Hey y’all I’m Courtney and I am prepping to spend my summer in Madrid! I want to go abroad because WHEN ELSE are you young and able to drop everything to spend a month in Europe? (or any location of your choice). This educational opportunity is truly too good to be true, and if you’re anything like me, you have a travel bug. Currently I am a Biology and Spanish double major. In the future I plan to be a traveling doctor, one that doesn’t see my clinic, state or even country as a limit on the people I can serve. This experience will give me a well guided first step out into the unknown and hopefully affirm that this is how I want to spend the rest of my life. I will be spending an entire month is the crazy city of Madrid absorbing the language and the local culture. We have weekend excursions planned to learn about Spanish history and get a taste of the smaller cities around Madrid. A little nervous to be in such an unfamiliar setting but it is going to help me grow as a person in so many ways and it is also going to teach me how to use a subway, which is a life skill many people from the South don’t ever learn (in a foreign language too). Getting ready to leave is going to stress your parents out more than anything you’ve ever done. Remember leaving for school? Yeah, ten times worse, so just love on them. Let them help you pack or take you to dinner or just spend an extra hour or so with them, because I know I am going to miss mine like crazy when I am gone. Other than that, pack light and be open to any opportunity that you have, and eat ALL the food.
