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Name: Lindsey Pippitt
Program: Sevilla, Spain - Spring 2006
Hometown: Winston-Salem, NC
U.S. University: Univ. of South Carolina
E-mail address: lapiscrazy@aol.com
Our Site Director in Sevilla, Isidoro Aren Janeiro, nominated Lindsey to be our Student-of-the-Month because of her enthusiasm for studying abroad and ability to make the most of her experience.
We talked to Lindsey recently and asked her to share her thoughts on living in Sevilla, her experience with ASA, and her advice to students looking to go abroad.
Why did you decide to study abroad?
I decided to study abroad in Spain because I love to travel and thought it would be a great way to really learn the language. My family and I go to Mexico every year, and I had never been to Europe, so Spain was the place to go! My Spanish has improved so much and I'm much more independent now too, so this whole experience has been awesome.
What has been the best part of studying abroad with ASA in Sevilla?
ASA is great, and Isidoro, our site director, is wonderful too. He's always been helpful, and is just fun to be around. Our excursions were all great, and they were spaced 2 weekends apart, so it let us travel around to other places between our scheduled trips, which was really nice...as long as you took advantage of it! Also, the Sevilla program is really small, so we get a lot more out of it than other students do that are here with other programs. They always complain about not having any of their concerns dealt with, where as with ASA and a small group, if there's a problem, it's resolved immediately.
Describe what it's like to live in Sevilla as if you were talking to someone who has never been there.
Sevilla is traditional Spain. The people here love to walk around the streets and relax more than they like to work, so people are out and about all day and night long. It's beautiful because the river divides the city almost in half, so if you're lucky enough to live on the Triana side (like me), you get to cross the river everyday and see amazing views all the time. The Cathedral here in Sevilla is the 3rd largest in the world, and biggest in Spain, so that, along with the bull fighting are two huge attractions. If you're looking for a place to really learn Spanish, be an hour away from the beach and about 2 hours from other big cities, Sevilla is the place to come. I've traveled through most of Spain, and both me and everyone else in our group have decided Sevilla is our favorite city. It's awesome!
What do you like most about ASA?
ASA is just a great program. Everything it said it would do in the brochure, it's done. All our excursions exceeded our expectations, and were really fun because since there was only 18 of us, we learned a lot more than other groups. We got to decide what we really wanted to do, and what we wanted to skip, which made it a lot of fun.
What advice would you give to students thinking of study abroad?
Do it! You will regret it once you're older if you don't go. I was always an independent person, but here I've grown up a lot, met awesome people, including my roommate, and have matured in so many different ways. I'd also suggest living with a host family because you learn so much, and you really feel like you've got a home away from home.
What advice would you give to students who are about to leave to study abroad?
Take advantage of all your opportunities from the moment you get here! A lot of people are much more relaxed and/or nervous, so they let a month go by before they really participate in things like talking much at meals, traveling, going out around the city, and before they knew it, time was almost up. I jumped right into everything, and I don't have any regrets! My parents just came over for 2 weeks too, and they are so impressed with my Spanish, so that's encouraging...and it makes me want to learn as much more as I can in the 3 weeks I have left. Time flies when you're here, so get started as soon as you can!
How has studying abroad changed you?
I've grown up a lot, met a lot of new people, most of whom have different lifestyles and opinions, and that's helped open my eyes to different perspectives. My outlook on life, friendship, family and everything has changed for the better, and I've made friends that I'll keep for the rest of my life. Luckily my roommate and I only live 2 hours away from each other, so we'll be able to hang out a lot, which I'm really excited about! This has been an experience that is hard to really put into words, but I'm a much better person for coming here, and I suggest studying abroad to everyone!
What's your funniest moment been abroad?
There have been so many funny memories in the past 2 months, so it's hard to decide. One of them would have to be when I was in Italy with my family. We went out for dinner to a restaurant in Capri, and for some reason the owners and waiters thought we were some famous American girls, so they gave us free appetizers, wine, deserts, everything, took pictures of us and put it up between pictures of Mariah Carey, Beyonce, and Nicholas Cage. When we told them we weren't famous, they still didn't care and said that we were "Two American Angels"...and with their accents, we couldnt help but laugh. We had such a great time that night, it was an awesome way to end a family vacation.
To read about our previous Students-of-the-Month, click here
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