Observations in Spain

When I was a 25-year-old college sophomore and majoring in Journalism/Mass Communications, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in an overseas-study program co-sponsored by Miami-Dade Community College’s Foreign Language and the College Consortium for International Studies. At the time, I had just about taken most of the required courses for my Associate in Arts degree except math (my bete noir) and three credits’ worth of the foreign language pre-requisite. I had also, or so I thought, done everything I had set out to do as a reporter/editor at the campus student newspaper, so I was feeling a bit unmoored and restless without a plan for what I figured would be my final year on the staff. Looking back on it now, I’m not sure what, exactly prompted me to sign up for the Semester in Spain program. Part of it, I’m sure, was a sense that this would be my best chance to go to Europe for a significant amount of time. Maybe it was my journalist’s instinctive search for a good story. Or maybe it was youthful curiosity and thirst for adventure. Well, whatever my reasons at the time were, I consulted with my mom whether or not I could afford it; with tuition, books, air fare, room and board plus extraneous expenses, the total cost would be $5,000.00, give or take a few hundred dollars. Fortunately, I had most of the money in my savings account, so Mom gave me her blessing (and some of the funding) and, in July of 1988, I applied – and was accepted – for a spot in the Semester in Spain program for the Fall Term. Because I was majoring in Journalism/Mass Communications at the time, it occurred to me that it would be a swell idea to become, in essence, the student newspaper’s first foreign correspondent. After all, I had over two years of experience as a college journalist and knew, more or less, how to find stories on my own without an editor having to give me specific assignments. So, with the cocky confidence of a seasoned reporter, I asked my advisor and the editor of Catalyst if they’d sign off on my voluntary assignment in Seville. They did so, even going as far as lending me the newspaper’s backup Canon Sure Shot camera so I could shoot some photographs. I arrived in Seville on September 21, 1988 and left on December 18, 1988. I took five courses – History of Spain, Spanish Government, and three advanced level Spanish language classes – totaling 15 credit hours. In addition, I went on all the day trips the program offered, as well as a longer overnight trip to the city of Granada. While I had a great deal of fun as a participant in the Miami-Dade Community College/CCIS program and still believe that it was the best experience I had while I was in college, I have to admit that it was also a challenging experience. Not only was I on my own far away from home for the first time in my life, but I had to resist the temptation of turning a “study-abroad experience into a mere tourist excursion” and manage my time and money wisely. In order to give prospective study-abroad participants some idea of what the experience entails, here are several columns I wrote in 1988 and 1989 about my Semester in Spain stint. Study abroad is more than educational: it’s an experience Alex Diaz-Granados Columnist (Originally published in the December 1, 1988 issue of Catalyst) SEVILLE, Spain (CCIS Program) Over the past six weeks of my stay here in Seville as a participant in the College Consortium for International Studies’ Semester in Spain program, I have come to understand how challenging studying abroad really is. Several other students from this campus are also taking part in this program. In many respects, studying abroad is no different from studying at our home college or university. We have our schedule set up much like we do in the U.S. with lectures and reading assignments. We have midterms and finals, of course, although in some classes final exams are given at the director’s discretion. Unlike studying in the U.S., we’re learning about a different country’s history, culture, government and economic system, not by reading about these in a textbook, but by living in it. “It’s been a great experience for me,” said sophomore Wendy Page, who will be graduating from South Campus in the Winter Term. “I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish and to be more knowledgeable about life in other countries. This program has really been a great step in that direction.” I, too, have also wanted to come to Spain to experience European culture and history first-hand, having been inspired by all those humanities and history courses I have taken at Miami-Dade. In addition to the thrill of reporting from abroad, I’ve found what I came looking for, and perhaps more. As I mentioned earlier, studying abroad is challenging in every sense of the word. I am not just talking about the academic program here, although I have found it to be one of the most difficult yet satisfying ones in my college experience. There is a great deal more involved here, classes, tests, and term papers aside. In addition to the basic problems of living in a country with a different language, history, culture and political system, a student abroad can expect to face the following challenges: Homesickness. This can be overcome with a positive outlook and support from fellow students and the home front. There have been days when most of us here have felt depressed, when we have mailed post cards and letters to everyone we know and no one except parents have bothered to write back. Culture shock. Believe me, when you first travel to a foreign country, you will be hit by the oh-my-God-how-weird-this-place-is syndrome. I still get impatient with the “let’s close everything down between 2 and 5 p.m. and go home for lunch” system. Meeting new people. A very universal challenge anywhere, but if you’re going to study-travel abroad, you must make friends both with your fellow students and the natives you come in contact with. One of the nice things about the program is that I’ve met students not only from my home campus but also from colleges and universities from all over the U.S. Anti-Americanism. Whenever a major power like the U.S. gets to be a country with wealth and influence and the military muscle to back it, all the other nations tend to get resentful. Thankfully, all of these things can be overcome with a little patience and a lot of determination. Another thing that I’ve learned about the program is how to rely upon myself. Basically, I’m responsible for everything; I have to pay for my rent, my books and school supplies, monitor my own progress and so on. It takes a lot of self-discipline to keep yourself from turning a study-abroad experience into a mere tourist excursion. It isn’t really that hard, it just takes a little readjustment of your priorities. “I’d recommend the program to anyone who really wants to learn Spanish and get acquainted with Spain itself,” said Greg Norell, a student from Texas. “I think it’s the best way to get a feeling for the language and culture.” The way the program itself is set up is really the key to a student’s enjoyment of the Seville experience. The mixture of academics and extracurricular activities makes studying abroad challenging yet fun, too. In Spain, soccer is a wild, no-holds barred contest January 26, 1989 Alex Diaz-Granados Columnist SEVILLE, Spain (CCIS Program) When one is in Spain, one must do as the Spaniards do, or so we've been told by the College Consortium of International Studies Center staff when we ask about how to enjoy our free time here. This applies to everything -- from eating lunch at 2 p.m. and dinner between 9 and 10 p.m. to drinking tall glasses of "cerveza Cruzcampo" (the Spanish Budweiser) with tapas at one of the billions of bars in the city. And for those of us with a desire to be athletic (even if it's once during a 12-week term), it applies to playing sports. Because soccer is the national sport here, it was only natural that we, too, would want to catch a little "futbol fever." Most of the time we watched soccer games on Spanish television, although quite a few of us went to see the Spain-Argentina exhibition game or the Spain-Ireland game, which, of course, was for a spot in the European Cup finals. Naturally, we wanted to have our own soccer game. Natural because over here, we see little kids playing on fields (usually hard-packed soil), making moves that would dazzle even Pele. There are also foozball tables or video games with soccer as the "main theme." But what really got the ball rolling (so to speak) was the pick-up game of sand-soccer at our first out-of-town trip to Mazagon Beach. There, Juan Dura, director of the CCIS Program, and I were captains of the two teams during a most heavily contested and exhausting match (Ever try playing soccer on a sandy beach?), which my team won. It could've ended there, but the word rematch spread like wildfire, and for a month all of us were looking forward to the "real" soccer game. Although I'm not usually athletic, I was one of the most ardent proponents for the second match, having first taken a "general opinion survey" and formally suggesting it to Lisa Dolan, student activities coordinator here. After all, "my" team had won the "sand soccer" match and I had gotten a taste of the "thrill of victory." Signs went up on the bulletin board, and two weeks later we had enough players on the sign-up sheet to be able to make arrangements for the Game of the Semester. "I was looking forward to that game a lot," said Bob Holzweiss, a junior from St. Bonaventure College in New York. "But for some people the timing was bad -- they wanted to go to Morocco that Friday -- so we 'lost' a few good players." Holzweiss, thinking there would be very few people goin

When I was 25 years old and still working toward an AA degree in Journalism/Mass Communications at what's now Miami-Dade College, I was accepted into the College Consortium for International Studies' Semester in Spain program. For 12 weeks in the Fall Term of the 1988-89 academic year, I lived and studied in Seville, Spain's third largest city, along with 41 other students from around the U.S. Not knowing what, exactly, I was getting myself into, I also volunteered to send dispatches from Seville to Catalyst, my home campus' student newspaper as its first foreign correspondent. Having had several years' worth of experience as a reporter and section editor, I thought that it would be a somewhat tricky but still manageable assignment, but in the days before the Internet and e-mail were available to the average person, it ended up being harder and more frustrating than I'd bargained for. Nevertheless, I did manage to, as we reporter types like to say, get the story, and between Dec. 1, 1988 to December 13, 1989, Catalyst ran an intermittent series of columns I wrote both during and after my study-abroad stint. Because my thoughts and impressions of the time are far clearer than any I could try to write down some 18 years after coming home, I present the prospective study-abroad student (or his parents) with an article written nearly 12 months after my homecoming from Spain. All prices and expenses mentioned below are, of course, from 1988; if you are interested in participating in a study-abroad program, head to your college or university's Foreign Language Department and inquire within. From the December 13, 1989 issue of Catalyst, Miami-Dade Community College (South Campus) Study-abroad program gave me learning text never could Alex Diaz-Granados Managing Editor One of the most interesting aspects of taking a foreign language course is the opportunity to participate in one of the various study-abroad programs offered by the Foreign Language Department's Overseas Study Program. I know because last year I participated in the Miami-Dade Community College/College Consortium for International Studies' Semester in Spain program. For three months in the fall of 1988, 42 students (including me) from colleges and universities all over the United States lived and studied in Seville, one of Spain's largest and most beautiful cities. And, for many of us, it was a learning experience unlike any other. Not only did we learn more about the Spanish language, but we also came back with insights about Spain's culture, history and people that aren't available in any textbook. We went to classes (ranging from the required language courses to classes dealing with Spain's history, political system and artistic heritage) Mondays through Thursdays -- either at the CCIS Center or the main campus of the University of Seville -- while most Fridays we went on cultural visits to places of interest in and around Seville. There were also day trips to such places as Jerez de la Frontera, La Rabida and Cordoba. We also went on an overnight trip to the city of Granada, the city whose architecture inspired George Merrick when he founded Coral Gables back in the '20s. Of course, there were other benefits as well. We learned how to live in a vastly different cultural environment on our own. (Even though one could make an argument that transferring to an out-of-state institution is a similar experience, it's like comparing cats and dogs.) We not only had to learn a foreign language and take a 15-credit course load, we had to adapt to the average Spaniard's lifestyle (especially mealtimes), difficult as that may have been to us Americans. My fellow CCISer Wendy Page, sophomore, said, "My experiences in Seville have helped me become a stronger person with broader horizons in both heart and mind." My own horizons were expanded by my three-month stay in Spain. I learned a great deal about how other people live, and how those people perceive the United States, mainly through living and arguing with two Spanish roommates, Demetrio and Juan Carlos. The cost of my trip to Seville, including hotels, tour buses, tuition (for 15 credits), and airfare was approximately $3,500. Rent and extra food was another $1,500. This may sound like a lot of money, but you can get guaranteed student loans from Financial Aid. Also, Pell Grants will cover cost of tuition at Miami-Dade prices ($76.80 for a three-credit class).