The combination of intensive language classes and living with a host family during her time in Ecuador helped Alma College junior Kirsten McNally through the difficulty of not speaking Spanish.
“Being able to live with host families gives a true feeling for the culture and lifestyle lived by these citizens of a very different, yet unique country from the United States,” she says. “In class, each teacher pushed us to learn as much Spanish as we could. I learned as much Spanish in one week as I did in one year!”
Living with a host family gave McNally the opportunity to see the culture from a local perspective and also allowed her to experience living in a big city.
“Every day we had to get ready and either walk or ride a city bus to school alone,” she says. “All of us students looked out for one another and helped each other feel comfortable. Since I have been home, I have definitely become more responsible in my own work, school and choices in life.”
Kirsten McNally standing on the Equator.
McNally traveled with a group of students and faculty to Quito, Ecuador in the spring of 2007. The group spent a week studying Spanish at the Academia Latinoamericana.
“The Academy was amazing!” she says. “The staff and resources were great. The facility itself was beautiful - it had a courtyard in the middle with classrooms looking out to it on three different stories.”
The biology major spent the next three weeks studying cloud forest ecology. Other students continued their Spanish lessons, assisted in classroom teaching and observed a local hospital.
Each student also was responsible for journaling for a day in the group travel diary and completing a project. McNally’s group posted details for different side excursions in Quito, so future student would have a better ideas about time, cost and items needed for the activity. The completed project is located here.
“My main reason for choosing this spring term is because of its setup and cultural interactions,” she says. “I left Ecuador a changed person and gained a greater appreciation for another civilization of the world.”
