A Look Into Rae Miller's Summer in Spain

This program was suggested to me while in class with Colleen Culleton, associate professor of Spanish, as a means to make study abroad more accessible and less financially daunting.

Studying Spanish has always come easy to me in school. The grammar rules and theory were never a struggle for me in class, however, I still have struggled to speak with native speakers. I knew that I needed the chance to study the language while being immersed in it, living in a country that speaks Spanish. I knew this program would help me achieve that. There are many study abroad programs that go to Spanish speaking countries, but this program specifically focuses on immersing students in the Spanish language and providing as many opportunities to speak Spanish as possible.

I was incredibly excited as I knew this would be life changing for me and my language development. I have also never traveled outside of the U.S. or Canada before participating in this program. Alongside studying the language, I had the opportunity to study the culture overseas and experience what it is like to live in Europe, not just as a tourist or traveler, but as a local. I can’t wait to return to Spain again in the future!

Not only did I get to spend a lot of time studying the Spanish language and gain significantly more confidence in speaking the language, I also learned a lot about myself. Being alone in a foreign country where English is not really used is never going to be easy. However, I was able to prove to myself that I was capable of traversing a new place all by myself. I figured out public transportation, navigated several cities while completely solo and also managed to be able to ask for help when I needed it.

I participated in a study abroad program in Spain studying Spanish language and culture. I was studying at the University of Salamanca, one of the oldest universities in the world. I stayed with a homestay family rather than living in a dorm or a hotel, allowing me to experience more of the local customs, traditions, food and language.

Throughout the week, I took three classes each morning (grammar, conversation class and culture classes) and then had the rest of the day to myself to explore the city of Salamanca.

On the weekends, we were encouraged to leave the city and explore Spain and even surrounding countries. During my weekends in Spain, I managed to explore several cities and regions such as Ávila, El Escorial, Segovia, Córdoba, Seville, Madrid, Sierra de Guadarrama and even spent a weekend in Portugal exploring the city of Porto and the Douro Valley. Each of these excursions and trips allowed me to experience the varied culture and history throughout the Iberian Peninsula. I learned things I never could have learned from simply sitting at a desk in a lecture class. I didn’t study from afar, I actually got to see things with my own eyes, taste the food for myself, listen to the conversations around me and feel the emotions of Spain.

For me, studying Spanish, I have always struggled most with actually speaking the language. I have read many novels in Spanish without issue, I have written hundreds of pages worth of essays in Spanish, I have comprehended movies in Spanish without breaking a sweat. Speaking, however, has always been a big roadblock, in Buffalo I have always struggled to find opportunties to speak with native speakers to practice.

Salamanca, Spain is not as big of a city as the big tourist destinations that are Barcelona, Madrid or Valencia, so far less people there are speaking English, forcing me to rely primarily on speaking Spanish to get by. For the first few days, I was always incredibly nervous speaking. I would wait in lines at a bakery or store practicing my lines repeatedly in my head, hoping I wouldn't screw it up. As the weeks went by, I got far more confident, and it was much easier for me to speak on the fly without having to plan out each word, including in situations where I was under pressure. I used to feel like an imposter when I was labeled as a Spanish speaker, but now I feel much more confident telling people that I speak Spanish.

Just do it! Don’t overthink it. You will be fine, and you’ll be so proud of yourself for doing it.

Coming out of high school, I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do with my life. I felt comfortable attending UB as it was a school with an incredibly diverse range of majors and minors making it easy to find what interested me. I started my freshman year undecided and now I am about to enter my senior year finishing up two majors and a minor.

As a queer student, I have always felt much safer in Buffalo and at UB than I have just about anywhere else I have been, and that has always been incrediby important for me as someone who refuses to stifle my identity in order to feel safe.

I appreciate the Spanish program at UB for being incredibly fleshed out and diverse. Many schools and institutions have a tendency to focus primarily on either Spain or Mexico when teaching language and culture. Here at UB, I have taken classes and completed studies focusing not just on Spain and Mexico, but also all throughout the entire Spanish speaking world, including Spanish in the U.S. I have not just had to endure Spanish grammar classes. Instead, the majority of my classes have been focused on immersing me in the culture, having me study Spanish literature, novels, poems, films, research, history and more. The staff is also very diverse, made up of professors focused on many of the varied dialects of Spanish throughout the world.

As a dancer, I am a part of Impulse Dance Force, which is an undergraduate dance club that gives students the opporunity to dance and perform regardless of dance experience, and also allows opportunities for choreographers to create dance and put their work out there. I have had the opportunity now to choreograph several dances for Impulse, which has allowed me to strengthen my art, alongside my skills in communication and teamwork.

Take advantage of all the opportunities that come your way!

I am currently working on building a Spanish program for preschoolers here in Western New York, hoping to make language learning more accessible for young children. I feel right now, we are in a political climate in the U.S. in which I believe it is more important than ever to be able to understand Spanish. Not just that, but there has always been a huge Spanish speaking population throughout all 50 states. I am hoping that by bringing bilingualism to the next generation, we can help bridge cultural gaps and help bring more inclusivity to the next generation.