University of Wisconsin–Madison

Spain: Katharine Meyer

Program: Illinois in Granada, Spain, Summer

Katharine’s Majors: Communications Sciences & Disorders, Spanish

Katharine, a student with dark brown pigtails and curtain bangs smiles at the camera. She is wearing a white sweater and behind her is the view of Granada with rolling hills in the foreground and historic castle-like buildings in the background.
Me at the Alhambra, the most historic site in Granada.

What is your advice for someone considering your program?

In this program, you stay with a host family. The most important thing is to talk to them and spend time with them. I learned so much about Spanish culture just from listening to their conversations and watching television with them. My host mom is a chef, and I love to cook, so I asked her to teach me how to prepare some Spanish foods. I’m excited to incorporate what I’ve learned into my everyday cooking.

What challenges or barriers did you face as you prepared to go abroad and/or during your time abroad? How did you work through them?

I chose to do a language immersion program for Spanish, but I’ve only ever studied the language through classes and I definitely did not consider myself fluent. Now, I’m nowhere near perfect, but I have a much more passable Spanish. The language barrier truly was one of the most difficult parts of the experience, but it’s important to have patience with yourself.

What did you learn about yourself or the world because of your experience?

I learned I’m more independent and capable of navigating difficult situations than I thought. A lot of things that seemed scary before studying abroad are no longer near as daunting.