Study Abroad

    My study abroad experience in Toledo, Spain, challenged me to experience a new culture. My time living with a host family allowed me to be immersed in Spanish culture. My host parents, Maria and Victor, were an older retired couple, whose two sons were grown up and out of the house. As such, they took me in, treated me as their own daughter, and showed me life in a Spanish family. Living with a host family pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to experience culture on a deeper level. One aspect I grew accustomed to in my family was the gender roles at play. My host mother always did all of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry, no matter how much I tried to contribute, while my host father would watch football. After dinner most nights, my host father would go back in his room to watch some action-packed show that he said my host mom and I, as women, would not like, while we would stay in the living room to watch a reality show. Another takeaway from living with a Spanish family was the relaxed pace of daily life. While my experience may have been different had my host parents not been retired, their schedule was consistent yet relaxed, including going to the bakery each morning for fresh baked bread, running with friends three times a week, and taking a siesta each afternoon. At times I felt stir-crazy, especially during siesta when everything closed and forced me to rest, but I grew to appreciate the slow moments as much as the exciting ones. 
   The courses I took while abroad also enhanced my understanding of Spanish history and culture. One course in particular, “History and Culture of Spanish Women,” provided me with a unique opportunity to dive deeper into what it means to be a woman living in Spain throughout recent history. In this course, I had the task of interviewing a family of Spanish women spanning across generations. Speaking with these three women, including a teenage girl, her mother, and her grandmother, not only taught me more about Spanish history and culture, but allowed me a glimpse into their family life and relationships. Hearing their stories from the ways that they were oppressed during dictatorship to what sports they played as a kid, I was able to attribute the concepts I had learned about in class to real-life people. 
   My internship abroad provided me with opportunities to make local connections and contribute to a social cause. I did my internship with the Cruz Roja Española. My internship was composed of two major components. First, I worked with a class of teenagers and young adults, aged anywhere from 15-21, who wanted to learn how to become a successful waiter in the tourism industry of Toledo. This program aimed to provide employable skills to young adults, most notably young immigrants to the country. In my role, I worked with these students to develop their English skills to help better their chances of employment at local restaurants who receive a lot of English-speaking tourists. This experience allowed me to build relationships with other young people living in Toledo. These friendships enriched my time in Spain, providing me with insight into what life would be like living in Spain long-term. 
   Also in my internship, I worked with an after-school program with kids from families who had immigrated to Spain. During this time each week, I would get to spend time talking with the kids and helping them with homework. I also planned an activity to do with them each week that focused on different themes like washing hands or doing chores around the house. I loved spending this time with the kids each week and getting to know them on a personal level. It was fascinating to me to see that despite being in an entirely different country, and each of these children having grown up somewhere different, I felt comfortable working with them, because it felt just like I was back working with kids in the United States. 
   Arriving in Spain, I hoped to improve my Spanish skills and experience new cultures. When I first arrived, I lacked confidence in my Spanish speaking abilities. I was able to understand most of what I heard around me, but I struggled to get my point across when there was something I wished to say. Living with a host family who spoke only in Spanish, taking a course load of fully Spanish classes, and being in a city where English was not commonly spoken quickly forced me to take this head-on. Throughout my time abroad, I grew to be less afraid of making mistakes, and more confident to just speak and trust the people around me to have the patience to work with me and help me. Following my semester in Spain, I have so much more confidence, and even though I know I will likely still make mistakes, that will not hold me back from continuing to try.