By Jackie Letizia Staff writer
If Susquehanna junior Kelly Sweeney could change anything about her Global Opportunities trip, it would not be the places she went, the things she saw or the people she met. Instead, she would change the amount of sunscreen she used.
“I should have applied more sunscreen,” Sweeney said. “I got sunburn on almost all of my body.”
Sweeney, a history and communications studies double major, traveled to Spain, Morocco and Portugal this summer on the GO Short Spanish Language and Culture trip.
The program first spent one week in Morocco. While in Morocco, the group went to Rabat, Asilah, Sefrou, Fez, Tangier and the Riff Mountains.
During their time in Sefrou, the students on the trip did a service project together. The project was directed through Culture Vultures, which is an organization in Sefrou that partners locals with different groups to complete service activities in the community.
Sweeney explained that they fixed an area of Sefrou that is now called “Sunshine Square,” which once was a rundown square that was avoided by locals. The students cleaned up garbage and whitewashed the area, and now the community has set up a garden and has been maintaining it.
After Morocco, the group went to Sevilla, Spain for three weeks. In Sevilla, the students stayed with host families and took Spanish classes. Sweeney took a course on the history of religious warfare in Spain while other students took basic Spanish courses or ones that more specifically pertained to their majors.
Sweeney said that she appreciated the home stay aspect of her trip, as it allowed her to “integrate into a family and live in a city for three weeks.” She added how this gave her a more genuine and valuable abroad experience than a shorter program may have.
On the last weekend of their trip, the students decided to take a trip to Lagos, Portugal. Sweeney said that none of the students spoke Portuguese, so it was more difficult to communicate than in Spain.
One of the things Sweeney liked most about going on a short trip was that she was able to be on campus all eight semesters. However, she does wish that the trip could have lasted a little longer.
Sweeney said that anyone who is looking to study abroad should “talk to people who have done it in the past and to go into it with an open mind.”
She also suggests to do research on the programs Susquehanna has to offer and to factor that into the decision.
