The Wonders of a  Junior Year abroad. 

 

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I was a student in an study abroad program.  It was a fabulous year for me.  I was free from living with my parents and living by their rules and regulations and worries about when I went out and when I came home.  Next to driving a car, it was the most freeing experience ever.  I lived in a foreign country and learned a language that I had only used in Synagogue before.  Every week during that first summer of my one year program, there were two things to look forward to.  One was Israeli dancing on a weekly basis and the second was a Wednesday afternoon day trip to someplace that the average tourist never gets to see. 

 

Fast forward thirty years,  I now have a daughter who has followed in my footsteps to some degree.  She is currently on a study abroad program though it is not where I studied. She chose her program based on her desire to become completely fluent in Spanish.  Her desire is to  improve her skill set so that, as a future journalist, she will be an asset both to Spanish and English news organizations.  

 

My daughter has succeeded in her endeavor beyond her own expectations.   After visiting with her last week, I know for a fact that she is indeed almost completely fluent in Spanish.  She is able to converse in Spanish with ease.  She has begun to think in Spanish and that is the mark of a person who has mastered a new language.  In addition, like her mother once did, she is exploring a country like a native person might do.  She is visiting museums and cloud forests as well as beaches and tourist areas.  She has learned about the culture of the country of Costa Rica in a way that the average tourist is not able to do.  This is indeed a very important accomplishment for her, and I am very proud of her.