Secrets of Study Abroad

This is an article I wrote for the newsletter of the study abroad office. It didn't make it in time to get published but I enjoyed writing it. I've come a long way this year and I wrote this in 15 minutes (it was longer) because I felt like I had ALOT to share. 

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After studying abroad in Argentina, Peru, and Spain, I’ve gathered some knowledge about study abroad. I’m definitely not an expert on the matter but I do have some advice, some of which I need to take myself. These tips are not revolutionary but they come from abroad and are well worth repeating.

10. Learn a new language or skill. This is an obvious one for study abroad but I feel it’s worth stating. Learning something new while you’re abroad is one of the best ways to expand your mind and measure your progress.

9. Immerse yourself. This seems like something easily done. You’re in the country right? Sometimes it’s really easy to find things from home and cling to them because they’re familiar. I’m not saying drown in the culture and forget your own, but study abroad is about trying new things and getting out of your comfort zone.

8. Be honest with yourself. This is something I struggle with constantly. At certain points in every study abroad experience there comes a point where you feel like you’re not improving as fast as you thought you would even though you’re doing everything right. This feeling comes for me almost every week. I have to ask myself if I’m being honest because If I am then maybe I’ll realize that I’m not giving 100% by speaking too much English with friends or watching too many American tv shows on line.

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Senderismo: The never ending story

So I did another senderismo excursion. It's not that I like it. I just like the way it sounds. "Senderismo" sounds more magical than hiking or walking miles in dirt. I think it sounds better than doing nothing on a Sunday. So I laced my sneakers and hit the open road (after taking a comfy bus to get there). Last week we went to a national park in Huelva which is about 2 hours south of Seville. I would consider it more of a canyon but I don't really know how to describe a canyon so I'll just say we went to the mountains. The hike was about 9 miles but I didn't measure it and I'm pretty sure the guides got lost so we could've walked more or less for all I know. It makes me feel healthy and so I did it. Every time I survive it makes me feel more accomplished! I did slip on a rock but one fall in a total of 4 senderismos means that I might be growing out of my clumsiness!

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It's not Europe without Castillos

So a few weeks back I went on an excursion to some nearby pueblos to learn about castles. One thing about Europe is that there's no lack of castles. Every castle is amazing because we just don't have those in the US. We have nothing medieval because the US was founded hundreds of years after the castles were forgotten.

I really just like to go because I can get out of the city. Some castles are more interesting than others. These castles that we went to were not too spectacular. One of them we couldn't go in and the other was really just a tower but offered a great view of the town. I like the small town feel and the fact that everyone stares as we pass because they're not used to seeing people on tours. I just like walking around these places and seeing the little ladies with rolling shopping bags and all the old men at the cafes discussing whatever old men discuss.

Vamos a la Playa...oh oh woah!

This past weekend I had the absolute joy of going with my host family to their BEACH house in the south of Spain. I really love them and am so glad I moved last month. It's a relatively young family with three kids. Pedrito (Pedro Jr.) is 5, Marta is 10, and Maria is 12. They warm up more to me everyday and make me laugh all the time. They're a typical family-very suburban, upper-middle class, very involved and educated. My spanish gets better everyday because Pedro (the dad) is a talker. Maria is the typical pre-teen and talks extreeemely fast so she doesn't say much to me but she is sweet. Marta is the showgirl and is very dramatic. But she talks to me occasionally and makes alot of funny faces so its all good. Pedrito is the typical 5 year old boy, he's still on the line of babytalk so most of the time I have no idea what he talking about. He loves Bob Esponja (Sponge Bob) and I finally felt accepted when he started sharing his chucha (gummy candy). I pretty much have the most awesome house in all of Seville.

Maria and Pedrito

Marta and Pedrito-models

Marta-the top model

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Excursion: Cordoba

This past Saturday I had the joy of going on an excursion with my program to Cordoba, Spain. Cordoba is a semi large city about 2 hours  north east of Seville. It's one of the tourist destinations i.e. a "must see." It was a pretty dreary, rainy day since it's been raining now for what feels like a month but is more like a week. I would've love better weather but after a quick nap on the bus I was ready. 

Cordoba dates back thousands of years. It was once the largest city of Roman Spain and for 300 centuries it formed the heart of the Islamic Moorish empire. This is what makes Cordoba so charming. The distinct mix of alot of different cultures all in the same area. The must see part is the Mezquita-Catedral which is an amazing sight. The Mezquita was a mosque (of muslims) but 300 years later after Spain had been Christianized, Carlos V decided that it should be a catedral (church). Everyone told him not to do it but he realized it too late and today there is the mezquita. The mezquita has all the structural significance that mosque should, including pointing towards Mecca but then it kind of changes to a totally different architectural style with angels and crosses and all kinds of gold, gaudy, decoration. 

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Quest to Fluidity: The journey continues

Ok so I declared my mission, my goal, my objective, my end to my means...but how am I doing?

I think I'm doing ok. I could probably be doing better. I didn't speak spanish all weekend because I was with Americans and nobody wanted to speak spanish. I could've practiced but I guess I needed a break too. By Monday evening I kind of missed speaking spanish.

But what have I been doing right?!?

• Today I went to a grammar workshop by my program. It was a review of nothing new but I was glad I went.
• Friday there's an excursion to Osuna (a small town).
• Saturday there's a cultural fair type thing/ cultural exchange with Morrocan students.
• Sunday there's another senderismo (hiking).

Of course it's all in spanish. On top of that I'm also trying to talk more with my family. And more with my co workers at my internship. And more in general. But it's an uphill battle. It's really hard to practice and speak constantly. I'm always thinking about my next word, sentence, conversation. I would say I'm doing much better but I'm not where I'd like to be...and I may never be my idea of what I should be.

I just have to keep working on asserting myself and, more than that, just talking. The problem is that I don't like to talk alot in englsih so it doesn't feel wrong when I don't have much to say in spanish. I MUST force myself to make comments, even if I think they're redundant or sound childish.

The quest continues!

Dia de Andalucia: Lisbon, Portugal

This weekend I had a four day weekend because Monday was Dia de Andalucia (Andalucia is the province/region of Sevilla). SO what did I do? I fled the country! I didn't come to Spain to travel (which seems to be why alot of students choose Europe) but Portugal is just so close. Lisbon is about 7 hours away because it's further north but my host family has a beach house about 1.5 hrs away in Portugal.

I had an amazing time. Lisbon is beautiful and the rest of the country is awesome too (from what I saw).  The most difficult thing about being away was that I missed Spanish. I know it sounds crazy but even though I don't speak spanish 24/7 here, it's quickly become my default language. In stores, on the streets, in restaurants, etc. We all felt completely helpless when we realized that we couldn't communicate. Of course it wasn't that bad but I kind of forget that people can speak english too. Alot of people spoke to us in english and that doesn't happen here in Seville because not many Sevillanas know english. I kept defaulting to spanish instead of english. It was quite the experience. Portuguese is written kind of similar, like we could figure thing out, but the pronunciations are completely and totally different. It sounds like french and spanish mixed. I don't think it would be difficult to learn though after learning spanish. But then again I don't really know pronunciations.

Check out these pictures from the first place we went to in Sintra, Portugal.

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