This blog post is the first of four describing my experience studying abroad in Spain as part of the Pitt in Spain Panther Program. I would like to note from the get-go that these blogs are being composed in retrospect, as I tried to minimize internet usage during my trip. As a result, while I am unable to jot down my raw, unfiltered impressions, I can share a more digested and well-rounded overview of the trip’s ups and downs. I hope this approach can make these posts more useful to prospective travelers than they otherwise would be.

With all that being said, let’s get into the program! Firstly, I came from a very different background than most of my colleagues. I am from a Spanish-speaking household, although my family hesitated to make me speak it after being told it would impede my assimilation into English in primary school. Nevertheless, I entered high school with a very good ear for the language, allowing me to skip Spanish 1 and take multiple advanced Spanish courses. I would say that my level of Spanish at the end of high school was about where most of my fellow Pitt students where. Fortunately, I spent much of college not only practicing with my Spanish-speaking friends and family, but also taking the next step and engaging with Spanish-language stories, particularly books and video games.

Consequently, the expectations I had for Pitt in Spain were all over the place. Not having taken a college course in Spanish, I was nervous that I was behind kids who had been taking it for another four years after high school. Simultaneously, I knew that I had a desire to learn and challenge myself daily. My parents, on the other hand, were convinced that this month in Spain would be the missing piece to turning me into as eloquent a speaker as La Pasionaria. Needless to say, this did not happen. I see myself in a middle area with my Spanish where I am comfortable with the basics (speaking, reading, writing), but struggle with specialized terminology or uncommon vocabulary. And I accept that. True fluency in a language in something that comes through years of living it, and I hope I can get there through my own efforts and by living in Philadelphia, a city with more and more Spanish speakers every year.

I’d like this blog post to encourage kids from Spanish-speaking households, or really, any household with a language besides English, to not write off study abroad programs because of self-consciousness. Take a placement course, study on your own, and you might be able to open your linguistic horizons even further. The ancestors will have patience with you.

Blanqui, my host mother’s dog