Maggie Rempe sits at Park Güell in Barcelona.
After blog post #1, I realized I could probably do a little more than just write profiles of people who studied abroad. So for round 2, I decided to add some of my thoughts about the stories I'm telling. If you don't want to hear what I have to say, that's fine, you already visited the page and that's really all I need to complete my project for this class.
Maggie Rempe studied Spanish all through high school (with me!) and after continuing to learn and practice the language in college, she decided to spend a summer studying in Soria, Spain.
I, too, considered studying abroad in Spain and practicing my Spanish skills, but as it turns out, reading "Una Mano en la Arena" senior year of high school didn't help me too much.
Anyway, Maggie decided to go to Soria through a UNL program, so she would be with students and professors from home the whole time. She said she thought this would make the whole summer in a new country feel a little more familiar. As fun as it is to just show up in a brand new country and go meet up with strangers, it's a little overwhelming (especially when you're in China and your phone doesn't work and you don't actually know who you're looking for in the airport, just an example).
A relatively small town, Soria is located in north-central Spain, a few hours via bus from both Madrid and Barcelona (2.5 and 4.5, respectively). Maggie said she chose this location because she feared she would be more distracted in a big city. She wanted to immerse herself in a new community and actually improve her language skills, rather than just visiting tourist attractions day in and day out.
On the weekends, however, Maggie did get a chance to visit Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastián and some smaller towns near Soria, as well as Rome, Italy.
Inconveniently, she was busy during the few days I spent in Barcelona, so she didn't get to see me. Obviously, that would've made her trip so much more fun. I'm not mad, just disappointed.
“The cities were fun to visit, but if I had to do it over again, I would spend more time in the smaller towns with unique cultures instead of just visiting all of the touristy cities,” Maggie said. “You’d think there would be more culture to explore in the big cities, but it’s actually so easy to get caught up in the crowds that sometimes you can’t even stop moving long enough to take it all in.”
In one of the smaller towns she visited, Maggie and her attended a festival with a big parade that lasted through the afternoon. After the parade ended, everyone crowded into a small stadium with a path of embers burning through the center. The locals took turns walking across this path, and some would even put their loved ones on their backs during the walk, as if to say, “I would walk through fire for you.” Seems a little dramatic to me, but I have a heart of stone so my opinion doesn't count.
There aren't any celebrations similar to that in Nebraska, so Maggie said it was awesome to see so many people gather together for something that seemed so random.
(Upon further research, I discovered the lore that only locals are capable of walking across the embers. Apparently Maggie did not test this theory).
Parades and festivals were frequent throughout her time in Soria, though, and one of her favorite parts of studying there was witnessing the people in town all gather together to celebrate so often.
“Honestly, attending festivals was one of the best ways I was able to meet people and learn about the culture here,” she said.
Outside of the big events in town, Rempe also volunteered at the local Red Cross and helped teach English there. This gave her a great opportunity to meet people in town and practice speaking Spanish outside of the classroom.
"This trip pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, but I know I needed it,” Rempe said. “I went there to improve my Spanish and see a few new places, but I came back knowing how to travel confidently, take risks and truly appreciate a new culture. I don’t think I could’ve gained any of those skills any other way."
Other ways to push yourself out of your comfort zone abroad include: searching for the best xiao long bao in Shanghai without cell service to find directions, walking 15 miles alone in 104 degree heat and challenging yourself to stay out all night until the sun rises. I've yet to decide if I recommend or strongly advise against any of those things, so for the time being, just trust Maggie and know that any time spent abroad will improve your life a lot.