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Marquis Scholar Sara Bergstrom ’08 (Howell, N.J.) always knew she wanted to study abroad and was eager to take advantage of the many opportunities Lafayette offers. On the recommendation of a friend, she decided to travel to Spain through the Center for Cross Cultural Study.
The Center for Cross-Cultural Study has provided unique study abroad experiences for students in Seville, Spain since 1969; Havana, Cuba since 1996; and Cordoba, Argentina since 2004.
“I wanted the opportunity to experience different cultures, travel, and further develop my foreign language skills,” says Bergstrom, an international affairs major who has studied both Spanish and German. “More specifically, I chose to study abroad in Spain because I wanted to be able to better understand and speak the language.”
In addition to Bergstrom, English and Spanish double major Lauren Blakeslee ’08(Saylorsburg, Pa.), international affairs and Spanish double major Megan Catli ’08 (Rochester, N.Y.), and international affairs major Meave Murphy ’08 (Wayland, N.Y.) spent the fall semester living with host families in Spain.
Like Bergstrom, Blakeslee left for Spain with the goal of improving her language skills. Having studied Spanish since she was 13, she knew that an extended stay abroad was the best way to attain proficiency.
“Before leaving for Spain, I added Spanish as my second major along with English, and plan to continue developing my ability to speak the language,” she explains. “It is a valuable skill, whether attending graduate school or entering the workforce after Lafayette.”
Murphy also wanted to strengthen her speaking skills, and recommends that every student take the chance to study abroad at least once before graduating.
“My Spanish has improved immensely while studying abroad and while traveling, I’ve learned more about what I would like to do after Lafayette,” she says. “The people I met made this experience better than I could have hoped.”
Because the Center for Cross Cultural Study has a strict Spanish-only language policy, all classes were conducted entirely in Spanish. Students took such diverse courses as language usage, grammar and expression, Spanish literature, current events of Spain, politics and economics of Spain, art history, and regional folk dance.
Both Bergstrom and Blakeslee consider the trip to Morocco to be their most memorable experience from their semester abroad.
“Morocco was completely different from any other country I had ever traveled to,” says Bergstrom. “The differences in the culture and the way of life were amazing, and I am so fortunate that I was able to experience it. My favorite part of the trip was the night we spent in the Sahara Desert. We rode in 4x4s to a desert hotel – the same hotel in which the cast and crew of the movie Sahara stayed while filming – and after spending the night there, we rode camels out to an oasis in the desert. We climbed a giant sand dune to watch the sunset and then spent the night outside under the stars. The desert was beautiful, and I will never forget that trip.”
“Morocco remains my most intriguing and unique experience abroad,” adds Blakeslee. “I spent five days there, riding camels into the Sahara Desert, bartering with the locals over scarves, rugs, and spices, and observing the striking cultural differences. [It was] unlike any part of Europe I have seen, let alone the United States.”
Bergstrom traveled in and around southern Spain through a program called DiscoverSevilla that she heard about from other students and friends. The program organized the Morocco trip and also trips to one of Spain’s national parks and Lagos, Portugal. She believes she learned the most outside the classroom through daily activities, such as grocery shopping and sightseeing.
“I think I have grown as a person as a result of studying abroad,” she says. “I was introduced into a foreign environment and told I could only speak a foreign language; it was challenging at times but I feel I am more independent and ready to face anything. Also, after seeing so many different cultures, I am more accepting and aware of the world we live in. Studying abroad was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”
Living with a host mother instead of in a dorm was a pivotal learning experience for Blakeslee. She and a roommate lived with a 73-year-old widow who had been hosting students for nearly 25 years and spoke no English. Blakeslee was disappointed at first that she was not assigned to a full family, but quickly came to appreciate all that she was learning from her host mother.
“I grew to truly appreciate and love my host mother,” she says. “Even now, when referring to her in stories, I often call her my ‘grandmother’ accidentally. Our conscientious and generous host mother created a very clean, friendly, and positive environment. There were of course times of frustration, but I considered myself extremely fortunate in my living situation and recommend it to every student. There is no substitute for the kind of learning that took place there, a refreshing change from the classroom where professors lecture the majority of the time.”
Blakeslee admits she was apprehensive before leaving for Spain, but she is glad she took advantage of the opportunity to experience another culture.
“Every student should take the opportunity to spend a semester abroad, or even a six-week interim trip to another country or part of the world,” she says. “I did not want to miss my time at Lafayette, I was nervous and reluctant to leave my comfort zone, and I couldn’t wait to return to my country at the end of three and a half months. However, two factors convinced me to take the plunge – I knew I needed to experience that kind of challenge and sense of independence and also returning students claimed they could never regret their decisions to go, even if an unusually unpleasant experience had occurred.”
Lafayette offers a variety of faculty-led and other study abroad programs. Over the winter break, more than 150 students took special Lafayette courses in Berlin, Prague, and Munich; Kenya and Tanzania; Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich; Guatemala; Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands; and London, Paris, and Brussels.
For information, contact Roxanne Lalande, director of study abroad programs and professor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, (610) 330-5918 or lalander@lafayette.edu. Her consultation hours are 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in 409 Pardee Hall and 9 a.m.-noon Tuesday and Thursday in 1 Markle Hall.