In Costa Rica, I completed an immersive Spanish course 1-on-1 with a wonderful professor at the Universidad EARTH, a carbon-neutral, rural school focused on agronomy and sustainability. In addition to students from 40+ countries, the campus is also home to snakes, sloths and jaguars!
At Kent State ("KSU"), my major was called "translation studies," so in addition to Spanish grammar and literature classes, I studied writing, multicultural competence and translation and interpreting techniques. KSU has a partner university in Valencia, Spain, so I spent my spring semester of 2020 (until covid hit--then everything went virtual) abroad with the Universidad Europea de Valencia's translation program. I absolutely adored this city, which is on the Mediterranean coast south of Barcelona, and made lots of friends I am still close with today. Unfortunately, the pandemic also interrupted my plans to intern abroad in Ecuador through a non-profit, The Tandana Foundation, in the summer of 2020. However, I still worked with the foundation virtually, and this was a major motivator for me to spend this current year in Ecuador in person!
After more than a year of virtual classes, I was thrilled to spend my senior year of college abroad in Florence, Italy! Kent State has its own campus in the city, and I was lucky to study the Italian language and European history in such a magical and historical place! I indulged in plenty of delicious pasta, pizza and gelato, and I was lucky to learn from wonderful Italian professors who took us on walking tours of the city instead of lecturing for classes. I also met some of my very best friends in Italy, and the ease of public transport in Europe enabled me to travel quite a bit!
