My year in Terrassa by a teacher new to EFL ... and Terrassa

About me

I joined IH Terrassa last summer straight off my CELTA course at IH Krakow. This was my first teaching post; I had never been to Spain; I had never to my knowledge met a Spaniard, nevermind a Catalan; I couldn’t speak a word of Spanish or Catalan. I basically chose to teach in Spain because I thought I'd like the food, and I've always preferred brunettes. Obviously I had seriously considered many important factors before moving to another country. I had applied to schools all over Spain, been invited for interviews by several, but opted for Terrassa after speaking to the DoS on the phone and getting the best vibes about this school.

Terrassa

Arriving in Terrassa, I quickly noticed that it would be incredibly easy to get lost here due to some apparently terrible town-planning. This will quickly become apparent if you decide to visit Terrassa and pop out for a quick wander. Pack the Kendall Mint Cake! The town is in a bit of a state of flux at the moment, with some major building work putting a train station under the main street, but I think Catalans and Spaniards alike can't sleep unless they know they'll be woken by a pneumatic drill.

There are lots of nice parts of the town that aren't undergoing major construction work though. Plaça Vella is perhaps the centre of the town, with lots of pleasant cafes and bars surrounding the main square, with some impressive government buildings scattered about. Plaça Vella is connected to several other smaller squares and open spaces by a lattice of pedestrian streets and alleys, and near to a large indoor food market. It's also about 3 minutes from the school. Further from the school there's a really nice park that's good for a walk or a picnic should the mood take you, some buildings of historical importance that Wikipedia will do a better job of describing, and lots of shops both in town and at a large retail and leisure park out of the town: Parc Vallés. It's also easy to access the hills behind Terrassa such as La Mola (in Sant Llorenç Natural Park)and Monsterrat which are both breathtaking and make for an ideal Sunday day trip.

At this point I should probably state that I chose to live in Barcelona and commute (40 minutes by train). Coming to the end of my year here I'm still not sure whether it was the best decision. I love Barcelona, but it's really easy to meet people in Terrassa, where being a foreigner is a point of interest to the locals. Also, as the year has gone on I've found some bars, clubs and restaurants that are as good as any in Barcelona. La Reina Victoria - The Queen Vic if you prefer - is a bar/Terrassa institution next to the school and has a varied clientele and some fantastically eccentric décor. Apparently it used to have a pet snake residing above the bar. Further down the road from the school there are some terrible, terrible clubs with one notable exception, Faktoria D'Arts, which opened earlier this year as a sister to an older club with the same name elsewhere in town. The owners of Faktoria must have some interesting contacts in the music world – 2Many DJs played on the opening night, and the Skatalites played recently. My other favourite local haunt is El Ninot de la Ninet, which is a bar/restaurant again near the school, good music, beer and food. In addition to those mentioned there is a plethora of tapas bars and arguably the greatest frankfurters in the world. Amazing.