{"id":800,"date":"2013-01-09T11:04:29","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T18:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/?p=800"},"modified":"2016-11-17T12:12:16","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T19:12:16","slug":"a-reflection-on-study-abroad-experience-in-salamanca-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/a-reflection-on-study-abroad-experience-in-salamanca-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"A Reflection on Study Abroad Experience in Salamanca, Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erik Dove is a junior at Oregon State University<\/a>, pursuing a degree in Biology<\/a> with a minor in Chemistry<\/a> and Spanish<\/a>. He is an International Ambassadors for the office of International Degree and Education Abroad<\/a>. Erik studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, through API<\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I have many fond memories of the summer I spent studying in Spain: relaxing on the beaches of San Sebastian; enjoying tapas in La Plaza Mayor in Salamanca; hiking in the Pyrenees Mountains in the north of the country; my time in Spain was entirely unforgettable. However, I came back to the states with more than pictures, souvenirs, and memories; my experiences abroad contributed to an overall change in my academic and personal goals and gave me the opportunity to experience a culture much different than my own.<\/p>\n

I chose to study abroad because I wanted to increase my Spanish language proficiency.\u00a0 Living with a host family not only gave me this opportunity, but also exposed me to various aspects of Spanish culture. I experienced the value placed on socializing through observing my host family\u2019s nightly outings to enjoy food and drinks with their friends. I was exposed to differences like the size of meals (small breakfast, large lunch, late-night medium sized dinner) and enjoyed the food-induced lethargy of the afternoon siesta. These experiences accustomed me to the cultural differences between the United States and Spain, and I came to appreciate the distinct aspects of Spanish life.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout my experiences in Spain, I couldn\u2019t help but think about how culture-specific aspects of life function in cross-cultural communication. Since my goal is to become a physician, I was intrigued as to how aspects of different cultures come into play in doctor-patient interactions.\u00a0 My experiences abroad inspired me to incorporate elements of culture, language and communication to my existing goal of becoming a physician.\u00a0 When I returned to Oregon State, I applied to the International Degree program<\/a> to add an international dimension to my studies of Biology and pre-medicine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As a whole, studying abroad was an invaluable and life-changing experience that enhanced my academic goals and inspired me to pursue international education as a secondary academic focus. I developed an appreciation for differences in cultures and an interest in how these differences affect interactions between people of different backgrounds. \u00a0My study abroad experience in Spain has become a foundation for my academic and career goals, and has given me the drive to develop cultural knowledge and language proficiency to internationalize my education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erik Dove is a junior at Oregon State University, pursuing a degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry and Spanish. He is an International Ambassadors for the office of International Degree and Education Abroad. Erik studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, through API. I have many fond memories of the summer I spent studying in… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":646,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1163965,1163957,1163959,1163949,1163946],"tags":[3150,18704,1573,1046],"class_list":["post-800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-api","category-college-of-science","category-returnee","category-spanish","category-study-abroad","tag-api","tag-pre-med","tag-returnee","tag-study-abroad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/646"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3800,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions\/3800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/osuabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}