ALTHOUGH not a state in itself, Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. All of the inhabitants here speak Spanish. Most of the inhabitants though would like to go to the mainland states to try to achieve the American dream. Eventually, they wind up successful living in condo suites in Brooklyn. Once retired, you may as well find some time to visit the land where your language Spanish comes from – Spain across the Atlantic.

The United States is currently in the brink of recession. On the other hand, European countries such as Spain are making sure they will not be heading that way. You too can surely help dealing with that by spending. Vacationing to one country in Europe like Spain is one way to help. By reserving a flight alone through online travel agency Expedia, you will be dumping bucks for the American economy because Expedia is based in the United States.

When you board an Iberian Airlines flight bound for Madrid, you will then help the Spanish economy. If you take the Eurostar from Madrid to Salamanca, part of what you’ve spent goes to the economy of the United Kingdom because Eurostar is a British company operating in mainland Europe.

Salamanca is the most Americanized city in Spain (many students can fund long stays by giving one to one English class to local “salmantino” students). That is why I want Americans to go there and not elsewhere in the country. Salamanca was even the set of the upcoming Hollywood movie Vantage Point starring Matthew Fox of Lost and an ensemble cast of very talented actors such as William Hurt, Forest Whitaker and Sigourney Weaver including that hunk who has two infant twins, Dennis Quaid. Because of this fact, employees in the hospitality sector in Salamanca can speak American English or the one with the rhotic accent. They are very professional and courteous because they are trained by Swiss hospitality universities and colleges.

But if you want to acquire Spanish as a second language, there are also lots of language institutions in Salamanca. When you do that, you can contribute to the economy in Salamanca already. It is not just tourism though that Salamanca is relying on. There are also tungsten mines there. For 2008 alone, Ormonde Mining PLC has spotted five more tungsten deposit sites in Salamanca. Ormonde Mining PLC estimates that there are around 5 million tons of tungsten deposit in Salamanca. This can surely buoy up the economy of the country whose central bank, the Bank of Spain, in conjunction with the European Central Bank, Prime Minister Zapatero and his counterparts at the World Economic Forum in Davos have already been panicking because of the stock market run in the United States.

Money is often a very important factor to all the students who study here - many have part time jobs whilst as a student and can forget things like they are sometimes entitled to taxback should they be in full time education - something which, although Salamanca is a relatively cheap city, when compared to Madrid for example, is always welcome!

Now let’s talk about foreign affairs. Salamanca has just established its sisterhood ties with Tehran. Tehran is one fascinating city. In fact, its former mayor who is now president of the country, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been nominated as the world’s best mayor during his reign.