为什么缩短海外学期仍然是一个很好的机会

After I returned home from 西班牙 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, I found myself wondering, “这次旅行值得吗??” “If I knew I was going to have to return home just seven weeks into my 宝博体育 我还应该离开吗?” These questions swirled around my head for weeks after I got home, 因为我的情感被拉向了许多不同的方向. 我没时间处理离开格拉纳达的事. It all happened in 18 hours, and the entire time, I was swirling. 我在订机票, 与现场工作人员会面, 购物和挑选纪念品, 参观我最喜欢的面包店, 最后一次走在格拉纳达的街道上, and saying a tear-filled “goodbye” on the corner of Gran Vía de Colón to my new yet lifelong friends. I only processed that I was leaving Europe on my flight home to New York City, 当它像卡车一样撞到我的时候，我要回家了. 我不知道什么时候能回去. 但, 回想起我在西班牙的美好时光, I do know that my short time in 格拉纳达 was worth every second of planning and preparation to get there, 即使被缩短了.

我不是冒险去了格拉纳达吗, 我不会走出我的舒适区, which is something I’m continuously looking to do more of as I become more confident in myself. 做出去格拉纳达的承诺并不容易, and embarking on the process of eventually getting there was even harder. 然而, pursuing this opportunity pushed me outside of the New 英格兰 area and into a part of the world I had never 探索 before. 一个人从家里去格拉纳达 has empowered me with a sense of confidence I’ve never felt before, a sense of confidence that has helped me manage the circumstances I faced in 格拉纳达, 以及我在国内面临的新问题. Spending seven weeks in 格拉纳达 taught me how to keep being the best version of myself in the face of normalcy to sudden adversity, and I never would have had that opportunity had I not chosen to 宝博体育.

除了走出我的舒适区，我选择了这样做 在格拉纳达留学, 西班牙, for the incredible opportunity of full Spanish immersion. Once I arrived in 格拉纳达, I was immediately speaking Spanish. 在我的公寓安顿下来之后, 我在镇上冒险逛了逛，进了几家面包店, 杂货店, 还有其他商店, 我马上练习用西班牙语. 我的课也是用西班牙语教的, which truly tested my abilities to confidently use my second language in a new environment. I took classes in 西班牙 I would never have been able to take in the United States at my home institution, 我的许多同龄人也有同样的遭遇. The opportunity to travel abroad can offer students a plethora of opportunities to take courses that are unmatchable to any offered back home. Whether or not you’re trying to master your Spanish like I was in 西班牙, 出国提供了很多全球性的机会, academic opportunities that are often unparalleled to those back home. 尽管我在国外的学期被缩短了, I was still able to undergo many challenges and achieve many successes in the classroom, 这让我的西班牙之行非常值得.

我不是在西班牙度过了那七个星期吗, my Spanish-speaking abilities would not be where they are now, 我很高兴我有机会提高我的口语, 阅读, 写作, 以及各种环境下的听力技巧. 虽然我经常被问到我从哪里来, 因为我的口音不是西班牙语, 我对这门语言的接触, 来自专业人士, 学术设置要比较口语化, or “culta“经验”在很多方面给了我很大的帮助.

Having a strong background in Spanish enabled me to make connections right away when I was in 西班牙, and this ended up being my favorite part of my 宝博体育 experience. I stepped outside of my 宝博体育 group at times to explore activities through the University of 格拉纳达. 我去了体育办公室, 在我入住后的几个周六，我报名参加了一次徒步旅行, and ended up meeting some of my closest friends who helped me feel welcomed in 西班牙, 尽管他们会取笑我的西班牙语(但是)反面带有当然。). 从那里, 我在格拉纳达的组织和学校做志愿者, met a baker at a bakery who I got to know on a first-name basis, 并在短短七周内尽可能多地建立关系. Establishing these strong ties throughout my stay helped me form an immense love and bond to 格拉纳达, and I know it will be seamless to visit the only foreign city I’ve ever known again one day.

The memories I made in 格拉纳达 are memories I’ll carry with me forever. From venturing into the Sierra Nevada mountains with a group of people I met the morning of the ascent, to taking a bus to Málaga and getting sunburned beyond belief, I can’t help but smile when I think of 格拉纳达 and all of the fun I had while I was there. Even though being at my home in Connecticut is not where I expected to be at the beginning of May, 我可以回忆起格拉纳达和它所有的宝藏. I feel eternally grateful to have been able to 宝博体育 in such a beautiful, 健康的城市, 我一点也不后悔我的决定, 即使考虑到结果.

One thing I’ve learned from everything this semester has shown me is to never take anything for granted. You never know when you might experience your “last,” with someone or of something. I certainly didn’t know that my last day in 格拉纳达 would be jam-packed with seemingly too-short “goodbyes” and frantic planning to make my way back to the United States. 现在我在另一边了, 我能说的是，我很感激能活下来, 研究了, 徒步, 漫步, 探索, 笑了, 哭了, 梦想, 在格拉纳达还有更多, 西班牙, 整整七个星期.

Este viaje valió la pena!”