In an exciting turn of events, my blog views appear to have gone up. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of someone actually reading this funny stream of consciousness I call a website, since that hasn’t happened since I lived in Morocco (such a long time ago now). Thanks, anyway.

Mostly this blog is about general views I have, so I wanted to share some of my experience of earlier today, and some of my views which were shattered (somewhat). I took a group of Leeds University Spanish Department (as was) alumni on a tour. This year marks 50 years since they graduated, and 50 years since the department moved into the current building. It was a fantastic and absolutely fascinating experience.

Firstly, I had some preconceptions about the gentlemen which were all proved completely false. It was a mistake to think that they would be “elderly” in the stereotypical sense – they were all very sprightly and incredibly chatty. I don’t really know why I ever expected otherwise, given that my grandparents continue to be some of the most energetic people I know, despite their age. They give the truest meaning to the saying that “age is just a number”, and these gentlemen were no different.

I also had the view that they would be nostalgic for the Leeds which they had experienced, but I was totally off the mark here as well. They all have contributed towards the university for years, and were so eager to see the improvements and innovations, as well as having lengthy discussions with me about my BA course, my MA and what I thought of language teaching practices and standards (I held off ranting about the current state of education in Britain, you’ll be glad to know).

In short, I had a fascinating time, feel like I know much more about my department now, and I hope I can be here in 2018 when they’d like to return and celebrate the centenary of the department. What a great idea!