Blogs
Bridging the Gap: Coming home from Studying Abroad
One of my Favorite PicturesI didn’t really know what to expect from this class; I took it because It seemed like a cool concept. I think the fact that I didn’t come into the class with any preconceived notions was really good. In the end, it really helped me to reflect on my experience abroad.
I think this particular NYU site could add more classes. While we have several history classes, we lack choices in the arts as well as in psychology. All of my credits here count really just as electives, which ended up being fine for me, but I know could be a major deterrent for others wanting to study abroad.
When I go home I think I will pay more attention to the vast differences between the people you see every day in New York. I feel like when you are out and abut in Madrid you hear exclusively Spanish. In New York, on the other hand, you get on the subway and hear three to four different languages by the time you get where you’re going. I think it’s also interesting how easy it is for me to tune out Spanish here on the subway whereas when I’m on the subway in New York, my ears perk up at Spanish as something I may possibly be able to understand.
When I get back I will greatly appreciate being able to get food when I’m hungry. It’s one am as I sit here writing this and I’m really hungry. My plan was to order pizza once I got hungry, but alas, I started getting hungry well past midnight. Unfortunately, everything here is closed right now, which makes getting food rather difficult. I plan to take full advantage of being able to get food whenever I want—starting with a chipotle burrito the second I’m back in the states.
Also, I will never take for granted again the facility with which I can communicate whilst in America. My goodness, there have defiantly been times where I’ve just been like “why can’t you just learn to speak goddamn English” (Avenue Q)—Spain is one thing, at least I semi know Spanish, but this past weekend I was in Paris and It was really hard to get around not knowing any more French than “oh-la-la.” In Spain, I’ve been working with underprivileged kids; it’s been really rewarding and has taught me how important non-verbal communication can be.
