by Stephanie Cook '12

So the main reason I am here in Madrid is to take classes to help earn my Spanish minor. Each class is very lengthy; they are three hours long and they meet every day throughout the week. We only have weekends off, and we even have to meet on one Saturday! It all works out though because the classes are only 3 and a half weeks long, which is a good deal!

The Advanced Conversation and Composition class I am taking is really interesting. It is focused on business content, which is good for everyone to know. I picked that class because I am a Business Administration minor and thought the vocabulary would be beneficial to me. For my other class, I sit in on Dr. Wilson’s Intermediate 1 and 2 classes to review. They are fun classes because I am with most of the other Catawba students that are here. The classes are very entertaining to say the least! I am laughing at least 80% of the time at the comments my classmates or Dr. Wilson make during our time together.

The World Cup is going on right now and Spain has made it to the final game! It will be played on Sunday. We have been here for the quarterfinals and the semis. All of the Spaniards are going crazy over Spain winning the games! It is fun to be a part of the celebration with the locals. My friends and I meet them at bars around the city and sometimes at restaurants. Many of them can speak a bit of English, but I always try to use my Spanish with them. If they try to speak in English to me, I ask them to use Spanish because I want to practice listening to the language and understanding what they say. They like that I can communicate with them to some degree! It is really awesome to know that they can understand at least some of what I am saying. It shows all of these years of Spanish have paid off!

This weekend I am going on an excursion to Barcelona! I am very excited. We will be there for three nights and four days, so it will give us some time to really explore the city. More updates to come on this trip and the outcome of the Spain vs. Netherlands game!

Until next time,

Steffi

PHOTOS: Study Abroad in Spain