Study Abroad Program

View from one of the towers of the Cathedral in Salamanca.

For my final blog, I am to discuss how I have changed by studying abroad.  To be honest, it still feels like a dream.  It is like I need to be pinched.  I have experienced so much in the last two plus months.  I am sure that this experience will hit me more as time goes on, and I will witness the changes as I go on living the rest of my life, but for now I am to discuss the changes that I can already see.

Before I left for Spain, I was not very confident speaking Spanish, had never lived in another country, thought I knew a lot about the rest of the world, was nervous, a little scared, excited, and overall was quite unsure about what to expect.

Over the course of my time here in Spain, I have learned so much about a different culture and at the same time learned a lot about my own culture.  I met some amazing people from not only Spain, but from all over the world.  I gained more confidence in Spanish-speaking skills, I developed an even deeper love for travel, and I demonstrated that I have the ability to adapt to various different situations.  In my entire life, I had never spoken so much Spanish, eaten so many different kinds of food, been so many different places, or studied with so many people from different parts of the world.

It has been an unforgettably amazing experience.  My time studying abroad has made me a more confident, self-aware person.  It has also made me more aware of the world around me and the differences and similarities of various parts of the world.  It has given me the knowledge that I can do anything and adapt to any situation.  It has made me more willing than ever to live and work abroad which I am going to look into in the coming year.  Like I said above, more and more changes will show themselves, especially as I begin to integrate back into my home culture, but if what I stated right there was all that changed, I would say the experience was definitely worth it.

Thanks to all those that encouraged me to do this and those that supported me!  Hope you enjoyed reading my blogs and sharing my experience with me as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you and having a place to put my feelings down.  ¡Hasta luego!

La Plaza Mayor in Salamanca

In front of the Coliseum in Rome

This week I am to write about skills and knowledge I’m gaining from studying abroad and how they can be incorporated into my dream job.  Here is a list of skills and knowledge that I have been gaining:

-          Ability to communicate in a 2^nd language

-          Ability to see problems from different viewpoints

-          Ability to step outside my comfort zone

-          Ability to adapt to different situations, cultures, and places

-          Knowledge of another culture/people and how they function

-          Ability to write in Spanish more efficiently

-          Ability to see our country in another view which exposes many of the positives and negatives of it

My dream job is not something that is set in stone.  I am open to many possibilities.  I grew up wanting to be a professional athlete not a doctor or lawyer or so on, so I am open to many options.  I would like to work somewhere where I can travel and interact with people, possibly even work overseas.  There are a lot of jobs that have these characteristics.  A job that I think I would enjoy is that of a spokesperson for an international corporation.  Since I can speak Spanish, I would be able to communicate with individuals from numerous other countries that speak Spanish along with numerous countries that speak English.  My ability to see problems from different viewpoints will allow me to assess communication crises by attacking the problem from all available viewpoints and then choosing which would be the most successful.  This may require my knowledge of that culture and its people in order to see which response they would react best to.  Also my knowledge of the world’s view on the U.S. will allow me to anticipate some reactions to the company if it is U.S. based and allow me to be prepared if the reaction is negative.  Overall, being overseas is gaining me great experience being away from my comfort zone in the U.S. and giving me a much more open, knowledgeable view of another part of the world.

My professor of Literature in Malaga, Antonio, with two of my friends, Marcus and Jill.

This is the view from my room in Santander.

I am finally in Santander, and this blog I am to write about different issues, processes, trends, or systems that link people across the globe.  Off the top of my head I came up with the following, but with time I am sure I would be able to come up with many more, as the world is connected in a never-ending tangle of webs that connecting every person to the other in one shape or form.

During my time in Spain thus far, there have been numerous protests in every city plaza.  These protests are protesting the government/politicians.  This is due to a horrible economic situation in Spain.  As of right now, the country is experience approximately 25 percent unemployment.  I remember when the U.S. hit near 12 percent, and everyone was whining about it, try 25.  To make it even tougher, unemployment for younger people is at approximately 40 percent.  These numbers are outrageous, but at the same time, it connects Spain with the U.S. and numerous other parts of the world.  Aside from Germany and China, nearly every major country in the world is suffering from some form of economic hardship.  Now, I found it quite shocking to hear that Germany was doing well economically while every other country in the European Union was not.  Now on the other hand, China does not surprise me, as it has taken over the world in the last decade.

On that note, China is taking over.  There are numerous Chinese opening businesses and moving into all the major countries of the world.  They generally own small businesses and are known throughout Spain to work many hours and not take many days off.  The Spanish people have even picked up a phrase that if you are working long hours or working a lot, you are working “como un chino” or “like a Chinese person”.  This is much similar to the U.S., and I also noticed this in Australia and Italy.  To add to the physical presence of the Chinese people, also Chinese products are everywhere.  I would guess almost 75 percent of the things I use daily are “Made in China”, and this is the same that I have seen in Spain as well.

Another global connection is that of the television and music.  A large majority of television programming in Spain is from the USA.  They just do voiceovers using Spanish actors and actresses.  The same goes for movies and after talking to people that have been all over Europe, it is the same in other countries.  The music in Spain is not as influenced by the USA as the television and movies, but there is still a very large influence from the music of the USA.

The final point that I was able to think of is the view of blacks in Spain.  Black people are not very well accepted in Spain.  At times it feels like Spain is stuck in the dark ages with its views in this area, but on most other areas, Spain is ahead of the USA.  At the same time, the view of blacks is getting better every day, which makes it much similar to the USA and possibly other countries throughout the world.

The more I am made aware of these global connections and overall aware of other countries, it allows me to be a more knowledgeable, open-minded, and accepting person.  Many people have poor views of other countries throughout the world, usually because they are scared of those that are different.  It is the fear of the unknown.  They think that people and cultures that they are unfamiliar with are scary, but if they were to get to know those cultures more, they would find that these people are not all that much different than them.  By being in Spain and getting to know their culture, I am able to form opinions based on knowledge and experience not based on things that I have heard, thus making me a better global citizen.

At the Picos de Europa, a mountain range not far from Santander.

My study abroad trip showed me how important it is to learn a second language. When I received the first e-mail for the trip and saw the words “no Spanish is necessary” I thought fantastic since that gives me room to explore the country and maybe just learn a bit of Spanish to get around. My main focus when I left was to have fun and explore Peru and learn a bit about the culture. While I did learn a lot about Peru through the exploration I learned more about myself and my goals in my life. I feel a lot more determined to accomplish things in my life and I have an even greater appreciation for people who learn a second language. One of my new personal goals is to become conversational in Spanish and then other languages, not for academic reasons but for travelling and as a personal goal. I think this changed because on this trip I saw what I wanted to contribute to in the world and really thought about how much work I would have to do to see that progress. Another thing that changed about me was how I few my positions and the options that I have. The main reason for the change was seeing how other people are happy with what they have and seeing what drives their choices. In general I don’t think this trip changed me as much as it showed me who I am now and who I want to be and refined the path that I need to take to get there.
The goodbye with my host family was one of the saddest moments of my trip. Before they took me to the airport we sat down had bread and we just talked about my trip. They all said something to me about my stay with them and it was one of the most heartfelt moments of my life. In five weeks I had accepted these strangers who spoke an entirely different language and lived an entirely different life than I had. Throughout the trip I had wondered how I truly felt about the trip, there were points where I was truly elated and points where I was just tired with not understanding anything and never being liberated but I realized in the cab to the airport through teary eyes that it was all worth it and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I thank my host family for most of it, without them I wouldn’t have seen the true Lima and have felt so safe and loved in a home. I will miss the hospitality of my Peruvian family more than anything else.

Going on this trip to Peru has helped me grow as a person. I learned how to adapt in a different country and their culture. I feel more comfortable now with speaking Spanish. The main thing I have learned is being open minded. There are different things going on outside the US, which I never payed attention to before. The situation in Puno really had me thinking out of the box about situations in different parts of the world.

I made new friendships on this trip, with my host family and with the group of students I went with. It was nice having to learn about them and they things they liked to do. I am really going to miss my host family and the time we spent together. They really helped me with my Spanish, and we learned a lot from each other about different things.

I am going into the line of business as my career, and having Spanish as a second language helps a lot. Having a second language can put me in the front line. My career goal is to be an event planner and/or an interior designer. Being able to interact with people from a different culture is a plus because in my line of career, I will have different clients, and not all of them would have the same culture that I do. One thing I have learned while in Peru is to have a little patience and to understand that not everything is the same around the world. When dealing with clients, I have to keep that in mind. Not everyone has the same idea, and people change their minds often. I have also learnt Spanish better, which makes me want to learn more languages. (Rosetta Stone!) Knowing more than one language is very useful, especially for people in the business area. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US, knowing this will really help me in my career.

In Puno, Peru, a foreign business wants to build a mine there. The locals did not agree with this, so they started a protest against mining and oil concessions, which has shut down the border with Bolivia. The protest was held despite the government’s decision to accede to the demands of the protesters to suspend informal mining in northern Puno and revoke the permission granted to Canadian mining company to exploit a Bear Creek silver mine on the border Bolivia. This began sometime in the middle of May, and is still going on now. Another thing is that the locals have blocked the major roads into Cusco. People are finding it hard to get food and water through. They also tried to take over the commercial airport in Puno. This is all big news in Peru. Everyone is talking about it, and it is all over the news.

Since my freshman year of college I’ve decided that I want to go into a more commercial design field. At the moment I really enjoy the idea of going into sustainable packaging and after visiting Peru I feel like I have a better insight into that field. For most of my life I’ve lived in small cities with little pollution or waste on the street but Lima is a city that has a lot more traffic to it and so many people that just throw their trash out to let Mother Nature take care of it. So, my dream job as of now is to be a packaging designer working with sustainable resources.
While in Peru I was able to see a different side to packaging in other countries and the environmental impact that it started to have. While volunteering with young children we brought them a snack to eat, they devoured the food but instead of throwing the trash away like many children I’ve encountered would do; they threw it to the ground and just let the wind take it away. While I believe that children should be taught to respect nature and their actions towards it I also believe that consideration should be taken while creating the packaging of situations like this. Because of my study abroad trip to Peru I’ve gained knowledge of how other countries are using their packaging and how it effects the earth throughout a citizens day to day life. This enables me to have a better view on to what kinds of ways to develop packaging for day to day products for the use of more users than just the ones that we encounter in our daily life.
My picture is a photo of a celebration we went to in Cuzco called Inti Ryami. It’s a celebration for the beginning of the New Year where the Inca thanks the Sun and asks him to return next year. Tribes from the four corners of the land bring their best crops to sacrifice to the Sun and then they sacrifice a llama and read it’s blood to see what the next year holds. For the record, the llama sacrifice was fake.

Viewing a different culture gives you a lot more perspective into the cultures in your home, in peer’s homes, and in the homes of people around the world. Sometimes we see cultures and customs that we don’t understand and find extremely peculiar but when you live in that culture for over a month you start to realize why it’s important and why it’s common for them. I think one of the most obvious dots that I’ve connected is with the importance of family time in South America. At home I have peers who make family a huge priority and are from a South American family but now it makes sense. My host family is always spending time together; even siblings who have moved out come home during the day to spend time with their parents. In our household we have many generations living here as well. We have my host parent’s, my host mother’s mother, my host mother’s sister, a cousin who is going to a university nearby, and their son who goes to university. This would never work for my family but here it works out perfectly with no issues. It seemed odd at first but now it’s normal.
The biggest new perspective I have is the newfound want to learn as many languages as possible. Many people in the U.S. think it’s not that important to seriously learn a language other than English but after this experience I want to invest more time and practice into developing my Spanish skills that I have learned here and my French language skills that I have retained from high school. I think this is one of the biggest bridges into learning about other cultures because with language we are able to communicate with others and really experience another country. Many tourists come to Peru and don’t attempt to speak any Spanish and I think this hinders them from truly experiencing the culture because they limit themselves to more touristic areas and areas that are more gringo-ized.
On that note, my picture for the week is a picture of me and Machu Picchu. Fantastic.

My whole sense of normal was thrown upside down, leaving friends, family, jobs behind for the chance for adventure. Yes, I did come on this trip with two other students from VCSU, however I hardly knew them aside from seeing them walking between classes and saying “hi”. When everything is foreign one gets a good insight for who he or she really is. I will admit that I was quite nervous about meeting seven strangers and getting to know two fellow students, but I will have to say I have done well. I see myself as a quite person, and for the first few days on the trip I was. I remember the first day we went to Caral and everyone was on the bus and I got on and said, “Hello everybody.” There was not a big response I was nervous and I will admit that I was a bit judgmental at first. But I broke out of my comfort zone and tried to get to know everyone. As it turns out though we all come from slightly different backgrounds we are all the same we all wanted adventure and so we came to Peru.
I am very pleased that I was able to meet some very cool people and form friendships and more importantly a pseudo-family for these five weeks. Being that we were all here not knowing anyone real well aside from a few people I am glad we formed a support system as we all undoubtedly have back home in order to get us through the hard times that we have faced. This family has helped me to keep homesickness at bay and has pushed me out of my comfort zone to do things that I would not normally do in my day to day life, such as paragliding. I have learned that life does not have to be business all the time and that it’s ok to let your guard down every now and then in order to have a good time. I have also learned to see the good in people even when it is easier to judge them for their faults. I hope that the others have had as good a time getting to know me as I have getting to know them.  I can say without a doubt I will come home a more selfless, caring and outgoing than when I left.