|
- Stephanie C. •
- CIEE Chile - Valpraiso Program •
- Spanish Major
“Study
abroad has really opened my eyes to what else is out there
and made me more bold in going after it.”
—Stephanie C. |
|
Stephanie spent her spring semester in Valparaiso, Chile with the CIEE program. Her goal was to improve her Spanish skills, but she also gained valuable cultural experience through her host family and Chilean friends.
Stephanie chose to focus on Spanish language, literature and culture in her coursework through CIEE. Her Spanish minor turned into a Spanish major as she continued to build her skills. “Looking at possible job opportunities, and at the job market, Spanish is a huge plus. I chose to study abroad to improve my Spanish, force myself to use it and get more comfortable with it.” Outside of the classroom, Stephanie found that her host family was another great teacher. “They were really patient with me, spoke really slowly, and basically forced me to speak. I had to answer, I had to say what I wanted, what I was thinking, everything. Every day I was just improving more and more and more. It got to the point where I was dreaming in Spanish, thinking in Spanish unconsciously, and not translating in my head any more.”
Stephanie now hopes to incorporate international education into her career. “Study abroad has really opened my eyes to what else is out there and made me more bold in going after it. Ideally, I would like to work in a study abroad office somewhere, and help students experience the same things I did or help incoming students get used to the US the way my resident director down in Chile did for us.”
Stephanie took advantage of coursework for the University of Minnesota Learning Abroad Minor before and after her trip to Chile. “They were so good in telling you specifically how cultures differ, and on what dimensions they differ. We had to interview someone who was from the country that we were going to be studying in and a foreigner who had also lived there, so you could get different aspects of the culture. That helped me so much once I got down there. When you come back, you’re really a different person. When I first came back, I was really bored, I didn’t like the food, and I missed all my friends and my family in Chile. That’s something that’s hard to tell people up here, because they expect you to be happy to come home. Having a course once you come back telling you that it’s totally natural, lots of people feel that way, and just letting you get those emotions out really helped. I would recommend, even if you were not interested in the minor at all, to at least take the classes, because it’s going to make your transition going there and then coming back so much easier.”
Last modified on November 21, 2008 |