How To Learn Languages

Wanting to know how life abroad looks like? Here is Kari’s testimonial! Kari is a young 18 years old American girl who participated in our High School Program in Spain. She accepted to answer to some questions about her academic year in Spain!

1.How long is your program?

My Program is only 4 months long and I had to finish up some classes my first semester before I could head to Spain.  But I have to head back to the states in May for my graduation in May.

2.Have you participated in a program abroad like this before?

No, I have never done this before, but I always wanted to go to a different country and learn a language because I knew I could use it in the future and the fastest way to learn is to be completely submerged into it, I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and so that was my only option, and I would have rather go to Spain than Mexico because I also wanted to travel Europe.

3.How old are you?  What grade are you in?  What type of American school were you in? (Public? Private?)

I am currently 18 years old.  In America I am in 12th grade, and here I am also in 12th grade (also called the bachillerato grade).  In America I attended a small public school for my town only has 5000 people.

4.How does this compare with your school in America?  Your life in America?

Well school is a lot different.  But the thing is, I don’t have to take any classes here, I just attend school and sit through the classes and participate however I want.  It is kind of complicated to explain.  I have all my credits to graduate in America, so that means I don’t have to take any tests or do homework.

Also, when I came, my Spanish was very bad so I didn’t understand hardly anything, so the teachers decided I didn’t have to take tests if I didn’t need them.  I still get report cards though for proof to my school that I have been in school and participating.

I get little assignments from my teachers like right now I have a essay to do on the second republic of Spain, and my friends give me books to read of there little brothers or sisters, and I have all my work from my American Spanish class that I also study with.  I have had to study a lot to get my Spanish to what it is right now, and even right now I am still not very good at it.

I have only been here two months but I am so much better than when I came.  I can understand about three-fourths of what they are saying, but speaking for me is the hardest part, so that is what I need to work on the most.

School is a lot different; they are kind of technologically in-advanced here.  They use chalk boards al the time, and they don’t give notes; the students have to write down almost everything, depending on the classes. You also have to buy the books, share, or make copies of the pages because they don’t give them out to borrow.  This is in my school anyways.  I don’t know about other schools, at first it was a lot different, but I adapted really fast and it is no big deal to me anymore.

5.How is your host family?

I have 2 older sisters and 3 older brothers, and they are a lot older than me, in the 20ies and 30ies.  I also have a grandma and a mother, along with a dog.  Also living with me is a Brazilian girl who is 17 and is also in the same program and me.  After the 2nd week, I was still trying to adapt to everything, and I couldn’t speak, or understand everything.

My host sister Valentina (Brazilian girl) helped me out a lot, with speaking and getting around the town.

About a month ago, I started to understand a lot more and was able to speak a lot better so all of a sudden my host mom awkwardly snapped out of it and we get along great now and I like my family a lot.  It feels a lot like home for me now, and I will miss them when I have to leave.

But I did talk to my counsellor about my family, and if things wouldn’t have changed, they could transfer me to another family right away.  About a week ago another girl here wasn’t getting along with her family so she transferred, so it isn’t like it is not possible.  But I am glad everything worked out for me, it is hard at first but you just have to keep trying and trying and you will get it.

6.How much spending money do you need per month?

Well, just so you know, the dollar is really bad right now. 1euro is worth $1.56 right now, so you have to calculate all of that.  At first I had to spend a little money to buy some products I didn’t bring on the plane, and I bought a cell phone which was surprisingly not that expensive and other things like that.

But my parents give me $350 dollars a month, and sometimes I don’t use all of it, and sometimes I do.  It all adds up using the busses, going on weekend trips, clothes, food or coffee if you go out with your friends and stuff like that, it all depends on what is going on.  But yes, it is expensive.

7.Where are you living?  Tell us about the climate and living conditions.

I am living in a little town called Trigueros in the province of Huelva.  It is right next to Portugal and only about a 20 min drive to the ocean.  It is great, in the winter it isn’t that warm, I thought it would have been a lot warmer but it wasn’t.

It is a dry calm climate, and doesn’t rain much so that is nice.  It is a tropical area having a lot of orange trees and palm trees everywhere!  It is really nice, I like it, reminds me a lot of Florida. (I am from Minnesota).  It is spring here now, and it is warming up fast, and in a month we will be able to go swimming in the ocean, but for now, we just stick to the beaches.

The living conditions are a lot different than America.  The streets are really small, the cars are really small, and everything is like mini!  They don’t have individual houses; they are all stacked up on top of each other.

Me and my sister share a bedroom that is probably half the size of a dorm room so that was really hard for me to get used to, but it is fine for me now.  We also have to share a bathroom with 3 other people, so that also is difficult, you have to plan your day around the 3 other people… ha-ha.  Also, at some points in time there are 9 people living in my house.

But we have an upstairs and a downstairs, so that is nice, but the students aren’t allowed upstairs so we have to stay downstairs and keep our grandma company, which I don’t mind because I like my grandma, she is hilarious.  I think it all depends on how many people are in your family because in the Spanish culture, the children live with their parents until they are married, and they don’t get married until they are really old! Like 30ies!  And also, the grandparents live in the house too, they don’t have retirement homes like we do in America so the family has to take care of them, but it gives the family character!

8.Do you have much free time?

Yes! But I think it is because I don’t have to take classes, but they have a lot of breaks here for like festivals and religion type stuff so it is really nice!  I have had 3 vacations so far and I have only been her 2 months.  So if your son wants to travel Europe or Spain, he certainly will have a few opportunities to do so.

9.Are you making friends?

Yes, I have a lot of them; they love Americans here, because they like to practice their English with you!

10.Are your classes going to transfer back to your American High School?

I don’t know, like I said, I don’t have to have classes, I think it all depends on your school.  Valentina’s classes all will transfer back but she is from Brazil so.., but you have to be prepared to work hard because their classes here are a lot harder than the classes in America.  You have to memorize everything.  They don’t have multiple choice test like we have in America, it is all hand written.

11.Basically, are you enjoying your experience? What is the best part of this program and what is a low part of your program?  What do you wish you would have done differently?

I am very much so enjoying my experience.  My high parts would have to be actually understanding the language and knowing that wow! I am actually doing this, I am learning another language, also along with my trips to Seville, Malaga, (Spain) Belgium, Germany, and Holland.  It was great to explore Europe and do things on my own, and learn to be responsible.

I really don’t have any low points, probably only in the beginning when I didn’t get along with my host mother too much, and sometimes I get a little home sick during holidays and stuff, but other than that I love it!!  It will be hard for me to go back to the states.

12.What advice would you give to parents and students?

I would make sure that your child is mature enough to handle the 1 year away from home.  My host sister from Brazil was younger when she came and it took her 3 months to get rid of her homesickness.  He has to be willing to give up a year of his life in America, and be open to new ideas and cultures, because yes, he will definitely be hit with culture shock and some people handle that differently than others.

He also has to be serious about this decision and be dedicated to work hard on his school work, because it is a lot harder than the schools in America.

If he does go, I would choose to invest in a laptop computer and a webcam because that helps a lot with school work and the homesickness, and also, get your visa right away because that is a long and tedious process!!  And make sure that you have it long enough for your whole stay because my host sister’s visa wasn’t long enough for her stay and it was a big hassle for her to have to change it!!!!

I hope I have helped you out!
Buenas Suerte!

Kari

I hope this testimonials has been useful! As you have been able to see, all was not perfect at first but adaptation and open mind are the keys which helped Kari get the most out of her trip!