"Semester in Spain exceeded my expectations and was by far the best experience of my college career. Sevilla is enchanting and truly a place that will always have a special place in my heart."
Kaylyn, Geneva College
Alumni Stories
Megan Toombs, Houghton College
The joy that a person feels when they do something for the first time is hard to describe, but it is a joy that I hope everyone experiences at some point in their life.
This semester in Spain has been full of first times already, and we are only seven weeks into the semester. This is the first time I have spent a semester abroad. I have traveled in Europe before, I spent a month traveling to a number of different countries in the summer of 2009, but I have never spent 4 months in a foreign country.
Upon arrival I met my host family for the first time. What a shock! I walked into a house, filled with strangers who spoke a language I hardly understood. It was 10:00 pm at night, I had traveled for 36 hours, and I was so tired I could hardly walk a straight line. But, I managed to introduce myself, and have a small conversation before I went to bed. When I woke up for the first time in the room that was to be home for four months, I had no idea where I was. Across the room I heard someone say “hello,” I rolled over and there was my roommate, the first American I met in Sevilla, and my first friend.
Later that day, I walked around Sevilla for the first time, and realized that I love living in a city. Meeting new people is always a great first time experience, especially when you become good friends and can look back and say, “remember when we first met.” When I first met the professors, staff members, and other students of Acento, I’m pretty sure they would say of me, “remember when we first met and you were so jet lagged you looked like a zombie…” Yes, of course, there are first times being jet lagged.
There are those times when I tried to talk to my Señora, and never felt like we were communicating. And then there was that day when I realized that I had been having a conversation with her for the past 30 minutes, and never even realized it! There are those times when I went to church and couldn’t understand a word, and then a few weeks later I could understand almost everything going on.
There are the first times meeting new Spanish friends, and the first time going out with those friends and finding out that I am the only one who speaks English. This was somewhat of a scary first time experience, but when it was over, and I realized that I had just hung out with friends in a foreign country; in a foreign language….and I actually talked quite a bit during the evening, the feeling of accomplishment was exhilarating.
There are also the first times trying new foods, and ordering that food in Spanish. Specific times that come to mind are when I ordered hot chocolate and it was actually hot, melted, thick chocolate in a tiny mug. SOOOOO GOOD! Or the two times I ordered some type of dish with fish and the fish was raw, I definitely did not eat much of it, but I did try it. There is also the first time you eat fried fish and find out the bones and the head and the scales are all still there, or eat squid with eyes still attached. Or the first time your roommate orders something called Menudo and you find out its cow stomach. I am still a little nervous when I order food, but I’m guessing that won’t last long, and I will be so happy when I can say that I ordered food, and I am quite certain what it is.
Another accomplishment that made my roommate and I feel good about ourselves was when we conquered the bus system. We have our bus cards, and we know which bus gets us to wherever we need to go. Slightly more difficult than the local bus system, is buying bus tickets for a trip. The first time my roommate, our friend, and I did this we were quite thrilled with our accomplishment. It wasn’t just that we had bought bus tickets for a trip that we were looking forward to, it was that we had done it all in Spanish.
There was the first time I saw the Mediterranean Sea, and the first time I saw Spanish mountains. The first time we saw the countryside, and farms. The first time I gave directions in Spanish to a native Spaniard, and first time I returned to Sevilla from a weekend trip, and realized I was home.
There are many other first times that have happened and will happen while I and the rest of the Acento students are in Sevilla. Some of those first times may not be our favorites, and many of those first times will be incredibly fun, but hopefully through it all we will grow as people in our language capability, in our spiritual lives, and in our capability to handle any situation.
Katie Waldner, Northwestern College
Living in a European, Spanish-speaking city is about as far from normal as I could have gone. I attend Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN, where I major in Linguistics and Spanish, so I have some city experience, but my rural South Dakotan upbringing presents a pretty stark contrast to a place like Sevilla. However, I’ve found this city, its people and this program to be a wonderful place to learn, change, and stretch myself. I hope to work as an interpreter when I graduate this coming spring, and when I leave Sevilla in just under two months, I will have prepared myself for more than just a job.
I’d been preparing myself to go to Spain for over a year, trying to imagine what kinds of challenges I’d encounter, what sorts of places I’d see, and especially what kind of people I’d live and work with. Now that I’m here there’s so much to talk about (even though my time’s only half done), so I’ll try to share just a few of the key highlights.
I knew studying abroad would be hard, though full of great experiences, too. Everyone I talked to before I left was full of admiration, telling me how smart I was for planning this while I’m still young, how brave I was for being willing to live overseas, and how lucky I was to have such an opportunity. As the time got closer, however, I felt the opposite, because I was the one actually going. And then I got on the plane.
I was right; studying abroad is hard. The highlight in all of that is that the staff, professors, and host families are willing to do so much to share that burden of difficulty. Yes, it’s hard to change cultures, but they offer themselves in order to lighten our loads, enabling us to better appreciate the great experiences. And no, I’m not trying to get brownie points. It’s true. A friend and I got stuck in Paris during the strike. Even though most of what went wrong was our fault, we had people at school making calls, asking questions that we couldn’t, and finding out what options we had. The staff is also always available to talk about anything that’s going on, whether it’s homesickness, school troubles, or anything else. They are always there to listen to help in any way they can. We are well taken care of. Without them, this program would be lacking.
Another big highlight for me has been just living in a city like Sevilla. The pace of life here is wonderful, so tranquil and relaxed. It drove me crazy for about a day, and then I decided to enjoy it. Since then, it’s been heaven. How often in my life will I have a scheduled naptime? Probably never again. The city itself is also full of history and great things to see and take in. I’ve been here over two months, and I’m still excited to keep learning more about where I live, to find the places that we learn about in class. And although we have to watch our backs for pickpockets, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this safe in a city. For as big as it is, it has a great small-town feeling that I don’t think many cities this size can boast. And personally, I think my neighborhood, Triana, is one of the best in Sevilla.
Finally, I’ve learned something important that has become a highlight for me. Like most new experiences, there’s a choice involved in living here: you can accept the changes and decide to like them, or you can fight them and settle for being miserable. It’s a good life lesson, and Sevilla gives everyone who visits the option to face it. Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Brett Meyer, Northwestern College
When I think back to my time with Acento, one of my favorite memories that comes to mind is our trip to Toledo. Or rather, a brief stop we made while on the way to Toledo. Partway through the journey, we stopped in la Mancha, to see the famous windmills of Don Quixote.
Let me explain a bit, in case you aren’t familiar with the story of Don Quixote. Don Quixote is about a delusional old man who thinks that he is a knight, in an age long after knights were actually around. Probably the most famous scene from it is when he is riding on his horse and spots several windmills in the distance. Being the delusional person that he is, he immediately thinks that they are monsters and begins to attack them.
During the first week of class, I had heard from one of the professors that we would be visiting the windmills. I immediately became very excited and started planning for the trip right away. I went to one of the local stores a found a styrofoam sword. I got a few weird looks carrying it back to my apartment, but it was well worth it in the end.
The day of the trip, I brought the sword with me. When we arrived at the windmills, I had my roommate take several photos of me fighting the “monsters.” It wasn’t long before some of the other students realized what I was doing and started asking to have their pictures taken with “the gallant warrior.” I quickly became the most popular person on that particular trip. When we stopped in Toledo, I was able to purchase a real sword. I never got a chance to use the real one against the windmills (I doubt that much epicness could have been packed into one trip), but I still keep it in my room, as a reminder of that trip.
