Español, por favor.

Howdy yall...
Many of you know that I have been looking up study abroad opportunities over the last year in order to know what my options are for possibly studying abroad with UGA for Spanish. I have to turn in the application and the app. fee tomorrow. I am excited and nervous about this chance to go to Costa Rica. For those of you who think I am looking into getting my parents to fund a 5-week school sponsored trip to the beach with a few Spanish lessons thrown in, you should be made aware that we would be spending 4 of 5 weeks on a mountain. We would also be going during the rainy season. And I was informed that I would need long sleeves and boots. I would also be attending class for hours every day. The last week would be spent traveling to various cities, landmarks, museums, and yes-a beach or two. =) I was fully prepared to work every day, but I was kind of hoping that the beach would be a more common part of the experience. Yall know that I L-O-V-E tropical, beachy settings and weather. Well, tonight I had to get all of my application ready for being turned in tomorrow, and I was asked to write a one-page essay to "express why you want to study abroad, what about the host country's culture interests you most, and why the qualities of this particular program support your personal, academic, and career goals." Basically, why are you applying and what does it mean to you?
I thought, I bet there are people I know who are wondering the same thing about why I want to do that instead of study in Athens. Maybe you don't care. Either way, here is my answer....

Studying abroad with the University of Georgia in Costa Rica would provide me with an experience that I would not otherwise be able to have. I am currently working towards a minor in Spanish, and I feel that the best way to experience that culture and develop comfortable conversational Spanish is to immerse myself in a Spanish-speaking country.

It is true that I could visit many countries in order to study Spanish, but I prefer to visit a country for the length of time that this trip offers, and the location that the University of Georgia has chosen seems ideal. Costa Rica is a beautiful area, and this trip would allow me to see much that it has to offer. From the mountains to the beaches, and from various cities and landmarks to the history in the museums, Costa Rica provides a vast amount of beauty and information that will be brand new to me.

I also am excited about the possibility of studying on this trip because I look forward to spending time living with a local family. That is the most interesting area of culture in Costa Rica to me. I feel that it will be a totally different situation than what I am accustomed to in Georgia, and I am interested to see how that experience will shape me. I believe that it will help me learn about the daily lives of native Costa Ricans as well help me improve my Spanish speaking and listening abilities. Outside of improving my appreciation of that culture and the language, I hope to gain new friends on this trip, both in the families that house students and in the teachers and students attending the trip. When I was six years old, my parents decided to put me into a different school that was an hour away from the one I had been in for two years. My mother said she remembered that I said to her, “But all my friends are at this school. What will I do?” She said I thought for a minute, and then I answered myself with, “That’s ok-I’ll make new friends!” And that was the end of my worries. I have taken that attitude with me as I have grown up, switching schools again in middle school, then deciding to attend the University of Georgia, a huge college where I knew only two people and saw neither of those two often. I intend to take that same attitude with me on this trip.

I have always been open to meeting new people and learning about them, and I truly feel that that is the main difference between taking Spanish in Costa Rica and taking those same courses at UGA this summer. I could stay in Athens and learn the same Spanish words or grammar, but I wouldn’t learn about the people and the culture in the same way that I would from spending over a month in a Spanish-speaking country. I know that studying abroad would help me appreciate the culture because I would appreciate the people that I would meet, and they are living examples of why that culture is what it is. I would also appreciate the Spanish language as more than an extra degree or help in my future work; I would appreciate it as a tool to help me communicate with those that I would be living with daily.

Because I will be a senior next year, this is my last opportunity to really spend a month studying a language where it is prominent in the culture in which I would be living. Not only would I be able to study abroad, but the classes offered on this trip would allow me to graduate on time. I currently need four more Spanish classes to complete my minor, and I am in the second semester of my junior year. By taking a Spanish class in May at UGA, I could take two Spanish courses in Costa Rica, leaving me with one Spanish course to complete my senior year. I have worked very hard to achieve my minor, and I am willing to continue working hard for the opportunity to study in Costa Rica.

This program would also be beneficial in my future because it would help me attain a better grasp of conversational Spanish, which might be important to my career. I plan to be an animal trainer at a place such as Zoo Atlanta or Sea World, and people of various cultures as well as local residents of the United States tend to come to such attractions. In the Southern states of the USA, there tend to be many Spanish speaking people, and the ability to communicate with them while in a performance with the animals would help them to be included in what my work would have to offer. I feel that by studying in Costa Rica, my ability to comprehend Spanish when it is spoken to me will be advanced as well as my ability to converse clearly and correctly with Spanish-speaking individuals.

Submerging myself in a foreign culture is something that I have been carefully considering and researching over the last year, and I have been eagerly talking about to several people for the last few months. I am looking forward to the opportunity to be in a new situation that I believe will help me grow as a person as well as a student. I understand that this program is designed to challenge you in your seriousness as a student in order to help you appreciate the culture of the country as well as the language, and I am ready to meet that challenge. I look forward to the opportunity to enrich my college education by learning more about other countries and their residents, meeting new people, studying in a different setting, and improving my understanding and abilities in Spanish.

That's enough about that. I am excited because tomorrow Tom is coming to Athens, and he, Phillip, Claire, and I are going to eat at Outback, then we are going to Gamma Phi's Cocktail Datenight-where I am excited about being dressed up and seeing my girls, and Tom and Phillip are excited about being 21 during a power hour. LOL Seriously, the first hour of the datenight the drinks are only $1 each, but these guys have more sense and respect than to get all they can shoved into their bodies in an hour, so no drunk boyfriends for me and Claire. haha But they can still be excited about being 21 together while Claire and I are lagging behind. Sigh...I don't really care about drinking, it's just that I feel like I've been 20 forever since everyone on earth is turning 21 this year...and it seems like everyone else (in Athens) never really cared about their age anyway so being under 21 is not a problem to them. Being the girl scout that I am-seriously, I feel like a nun-haha, I'm not breaking any laws, so I feel like I've been 20 for half of my life. And since I will probably be doing a maymester (May 15-June 7), I will miss my family vacation (June 3-June 9) and am not going to drive to Hilton Head on the 8th just to turn around and drive back. So I am going to be in Covington alone on my 21st (June 9th)-my hometown hoes better be around to keep me company. It's a Friday, so it shouldn't be a problem to hang out like we did for Tom. And I mean, seriously. I can't be all alone on my 21st bday. That has to be against the rules. I've already given up half the other big days in my life, I'm not giving up that one too. As Tom continues to say-after 21, there aren't that many more exciting birthdays. I actually don't know if I totally agree since I just love having my birthday every year. But still. You know what I mean.
Ok, I am tired and only halfway through my Spanish hw and haven't even started my Geology hw yet, so I am gonna go.
Adios!
~Meghan

ps-I wrote this on Thursday night, but couldn't post it till today, so that is why I am referring to today as "tomorrow."