11600 Columbia College Drive · Sonora, California 95370

Public Information Office: 209.588.5361 · Fax 209.588.5367

NEWS RELEASE

-- For Immediate Release --

Date: January 18, 2008

Contact: Doug Lau, Director of Marketing & Public Relations

Discover the cultural riches of Spain’s Basque country

This summer, Columbia College is offering a unique opportunity to get an insider’s view of the colorful culture, art and history of the Basque region of north central Spain. Located in the western Pyrenees mountains that span the border between the countries of France and Spain, the region is rich in its Basque, Gothic and Roman heritage

Based at Vitoria, Alava in Spain, you’ll attend the Zador Institute, an accredited school of Spanish language where classes will be taught by certified native teachers for four hours per day, five days a week in classrooms and in neighborhood settings. The English website for the institute is www.zadorspain.com. Your home stay will be with Spanish families for a total language immersion experience. Of course, participants will also earn three units of credit from Columbia College in Spanish 10A, 10B, 20A or 20B, depending on your initial assessed level of proficiency.

Afternoon activities and field trips with Spanish-speaking guides will include city tours, art and history museum visits, bike tours, dining at typical Basque restaurants, and cider house samplings.

On weekends, activities and excursions are planned for visits to Pamplona in Navarra, the ancient walled city of LaGuardia, the Rioja wine region, the monasteries of Logroño. You’ll also see Spain’s most famous Gothic cathedral in beautiful Burgos. Then, there’s the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao and the inviting beach city of San Sebastian. Vitoria is centrally located with a population of about 200,000 and thanks to its excellent train and bus transportation, excursion destinations are never more than an hour or so away

The three-week travel/study/home stay summer program runs from May 17 through June 8. Cost is approximately $3,930, which includes home stay, meals, tuition, excursions, airport transfer and insurance.

Columbia College Spanish Instructor Vonna Breeze-Martin is coordinating the program and leading the Basque country visit. “We are so accustomed to our own American culture that it will be an eye-opener to see how another society views things and how other ways work -- and work well,” she said. “The Basque cities are clean, prosperous, ecologically-friendly, and very environmental in design. There are bike paths (and free bikes for loan), green spaces, parks, lots of walking paths, mall routes and excellent public transportation.

“Health care is well planned and there is very little, if any, homelessness. This is an area where everyone’s job is valued and respected as part of living in a community. And if you’ve ever had an opportunity to enjoy a Basque meal here in America, you’re in for a real treat of the delicious local foods on this trip,” said Breeze-Martin.

Reservations and a partial advance payment must be received by Feb. 28. Informational meetings will be held on Jan. 24 at 3:00 and 7 p.m. and February 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the community education classroom (Manzanita 18) on the Columbia College campus.

In Calaveras County, interested persons should attend the informational meeting on Jan. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Calaveras Center, located in the Glory Hole Shopping Center at 2892 Highway 49 in Angels Camp.

Vonna Breeze-Martin can be reached for more details at 588-5274, or by email at breezev@yosemite.edu.

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News Release No. _____

January 18, 2008

For Immediate Release

Attachment: Photo of (l. to r.) Vonna Breeze-Martin and Carmen Arnall, Zador Institutes’s co-director at the central town plaza in Vitoria.