My Experience At The Train Station

I never in my life did expect one day to write an essay for the Spanish Travel Scholarship and to write it in English! Fifteen year ago I was a typical Italian architecture student who, beyond doubt, had not yet established her role in the local, national, and global community, or her purpose in life. I spent my college years making my parents proud, and fulfilling teachers’ expectations. Nevertheless architecture wasn’t my college decision. It was my dad’s dream. When I was six years of age, he lost his engineering firm because of a stroke. He reinvented himself various times, after the stroke, but he has never been able to rebuild his engineering firm from the ashes. My architecture degree was his last opportunity to reopen his beloved

One’s commitment of immigrating to a new country for a better life indicates that oneself is ready to risk the life given to them by facing many hardships along the way. In the novel Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, Enrique does exactly that, risking his own life at the age of seventeen in order to reunite with his mother who left him when he was five in order to obtain a better job in the US and give Enrique and his older sister everything she thought they deserved. Nazario utilizes an emotional appeal and metaphors to inform readers of the arduous situations migrants experience on their long and tiring journey in search of a family member and a better future.

Wearing my polka dot backpack, Hollister shirt and blue jeans, I opened the door and walked into the classroom. It was 2005 and the day of my first Spanish class. I sat down, class began and the teacher spoke only in Spanish the entire 50 minutes. It was a whirlwind experience, and I was hooked. That day marked the first step down a path that would develop a passion for language learning and international affairs. Throughout my extended academic study of Spanish, I have always desired to learn a third language and to dive deep into another culture. The opportunity to learn the Azerbaijan language through the Critical Language Scholarship program would allow me to pursue a passion and develop pertinent professional skills.

During the last decades, Madrid has surfaced as the heartbeat of modern business, art, technology, and fashion. Traveling to Spain on a tourist travel will only show me a glimpse of what Spain’s history treasures are, but this program will unveil many aspects of the Spanish culture that are unique and exclusive to the country. In addition, it will be a great opportunity to learn about my own culture a little better. As we already know, Spain conquered a vast majority of what is now the American continent. While in Madrid, and since I will be only a few hours from Seville, Spain; I would love to be able to visit the General Archive of the Indies which holds the records and complete documentation of the historical administration and discoveries made by the Spaniards in the New World during its prominent years in exploration. As a native Guatemalan, it would be fascinating to learn about my own roots from the accounts of the Spaniards who set foot on my country and many of the other American countries that were conquered by Spain. Sometimes, we get a better appreciation of history when it is viewed from both perspectives. It’s not the same to learn history of a country based on the narratives of a textbook, than to be actually experience it from its culture and people. The study abroad program will consist of a total of ninety classroom hours of interaction with native Spanish students and professors. In addition, one of the courses will be taught fully in Spanish, which will benefit me greatly by strengthening my Spanish speaking, reading, and writing skills. While in Spain, I hope to be able to interact with Spaniards and exchange information in order to compare and contrast their culture from my own. I’d also like to explore the city of Madrid,

     As a young child, Rodriguez finds comfort and safety in his noisy home full of Spanish sounds. Spanish, is his family's' intimate language that comforts Rodriguez by surrounding him in a web built by the family love and security which is conveyed using

Living in a Spanish speaking culture, Cahuita, Costa Rica, not only helped improve my Spanish language skills, but also helped me learn about the culture and how to become accepted into their community - by interacting with them and making an effort to learn about them and their culture. Many of the expats people living in Cahuita were living in the village, but were not a part of the community because they kept apart from the locals, lived in expensive houses, separated themselves from the community, and weren’t as accepting of the Cahuiteños and their culture. But by living modestly and

The hidden purpose of the subway system which Jurgis helps to construct is to break the teamsters’ union. Because Jurgis got hit by one of the rail freight cars, he broke his arm and lost his job.

Throughout my upbringing, my mother, an immigrant herself, has always shared he passion of traveling with me. She continuously encouraged me to explore and understand other cultures. As a child, I traveled to her home country, Ecuador, where the culture is extremely different. She took me to all different parts of the country, immersing me in the different cultures of the coast and the mountains, taking me to small villages and local markets. In addition, on my 8th birthday, my family and I explored Europe. We traveled to England, France, Italy, and Switzerland. Even at such a young age, I was eager to try all the different types of cuisine, learn a few words and phrases in each language, and visit local museums and monuments. In addition, to Europe, I also had the opportunity to explore Central America, exploring the pyramids in Mexico and …. Unfortunately, as I grew up, traveling abroad became more difficult as my school schedule and my parents work schedules became more demanding. I have always desired to expand my knowledge on different cultures and countries, especially in my mother’s homeland of South America. I would love to become more in touch with my heritage and learn more about the different cultures and people of South America.

“I was interested in Spain because I had spent a semester there during my undergraduate studies, and I wanted to go back. I managed to get a kind of professional Fulbright: It lasted only six months, was for working journalists and required the completion of an independent project. I worked on the advent of private television in Spain, and how it changed how news was covered, particularly the Gulf War. I did a lot of reading and spent some time at different Spanish TV stations, watching how they worked. Then, I started freelancing.

Among my international experiences, I especially value the two-month study abroad in Spain. I chose to go there because of my interest in Spanish language and culture that was originally developed through a four-week Spanish beginner workshop during the summer break prior to my study abroad trip. In Spain, I lived mainly in Salamanca, a small old city in northwestern Spain, which was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanks to my parents, who had the confidence and trust to let me go

In addition, learning Spanish will break the language barrier between myself and all the Spanish-speakers of the world, which I find remarkable. I cannot imagine a more efficient method to achieve bilingualism than complete submersion in Spanish language and culture. For this reason, I have decided to study abroad in Costa Rica for six weeks in the summer of 2016. Over these six weeks, I will take two Spanish courses at the Latin University of Costa Rica, and live with a host family in which I will communicate with only through Spanish. I am certain that I will return from this voyage with more confidence in my Spanish-speaking capabilities, greater knowledge of the language, a heightened passion and appreciation for Costa Rican culture, experiences that will be applicable throughout my life and future career, and memories that I will cherish forever. Moreover, I anticipate that by studying Spanish and studying abroad, I will acquire valuable communication skills in both Spanish and English, become more competitive with my peers, and diversify and enhance the overall knowledge that I will acquire from Oklahoma State

Despite my limited Spanish and her limited English, our conversation continued in Spanish for more than an hour. Jessica, her name I later found out, had lived in Peru her whole life and was on her way to Cusco. With the occasional pause and an intermittent language lesson or two, we covered everything from her career, my interests, her son sitting beside us, and our travel aspirations. It wasn’t until the plane began its descent that we noticed that the once barren landscape was now scattered with houses and woven by roads.

Riding the subway to a New York City resident is nothing new. It’s something that many of us New Yorkers have to use as transportation because living in a crowded city with limited space to drive is not very ideal. For the people who do drive, they do so for personal comfort and convenience. But for us commuters, having to not look for parking and worry about traffic takes up less of our time. On the other hand we experience train delays and disturbances in personal space. Nonetheless, the pros outweigh the cons and using the subway has become a part of our daily routines for many of us New Yorkers. Marc Auge states that, “If he draws himself into the field of his ethnological inquiry, it is no less fitting for his readers to broaden the scope of appreciation of the work for riders.” With that in mind, I observed the connections with my experience riding the subway in a city integrated with many different peoples and cultures.

In Spanish Club, I participated in authentic cooking days, where I learned to cook unique dishes from Spanish speaking countries and their cultural significance. From each cultural activity, I felt as though I was transported to another a world. I experienced a pallet of flavors in my mouth that were not only delicious but also revealed a story about the culture and history of a nation. However, I was not satisfied with keeping all the knowledge

As I said above, I have already traveled to Spain and actually spent the week living in my brother’s apartment so I got to experience the living situation first hand. It wasn’t hard for me to adjust to living there at all because of my ability to adapt to my living situations with ease. Also, I spent the week going out to see the different places, meet new people, and be in different social situations so I already know what it feels like to be in those situations and I handled it