Luis’ Sixth Visit: A Higher Ed Journey Through Erasmus+ in Galway

When you ask Luis Romero why he keeps returning to Galway to participate in Erasmus+ programmes, his answer is simple:

I feel at home when I come here.

Luis has joined our “English for the Educational Workplace” course this time around. I caught up with him to find out what it is about Galway and Atlantic that keeps him coming back.

I started by asking Luis to introduce himself and tell me about his Erasmus+ journey to Galway:

My name is Luis Luis Romero. I come from Spain and I work at San Jorge University (Spain) in the international office. My daily tasks involve working with international and local students and taking care of visitors including teachers, lecturers, and staff from other universities. The university is growing so fast, so English has become the way we communicate with each other every day.

My first experience here in Atlantic was doing a general English course before the pandemic. I recall that Atlantic were offering Erasmus courses for university staff. My first experience was so, so great, and I had so, so good memories that I decided to come back because right now, the courses are more focused on my day-to-day tasks in the office. My first course was English for Professional Communication. And yeah, it was an amazing experience. I learned a lot. 

Luis has since participated in English as a Medium of Instruction and Academic Writings Skills. When I asked him about the career benefits, he told me that most professionals have excellent English learnt at school. However, he pointed out that they may still struggle in professional settings like when giving a presentation in English in front of 200 peers. The courses at Atlantic helped him to scale his confidence:

Feeling confident is the key fact that this course gives you, so yeah, I am really grateful.

Luis also had great things to say about Galway as a course location:

I think Galway is always perfect to start. Also, it’s perfect to continue if you like, but it’s a perfect place to start because it meets everything. It meets the course, it meets the accommodation, it meets the city. It’s a perfect combination of everything.

For me, it’s home, for me, it’s my week because I came alone and it’s for me, I deserve, I earn. So I went to enjoy. And it doesn’t matter when I come. Because, for instance, I came in summer, now I’m coming in winter. I came in different, different seasons. I really feel at home. I mean, I don’t miss nothing.

I think the way everything is organized is perfect because you have a class in the morning, but you have the whole afternoon to enjoy, to walk, to explore. So yeah, I think that the the sentence that summarizes all is that I feel at home when I come here.

During his many visits, Luis has taken multiple trips to all the scenic spots nearby, including the Aran Islands, Cliffs of Moher, and Connemara.

Another aspect Luis highlighted was meeting colleagues from other European universities and international students:

The students, they are from the Netherlands. They are from Germany and they are from Poland. My roommate is from Italy. So yeah, that’s another great thing about Atlanti. You get to know people from all around the world. With Erasmus, of course, from around Europe, but when I was here before, in my class there were people from everywhere around the world.

I would like to thank Luis for taking the time to speak to me and we all hope he will come back time and time again!