Summer in Spain

Who would have thought 3 years ago when I was going to Spain for the first time that my love for this country and my passion for study abroad would land me a dream job? After returning from Spain I considered working in study abroad, but left the thought to the side to teach middle school for a year before moving onto my Masters in Romance Language Linguistics. Now one year into my Masters’ program I am back in Spain and getting paid to be here! My university hired me for the summer as a TA/Assistant Coordinator for their 6 week summer study abroad program in Cadiz, Spain. Cadiz is a small city in the south of Spain with a beautiful historic center and multiple gorgeous beaches so while most days it feels like a paid vacation, this has been first and foremost a job. I worked with the coordinator to supervise 30 undergraduates who were here for the 6 weeks taking summer classes in Spanish. I helped organize and chaperone the daily activities, wrote daily reports, visited the student’s Spanish families, wrote more reports, chaperoned all program excursions (we’ve been to Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Jerez and Playa Bolonia/Tarifa), tutored, took students to the doctors and pharmacy when they were sick, and was on call 24/6 in case of emergency or if they had questions or needed help of any kind. On my one day off per week you would still usually find me at the school for at least an hour in the morning checking on the students and at the daily afternoon activity. It wasn’t always easy, I had to deal with some difficult situations, was asked questions I don’t know answers to, and had plenty of times when I wasn’t sure what to do; but I loved it. I had a wonderful coordinator who I look up to as a mentor, and I see this job as the next step (the first being my own study abroad experiences) towards working in study abroad as my career, or at least part of it. I gained some invaluable experience and had a great time. This morning I said goodbye to my patitos (little ducks) as they are off to their next adventures; some are doing their own traveling, some are off with the group to Morocco, and some are going back home to confront the woes of reverse culture shock. I only hope that they valued and learned from their journey here in Spain and that I was able to teach them something along the way.