Introduction

Greetings all! I’m writing this in Terminal 3 of the London Heathrow Airport, fresh off a nine and a half hour flight from Houston, waiting for my flight to Madrid. Before I start the actual blogging part of this business, I wanted to give you, my precious few readers, an introduction and overview of exactly what I’ll be doing this semester. I meant to write this introductory post a few weeks ago, but true to form, I managed to put it off until after I’ve already started the trip.

As it says in the brief “About Me” section on the right side of this page, I’ll be spending this semester at the TTU Center in Seville, Spain, taking the last few senior-level courses needed to complete my degree in Spanish. Texas Tech heavily promotes study abroad from the time you arrive at freshman orientation to the day you graduate. Which is a good thing, for two reasons. Firstly, I’ve been told by countless teachers, mentors, and classmates that studying abroad is one of the most important educational opportunities you can take. Secondly, it is very easy to study abroad at Texas Tech. In addition to a fantastic staff at the International Cultural Center, Tech has two campuses in Europe: one in Seville, the other in Germany. Traditionally, if you studied abroad you would have to work with both your home university and the university at which you will be studying in order to make sure that the credit you earn abroad will count towards whatever you’re doing at your home institution. However, since I’ll still be at Texas Tech in Seville, the credit earned is automatically applied to my degrees, no contracting required.

This home credit available to me in Seville is one of the reasons I was able to take this trip at this point in my academic career. In order to graduate with a Tech degree, your final thirty hours of studies must be taken at Texas Tech. However, since I will be taking fewer than thirty hours during the fall and spring of my senior year, this means that my credits during the spring of my Junior year (i.e., this semester) must be taken at Texas Tech in order for me to graduate next May, a requirement that would normally preclude a semester abroad. However, since (as I mentioned above) the credit I’ll be earning in Seville is Texas Tech credit, I was able to take this trip and still fulfill the requirements needed to graduate on time.

Because this post is already becoming long-winded, and I still haven’t even started talking about my trip thus far, I’ll only briefly outline what my trip and corresponding blog will entail. After flying Houston-London-Madrid-Seville, I’ll spend four months in Spain taking classes. During this time, I will be taking excursions with the school, as well as (hopefully) some travel on my own apart from the scheduled trips. While in Spain, I’ll live with a host family and generally try to immerse myself as much as possible in the language and culture. 

 I return to the United States on May 6^th.

Enough housekeeping! Time to get down to the blogging!