- education
- (12)
-
Design Summer Sessions for beginners
and advanced students of all ages at two of the city's top design schools. Courses last two or four weeks and cover the areas of fashion, graphics, interior and product design from a fascinating Milanese point of view with many guest speakers - a great place to network for contacts as well. Book a place online for this July.
Domus Academy and Naba are the host schools - it is also possible to do the first two weeks in London at St Martins College of Art and Design
www.london-milan-courses.com
www.domusacademy.it
www.naba.it
emails:milan@london-milan-courses.com
or london@london-milan-courses.com
An incredible bridge, several museums, extraordinary views, what more could you ask of a day's visit?
traveller.uncommontraveller.com/2007/03/31/warming-up-at-ironbridge-gorge.aspx
Learn Spanish at a farmhouse in Navarra at an informal, relaxed Spanish language house party with unlimited food and wine, gentle walking and opportunities to chat to the locals.
0121-711 3428,
www.pyreneanexperience.com
On an afternoon's journey, you'll meet local football professionals whose lives and stories are woven into the soccer history of Cape Town.
Their infectious and heartfelt enthusiasm for their game will prime you to get caught up in the spirit of training sessions (and when possible, matches) of clubs big and small.
If you want to learn Spanish while you visit, go to the Costa de la Luz. Really unspoilt and beautiful part of real Spain where you won't be tempted to speak English.
A good school is Lighthouse Languages where the people are really friendly and the teachers and owners help you get into the rustic life of the area during your course.
Il Sasso is a language school offering courses in Italian for adult learners at all levels and of all ages. Classes are small and fun.
The teachers, all local, are excellent. I have been there three times and the highlights have been: meeting students from all over the world, staying with a local family and having wonderful food, enjoying the local music and wine festivals, going on visits to Montalcino, Sienna, Cortona and Arezzo, and simply living in such a beautiful place.
For me it has been the best way of getting to know a part of Italy well.
Il Sasso, Via di Gracciano nel Corso, 2
I-53045 Montepulciano (Siena)
Tel.: 0039 0578 758311
Fax: 0039 0578 757547
E-mail: info@ilsasso.com
Nearest station: Chiusi.
Nearest airports: Pisa, Florence, Rome.
As in olden days, you can sit outside in the park and read and listen to the orators in the forecourt or inside, where the reading room takes you back to early last century. Quaint and quiet and a great place to while away a few hours. I recommend the tour to discover the history and facilities offered by the institution.
328 Swanston Street, Melbourne,
corner of Swanston and La Trobe Streets;
www.slv.vic.gov.au
I am travelling around the world for a year and my first stop was Rio. I excitedly got chatting to some of my fellow travellers who challenged my misconceptions concerning the favela tour. A favela is like a shanty town on a mountain side, where the poorest people live, and I thought a tour meant staring at the streets from a tour bus, showcasing the locals in a horrible, vicarious way. My new friends informed me that it was actually a walking tour given by a local, and that the money we paid was used for improving the school and day centre.
The favela, Rocinha, had the welcoming atmosphere of real and honest people; innocent lives plagued with the volatility of the drug world. It was hard to believe that we were walking through streets that only four days earlier saw the killing of the top drug lord by police. In the three days to follow a further five people were killed as they fought over the prestigious position and the power it provided. The tours stopped during this time and this emphasised the danger and uncertainty with which these people lived.
Our guide, Luis, took us to the day centre where our money was to be used. Before Luis set up the organisation (www.bealocal.com), children went unfed for days and were forced to beg, three years later they are off the streets, given three meals a day and are taught various arts and crafts; they then sell their wares instead of begging.
Looking round Rocinha, I now feel I understand the people of Rio on a much deeper level; with a strong, unyielding community spirit, they share the difficult times and, slowly but surely, set out to improve their situation. The tour manages to obtain the perfect balance, between educating and spreading awareness and providing genuine benefit where it is needed most.
A definite must-do when visiting Rio, it will enlighten your life and provide a unique insight into a fascinating place.
Visit www.bealocal.com and book online, they will pick you up from your hostel/hotel and drop you off afterwards.
Only 10km North of downtown Chengdu, Giant Pandas can be found eating, sleeping or at play. The Centre works to educate the public and provide a research base for scientists across the globe. The Centre also houses the red panda. Both can be held for approximately 100 Yuan. The entry fee is 50 Yuan.
The easiest way to get there is to find a taxi and point to the symbol for the Panda Centre on the tourist maps found at the airport, bus and train stations.
A Cuenca establishment, CEDEI (pronounced “say-day-ee”) as locals call it, is a byword for quality classes. For those looking for teaching opportunities, the biggest English language school in the city is usually looking for qualified teachers, but better to make contact before you go. If your plan is to work on your Spanish then Cuenca – where locals are famous for their sing-song pronunciation – is about as good a place to put down some roots and do it as anywhere. CEDEI offers one-on-one classes, market visits, cooking, and homestays with a local family. As with most things in Ecuador, you get what you pay for.
Address: Tarqui 13-45 and Pio Bravo, in the Old Town (it’s the huge red-brick building on the corner of these two streets);
email: info@cedei.org;
www.cedei.org
The museum organizes temporary exhibitions and lectures open to the public. The permanent exhibition includes collections of finds from Palaeolithic sites (Kokkinopelos, Asprochaliko, Kastritsa), from the excavations at Dodona (sanctuary, theatre etc.), the Oracle of the Dead at the river Acheron, Vitsa (settlement and cemeteries), Votonosi, Katamache and Stephane; finds from the excavations at the University Campus of Dhouroute (graves) Merope-Palaiopyrgos in the Pogoni area (tumuli), and Michalitsi; also, a collection of coins, and many other finds from various sites in Epirus.
It also includes a marble sarcophagus from Ladochori (district of Thesprotia). The relief decoration on the walls depicts scenes from the Iliad and the lid has the shape of a funeral bed with the reclining figures of the dead couple. Dated to the 2nd century A.D.
6, 25th Martiou Square, Ioannina
45221
Tel: +30-236510-33357, 25490
Fax: +30-236510-22.595
Special ticketing package for the Archaeological and the Byzantine Museum
of Ioannina: € 4 (reduced: € 2).
In case you've forgotton, he's the prime minister who mauled the Queen a few years ago, causing Australians to either laugh or yawn, and causing The Sun to wack him on the front page. There's a great insult page on him on the net...telling of his fabulous grasp of the English language when it came to members of the opposition.
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
Search Been there
