Spring 2012 Sisters Who Studied Abroad

Last semester, four of our members chose to study abroad for the entire semester! They answered a few questions for us while they were abroad to give us some insight into the study abroad experience:

Questions: 

1) Study abroad City & Country

2) What are you studying/what classes are you taking?

3) Favorite part of study abroad so far?

4) Any cool excursions?

5) What do you miss MOST about the U.S./UT/home?

Becky Dreps, PC 09:

1) Barcelona, Spain...I'm in a business and culture program through the program CIEE. 

2) I'm in International Marketing, Strategic Management, Spanish and my favorite ones are Spain through the Arts and Cultural Marketing. 

3) My favorite part of being in Spain is being submerged in a completely different culture, being extremely outside of my comfort zone, and traveling to a new country every weekend! I have too many favorites to list. 

4) I will have been to 10 new countries by the time return home on May 5th: Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Morocco, France, and England. Right now I'm on spring break in Spain - it is semana Santa. I started mine early in Lisbon, Portugal and now I'm in Sevilla watching the brotherhood precessions. they wear hooded cone head costumes it is nuts. I'm going to Morocco on wednesday and I will be riding a camel! Spain is a new world... I have seen roits and strikes, have never been stood out more for being blonde, have stayed a million hostels, and learned public transportion is amazing. If you can only learn one word in a language it should be "thank you".

Best adventures: staying out till 630 am, going to carnival in Stiges, taking an overnight bus from Lisbon to Sevilla that was supposed to get in at 730 am but actually got in at 430 am, going to Amsterdam when the canals froze for the 1st time in 20 years, staying at the sketchiest bed and breakfast in Venice with only one other girl, staying out all night in Oslo, Norway to catch a 6am flight, eating my weight in cheese and chocolate in Geneva, doing a pub crawl in Berlin with the craziest tour guide who just yelled at the Germans, and I know I will have soo many more in a month!

5) I miss Mexican food (queso especially), the ease of communicating with my family and friends at anytime, and my own bed. And of course, Zeta and all of you! I can't wait to come back to the great state of Texas.

ZLAM, Becky

Anna Fleury, PC 09:

1) Milan, Italy

2) Continuing my Marketing degree.. Im taking Corporate Finance, International Economics, Management of the Film Industry (awesome class), and Marketing Research.

3) My favorite part so far has getting to know so many different people beyond just where they come from. People from all around the world - everyone has something different to teach you. You learn so much just by going out and having a drink with new people. What's interesting is that you may never see this person again but you will always be more enriched just by having met them and since I'm very shy (sarcasm) you can only imagine the crazy people I've met! haha

4) So many cool things to do around here. Its hard to say. I went snowboarding in the Alps and it was incredible. I felt like I was in a movie the entire time, the scenery was unreal. The other weekend we went to Lake Maggiore and hung out on this amazing lake and tanned on the docks and drank sangria - (not better than sangria in Barcelona though). I'll be going to Amsterdam soon, a trip through the south of Italy, France, England, Scotland and Portugal.... soo crazy I have lots of weird/funny stories but i promise they will be better told in person haha 

5) One of the things i miss most about the U.S. is how efficient and progressive the culture is. It sometimes got pretty frustrating when you are sent on a goose chase just to get a form filled out. The disorganization loses its charm REALLY quickly. UT- I miss how easy the website is to navigate haha. I really miss all my friends and the easygoing lifestyle - I feel like I'm in a fashion show everyday I go to school (I hate it). Everyone walks around with their 3,000 dollar shoes- ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION... I keep thinking, "save that for your taxi, woman"... people will eat McDonalds for the rest of their lives just to be able to afford the latest Louis Vuitton..... And I can't explain how much I miss you guys. There are so many situations I'm in where i think my "zeta girls" would love this! Im having a great time but I know coming home will be great too!

Ciao bellissimi  c'e vediamo pronto! (bye lovelies, i'll see you soon!)

Stephanie Hayes, PC 09:

1) Buenos Aires, Argentina for the semester. My program, IES, did not start until early March, so I went backpacking in Patagonia for 2 weeks beforehand with some sick people I met on the IES Facebook group. Sketchy, I know  

2) In Buenos Aires, I am in an intensive Spanish program where I live in a home stay with a local family, and go to the public university to take classes with Argentines. All of my classes are in Spanish and most of my friends here have taken "votos de castellano" (vows of spanish) to not speak any english with each other! It's pretty much like taking basic AP classes in 100% Spanish.

3) I have never been so immersed in an environment and had to be "on my game" in my Spanish speaking, trying to negotiate my way across this country. The country of Argentina is so diverse and beautifully confused. The people here are so passionate and direct, but at the same time, there lies an element of reservation underneath, reminiscent of a recent history of dictatorships and wars. 

I am having the time of my life living like a porteña (BA local) as I am taking tango lessons with a sexy man named Augustín, drinking lots of Malbec wines and taking every opportunity to travel. I've been all over Argentina, and my family visited me by taking a long surf/let's-just-chill-in-the-Andes trip to Chile. 

4) My favorite new place I've been has definitely been Uruguay, where I met the love of my life selling T-shirts at a churro stand on the beach. (you think I'm joking) Uruguay literally does not have many citizens, so there are just miles and miles of untouched wilderness and endless beaches everywhere! I am returning to Patagonia this Friday with a group of students to study the biological history of the indigenous people and I get to visit Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. 

5) I've done over 200 pages of journaling since I've been here and have so many stories to share with you all! As for things I miss about my life back home, there honestly aren't many besides my girls back in Texas! I've never been so happy in my life and - pause for cheesiness - I really think I've found a missing piece of my soul here in South America. 

amor y paz, Estéfi

Kim Boller, PC '09:

1) Sydney, Australia (University of Sydney)

2) I'm majoring in Public Relations with Business Foundations and the Media Sequence, but I pretty much took electives abroad. I took a class called Outdoor Education in Australia, one called Sports and Learning in Australia and an Australian media studies course.

3) My favorite part of studying abroad was all the new things I did and all the cool people I met along the way. I went abroad not knowing anyone and it ended up being a blessing in disguise because I would meet new people from all around the world on an almost daily basis. It also opened my horizons... I had never imagined that I would've bungee jumped or sky-dived and now I can never imagine having gone to Australia and not doing those kinds of things. I also loved all the super amazing and cheap Thai food I had (particularly because Sydney is such an expensive city)

4) My favorite trip was probably to Asia because it was so unique. I went to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia with a group of 30 20-somethings from around the world and it was an incredibly eye-opening and amazing experience. Riding elephants and playing with tigers didn't hurt either! 

5) I most missed my friends/family (obvi) and the hospitality and culture of Texas. Although I had traveled a lot before, I had never lived anywhere besides Texas. There is such a warm and welcoming culture here that just does not exist in some other parts of the world. I also missed mexican food A LOT.