Spain II – Mediterranean coastal cities, learning, take aways
A Beautiful Castle, Beach and History of Peñíscola, Spain On the weekends, Tarjona language school takes some of its students on excursions to see different sites that we may not know about. On July 24th, we got on the 2 hour bus ride and headed to Peñíscola for the day. On the bus, a few....
Spain II: Bullfight
Bullfighting in Spain On July 16th, around half of our group decided to go and watch a bullfight here in Valencia. It’s the centuries-old Iberian distillation of the most classic of conflicts: Man versus Nature. Recently, bullfighting has become taboo out of concerns for animal welfare. To watch an animal slowly lose blood and eventually....
Spain II: Madrid and Valencia
July 6 – 18th “¿Qué tal vlogueros?” That means “what’s up vloggers?” in Spanish! It’s only one of many new words in my vocabulary. We’ve been here in Spain for two weeks now. Today marks the halfway point in our trip. So let’s review it, shall we? Madrid We got to Madrid on Thursday, July....
EMU in Ghana
June 24, 2022 EMU in Ghana Monday: Monday was our first official full day in Ghana. We started off the day around 8 in the morning and had our first couple of lectures at the University of Ghana. The focus today was on the slave trade (from an African perspective) and religion and human rights.....
Final Reflections: Pilgrimage, Free Travel, Asturias, and what’s to come
June 23 Luke, Laura, Ben, Jacob, Kate 24 hours from the time of writing, our group will be scattering: some of us will be camping out for a night in the airport before connecting flights, some will already be exploring other countries or continuing to explore Madrid, and some will be unloading our baggage....
Valencia: remembering Madrid, activities, host families and classes
June 4 Putting down roots in Valencia—getting to know the city and its opportunities, our host families, and Taronja, our school—has greatly enriched these past few weeks. As we face our last week here, we wanted to share reflections on past moments, enjoyable activities, those who have been kind enough to open their homes to....
Spain 2022
Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Valencia (families and school) May 24 At the time of writing, we have been in Spain exactly two weeks—two weeks ago to the hour, we were en route to the airport, trying to imagine how we would navigate the next month and a half in new cities, a new culture, and....
Guatemala: Weekend trips, Halfway Mark & Hope
Guatemala: Weekend Trips, Halfway Mark, & Hope With March upon us, it’s clear that time is flying by. While some days may seem long, the weeks truly are short. As we continue to attend the final days of Spanish classes during the week, the weekends serve as memorable and educational getaways, full of learning opportunities....
Guatemala Immersion
Now that we’ve passed the 1-month mark, settled into host families and Spanish classes, figured out the public transport system, gotten comfortable with our surroundings, etc., we’ve realized that we’re here to stay for a little while. The honeymoon phase is a thing of the past and some days feel harder than others. Some days....
One Month in Chiang Mai
In Journal Snippets -Kate Szambecki September 18, 2021 I am currently sitting at the laundromat. It’s outside (covered) and you must take your shoes off. It’s very nice. We flew to Bangkok, then Chiang Mai, and were greeted by YMCA staff and university interns, and drove to the YMCA. I napped, we ate, then went....