{"id":6170,"date":"2025-10-24T10:59:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T10:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=6170"},"modified":"2025-11-21T11:12:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T11:12:39","slug":"meet-the-ambassador-francesca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/meet-the-ambassador-francesca\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the ambassador &#8211; Francesca &#8211; MLANG, Spain &amp; Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Name<\/strong>: Francesca Deronda<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nSchool, Degree Programme<\/strong>: School of Modern Languages, Spanish and Italian Year 4<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nHost destination:<\/strong> Valencia in Spain and Brescia in Italy<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your global opportunity\u2014where did you go, and what did you do?<br \/>\n<\/strong>As part as my degree we have to go on a year abroad. I chose to do 2 work placements. In the first semester, I went to Valencia in Spain. I worked in a primary school helping teach English. This experience was really amazing &#8211; I loved helping students learn English and feel confident when speaking to natives. Living in Valencia was the highlight of my semester &#8211; it is such a beautiful and vibrant city and I met some many international students, some of whom are now my best friends. I loved experiencing the Spanish culture, speaking to natives and how warm the weather was even in winter!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>During my second semester I went to a small town outside of Brescia. I lived with 2 host families and worked in a secondary school teaching English. Although it was very different to living in Valencia, my Italian language skills developed so much as I spoke Italian all the time. I was able to travel most of northern Italy which I wouldn&#8217;t have been able to do if I didn&#8217;t do this experience. I tried so many new foods and met lots of new people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What surprised you the most about your host country\/programme\/time abroad?<br \/>\n<\/strong>How welcoming Spanish and Italians were, especially when speaking to them they really encouraged me to speak with them and develop my language skills.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the one thing you miss about your time abroad?<\/strong><br \/>\nI miss living in warmer places, always having something to do or explore and being with all the amazing new friends I met.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s something you\u2019re passionate about outside of your studies?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Going on holiday &#8211; I love being in the sun!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your favourite place on campus\/in Cardiff?<\/strong><br \/>\nRhostio<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could live anywhere in the world for a year (a dream destination), where would it be\u2014and why?<\/strong><br \/>\nI would live\/travel around South America. I would love to travel around and see different South American countries particularly Peru. I want to try all the different foods!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s a fun fact most people don\u2019t know about you?<\/strong><br \/>\nI&#8217;m half Italian<\/p>\n<p><strong>Describe your global experience in three words:<\/strong><br \/>\nEye-opening. Inspiring. Motivating<\/p>\n<p><strong>What advice would you give to students considering a global opportunity?<\/strong><br \/>\nBe confident. Try and push yourself out of your comfort zone and say yes to new opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name: Francesca Deronda School, Degree Programme: School of Modern Languages, Spanish and Italian Year 4 Host destination: Valencia in Spain and Brescia in Italy Tell us about your global opportunity\u2014where [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":7101,"featured_media":6171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[268,475],"tags":[535],"class_list":["post-6170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-go-student-ambassadors","tag-go-ambassador-profile"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-1Bw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6704,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/meet-the-go-ambassador-2026-27-emily-gosden\/","url_meta":{"origin":6170,"position":0},"title":"Meet the GO Ambassador 2026\/27 &#8211; Emily Gosden","author":"Global Opportunities Globetrotters","date":"September 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Name: Emily Gosden School, degree programme and year of study: School of Modern Languages - BA Spanish Host destination: Spain, Valencia \u00a0 Your experience abroad Tell us about your global opportunity\u2014where did you go, and what did you do? I studied abroad at the University of Valencia in Spain as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2026\/09\/IMG_5628_Emily-Gosden-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2026\/09\/IMG_5628_Emily-Gosden-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2026\/09\/IMG_5628_Emily-Gosden-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2026\/09\/IMG_5628_Emily-Gosden-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2026\/09\/IMG_5628_Emily-Gosden-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1103,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/tour-around-valencia-tapas-evening-and-first-lectures\/","url_meta":{"origin":6170,"position":1},"title":"Tour Around Valencia, Tapas Evening and First Lectures","author":"Simona Dundova","date":"September 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned in my previous post, there are a lot of activities organised for Erasmus students here in Valencia. One of the many organisations that deal with this is the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). On Friday they offered a free tour of the city and I went there with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"14330052_1449668398382540_1190899350075876155_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/09\/14330052_1449668398382540_1190899350075876155_n-450x253.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2366,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lingomap-school-and-college-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":6170,"position":2},"title":"LingoMap: School and College life","author":"Sarah Gregory","date":"July 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally I am back with another LingoMap blog! I hope you have enjoyed reading about my year abroad journey so far! For this blog I am focusing on school and college life in Spain. The first thing I will say about school life in Spain is that it is extremely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1122,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/sun-sea-and-schedules\/","url_meta":{"origin":6170,"position":3},"title":"Sun, Sea and Schedules","author":"Chloe Walker","date":"September 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Today marks two weeks since my arrival in Valencia and I am only just getting around to writing this blog post. Valencia is a beautiful city of glorious sunshine, which has led to many days spent lounging on the beach and not a lot of productivity. The experience of arriving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_8538","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/09\/IMG_8538-450x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1658,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lingomap-entertainment-and-leisure\/","url_meta":{"origin":6170,"position":4},"title":"LingoMap: Entertainment and Leisure!","author":"Sarah Gregory","date":"January 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hola a todos! Hello and welcome to my first blog post for the Routes into Languages LingoMap Blog. My name is Sarah, I\u2019m 21 years old and I study Spanish at Cardiff University. I am currently on my Year Abroad in Valencia! Before I head back from my Christmas break\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Valencia's central market","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/01\/FullSizeRender-338x450.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1665,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/health-and-fitness-in-valencia\/","url_meta":{"origin":6170,"position":5},"title":"LingoMap: Health and Fitness in Valencia","author":"Chloe Walker","date":"January 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The topic of health and fitness is not something I can say plays a major role in my life. However whilst studying abroad you begin to notice lots of differences between your new country and your home country. Of course, I have an interest in leading a healthy lifestyle. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0361","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2017\/01\/IMG_0361-450x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2025\/10\/Profile-Photo-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6170"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6209,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6170\/revisions\/6209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}