This past summer, a group of Auburn students traveled across the globe to Salamanca, Spain for a very unique and cultural studying experience.

Auburn University offers an intensive academic language program in Salamanca every summer for undergraduate and graduate students as well as teachers of Spanish. This year, the program started on June 29 and ended on July 26.

Students had the opportunity to study in Salamanca, also known as the “heart and soul” of Spanish university life, mostly due in part to the fact that it is the proud home of the oldest university in Spain (it was founded in 1230).

The expenses for the trip this past summer were $540 for the Auburn abroad fee and $5,250 for the program fee, which included health insurance, cultural activities, round trip airfare from Atlanta to and from Spain, room and full board and a group excursion to Madrid (two night stay) hotel and breakfast included, and a three night stay in Paris, hotel and breakfast included, prior to departure back to US.

Students had the option of taking a variety of Spanish courses ranging from entry-level Spanish courses such as Elementary Spanish I to upper-level courses such as Spanish Civilization.

Auburn student Beth McDonald said that she went on the trip this summer to take Spanish Elementary II and Intermediate I.

“I thought that it would be easier for me to be in the culture and learn the language because I would be speaking it every day,” she said.

Students also had the opportunity to travel to other destinations in Europe during the trip. As previously mentioned, students got to spend two nights in Madrid and three nights in Paris at the beginning and end of the trip. There were also optional excursions to the south of Spain and Portugal and students got a long weekend to either take one of these optional excursions or plan a trip of their own to their preferred destination. McDonald said that traveling not only to Spain, but to other European cities as well was her favorite part of the trip.

“It was neat to see all the cultures how, you know, everyone thinks you’re so different but really everybody’s the same. We’re all people,” McDonald said.

Overall, McDonald claimed she would readily recommend this trip to anyone interested in going. If you would like more information about trips in the past or about a trip for this upcoming summer contact Lourdes Betanzos at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Pedro Cebollero at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Ted McVay, Jr. at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).





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