Culture Study Abroad Programs in Poland

During the 2023-2024 academic school year I traveled abroad to Seville, Spain with API abroad. As a Spanish Education major I was beyond excited to embark on such an amazing opportunity to dive deeper into the Spanish language and culture and travel outside of the United States for the first time. Due to requirements at my home university of Elizabethtown College I opted to live with a host family. This was the best decision I could have ever made and truly shaped my entire year abroad. The living situation was me, my roommate and our host mom, an older spanish lady with four grown children and lots of grandchildren. I later learned that she was the first person to ever work with my study abroad program to host American students in Spain, and had been doing so for over 25 years. Yaya (my host mom) truly became to me the grandmother that I never had. I learned so much more from her than just the Spanish language and culture, but about life in general and how to live it. She showed me kindness when I first arrived and could not get a grasp on the language, she included me in all of her holiday celebrations with her family including Christmas and New Year's and she even cooked a special lunch to meet my parents when they came to Sevilla to visit me. She truly went above and beyond to make me feel at home. The confidence and comfort I gained inside her home allowed me to blossom outside of it. At the Universidad de Sevilla I attended classes taught fully in Spanish with content in a wide variety of subjects such as literature, cooking, wine, phonetics and conversation, and teaching English to Spanish speakers. Through my coursework and connections with local professors I was able to participate in teaching English to both children and adults in the local community and schools. These professional connections opened new doors in my field that I did not know existed. One of them being the masters program in teaching Spanish as a foreign language and other languages through the faculty of philology at the Universidad de Sevilla, in which I am currently applying. This coming May 2025 I will be graduating and my post graduate plans simply consist of finding my way back to Sevilla whether that be through the masters program, teaching English, or simply working. The support in my housing accommodations, coursework, and excursions from my program opened my eyes to entirely new world of possibilities for my future and I could not be more grateful to have had such an impactful experience.

I had the incredible opportunity to attend a one-month course at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and it was truly a rewarding experience. The course was divided into two parts: the first two weeks focused on advanced English, and the second two weeks on climate and climate change, explored through the lenses of geography, chemistry, physics, and other disciplines. The entire experience was wonderful. The diversity of the students coming from various countries made it an amazing chance to connect with people from different cultures. I made many new friends, and it was fascinating to share perspectives on such important global issues. The content was engaging and I learned a lot, especially in the second part of the course, which covered a range of scientific perspectives on climate change. The classes were not only informative but also interactive, with professors who genuinely cared about their students' understanding. They were enthusiastic about the topics, and that energy was contagious. We participated in various activities that were not only interesting but also helped us to better grasp the subject matter. The program was very well-organized, which made everything run smoothly. The course credits will also be useful for my future academic endeavors, and I’m grateful for that added benefit. Overall, it was a fantastic month. I gained knowledge, made international connections, and had an unforgettable time. I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to broaden their academic horizons while enjoying a supportive and vibrant learning environment.