Student Journals: AIFS in Salamanca, Spain

Rachel Zimmerman
St. Michael's College
University of Salamanca, Spain

I could have just as easily stayed home this semester. I could be sitting in northern Vermont watching it snow and drinking hot chocolate while complaining about the 10 minute walk to class in the -10º weather (-20º with the wind chill!). Instead I am here in Spain, trying to perfect a language I have been learning since the 7th grade in a city where everyone speaks the language and studying at a university that is about 800 years old.

In exactly 2 months, I will be back in America, away from Spain, a country I have grown to love in such a short time. I have seen so many incredible things that were just a 2-page spread in the "descubrimiento cultural" section of my introductory Spanish book: the Alcázar and the Roman Acqueduct in Segovia, the Mezquita of Córdoba, the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcazaba in Málaga and really, so much more.

I have eaten tapas and drank sangria (though I have learned that it is a drink that mostly guiris (foreigners) enjoy and that you really stick out if you order it). I have eaten paella and tortilla. I have fallen in love with my host family (though not their dog) and learned that my señora is one of the most loving people on the planet. Every day my roommate and I wonder what it will be like when we go back to America and she is no longer in our everyday lives. We hate to talk about it.

I started thinking about studying abroad in Spain my freshman year of high school and it was amazing how real it was once I got on the plane back in January. I knew I would love it and learn so much, but I never realized how much. Thinking about leaving here in two months really makes me sad, but I will have so many great experiences, new friends, and so much knowledge packed into my mind and I will be a different person for the rest of my life. Studying abroad and especially coming to Spain was truly one of the best decisions I have made in my entire life.