After that, all participants and members of the project are welcomed to the city of León and its University by the Vicerector of International Affairs, the Vicedean of the Faculty of Arts, the Vicehead of the Department of Modern Languages and the Manager of the International Office. Their warm welcome takes place in the building of the Faculty of Arts on campus.

Coffee break is not really a session of the course, but must be mentioned at least once in this travellog because of all the interaction taking place among the participants, as well as all the ham munching going on! Also called a second breakfast break, it has brought us all together around the table and contributed to some intercultural training, as we have lost track of time and had to haste back to our session’s room in a very Southern European way…

Our first session in the classroom on the first floor of the Library was held with Anne. We focused on the different meanings a picture could convey depending on the eye of the beholder, as well as his or her own culture and country of origin. We all enjoyed the task of identifying one single picture associated only with our own country, specially because this exercise was done in intercultural pairs and faced us with the difficulty of characterizing our own cultures without giving in to stereotypes. This “only in” exercise sure helped to single out some of our cultural peculiarities!