Upcoming Graduation:

As a senior who loves the Spanish language, but doesn’t necessarily want to be a teacher, graduation is an extremely exciting, yet daunting time in my life. Sure, I’m excited …

How to save money Abroad:

Study abroad can be pretty expensive. With the meals, shopping, and outside travel, the costs can really add up. Here are a few ways that I saved money during my …

Constant Practice

If you’re like me, most of your day is spent listening to and talking in English. While you might watch some shows and read some books on the side, most …

Another Perk of Studying Abroad

While I spent most of my time in Barcelona, I did take a couple of weekends to do outside trips to other European countries. One of the best reasons to study abroad is that while you’re in the new country, you’re able to fly to other countries for a really affordable price. While I was abroad in Spain, I was also able to visit London, England, and Paris, France. Weekend trips are a great way to learn about another culture, and have a lot of fun, new experiences.

London was pretty much as expected: extremely rainy. You basically had to carry an umbrella any time you went out, because even if it wasn’t raining at the time, it was almost surely going to rain an hour or two later. While I was in London, I was able to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, the National Portrait Gallery, and a bunch more. My favorite place in London, however, was the Natural History Museum-it had an incredible exhibit dedicated to dinosaurs, and a ton of huge dinosaur animatronics. Later that night, I went on a Pub Crawl with other people from my program, and got to experience the different London pubs. This trip was pretty easy because we didn’t have to figure out the metro system, since everything was walking distance, and, the people spoke English.

Paris was a bit more of a challenge. While Spanish and French do have their similarities, I can in no way, shape, or form speak French. So trying to figure out how to order things was a bit of a challenge. Also, figuring out the metro system was a big tougher. But once that was all figured out, we were able to freely enjoy all that Paris had to offer. Of course, we had a beautiful picnic lunch under the Eiffel tower. We walked the Seine River, and explored the city. We were able to tour the inside of the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral, and stand in awe of its beautiful stained glass windows. The best part about Paris for me, though, was the Louvre Museum. This giant museum, that would take days to go through, offered plenty of inspiration for my artist soul. While there was a ton of sculpture and artifacts, my main focus was visiting the paintings. Here, I was able to see all of these incredible paintings that I had learned about since I was a child (Mona Lisa) or in my years of art history classes. Most importantly, I was able to sit down, and just draw from the paintings. Drawing from masterpieces in real life is one of the best  ways to practice. And the Louvre gave me a ton of time to do just that.

So if you ever go abroad, I would suggest going to as many countries as you can afford. They offer great new learning experiences and wonderful memories!

What to expect: Freshman year!

If you’re anything like me, you were kind of hurled into the college experience knowing next to nothing. And sure, if you go to orientation day, you might get a …

Favorites!

One of my favorite parts about Barcelona were all of the random little parks in the middle of the city. They were a great place to get away from the cars, noise, and craziness of the city. My favorite park, in particular, was Parc de la Ciutadella, and it was conveniently a  two-minute walk from my house. This park had a pond, playground, museum, greenhouse, and a lot of grass space for people to relax on. Most of the time, people are playing sports, walking their dogs, or playing music in the park. The park is also used for a bunch of different festivals. This year, they made part of the park into an old-timey amusement park! Also, for some reason, there is a statue of a mammoth that some people try(but alas, always fail) to climb. My favorite part of the park was the giant fountain designed in-part by Gaudi-Cascada Monumental. This fountain, surrounded by four gargoyles(that shoot water out of their mouths), is decorated with many different mythical people and creatures. There are steps that lead to the top of the fountain, so you’re able to see it from every angle. At night, the fountain is lit up with different color lights and is a breathtaking view.

 

 
Blogger: Hope Sholly

Barrio Gótico

While I was in Barcelona, I was able to explore all the different parts of this unique city. One of my favorite parts was called the Barrio Gótico, or the …

Madrid!

        About 3/4 of the way through my time in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to go on a weekend trip to Madrid. A few years back, …

What an Experience!

Studying abroad has been, by far, the most important thing I’ve done as a Spanish major. For the last three and a half months, I have had the incredible opportunity to live and study in Barcelona. The two things that have helped to really improve my Spanish this semester is living with a host mom who only speaks Spanish, and having a Spanish language class four times a week. Just hearing my host mom and my teacher speak constantly has helped me so much.

Another thing that Barcelona had to offer was its art and architecture. Every Sunday here, tons of museums and galleries are free. But you could really spend any day just admiring the architecture walking around the city for free. Since I wanted to improve my Spanish, and also be surrounded by incredible art, Barcelona seemed like the perfect place to go. And honestly, I don’t think I could have made a better choice. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share some of my favorite experiences I’ve had abroad. It’s been a really amazing experience and I sincerely encourage anyone who is majoring in Spanish to definitely go abroad for a semester(or more!). 

 

Blogger: Hope Sholly