The best university party

ITA is without a doubt one of the best university parties you could go to, if not the best. ITA is a party organised by the students from Ingeniería Técnica Agrícola, obviously the Spanish name, and it's held in Palencia, a city in northern Valladolid, 40 minutes by bus and less than 30 by car.

For me, it's like the 'Tomorrowland' of Spain, always going beyond expectations and one of the only uni parties that is on every year. In 2013 the party was held away from the city centre, as from what I understand, it was going to be turned into a golf course or something like that, but this year's could be in a different place, I'm not sure.

The party consists of:

• Bringing together loads of people, students or not (all sorts of people go).
• Blaring out music at full volume. There's usually a DJ.
• Drinking non-stop all day, morning and well into the night.

It's a private venue and people start arriving from about midday onwards. It's free entry, you just have to be legally able to drink, like to do it and bring enough of it to last the whole day.

It's usually put on in May, in honour of their patron saint, farmer San Isidro, and I think it always falls on a Friday. Whether it's outside or not depends entirely on the weather that day. This year, 2013, the weather was perfect, really sunny and at times it was really hot, a lot of people got burnt, my friends and I among them.

That day, Palencia was taken over by students as people came from all over the place. To give you an idea, people come from Valladolid, Burgos and the Basque Country. It all makes for an amazing atmosphere.

When the venue closes, at 9 or 10, well into the night, a lot of people grab the bus or a train and go home. But, a lot of other people, like me and my friends, stay in Palencia and go out to the local clubs and bars.

Only do this if you really want to. If you decide to stay because you think it will just be for a while and after a bit of fun you can go back home, you can't. Staying out means that if you get bored or tired your only option is to wait for the first train back to Valladolid in the morning, if you live there, and that doesn't come until 7am, a never-ending wait, time doesn't go as quickly waiting as it did during the day.

If you study in Valladolid, it's a good idea to buy a return ticket to Palencia a couple of days before, it will cost about 14€. If you want to go home after the party, just hop on the bus and you're on your way. If you want to go out in Palencia then don't get on and just grab the first train the next day, it'll cost about 4€. My friends and I did this, bought a return ticket, then after the party some of us went home and some of us stayed, still drinking right up until the first train arrived.

If you live in Valladolid the whole day will set you back less than 30€ if you choose to go home in the evening and not stay out (this includes drink and the bus ticket). If you decide to stay in Palencia, then obviously it's going to cost you a little more, depending on how much you spend in the bars etc.

Like I said at the beginning, it's definitely worth going to and and I'm positive that any Erasmus student that goes will have an amazing time and want to go back every year. If you get the opportunity to go, don't waste it and party like it's your last day on earth (but, even if you don't, it'll still be amazing).

I hope you've enjoyed reading this and that anyone who goes to the ITA enjoys it as much as I did.

Take care.