Studying abroad in Spain was definitely one of the best life decisions I have ever made. I had the opportunity to go and finally put to use all those years of learning Spanish. I really felt like the time and effort I have spent learning the language was worth it. I also have a lot more travel experience now. I feel like I could go to any place in the world and find my way around.
One of the best parts about the trip, though, were all the new friends I made on the trip. The sort of ironic part about the friends I made is that they are all from my own university! These are people that I still hang out with now that we’re back all the time.
Interacting with Spaniards on a daily basis allowed me to learn about their culture, which was one that I was unfamiliar with before going. I think that it has been beneficial to me to have this experience and it has really opened up my thinking about what I can do. It is very satisfying to have gone on such a long trip by myself and been so successful.
Our weekly schedule of 4 days of class and a 3-day weekend was really conducive to getting out and exploring the city. We had plenty of time to travel, especially with the week-long intersession between the two months.
Overall the trip was extremely worthwhile and I would recommend it to anyone. There is no reason why anyone, especially a Spanish minor or major shouldn’t go on this trip. The host university and families really do a lot to take care of your needs and there are a lot of scholarships for the trip. The only bad thing about the trip is having to leave, although I do feel as though I got to do most everything I wanted to do while there. I think being there for two months really allows you to do a lot of the “smaller” things in a country that you might not normally do if you were only there for a short time.
John Walker is majoring in Biology (pre-professional) and Spanish. He participated in a faculty-led trip to Alcala, Spain through the Spanish Department in Summer, 2018. John had the following to say about his time abroad, “I can’t recommend this program enough. There are so many good things about it that you wouldn’t even think of!”
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