in front of the TV is a torture to me. I don´t like the snow and I´ve never pratised neither ski nor any other winter sport. I love travelling and learning languages and, among my plans for the future, I dream of starting playing theatre (amateur level, I just want to try), learnig to do bellydancing and a trip around the world, but I´m afraid I wouldn´t go to the Artics, that´s tooooo cold for me.

Patricia

Hi there!
I'm Patri, I'm 21 and I live with my parents. On weekends we go to my village where my grandparents live and have a house with rabbits, chickens and they used to have pigs.
In summer I visit my aunt, who lives in London and I go shopping because it's very different from León. Here in León, I like to go out for dinner with my friends, we call it "tapas" which is very common, because you go to the bars and drink and eat different kinds of food, from pizza to a piece of bread with tomatoe.
I like singing while I'm playing the guitar and in Christmas I usually go to concerts with little girls and we have won three times! As you can see, I love music. I like going to concerts of all kind of music, from rap to rock. Last year with some friends, we went to a music festival in a small village, near from León, where we saw different groups and it lasted three days. We had to camp there and we met a lot of people.
Appart from the English classes, I'm studying Russian. This is my third year, I think I'm ready to go to Russia to drink vodka and to be very cold!