Overseas Study

Lucy Comerford

Lucy’s major: Spanish, with a minor in sociology

Year/term abroad: Fall 2011

Reason You Chose this Program: Being a Spanish major I knew that I needed to study abroad somewhere. I chose Barcelona because it is such a unique and diverse city. There is always something to do and they literally never sleep. Also, escaping a Midwestern winter and living a mile from the beach wasn’t too bad either…

Favorite Classes: My favorite class was Literature and Cinema of Spain. We watched several Spanish movies that really had a heavy influence on their culture.

Describe the Housing Situation: My program offered two different options: one being a dorm, and the other with a host family. I lived in the dorms that the university provided. There was a mix between American, Spanish, and other international students. On my floor there was another girl from my program, a guy from Mexico, and the rest were Spaniards. I had my own room and bathroom and the ten members of the floor shared a kitchen/lounge. There was also a pool on the roof of the dorm that was great to have once it got hot.

Complete this sentence: If I could do it over, I would… have made more of an effort to get to know the Spaniards in my classes. I was too nervous with the language barrier to really strike up a conversation – there would have been no harm in trying.

What you know now that you didn’t know before going abroad: Learning and education is so much more than what you experience in the classroom. Having to adjust to a foreign culture and language isn’t easy, but after some time you feel so at home and it is a huge accomplishment.

Fact about your host country that you think people would be surprised to learn: Barcelona and the Catalunya region are very different from the rest of Spain. They have their own language and traditions that are separate from the rest of the country, and they hold a lot of pride in that. Oh, and there is nothing they love more than their soccer team: FC Barcelona. Going to a game is a must.