UD Abroad Blog

Submitted by Meghan Bohny on the 2017 winter session program in Granada sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…

I can’t believe I have been living in the beautiful city of Granada for a little over a week! Since arriving, we have done a little bit of everything—exploring the streets, learning in an intimate classroom setting, visiting museums and historical sites and making time to enjoy the nightlife.

The highlight of my week was getting the opportunity to visit Albaicín, not once but twice. Albaicín is not one particular building, but it is a small neighborhood located higher up the mountain from the rest of the city of Granada. The roads are small and windy and the architectural styles of the houses and buildings up there are representative of the Moorish era of Andalusia—the region of Spain that encompasses Granada.

From the Mirador San Nicholas—a lookout spot located in the mountains of Albaicín—you can see the Alhambra (a castle from the Moorish era of Spain named for the color of the bricks from which it was built), the Sierra Nevada and the city of Granada. The view from Mirador San Nicholas is what one might picture when they hear “Granada, Spain.” It is absolutely breathtaking.

I cannot wrap my head around how one minute you can be standing in a city with modern stores and many people, but ancient architecture and the next you can be making your way up the steep mountain and into the neighborhood of the Albaicín. This is one of the things I have come to love most about Granada over the past week. It gives you the city feel, but just as easily you can have a relaxed afternoon at a café overlooking one of the most famous and beautiful sites in Granada, Spain.

After such an amazing week, I cannot wait for next week’s adventures, which includes a visit inside the Alhambra!

Submitted by Morgan Young on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in London, England sponsored by the Department of Communication…

It is crazy to think that my first week in London is coming to an end. This week has already been a crazy filled adventure and the fact that I still have three and a half weeks left to explore this amazing city is so exciting. The only thing I don’t think I will get over are cars driving on the opposite sides of the road and how much easier the Tube station is to navigate rather than the subway. It has been exactly a week since I have arrived and I feel completely confident in my ability to navigate around the city.

Yesterday was our first day off. I along with a few other people on my program went to see the Changing of The Guards at Buckingham Palace. It was nice to go on a Monday because it was not as crowded as it would be on the weekend. It was crazy to hear so many languages being spoken by the people waiting to see the event. We all took a guess and agreed that there were  probably around 15 languages being spoken around us.

Today, we definitely had the entire Shakespeare experience. I am lucky enough to have traveled to London a few years ago when my brother was studying abroad. I toured the Globe Theatre in 2014 with my family, and although an amazing experience, having little knowledge on the time period and Shakespeare himself, it did not have as large as an impact as it did on me today.

I was surprised to learn when talking to our tour guide, Tom, that Shakespeare is not very prevalent to the literature they learn growing up. Similar to in America  they read a play or two throughout grade school, and that is about it. I had always identified Shakespeare with British culture. After a tour, we saw a performance of Romeo and Juliet by The Royal Shakespeare Company in their indoor winter theatre. It was modernized and very inclusive in their gender and racial casting which surprised my entire group happily!

Throughout this first week, I have seen a lot of similarities and differences compared to America. There is a deeper history, cleaner streets, and a personal favorite of mine, more vegetarian and vegan options. I am so happy to be spending this month in my favorite city, and feel lucky I still have three and a half weeks left.

 

Submitted by David Deming on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…

The first week in Italy has been extremely eye-opening for me in many different ways. The first and foremost surprising thing is the way the Italian people dress. Back home, people only wear dress shoes to formal events, but here it is everywhere no matter the occasion. One of my favorite experiences so far has been going to the Gucci Garden in Florence because fashion is one of my hobbies and interests. Walking in was like hitting a button that causes a scream over the intercom, “you are poor!” and I didn’t even care.  I was so excited to look around at the gallery they had of past collections. Besides that, my favorite thing from the program has been the food because of one vegetable, eggplant. At home in Delaware, my favorite pizza to get is a cheese pizza with roasted eggplant from a restaurant named Bertucci’s. But the only problem at home is other than that, I cannot find eggplant in many other places. Here in Italy, eggplant is everywhere and I cannot be happier! Every other store or cafe I walk into has something with eggplant in it and they are all delicious. I’m excited to continue the experience and become more fluent in Italian.

Submitted by Mia Ruggiero on the 2017 winter session program in Spain sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences…

In Spain, we have spent a lot of time learning about the culture and a big part of that is food. In Spain, they tend to eat a smaller breakfast early in the day. Then they do not eat again until around 3:00 pm, which is very different than in America. Their version of lunch is a bigger meal, similar in size to our dinner. This meal can consist of multiple courses. After this, they do not eat again until 10:00 pm. This is their version of dinner. The people of Spain also stay up and out much later than in the United States which is why they eat so late. So far it has been a great experience!

Submitted by Dana Osborn on the 2017 winter session program in Austria and Hungary sponsored by the College of Education and Human Development…

After a week in Vienna, my group made its way over to Budapest, Hungary. I was finally getting used to Vienna’s German culture, so I was nervous all over again about getting re-adjusted to a completely different language and group of people. I reminded myself of all the new phrases in Hungarian like “kosonom” for thank you and “szia” for hello AND goodbye. I like the word “szia” because it is pronounced “see ya” which is something I was already used to. Our first night there, we had a group dinner and I bonded with my professor over the fact that we’ve both played card games meant for multiple people by ourselves and had an awesome night full of laughter. I was able to experience lots of new foods like goulash which made me really appreciate the fact that I was given this opportunity to experience a culture so different from the one I was used to.

Another big adjustment I had to make was getting used to Hungary’s currency, the forint. One US dollar is worth almost 300 forints, so it took a lot of effort for me to realize that when I’m paying 5,000 forints, I’m actually only spending 17 dollars. I guess you could say I feel pretty rich here since I’m able to carry “40,000 dollars” at a time. At one point, I had to use the bathroom and an attendant at the door said “200 forints for entry”. At first I was shocked and decided it can wait until I realized that 200 forints is only 66 cents. This currency difference took a day to get used to, but now I’m happy to say that tonight I spent 4,000 forints on dinner and I did not make a huge dent in my bank account.