Exploring with alumni: Alicante, Chiang Mai, and Madrid

From the temples of Thailand to the vibrant streets and coastal calm of Spain, today’s episode brings together three University of Nevada, Las Vegas students whose experiences abroad were as diverse as they are. Angela and Nicole, both Mexican American, share how living in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Madrid, Spain challenged and enriched their sense of identity. Kathleen joins with her own stories from Alicante, Spain, reflecting on connection, independence, and growth abroad. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Allie Crichton: Welcome back to the Study Abroad Pod. From the temples of Thailand to the vibrant Spanish coastlines, today's episode features the equally far-reaching and unforgettable experiences of three University of Nevada, Las Vegas, students. Ángela and Nicole, both Mexican American, share how living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Madrid, Spain, challenged and enriched their sense of identity.

[00:00:26] Allie Crichton: Kathleen joins with her own stories from Alicante, Spain, reflecting on connection, independence, and growth abroad. Hi, everybody.

[00:00:34] Kathleen Steiner: Welcome back to the Study Abroad Pod. I'm Kathleen. I'm a UNLV student here with two other UNLV graduates, here to talk about our experiences abroad. Let's start with our majors and where we studied abroad.

[00:00:47] Kathleen Steiner: Ángela, if you want to go first.

[00:00:49] Ángela Gutiérrez: Hi. Yeah, I'm Ángela. I recently graduated as an international business major from here at UNLV. You know, the business school, let's go. I had the opportunity to study abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Absolutely loved it. I think a big part of shaping why I went that way is the focus on language.

[00:01:06] Ángela Gutiérrez: As a Latinx or Mexican American student, language has always been a big focus within my degree with international business. Chiang Mai, Thailand, kind of connected all of that and the culture that it brought on. So definitely a little bit of an out-of-the-way location, but I loved it.

[00:01:24] Ángela Gutiérrez: So I think that leads us to you, Nicole.

[00:01:27] Nicole Marinch: Hi. Yeah, I'm Nicole. I went to Madrid, Spain, kind of for a similar reason to you, Ángela, because I am also Mexican American, but my Spanish is a little bit rusty, or at least it was when I went there. So I wanted to go practice my Spanish and get in touch with those roots.

[00:01:43] Nicole Marinch: I went to Madrid, Spain, to study, and I am a kinesiology and public health major, also recently graduated from UNLV. It was a big adjustment because while I was in Spain, I was definitely not taking all of those STEM classes. Why did you study abroad, Kathleen?

[00:02:03] Kathleen Steiner: I'm studying hospitality here at UNLV. I'm going to graduate this upcoming spring, and I studied abroad in Alicante, Spain. I wanted to really improve my Spanish-speaking skills, and I knew that immersion would be the best way to do so. And also, Alicante has a beach. They’re right on the Mediterranean, so coming from Las Vegas with the dry desert and the mountains, it was a nice change of pace.

[00:02:29] Kathleen Steiner: What were some of your guys' first reactions when you arrived? I remember for me, I was really shocked by the way the city was structured. It's right on the beach. It's really different from how Las Vegas is because Las Vegas has the Strip and then a bunch of suburbs. There was a lot more downtown area, and I also just remember loving the weather.

[00:02:51] Kathleen Steiner: I went in the spring, so it was January when I got there, but it was still like 65 degrees and sunny. It was super wonderful, and the beach was just amazing. What about you guys? What were some of your first reactions?

[00:03:03] Nicole Marinch: I think, similar to you, Kathleen, my big reaction was that the structure of the city was very different from Las Vegas.

[00:03:11] Nicole Marinch: I got to walk around more and use public transit like buses and the metro, and I was very impressed with how efficient and clean, and frankly just lovely, that experience was. It definitely made me aspire to hopefully live in a city that's very similar in the future.

[00:03:40] Nicole Marinch: I also noticed how slow everything kind of moves in Spain. Everything is a lot faster here in Vegas, and it’s still a metropolitan area. Madrid was too, but everyone still likes to take their time and enjoy themselves along the way. I really enjoyed that. How about you, Ángela? What was one of your first reactions?

[00:03:51] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think for me it was pretty different. I was coming from Las Vegas, so very desert, very dry. It was the summer, so we were at 120-something degrees. Then I went to Thailand, which is also relatively hot, but the humidity hit me a lot harder.

[00:04:01] Ángela Gutiérrez: It was very interesting to navigate a different climate when you go abroad. I think it was part of the transitional phase: around two weeks transitioning and getting used to humidity, because I've never really lived in that much humidity.

[00:04:20] Ángela Gutiérrez: Overall, it was a pretty easy city to navigate. It's a college town, so there's a central college area where you have a lot of things or a lot of activities for college students. There was a lot to do within my neighborhood and then I could branch out once I got a little bit more comfortable with my zone as well.

[00:04:38] Ángela Gutiérrez: Getting more familiar with the area was something that was very important and a big thing that my parents wanted me to focus on while I was there, because they wanted to make sure that I was in a safe space. But how did your families feel when you told them that you wanted to study abroad?

[00:04:51] Nicole Marinch: For me, my family was pretty comfortable with it because my sister had already studied abroad years before, and she actually works in the international programs space. So it was always kind of an expectation when I was entering college that I would be studying abroad at one point. It was just a matter of when.

[00:05:09] Nicole Marinch: They were mostly excited, a little bit scared, because I was going to be so far away, but generally speaking, it was pretty positive. How about you, Kathleen?

[00:05:20] Kathleen Steiner: I think I was kind of similar. My mom had studied abroad in Spain when she was in college, so she was super for the idea. She was really passionate about it for me.

[00:05:29] Kathleen Steiner: My dad, on the other hand, was very nervous about me being far away, my safety, and all the things. But I think all the resources from UNLV and from USAC helped convince him, and my mom as well. What about you, Ángela? Did anyone try to convince you not to go?

[00:05:48] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think it absolutely went that route for a good portion of it. When I initially applied, it was mostly because my sister motivated me to. I'd be the first student in my family to study abroad. She had already finished her degree, so she was like, “No, you have to squeeze it in. That's the one thing I regret not doing in my undergrad.”

[00:06:00] Ángela Gutiérrez: So we applied together. We did it pretty quickly. We just kind of rushed it one night and were like, “Yeah, let's try to get everything in, see what happens.”

[00:06:07] Ángela Gutiérrez: Once I started getting further into the process, it was definitely like, “Oh man, I should have a conversation with my parents about this,” because I'm the youngest, I’d be the first to go, and it's something they'd never really heard about, as first-gen parents.

[00:06:23] Ángela Gutiérrez: I was more nervous actually telling my mom than my dad. My mom's a very nervous mother. She's a little hesitant to have us doing things on our own, and my dad's always kind of pushing us to be more confident. He was also still very nervous.

[00:06:41] Ángela Gutiérrez: Trying to navigate that conversation was not necessarily difficult, but it was something that you had to be cautious about. I anticipated it would be a lot worse than it actually was because, again, I think they mostly had the idea that I was doing it for my own good as well, just to kind of figure things out.

[00:07:08] Ángela Gutiérrez: What would your study abroad be titled as a movie? I think you guys had a very cinematic experience going around in Spain.

[00:07:17] Kathleen Steiner: I think that if I could title my study abroad experience, it’d be something like Under the Mediterranean Sun or maybe The Adventures of Kathleen. I really was lucky and had the opportunity to travel a bunch in Spain and around the nearby countries.

[00:07:38] Kathleen Steiner: I feel like I got to experience so many different places and cultures and people. It was also so lovely to be on the Mediterranean, on the beach like that. I think in the last two months, every day when I got out of class, I would just head straight to the beach and tan and play in the water. So definitely something about just relaxing in the sun and hanging out.

[00:07:53] Kathleen Steiner: What about you, Nicole?

[00:07:59] Nicole Marinch: That's so amazing. I love that. I can't say the same because I was not by an ocean, as much as I do love the beach. But in a similar vein, I got the chance to travel a lot throughout Spain as well as the rest of Europe, and I even made an adventure to Africa.

[00:08:15] Nicole Marinch: I feel like my title could be Bus, Train, Boat—something in a similar vein to Eat, Pray, Love. I don't know if I have an inspiring movie title, but everything was just so picturesque and beautiful. Bus, Train, Boat is a good one though, because those are literally all the modes of transportation that I was able to take while I was there.

[00:08:36] Nicole Marinch: Whenever I was traveling throughout Spain, I always used the train, and I loved trains and buses. When I would go outside of Europe, I was often taking a plane. And when I went to Morocco and Greece, because I got the opportunity to go there, I ended up taking a boat in both of those places. So something like Plane, Boat, Train along those lines.

[00:09:05] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think I had a different kind of experience, especially in those first two weeks. I was thinking more along the lines of Desert Rat in the Rains because there's one very distinct memory I have.

[00:09:31] Ángela Gutiérrez: It was during my second day. We went up into the mountains, and it was rainy. It was not even super, super rainy according to the people there, but I was soaked up to here. I had an umbrella and I was still soaked to the bone. I remember thinking, “I don't know if this is for me. Maybe they were right.” I kind of seeded these doubts, but I think it's also what solidified the experience I ended up building.

[00:09:49] Ángela Gutiérrez: I thought, “Okay, I'm really here. I can't get any wetter, so I might as well just keep going.”

[00:09:50] Kathleen Steiner: So Ángela, aside from all the rain and stuff, what was a big surprise about daily life in your city?

[00:09:58] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think a lot of the similarities to Mexican American culture were surprising. It wasn't too much of an adjustment. I thought I would have maybe some type of culture shock, and I think that's what made it a little bit of an easier transition, because there were a lot of cultural experiences that were very similar.

[00:10:09] Ángela Gutiérrez: Thanks to USAC for organizing the arrival orientation. One of the things that they mentioned there is the fact that people, when they say that they're going to make plans with you and then they don't make plans with you, that’s a very Thai thing to do. I would like to say that it's also a very Mexican American thing to do, and I do that very regularly. I was like, “Oh yeah, people just do that.”

[00:10:30] Ángela Gutiérrez: Then I realized there were people around me who were not Mexican American and they were like, “Okay, that's strange. I'll definitely keep my eye out for that.” I think that's one of the biggest surprises: just how closely intertwined the culture could be with something that is so far and so vastly different in my eyes.

[00:10:55] Nicole Marinch: I for sure found a lot of comfort in a similar situation. I didn't find that I had a lot of culture shock when I was in Spain, and that was definitely part of the orientation process. They were like, “You're going to experience culture shock within the first couple of weeks. It's definitely going to happen.”

[00:11:07] Nicole Marinch: Coming from a Mexican American background, I found that there were a lot of parallels with Spanish culture and Mexican culture, and so it was very easy to adjust. For example, the sobremesa—when you go have a meal, you take a long time at the meal. You sit down and you talk, and the waiters are going to take a long time. Everyone is just enjoying themselves in that sense.

[00:11:24] Nicole Marinch: Even just the community gathering and the way you greet people. In Spain, there's two kisses on the cheek. I don't always do two kisses on the cheek, but you're always hugging or kissing someone on the cheek when I see my aunts and my family in Mexico. So I didn't have that much of a culture shock because it was pretty similar.

[00:11:45] Nicole Marinch: What about you, Kathleen?

[00:11:59] Kathleen Steiner: I think similarly, I didn't experience too much culture shock, but I think some of the big things for me were the schedule and rhythm of Spanish culture. It was much more relaxed. People, like you said, take more time to enjoy being with each other than I think we do here in the U.S.

[00:12:08] Kathleen Steiner: Like Nicole said about greeting people, they’re very into the kisses and the hugs. That was a thing. Another thing they mentioned in my orientation is that it's much more common for people to stare in Spain. In the U.S., we’re told, “Don't stare, don't stare,” but in Spain, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just something they do. They said, “If people are staring at you, it's not a bad thing. That's just something that happens.”

[00:12:29] Kathleen Steiner: That was really good to know because I think, at the beginning, I felt a lot of anxiety about, “Oh my God, everyone can tell I'm American.”

[00:12:52] Kathleen Steiner: Another big one is Spanish people are pretty loud. They said, “People are going to be loud at dinners and when you're in groups. People talk over each other, and it's not rude like it might feel here. It's just a way of being excited and passionate about what they're talking about.”

[00:13:10] Kathleen Steiner: I think USAC prepared us really well in the orientation. They definitely mentioned the big differences between the U.S. and Spain, and that was really helpful.

[00:13:13] Kathleen Steiner: Ángela, did you ever feel out of place, or how did you find some community in Thailand?

[00:13:24] Ángela Gutiérrez: Yeah, I think what was really interesting is that in Chiang Mai, there's a very high migrant population from East and Southeast Asia. I went there to actually study Mandarin instead of Thai, and it was kind of cool to see that different connection.

[00:13:30] Ángela Gutiérrez: I connected a lot with the migrant students who were coming into Chiang Mai University, but also with some of the local students. I ended up going to a couple of different dancing places because I'm a big dancer, and I got to meet a lot of the local community. I think that's what I mostly focused on, which is what led me to feel a little bit more comfortable.

[00:13:47] Ángela Gutiérrez: I went to Latin American dancing, so I did salsa, bachata, and some West Coast swing, which I ended up taking on over there—very interesting, something I had never done here. Just slowly integrating myself into more local events definitely made me feel a lot more comfortable within the community too.

[00:14:03] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think I came out with the best spots to eat at, so if you guys want any recommendations for Chiang Mai, just let me know. I bring a lot of my Latin American culture into my experiences abroad. It's very much a part of who I am, so the way I socialize has led to different ways to connect with the communities over there. That's where I find a lot of connection with the Thai students.

[00:14:23] Ángela Gutiérrez: Do you think being a Latinx student shaped how people saw you abroad? Was it any different?

[00:14:46] Nicole Marinch: Actually, I do think so a little bit because of the historic implications of the relationship between Mexico and Spain. I found the culture shock was less because they have similarities, given their history.

[00:15:00] Nicole Marinch: I also look very Spanish, so I blended in very easily, and I found that I was treated like a Spaniard would be compared to a lot of my friends who either maybe looked more American or maybe more Indigenous, whatever it might have been. I found a certain kind of privilege with that, and eventually I even started to speak like them. It was very assimilative.

[00:15:18] Nicole Marinch: It was interesting for me because I was also trying to connect with my roots, with my dad and my mom being Mexican. I was reflecting on this and it was kind of weird because I'm not Spanish; I'm Mexican American, but I was being treated as a Spanish person. That part was interesting and was a really big takeaway from my study abroad experience in Spain.

[00:15:39] Nicole Marinch: That being said, it did also put me in a better position to connect with the Spanish community there because of those similarities. There was a club that, before they opened up for nighttime club activities, did dance classes. I would do bachata classes and that really helped me get in touch with Spanish culture and meet more locals because it was a very local place.

[00:16:01] Nicole Marinch: On one of my trips, actually in Morocco, I met a ton of Mexicans who were studying abroad in Spain, and I really got to find a community with them throughout that trip. It was a very beautiful moment to connect with them as I'd been practicing my Spanish the whole time and getting in touch with my roots.

[00:16:42] Nicole Marinch: So I had a very interesting relationship with identity while I was over there. In general, Kathleen, I know you were kind of worried about being seen as a typical American, right?

[00:16:52] Kathleen Steiner: I think there were definitely moments where I found that coming from an American background was a strength. I tried not to rely too heavily on that because I really wanted to be immersed in the Spanish culture and not bring my American ways to everything I did while I was there.

[00:17:08] Kathleen Steiner: I do feel like it was really awesome when I was connecting with other students, not just students at the University of Alicante, but when I would travel, I would meet a ton of other students who were from Italy or England or even other countries in South America. It was really nice to have that experience of being an American and being able to share that with people, because people were pretty fascinated by it at some points.

[00:17:31] Kathleen Steiner: It was also great to learn about other people's cultures too. It was a strength when it was something we could all share with each other. It was a way to connect with other people and get them to know me and me to know them.

[00:17:54] Kathleen Steiner: Sometimes it was a challenge because people knew I was American. I had mentioned that I wanted to go to improve my Spanish, and one of the issues I encountered was that a lot of people knew I was American or not a native Spanish speaker and would just speak back to me in English, which made it kind of hard to practice my Spanish.

[00:18:15] Kathleen Steiner: It was something I had to work through. I just started speaking back in Spanish to people until they would speak Spanish with me, and I made it work. Those were the ways I think it affected me the most.

[00:18:33] Kathleen Steiner: So what is one skill that you guys have gained that you keep using in your daily life?

[00:18:39] Nicole Marinch: I think one habit that I brought back would be to really just try to slow down sometimes and enjoy life. I maximized that in Spain and I really want to try to go back to that sometimes, because I think being back in the U.S., I get caught up in the hustle and bustle of American culture.

[00:18:57] Nicole Marinch: In Spain, I was able to both get work done—we were students, I was being studious while I was there—but I was also able to travel, experience the local culture and cuisine, and make more friends. I really try to bring that back with me and, when I'm getting really caught up in my head about all the things I have to do, also slow down, enjoy life, go outside, that sort of thing.

[00:19:18] Nicole Marinch: How about you, Ángela?

[00:19:33] Ángela Gutiérrez: I'm a very big talker, especially when I go to Mexico. I'm talking to everybody in the street. Somebody passes by, I say hi, hello. I did the same thing in Thailand, where I was like, “Yeah, I'm going to talk to people on the bus, because what's the worst thing they can do? They don’t want to talk, and that's entirely okay.”

[00:19:57] Ángela Gutiérrez: Getting to know more people and connecting with people anywhere you go is going to make life a lot more fun and engaging. In very Las Vegas fashion, I always bring decks of cards everywhere. I actually have a collection of decks of cards from countries and cities that I’ve visited. Overall, I have a total of around 50 now.

[00:20:14] Ángela Gutiérrez: That's something I use to strike up conversation. I would be at the park—there was a park right next to my dorm with some tables—so I would set up for solitaire and then people would come by and be like, “What are you doing? Can I play with you? Can you teach me?” Things like that. At the airport too, I’d just set up solitaire and it gets you so many conversations started.

[00:20:27] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think it's a very Las Vegas thing and a lot of people recognize it as, “Oh, I think you are probably from somewhere that has a lot of card games going on.” It's very representative of someone who is extroverted and open to talking, but also someone who is very welcoming and open to teaching. That’s definitely a habit that I carry everywhere.

[00:20:54] Kathleen Steiner: I think a big thing for me that happened when I studied abroad was really gaining confidence in my ability to, like you said, just speak to people out and about. I am kind of a more shy, reserved person, and when I went abroad I needed to break out of that shell and interact with people.

[00:21:03] Kathleen Steiner: As someone who's going into the hospitality industry, where the whole industry is about interacting and talking to people, it was really good for me to get that experience of, one, having to be pushed out of my comfort zone, and two, learning a lot about speaking to people of different cultures.

[00:21:21] Kathleen Steiner: I met so many people when I was abroad—people from Spain, but also people from all over the world—and it was really beneficial to understand how different cultures communicate and what the challenges could be there. Hospitality is a global industry. I definitely want to be able to travel again with this career. So building those people skills, especially people skills across cultures, was super important for me.

[00:21:42] Kathleen Steiner: What about you, Nicole?

[00:21:56] Nicole Marinch: I think that's a really good point, Kathleen. I would say, similarly, I needed to practice crossing cultural barriers. My career goals are to become a doctor. So it's very different in the sense that it's not necessarily a global industry all the time, depending on what you're practicing, but you're always encountering people from different backgrounds, and you want to do your best to help them.

[00:22:04] Nicole Marinch: It's important to develop a skill of cultural competency, which I had always talked about in my classes at UNLV as a public health major too. It's a very big message. But I got to actually practice those things while I was abroad. I was meeting people from all over Europe and all over the world, really, because Europe is a very global place—people travel there from all over.

[00:22:51] Nicole Marinch: I also had an opportunity to go to the doctor there, which was not so fun because I was sick, but also kind of cool because I could talk to the doctor and ask him questions about the medical system. I would also have those conversations with people during dinner because I lived in the dorms in Spain.

[00:23:12] Nicole Marinch: In the dorms, it wasn't as many Spanish students. It was actually mostly other international students. I would talk to Spanish students sometimes, but other times I would talk to people from Portugal or Germany or wherever. Whenever they found out that I was studying medicine, they would start talking about healthcare systems, and it was enlightening at times. People would be telling me about their healthcare systems, and I would also be telling them about the American healthcare system. We would compare those and see what the benefits of the two different systems were and, conversely, the downsides. It was definitely very enlightening, to say the least.

[00:23:54] Nicole Marinch: What about you, Ángela?

[00:23:56] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think for me, again, it was mostly language-focused, but it really did solidify the fact that I want to make sure that within international business, I focus on cross-cultural exchange and immersion wherever I go to visit. This is why I'm kind of just collecting languages as I go, right?

[00:24:14] Ángela Gutiérrez: I did Thai, I did Mandarin, I speak Spanish natively, and now English. One of the biggest things I also noticed in Thailand, that I heard you mention before, is slowing down. There are a lot of other countries that have a slower pace than we do here in the U.S.

[00:24:38] Ángela Gutiérrez: So, Nicole, how did you manage to slow down and balance, but also still get to know the rest of the country and region? You traveled quite a bit, and I know some students are stressed about having to balance schoolwork with exploring. How did you kind of find the space for that for yourself?

[00:24:48] Nicole Marinch: For me, it was kind of interesting because I went to Spain, or Madrid predominantly, because of the classes that they offered there. None of them were science classes. I was doing mostly my gen eds while I was there. I was taking a drawing class, a political science class, the language classes, as well as a cooking class.

[00:25:00] Nicole Marinch: As someone who was used to hard sciences like biology, chemistry, anatomy, and physiology, the workload that I had while studying abroad was different. I didn't have to sit down and study as much as I was used to back home. However, the type of classes they offer with USAC in particular allow for this immersive experience while you're also taking classes.

[00:25:23] Nicole Marinch: My drawing class, for instance, would go on little field trips, if you will. We would meet up at a museum or a park or some other part of Madrid and really get to know the city because we were drawing the city. I would bring my sketchbook or my notebooks if I needed to study for a different class or write an essay. I would bring them on planes and trains and boats even.

[00:26:00] Nicole Marinch: I think that was a way that I was able to balance it out pretty well.

[00:26:09] Nicole Marinch: How about you?

[00:26:11] Kathleen Steiner: Yeah, I totally agree. I also traveled a lot and felt that shift into the slower culture, and it was really important for me to still perform well in school abroad and to improve my Spanish skills. I really did want to focus on school.

[00:26:33] Kathleen Steiner: One thing that I think was unique about my experience was that the classes were structured more like when I was in high school, where I would have all my classes every day, rather than now in college where I only have them once or twice a week. That was honestly beneficial because I had less homework since I was spending more time in class.

[00:26:52] Kathleen Steiner: When I was in class, I could just focus on being in class. When I was done with class, I knew that I didn't have a ton of homework, so I could go and travel. That was really important. I totally agree—I had a class that was all about the history and culture of Spain, so we took a bunch of field trips to different places in Alicante and learned all about that.

[00:27:16] Kathleen Steiner: We got to go to the bunkers from their civil war and go down underground, which was kind of really crazy, but it was a super cool way to balance that classwork and exploring.

[00:27:43] Kathleen Steiner: So I know we talked about our parents a little bit earlier and whether or not they were supportive or nervous, but if you guys could have invited them into one moment when you were abroad, which would it be?

[00:27:43] Kathleen Steiner: I think I would have wanted to bring my dad to Spain during Carnaval, which is kind of like their Halloween-style celebration. It happens in February, and it was super crazy. There were people everywhere.

[00:28:00] Kathleen Steiner: I think it would have shown my dad that, one, it was super fun and Spain was such a good environment, but two, that there were still ways to be safe and safety measures in place, and that it was still easy to navigate even during the chaos. I think that would have been really eye-opening for him to see. He did later on get to come to Spain, so that was cool too.

[00:28:30] Kathleen Steiner: Do you guys wish you could have brought someone, or do you have any advice for future parents?

[00:28:32] Nicole Marinch: One person that I would've loved to transport to Spain with me is my big sister. She is absolutely one of my favorite people in the world, so I was just missing her most of the time. Because of the job she does and the nature of it, she did visit me in Madrid. I got the opportunity to show her around some of the places that I had found and really show her me in my element.

[00:28:59] Nicole Marinch: If I could have brought her to a different part of my study abroad, it would've been when I went to Sevilla for a flamenco festival and I got to dress up. I bought a flamenco dress. It was an expense, but I think it was worth it in the end. I dressed up, got all of the traditional clothing, got on a carriage, and we went to all these little tents. They set up tents and you go and visit them. It's just a lovely time.

[00:29:26] Nicole Marinch: It was probably a highlight of my experience. I highly recommend anyone do that if they can. I would have loved to have my sister there with me, hopefully in a little flamenco dress herself, just really soaking up that beautiful part of Spanish culture. I think she would've enjoyed that in general, and it would've been a lovely experience to share with her.

[00:29:49] Kathleen Steiner: Ángela, do you have any advice for parents of future Latinx students who are nervous about their children studying abroad?

[00:29:56] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think one thing that is kind of hard for a lot of Latinx parents to process when their student is going abroad is the fact that they more than likely migrated to bring you to a safer space. This is where they want to keep you, in a safe space that's under their wings.

[00:30:08] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think it's also very important to trust your child and the judgment that you've helped them build. For parents, know that if your child is making the decisions that are best for themselves under your guidance while they're doing a study abroad, trusting your kid is one of the biggest things you can do.

[00:30:26] Ángela Gutiérrez: They'll have the support that you can offer them, but also the support that USAC brings as a program. There's a very big difference between being in a country with people you don't know or going completely by yourself, versus doing a study abroad program where you have a stronger system of support, whether it be through closer communication with parents, other students who are in your age group, or the resident directors that USAC connects you with.

[00:30:58] Ángela Gutiérrez: Definitely trust in the system that they have set up for your students, because students are pretty much set up for success.

[00:31:06] Kathleen Steiner: Was there a moment when you felt really proud of yourself while you were studying abroad?

[00:31:10] Nicole Marinch: I think I was just really proud of myself for being able to be really independent and juggle both living in this new place by myself and exploring a ton of other new places.

[00:31:24] Nicole Marinch: I felt very knowledgeable and independent at the same time, and I got to really know myself better. But for Kathleen, now that you're heading to Montevideo, what lessons from Alicante will you take with you on your new adventure?

[00:31:44] Kathleen Steiner: Yes, definitely. I didn't mention this before, but I loved studying abroad in Alicante so much that I decided I'm going to do it again. I'm not going to Alicante; I am going to Montevideo, Uruguay, and there's also going to be a week and a half in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which I am super excited about.

[00:32:00] Kathleen Steiner: I'm definitely going to take all the skills that I've learned about myself in Spain with me: the confidence, the ability to communicate with people across different cultures, the ability to put myself outside of my comfort zone to grow and develop as a person, and my language skills.

[00:32:13] Kathleen Steiner: I'm definitely going to take all of that, as well as the attitude I had in Spain. I just felt super lucky all the time and super grateful, and I want to make sure I take that with me to Argentina and Uruguay too. I felt like I got to soak up every moment because I was so grateful that that was an opportunity I had. I'll definitely be soaking up all the adventures there as well.

[00:32:31] Kathleen Steiner: We’re drawing to a close here, and I just want us to really quickly share, before we go, the biggest way you think you've changed since studying abroad.

[00:32:52] Ángela Gutiérrez: I think I'll go ahead and take that question first. I think my confidence grew substantially—not just confidence in how I present myself, but also in trusting my own intuition and the decisions that I make. One of the biggest things you have to be honest about with study abroad is that it can be hard, but that does not mean that you can't navigate it.

[00:33:11] Ángela Gutiérrez: As long as you trust yourself and build your own self-confidence, you're able to navigate so many more things than what you might be experiencing in your day-to-day life.

[00:33:20] Nicole Marinch: I completely agree. With that, I think building my confidence also allowed me to be more adaptable to whatever situation someone might throw at me. That is definitely one way that I've changed the most.

[00:33:34] Kathleen Steiner: I totally agree with what you guys are both saying. I think my confidence and my ability to adapt have been what’s changed the most. Having confidence in myself to do things that are challenging is something I've really taken with me from that study abroad program.

[00:33:51] Kathleen Steiner: Thank you guys for joining us. This was super fun, and if you missed it, we did record an episode in Spanish in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month that came out last week, so make sure you check that out if you're interested. We appreciate the time, and I appreciate you guys for chatting with me.

[00:34:07] Ángela Gutiérrez: Thank you. Bye. Thank you.

[00:34:10] Allie Crichton: Thank you for listening to the Study Abroad Pod, a podcast brought to you by the University Studies Abroad Consortium. Please listen, subscribe, and review us on Buzzsprout or wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow USAC on all your favorite social media channels at @studyabroadusac.

[00:34:28] Allie Crichton: If you have an idea for a future episode or want to learn more about study abroad, you can email us at studyabroad@usac.edu
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