Whirlwind Trip No 2: Western Europe

After my taco and arepa filled spree through South America working as a temporary marketing rep for IH’s New York school, they asked me to go to Europe and meet with agents in France, Spain and Italy. If you can believe it, this trip is even more tightly wound than the last; during my 10 days, I will be heading to Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Milan, ending up in Paris again on the weekend of American Thanksgiving. I’ll spend the weekend in Paris with friends I’ve not seen since 2001 when I studied in Aix-en-Provence, and then head to New York for the week.

Montmartre, beautiful in the late afternoon light.

I’m writing this from Madrid, where I’ve got the day off to explore. I have already whizzed through Paris and Barcelona, and am off to Rome on Tuesday. There will be far less material to write about during a trip like this than usual; I’ve barely got time to breathe, let alone see the city. But, as you can see above, my afternoon in Montmartre was bathed in a golden light and it made for some lovely photo-taking.

People have asked what exactly I am doing for IH. I am essentially acting as a temporary marketing rep for them. They’ve got a slew of programmes on offer where foreign students can learn English in New York, and I meet with language / travel agencies around the world to explain the curriculum and 2011 programmes so that the agencies can funnel students to IH NY. It’s essentially a nice mixture of meeting new people, convincing them that IH is a great school (it is, so that’s an easy task) and being friendly. It’s also fun to practice French and Spanish, though Italy ought to be a bit more interesting as my Italian is limited to words I’d likely omit in an introductory situation.

After blogging for several years at Legal Nomads, I’ve accrued a set of readers in Europe and many of them have reached out to give advice on where to eat, where to sleep or what to do in my brief time here. Today I’ll be meeting one of them who has promised a crash course of Madrid’s sights, and in Rome I will be meeting another. It is lovely to put faces to the emails and comments that I’ve answered during my travels.

That’s it for now! Gran Via calls….
-Jodi