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We Travel With A Purpose

Volunteer In Exchange For Free Hotel and Meals

June 9, 2015 by Sonia Marsh 4 Comments

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IMG_20150603_210217028 (1)
Anglos and Spaniards performing for everyone at Vaughan Town in Pedraza, Spain

Do you like meeting people from other countries? Would you like to volunteer in exchange for free hotel and meals?

If so, Vaughan Town may be the ideal solution for you. There you get to help Spanish people improve their English for one week.

You meet 15 Anglos and 15 Spaniards for one week in a beautiful countryside hotel, all for free, but more importantly, you get to learn about other cultures.

This is my second year of volunteering and I made new friends. (Here was last year’s experience in another location.)

You truly bond, and develop friendships after sharing one week together, and you’ll want to do it again. One American, HJ, from Georgia, has volunteered nineteen times. He’s in his 70s, and has so much energy and enthusiasm to share with everyone. The poor Spaniards had trouble understanding his accent, but he won them over with his personality.

So what do you do during your week?

  • First you meet your fellow Anglos, who have signed up as volunteers, for cocktails at the Eurobuilding 2--headquarters to Vaughan Town School–in Madrid, on the Saturday evening before the program starts.
  • You leave on Sunday morning by bus to one of the locations you have selected to volunteer at. I chose Pedraza, this year. A 13th Century village in Segovia.
IMG_20150601_080919158
Town Square in Pedraza

Watch my quick morning walk to the town square.

 

  • You meet the Spaniards on the course at the bus in front of Eurobuilding 2
  • Each Anglo has to sit next to a Spaniard, and your one-to-one conversation begins.
  • It takes one and a half hours to get to Pedraza from Madrid.
  • At the hotel, you settle into your room and have lunch and Marisa (our program organizer) has a schedule set our for your daily meals, (you get to choose each course) and the program of the day.
  • During your scheduled one-to-ones, you speak to a Spaniard, (English only) and you can either walk around town, go to the local cafe in the old town square, or stay in the hotel lobby.
  • There is of course siesta time after lunch, until 5 p.m.
  • After your siesta, you start your English conversation again;, either one-to-ones, conference calls (to help Spaniards practice speaking on the phone) or practice presentations or plays for the evening entertainment.
  • Entertainment starts at 8 p.m.

Watch the Vaughan Town entertainers in the video below.

  • Dinner at 9 p.m.
  • Games, drinks at the bar, dancing, and staying up all night if you’re under 35-year-old.

A wonderful experience, and I got some amazing tips about other places and things to do from fellow Anglos. More on that in other blog posts to follow.

Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments section.

 

 

Filed Under: People, Travel & Adventure

Comments

  1. Eileen Hopkins says

    June 9, 2015 at 12:34 pm

    So interesting – I say YES! We are planning on a trip to Spain etc. this year but were aiming for winter. Where would I go to find out more? Sounds so exciting and would definitely be gutsy for an introvert like myself!
    Eileen Hopkins recently posted..“Enoughness” in RetirementMy Profile

    Reply
    • Sonia Marsh says

      June 9, 2015 at 9:15 pm

      Eileen,

      The link is clickable on my site.

      Reply
  2. Flora Morris Brown says

    June 9, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    Hi Sonia,

    Thanks for sharing your experiences in Vaughan Town. I considered volunteering here many years ago. Now you’ve inspired me to investigate it again.
    Flora Morris Brown recently posted..How a Seed Planted in a Blog BlossomedMy Profile

    Reply
    • Sonia Marsh says

      June 9, 2015 at 9:14 pm

      Flora, you would love it. Go for it next year.

      Reply

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