Category Archives: Pre-Departure

Choosing a Destination and Why I Chose Bilbao

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My name is Joe, I am a graduating senior in the class of 2014 studying Political Science and Spanish here at UMass, and in the spring semester of 2013, I travelled and studied abroad in Bilbao, a city in the northern Basque Country in Spain. Looking back on the trip, it was without a doubt one of the greatest experiences of my life, and the five months I spent in Bilbao, I made connections with not only people from the city but with the city itself in a way that makes me still today feel as though Bilbao is in some way my city. I was not there very long in the scale of my life so far, but that does not mean that the city and its people didn’t have a profound impact on my life; because it most certainly did. The thing is, though, that I am not writing this to tell about how much I love Bilbao or any single person I encountered while I was there. I would love to do that, I would love to just sit and recount my experiences one by one as a way to relive them through stories, but I am actually writing this to express that the reason that I chose to study in Bilbao is perhaps a silly sounding reason, but that there is no such thing as a silly or wrong reason to choose a destination for studying abroad. For the most part, I believe that, wherever one ends up studying will be exactly where they were supposed to be and that they will have an awesome time as long as they are open to truly experience the new cultures. Continue reading →

Getting Ready to Go

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I transferred into Umass this fall as a sophomore, as an early childhood education major with spanish as my secondary major. When I decided that early childhood was’t the best fit for me, spanish was pushed up to my primary major. I have always like spanish, and I fell in love with the idea of being able to to one day speak another language fluently however, learning spanish has never been something that comes easily to me. For as long as I have taken it it has been something I have had to work at. Last semester I wasn’t thrilled about the spanish class I was taking, but after this semester I have really started to enjoy them. I came into this year wanting to study abroad in Argentina, mainly because I had already been to Spain and thought, when will I ever get to go to South America again? When I met with the abroad office and looked at the programs in Argentina, and surrounding countries I realized that all of the programs started in July. This was just not an option for me because I need to work all summer in order to be able to afford my trip. Then I found out about a program in Santiago, Chile. Continue reading →

Pre-departure Study Abroad [in Salamanca]

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So this is my first entry for this blog. I’m going to talk about my life before studying abroad; as it is right now before I leave for Salamanca this summer. First, I need to discuss my reasons for choosing Salamanca. My main reason for choosing Salamanca is that I wanted to study abroad as soon as possible upon arriving to Umass; I am a freshman this year. I wanted to do this because honestly I am not enjoying the Spanish Major whatsoever at this point in my college career. I am taking intermediate level classes that are taught completely in Spanish and expect me to participate completely in Spanish but I have little to no speaking skills. Not to mention that having to present in front of a class is already one of my biggest fears, doing it in a language that a struggle to formulate a normal sentence in isn’t exactly something I look forward to doing. Attending these classes where I am expected to speak and participate is difficult when I have such little skill in actually speaking Spanish. It’s difficult and embarrassing and leaves me rarely participating, even when I would like to. Though Salamanca is only a five-week program, something is better than nothing and hopefully I will return with a little more speaking skill. Continue reading →

Decidido: ¡a Madrid!

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¡Aquí estoy! Llevo casi dos meses en Madrid, España, donde estaré todo el año hasta la graduación en Mayo. He estado escribiendo en un diario que me ayuda procesar todas las experiencias que tengo en mi vida cotidiana española. Así que puedo referir a ello en contarles de mi estancia aquí, desde llegar el primer día hasta las emociones y experiencias más recientes.

Es mi primera vez en Europa y mi último año en la universidad. En los últimos 3 años en mis estudios en UMass, he estudiado energéticamente y seriamente todo posible para sacar el certificado de los estudios de América Latina, junto con mi especialidad de español. Aproveché de cada oportunidad de aprender más y viajar por América Latina. Ha sido una experiencia muy, muy bonita. Continue reading →

Pre-Departure Ponderings

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So even though school’s been out for over a month and I still don’t ship out to Uruguay for another 5 weeks I have to say that I miss this group and the support and advice we shared with each other. It seems that now, more than ever, I need advice on how to go about getting ready but I’ll manage.

The worst part about being home, and being away from this group, is the closed-minded-ignorance of practically everyone I talk to about traveling. Everybody asks me how stable it is where I’m going and if I’m going to be safe and if I’m really going to try to backpack South America for 2 months and it just seems ridiculous. Continue reading →