Amani, ‘12

Hey there, Prospectives!

I think it’s high time that I fill you in (at least briefly) on my summer abroad.

As you may or may not know, I participated in a UR study abroad program called Summer in Seville.  With this program, about 25 students are selected to travel to Spain and take up to two courses in Spanish.  Two of our professors here are a part of the program, and there were also two professors in Spain that taught classes for us as well.  The program duration was five and a half weeks, although only four weeks are spent taking classes.  The program also included a number of program trips, either around the city of Seville or in various parts of Spain.  All of the students live with a host family throughout the entire time in Seville and have a roommate from our program.  In this way, we got to experience firsthand the Spanish culture in food, domestic norms, and overall way of life.  ¡Qué bien!

Upon arriving in the airport, I can say I had a bit of a culture shock—while we had flown direct from the Philadelphia airport to that of Madrid, it seemed as if there was no one in the airport who spoke English.  Yes, of course I knew I was in Spain; however, when I was desperately trying to find my way to the train station and figure out how to buy a one-way ticket on the subway (there was no English option), I realized how spoiled I am here in America.  Surely, I thought, lots of people know English, whether able to speak or simply understand.  Nevertheless, I was quite mistaken on that day, and it seemed it was that day that I needed it the most.  It is true, too, that I know Spanish, but upon reaching the country, everything seemed (or rather was) so much faster and more complex.  My Spanish brain was not exactly warmed up, either, to even begin to understand what people were trying to tell me.  The phrase I kept on running into was “No te entiendo” (“I don’t understand you”).  What a day it was!

The ironic part about that particular experience, though, is that it changed drastically as time went on.  As I got more comfortable with my Spanish speaking skills and used them more, I ran into more and more English-speaking Spaniards who decided to practice their English as opposed to let me practice my Spanish.  And that, of course, was more than a little frustrating.  Nonetheless, I can confidently say that I significantly improved my speaking skills while in the country.  The immersion experience is amazing!

Even though I would love to continue, Prospectives, I think I will stop here for now.  Just revisiting my experience in this post has reminded me how many wonderful and informative things that I can share with you all about my summer experience, as well as study abroad in general.  For that reason, instead of trying to squeeze things all into one post here (and have you all miss out on a lot of great details and pictures), I will break my Summer in Seville into sections and post about it from time to time throughout the semester.  Since study abroad is so prevalent here at University of Richmond, I am sure you may be interested in more information about my experience.  For that reason, I encourage you to check back throughout the semester (if you’re not already a regular reader), so that you can learn more about the interesting highs and lows of study abroad.

Hope you enjoyed this snapshot.  More will soon follow.

Until next time,

Amani