Study Abroad Chronicles, Ch. 1: Louise Littig

I am very excited today to have one of our majors currently studying abroad contribute to the blog!  I thought this would be fun for two main reasons: 1) Many of our students contemplate study abroad, so this will be a fun way to learn more about the experience first hand, and 2) It allows those of us here to live vicariously!  While away, junior Communication Studies major Louise Littig has been keeping up with our department on the blog and facebook, and I am so happy she is sharing her study abroad experiences with us today!  This is Louise’s first entry documenting her experiences abroad.  Here we go: Louise’s “Chapter 1”:

"Hola!" to junior COMS major Louise Littig, enjoying Valencia, Spain

“Sin Pregunta: Studying Abroad in Barcelona

¡Hola desde España! I hope everyone back in San Francisco is doing well! I am Louise Littig, a junior Communication Studies major. Currently, I am about 2 months through my 5 -month study abroad journey here in Barcelona.  I attend IQS, a business and engineering school under the larger university, Universitat Ramon Llull (also a Jesuit school like USF!). I am taking all business classes here (for my minor) as well as a negotiating skills class in which my nonverbal communication class I took last semester with Professor Doohan has helped me immensely in! I feel so fortunate to have chosen this internal program through USF because it has placed me in a diverse classroom setting with students from all over the globe. My classmates range from all over Spain, to Germany, France, Argentina, The Phillipines, Finland, England, Mexico as well as most of the U.S. We are quite an eclectic group which significantly adds to our class discussions.

Gooooooaaaaaalllll! (Hint: If you can't go to a Spanish soccer game like Louise, watch on Telemundo)

So far I am thoroughly enjoying the Spanish way of living! Things start later here (which totally coincides with my sleeping schedule). The best meal of the day is around 10 at night.  The meal is typically of tapas; which are bite size pieces of food highlighting popular delicacies from Spain. I absolutely love tapas and I hope to bring this custom back to SF with me! Another thing that I have had to take some time getting used to is how late the night life starts here! Since everyone eats dinner so late, people don’t start going out for the night until 2 a.m. This has proved to be quite a test since everything in San Francisco starts closing at 2 a.m.! However, I am happy (and slightly concerned) to say that I am now fully adjusted to this lifestyle!

Barri Gótic District in Barcelona

Parc Guell

Since I have been here I have been lucky to have some free time to travel around Spain. Last month I got the opportunity to go to Madrid, the capital of Spain. While I was there I was greeted with the most beautiful weather I have experienced yet! We toured sites such as Puerto del Sol, Plaza Mayor, and Retiro Park. The highlight of that trip was visiting the world famous art museum, El Museo del Prado, a museum holding one of the world’s finest collections of European art.

El Museo del Prado

Last weekend I traveled to Valencia to see Las Fallas, a weekend long celebration where on the very last night the city burns down over 80, 3 -10 story wooden sculptures that the people of the city had been carving for the past few months. The fires were enormous! I could feel to heat radiating off of the fires even though I was hundreds of feet away, barricaded back by fences. By the end of the night it looked like it had snowed! Everyone and everything was covered with ash! I believe that these fires have been one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen! If you are ever in Spain during this time of year I highly recommend making the trip to Valencia to see this incredible sight!

Las Fallas

As much as I miss San Francisco I am truly happy that I chose to take this opportunity to study abroad in a different country. I am learning, experiencing and witnessing things that I would have never experienced if I hadn’t chosen to come. I look forward to see what these next couple months have in store for me! And of course returning this summer to the wonderful San Francisco!”

Flamenco dresses

Thanks, Louise, for sharing your experiences!  It looks and sounds like you are having a wonderful time!  Louise kindly agreed to document her experiences for us just before she leaves Spain, so we’ll hear from her again in the coming months.  I don’t know about you, but I added an item to my “to do” list based on Louise’s blog: investigate places to get tapas around here!  Congratulations, Louise!  We miss you in the department but are so happy to hear from you!