ALTHOUGH the one-week spring break hasn’t officially started for all elementary, high school and college students here in Spain, the season of spring has actually begun the day this predominantly Roman Catholic country marked Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. In 2008, spring thus becomes a triple celebration – Lent or the celebration of our redemption by Jesus Christ, spring itself which means blossoming of beautiful flowers of various colors all over Spain and Valentines Day which fell last February 14.

Even though spring has not started yet, there were at least two celebrities that I’ve spotted here, me being an ordinary English-language teacher from Salamanca. I was at the gym here in the Universidad de Salamanca during the first week after New Year when I saw a concert by Juliette Lewis and the Licks. They were promoting the movie Vantage Point, a Hollywood production which was shot entirely in Salamanca. Juliette Lewis and the Licks weren’t actually part of the artists contributing to the movie’s soundtrack but they were paid to promote the movie here in Spain by doing concerts. Right now, they are in Madrid for the premiere of the film here with stellar cast consisting of Dennis Quaid (yes, he’s the same dude who was Meg Ryan’s former wife and who almost killed his baby twins by wrongly administering pediatric drugs), Lost’s Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker and Sigourney Weaver. Juliette is into that angst-alternative thing, not as loud as emo’s Paramore though, but not as soft as Avril Lavigne or Evanescence either. But I like her more as an actress and I could not forget her role as a child driven with fear in Cape Fear opposite Robert de Niro. Given her musical abilities though, I admire her new talent.

Just last weekend, I went to Palma de Mallorca because I was also teaching English as a second language there and guess who I ran into. It was Marion Raven, that Norwegian girl from M2M. I ran into her on the beach of Palma Nova. She wasn’t topless though as what the paparazzi had photographed English actress Siena Miller. But what I would like to point out is there are lots of Norwegian tourists who drop by Palma de Mallorca at any given day of the year and especially right now during springtime. So what are you waiting for? Come and spend your spring break here in Spain.