Study Abroad Scholarship Essay
Hello, my name is Trish Reid and I am a junior at Kansas State University planning on studying abroad in Madrid, Spain through Academic Programs International (API) at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija during the Spring Semester of 2014. My goals for studying abroad are to immerse myself in the Spanish language, to gain experiences that will help me in reaching my professional goals, and to connect with the affairs, perspectives, interests, and service of people with different experiences than my own.
Studying abroad will increase my knowledge and appreciation of the Spanish language. I have been taking Spanish for seven years now and I am ready to take on my greatest challenge yet, to immerse myself in the Spanish culture by living in a Spanish speaking country. I am excited to live in Madrid, Spain for a semester with the hopes of reaching fluency in Spanish. My experience with learning Spanish has not always been easy. When I think about learning the language I think about the frustration I have felt when saying the wrong word for what feels like the thousandth time. I think about crying in my Spanish professor’s office at least once (maybe twice) while at K-State because I just couldn’t get it. I think about the long plateaus where it has felt like no improvement has been made. But after getting past the bumps in the road, I have found that learning Spanish is incredibly rewarding. I think about the joy I felt when I was able to successfully communicate with an Ecuadorian student on campus. I think about comforting a Mexican camper who was homesick while I was a counselor at Kanakuk. I think about the week I spent in Guatemala and how the people and the culture touched me in ways that I cannot begin to describe. Studying a foreign language takes time and patience, but it pays off tenfold.
I want to study abroad in Spain for a semester because there is no better way to learn a language than to immerse myself in the country where the language originated. I
Studying abroad will increase my knowledge and appreciation of the Spanish language. I have been taking Spanish for seven years now and I am ready to take on my greatest challenge yet, to immerse myself in the Spanish culture by living in a Spanish speaking country. I am excited to live in Madrid, Spain for a semester with the hopes of reaching fluency in Spanish. My experience with learning Spanish has not always been easy. When I think about learning the language I think about the frustration I have felt when saying the wrong word for what feels like the thousandth time. I think about crying in my Spanish professor’s office at least once (maybe twice) while at K-State because I just couldn’t get it. I think about the long plateaus where it has felt like no improvement has been made. But after getting past the bumps in the road, I have found that learning Spanish is incredibly rewarding. I think about the joy I felt when I was able to successfully communicate with an Ecuadorian student on campus. I think about comforting a Mexican camper who was homesick while I was a counselor at Kanakuk. I think about the week I spent in Guatemala and how the people and the culture touched me in ways that I cannot begin to describe. Studying a foreign language takes time and patience, but it pays off tenfold.
I want to study abroad in Spain for a semester because there is no better way to learn a language than to immerse myself in the country where the language originated. I