Ever since I was a little kid, I had always wanted to travel around the world. In high school, I had the opportunity to go on a trip during spring break to Costa Rica. I was extremely excited and thought that this was something I could not pass up. As my first time abroad in a Spanish-speaking country was wrapping up, I knew I wanted more. I had indeed gotten the travel bug, and I knew for sure that my next stop abroad would be Spain.

Fast forward to Summer 2022, and my dream was finally coming true. during the Spring semester I attended an information session for the UMass Salamanca Summer Program and knew that this was the program for me. Originally when I was searching for an abroad program to do for my Spanish major, I wanted to do a program that was not too long, and if I ended up enjoying it, I would potentially do another program for a longer duration, like a semester long program. Since the Salamanca program is only 1 month, it was an ideal choice for me and what I wanted at the time.

The Salamanca Program ran from July 2nd to July 30th, so four weeks or about one full month. You will be taking three classes that will transfer as UMass courses (8 credits) and then one discussion section led by a UMass TA (1 credit). While in Salamanca, you will be staying with a homestay family, and one other roommate. Our program had about 50 students and almost every homestay had 2 students, however I was in a triple and then there was also a quad, so it depends on how many people are going and which homestays are available to the program. In your homestay your parent(s) will cook you 3 meals a day and do laundry for you. I think during the duration of my trip, I may have tried 15 different new dishes, and all were very tasty. A few weeks before you leave for Spain, you will take a placement test provided by the University of Salamanca. This will basically tell them where your level of Spanish stands, and will place you into the right course level for you. One class will be a language class, and the other two will be of your choosing. I chose to take Business Spanish (SPAN-465) and Culture and Civilization of Spain (SPAN-415). All three of your classes will be taken with UMass and other international students, and your discussion section will be with other UMass students, where you will talk about about your experiences so far in Spain. I also found that taking courses at the University of Salamanca was a really fun way to make new friends and learn about the cultures of other people. In my language class, I made a few friends with some of the Brazilian international students, and we surprisingly had a lot in common. One time in the same language class we had some time during our break to talk and everyone in class shared music from their home country. It was such a fun time taking classes with other international students, and I still talk with some of my Brazilian friends to this day.

During the weekends, there will be a couple excursions arranged for the program. During my time in Salamanca, we went to Segovia for the day and did a tour around the city. The week after, we went on a weekend trip to Galicia, where we enjoyed delicious seafood dishes and explored the beautiful city. Your third week is left completely up to you. If you want to go Barcelona, you can do that, if you want to go to Portugal for the weekend, you can do that too. You are able to spend your time however you would like, but you must keep in mind that you need to be back in Salamanca for classes on Monday. If you do decide to go to Portugal, you need to make sure you have the necessary documents in order to enter Portugal and re-enter Spain. For my free weekend, I decided to go to Portugal with my roommates. Having taken PORT-246 (Intensive Intermediate Portuguese) I knew enough Portuguese to get myself around Portugal, but as for my roommates, not so much. So, I served as the translator/interpreter for the duration of our stay. I found it really fun to just walk around a country and explore everything it has to offer. We visited a small town by the border of Spain and Portugal called Guarda, and it was very quiet, but had many places of interest to visit. From walking through the Sé da Guarda (Catholic Church in Guarda) to exploring the remains of a castle, we walked all over the place while adventuring through Guarda.

At the end of the program, I was very sad to leave everyone, and as a whole group, we basically became one family, and it was hard to see people go back home one by one. I made so many memories and friends that I will never forget, and some day I’d like to return to Salamanca. For any Spanish Majors considering studying abroad at any point during their academic career, I would highly recommend doing the Salamanca Summer Program, nine UMass credits in one month seems like a no-brainer, and you will make countless memories and friends along the way. If anyone has any questions, I would be more than happy to talk about it with them.