Hello again!! I’m Rachael, and I’m two weeks into my study abroad program, Pitt in Spain. These past weeks have been full of new experiences, classes, and fun activities. I’ve really been enjoying my time here, and it’s hard to believe it’s already halfway over. Navigating any kind of new environment can be challenging, but…
Tag: Spain
Preparing for Immersion into Hispanic Language and Culture
Hello! My name is Michael Keller, and I am a rising junior with a major in Biochemistry, minors in Chemistry and Hispanic Language and Culture, and a certificate in Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. During the month of July, I will be participating in the Pitt in Spain study abroad program at the University of Alcalá…
Salutations from Spain
¡Hola! I’m Rachael, a Pitt Honors student participating in the June session of the Pitt in Spain Program. I’m a rising sophomore at Pitt, and I’m majoring in Environmental Science, with minors in English Literature and Spanish. Throughout my study abroad experience, I will get to take classes at a university near Madrid. The classes…
Biggest Challenge in Spain
The biggest challenge I have faced since being in Spain is finding time to have meaningful and genuine conversations with local people from Spain. Because the Pitt program is housed in university residence halls with mostly students from the United States, it has been hard to encounter natural situations to have conversation in Spanish. The…
Takeaways from Spain
In reflection from when I first got here, I am surprised how quickly I became so comfortable here in Spain. Having arrived three weeks early to spend time in Madrid, I had the opportunity to explore on my own and acclimate to living in a new city before starting classes. Due to Madrid’s student metro…
Pitt in Spain 8 – What I Would do Differently
Hola! It’s been a bit since I last checked in, so by way of summary know that I’ve been fully enjoying my final few weeks studying in Spain! The Royal Palace day-trip I mentioned in the previous post was wonderful, and last weekend I spent two days in Salamanca sightseeing among the historic (like ~3,000…
How my expectations of Spain have changed
Looking back to before I arrived in Spain, I have realized my expectations have changed a little bit. Before coming here, I wasn’t sure how my level of Spanish ability would align with the situations I’d find myself in. Given that Madrid is known for its specific variation of Spanish, I feared that my course…
Where I’m Living in Spain!
Hola! In this blog post, I will tell you a bit about where I am living here in Spain! Alcalá de Henares is a small town, protected as an UNESCO World Heritage site and situated about an hour northeast of Madrid, the capitol city. Alcalá de Henares is best known for being the town where…
Pitt in Spain 6 – A Challenge
Hola! I finished finals on Tuesday (stressful but done now) and have almost a week until classes start again for the July session, where I’ll be taking a Spanish film class and a more conversational culture course. I’ll be leaving for a three-day sightseeing excursion to Bilbao on Saturday, but for now am setting aside…
My Goals for Pitt in Spain
Hi everyone! After completing my first week of the Pitt in Spain Summer 2022 Program at la Universidad de Alcalá, I’m back with another blog post! I arrived in Madrid, Spain on the 11th of May, giving myself about three weeks to adjust to being abroad before starting classes on June 6th. In my time in…