Jamison Russ: Spain

Arrival and First Days

      My journey truly began upon arrival in the Boston airport where I was greeted by one hundred milling students, all clad in their orange Middlebury shirts, and Kristina, who prompted the first of many reality checks as I stumbled over my name when she asked "Como te llamas". After meeting a few of my now friends for the first time on the flight to Madrid, we took a bus to Granada to our home for the month, a boarding school named Ave Maria Casa Madre. We were greeted by a lunch of salad, potatoes, and eggs before being introduced to our counselors and the program. These first few hours, which were a struggle  after forty hours awake, gave me confidence for the rest of the month as we got to know each other in English before beginning the Language Pledge of the academy, which stated that Spanish would be the only language I would be able to speak, listen to, read, or write for the rest of the month plunging into our immersion experience in earnest.  

I'm unfortunately blocked in the back of this picture, but this is my group, lifting up our counselor, Jose  with whom I did daily activities and bonded

Daily Routine

       My mornings started either at seven or eight. If I didn't sleep through my watch, I got up to run and exercise; if I did sleep, Jose would burst in full of energy dancing to his speaker playing Spanish pop music. Breakfast was the most American thing of the day, and consisted of normal cereal, yogurt, and fruit. Next, still drowsy, I went to morning assembly where the counselors gave us the afternoon activity option sign-ups. Next was something that took some getting used to. After the itinerary, we just danced. As an awful dancer, the first few days of this horrified me, but later turned into an awesome way to let myself go and try something new. 

      Classes were from ten to one every day with a snack at twelve. I was placed in the top group alongside, my MBA buddy Daniel Cowan, with a wonderful teacher named Carmen. Being in the highest level allowed my class to focus less on grammar and more on history and current culture issues like the Arabic influence on Spanish,  immigration, the dreams and expectations of young people in the US versus Spain, and of course food, 

Me with (left) my teacher, Carmen and (right) one of my favorite counselors, Jessica 

    After daily classes, each week I had the opportunity to take a cultural exploration class to expand the immersion. During these classes I learned about Spanish comics, took advantage of a photography class, in which we were allowed to roam outside of the normal excursion boundaries and see new parts of the city,  and finally learned about a type of clay making named Mudejar. 

After the morning classes, we ate lunch, the largest meal of the day, at two thirty and took an hour and a half "siesta" which translated to free time with friends on the large sport court or cards and ping pong.

     The afternoon was the most diverse time. It often consisted of activities with the counselors, anything from bracelets, masks, cross fit, dancing, cooking, or karaoke were available. The other option for the afternoon were excursions into the city. I was allowed to sign out in small groups and leave to shop, enjoy tapas, and get a little fix of peanut butter from the supermarket a fifteen minute walk from the school. 

      Dinner was at eight thirty followed by night activities which included volleyball, movies, cards, and free time to hang out with the awesome people. My favorite option were the hikes through the city and surrounding city at night.

A group of my friends and I at the Ermita de San Miguel Alto, one of the prettiest overlooks we hiked to

Exceptions to the Daily Routine

    The weekends and forth of July gave us a break from classes and a chance to see some of the coolest parts of the surrounding city. We visited two beaches, Malaga and Burriana, and the surrounding towns of Malaga and Friliana. Another great activity was a city wide scavenger hunt designed to make me ask questions and talk with the locals to navigate the clues and streets. It expanded my comfort zone and by the end, approaching someone I did not know to ask a question in another language did not phase me like it did at first. The third weekend, I got to visit the Alhambra, the masterpiece of Granada, but unfortunately I got sick and was not able to visit the bread making factory. Falling ill, however, did allow me to visit a Spanish doctor who spoke little English and provided a fun memory of visiting my first non pediatrician doctor in another language. 

THANK YOU!!

     I will always carry the experience of this trip with me and cannot express how many times I need to say thank you thank you thank you. Obviously, My knowledge and ability in Spanish grew from the immersion, but I also gained huge amounts of self-confidence from continually being pushed out of my comfort-zone and allowing myself to relax and enjoy myself away from the expectations of everyone at home. Not only did I grow in myself, but I now have friends all across the country whom I can call anytime and talk or visit. Thank you so much to the Wilson family for giving me this unbelievable opportunity to travel, learn, and have fun. Also a huge thank you to Coach Kamm for advising me to go and mediating all the communication and booking the flights. This trip was the best experience I have ever had.