Caroline Coleman

Education Abroad

1. This summer I studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain for seven weeks. The program was organized by International Studies Abroad (ISA). At the Universidad de Salamanca, I took Advanced Spanish Grammar, Spanish Culture, and Spanish Writing Skills.

2. My experience abroad has greatly influenced my perception of myself and my understanding of the world and its vastly differing cultures. I had the opportunity to travel all around Spain (Madrid, Toledo, El Escorial, Salamanca, Santander, Barcelona, Ibiza) and through parts of Europe (Aveiro, Portugal; Paris, France; Venice, Italy). Immersing myself in the Spanish language increased my already strong long for the language and my desire to become fluent. I also learned so much about the Spanish culture, and living with a host family ensured that I lived these cultural differences on a daily basis.

3. In smaller cities in foreign countries (compared to larger touristy cities), it is much more likely to encounter people who only speak their native language. Salamanca is a pretty small town. It’s home to lots of students from around the world since its university is one of the most famous and historic universities in existence (it celebrated its 800 years while I was there- founded in 1218). However, aside from the students, most of Salamanca’s residents are locals who have spent their entire lives there. My host family only spoke Spanish, which I loved because it forced me to, if I didn’t know a word, figure out another way to explain it in Spanish. During my time in Spain, I watched six movies in Spanish, multiple TV shows in Spanish, the news in Spanish, and read a couple books in Spanish.

Not only was watching the news everyday with my host family a good practice of the language, it was a great tool in exposing me to the politics and current events around the world and particularly in Europe. We saw a lot of mention on the news about the taxi strikes in Madrid and Barcelona and even experienced it first-hand one weekend when we were stuck carrying our luggage through the streets of Madrid. In my Spain Culture class, I learned about all 19 of Spain’s autonomous states and even got to visit others besides Castilla y León (where I was living). We also learned about Spain’s political system, specifically Spain’s Civil War which led to Franco’s dictatorship and eventually a republic. It was really interesting to hear my professor’s perspective, since she grew up during the Franco period and had stories about the oppression.

Another part of the culture that I got used to was their vastly different schedule. In Spain, eating breakfast is uncommon, lunch is the main meal, and dinner is small. People don’t eat lunch until 3 or 4 PM, and then the majority of people take a siesta. Dinner is eaten around 10 or 11 PM. Since I lived with a host family, we followed this eating schedule and it took some time to get used to. Another cultural norm is not to rush; in general, people estimate a time that they want to meet their friends and then will arrive within an hour of that time. Spain’s more laid back lifestyle is noticeably different from that of the fast-paced American culture. It was amazing to be able to fully experience all aspects of this culture different from my own.

4. My time in Spain transformed me into an even more dedicated Spanish-learner. I have always been fascinated by how people learn language and always wanted to become fluent in Spanish, and being in Spain enhanced that drive within me. There were students in my classes from all around the world: native Spanish speakers from Spain and South America, and people from China, Japan, Taiwan, Egypt, France, Belgium, Lebanon, the Netherlands, and more. The ability of all these people to speak Spanish as a common language amazed me. I made a friend in one of my classes who was fluent in 5 languages. She said the best way to improve your language skills is to speak to natives without fear of making mistakes. I tried that my whole seven weeks in Spain and I have seen significant improvements in my speaking ability. I will carry this piece of advice with me forever because it really is the only way to ever improve your ability to speak another language. It carries over to other aspects of life too: if you’re too scared to make mistakes and therefore never take risks, you’ll never learn.

My experiences this summer have inspired me to take more risks and find opportunities to live in a Spanish speaking country for a longer period of time. I want to utilize Spanish in my career as I go into law enforcement, so I will seek out every opportunity to live somewhere where I can speak Spanish on a daily basis.