It's the Small Things / Son las Cosas Pequeñas

 During the summer, I took a weekend trip with one of my PRESHCO friends to Málaga who had stayed in Europe to do some traveling. We spent the night in the city and took the train to Caminito del Rey the next morning, a hike with breathtaking views that takes place along the steep walls of narrow gorges. My friend had wanted to visit Caminito del Rey for months and I was grateful that she invited me to go with her. We had a lot in common- we were both well rounded people with similar interests, music tastes, food preferences, and a love for the ocean. We both were on the dive team at our colleges, so it will come as no surprise that we are both huge fans of adventure and extreme sports. We both crossed skydiving off of our bucket lists on the same day during the spring semester when we went with my host dad who is a skydiving instructor. The tour of Caminito del Rey was beautiful and I appreciated how the tour guide shared a lot its history with us. Although the wind sometimes made me

During the summer, I had the opportunity to meet up with my granddad in Madrid during his trip to Spain. I hadn't seen my family in six months, so I was thrilled that the timing worked out. We went out for drinks, took a double decker bus around the city, walked around Puerta del Sol and went to La Mallorquina (the best bakery I have ever been to), went to the Sorolla Museum, and played lots of chess on the hotel patio using my mini chess board that I carry with me everywhere I go. My grandad taught me how to play chess last year after we both watched the Queen's Gambit on Netflix, and chess is now one of my favorite hobbies. What I was even more thrilled about though, is everything that my granddad can still do at 90 years old. Not only does he still travel internationally but he also paints the inside of his house, cooks meals from scratch and hosts dinners, drives his car and his motor boat, plays golf, walks miles without assistance, and has excellent mental acuity. Until h

 When people ask me why I chose to study abroad with PRESHCO, I often tell them about how valuable the language immersion aspect has been for me and how much I enjoy exploring Córdoba and other areas of Spain while making new friends. However, as a Wellesley student, I think what sets PRESHCO apart from other programs is the strong connections it has with Wellesley College and the University of Córdoba. During my sophomore year of college, I was able to live in Casa Cervantes at Wellesley College, the Spanish house on campus. Eight students live in the house as well as one language assistant, who is often a recent graduate of the University of Córdoba whose job is to work in the Spanish Department and help put together events that take place in Casa. I highly recommend Casa to any Wellesley student who is looking to practice their Spanish on a regular basis, enjoys being social, and would benefit from being in a small community where they are able to get to know everyone else in their

 During the summer, one of my PRESHCO friends who had stayed in the area after the semester invited me to go on a trip to Morocco with her through Erasmus which was their last trip before the start of the next semester. Unfortunately, the trip did not work with my schedule, and I worried I had missed my only opportunity to do a group trip to Morocco.  After my friend sent photos of her trip and told me stories, I knew I wanted to experience the country for myself. Thus, I went online to see if there were any group trips available with other organization. Fortunately, I found a trip to Gibraltar and Morocco through We Love Spain. Although I hadn't thought about traveling to Gibraltar before, I was excited to check it out.  The other students on the trip all happened to be from the United States and they were doing the same summer study abroad program but were in different cities. Therefore, everyone already knew at least one person while I knew nobody. At first, I was worried that I

 Francisco is a member of ACPACYS who comes in during the day. He could easily hold the record for the world's fastest Spanish speaker, at least from my perspective. He is eager to talk with me and tell about about the things he likes to do. At first, I felt guilty that I was not able to understand him and assumed this was the case because I am not a native Spanish speaker. However, I later realized that he speaks so quickly that several of the caretakers cannot understand him. If people with an Andalusian accent (the most challenging accent in Spanish to understand due to how quickly people speak and how they cut off the endings of words) can't understand him, this really shows how fast he speaks. I see some similarities between myself and Francisco; we have so many ideas running through our minds that we tend to have a hard time organizing these thoughts when we speak. Organizing our thoughts and speaking in a way that is easy for others to understand is a skill that both Fra

If you meet Fran at ACPACYS, the first thing he will do is look you in the eye and greet you enthusiastically with a smile. Shortly thereafter, the word "furgoneta" or "van" in English will likely come up in conversation. Fran has challenges in both receptive and expressive language, in other words his ability to speak coherently and understand others is affected. Communicating with him does require some imagination as he can be difficult to understand, but one thing that is crystal clear about Fran is his interest in vans. He can watch YouTube videos for hours about vans and talk with anyone about vans given how social he is. Fran often asks me if I am going in the van to the pool, a type of excursion that ACPACYS offers every summer for its members to escape the heat. Although we have not gone on excursions to the pool yet (apparently it's still not hot enough, which makes me especially nervous for the July heat!), we have gone on an excursion to the movie the