This is my first blog entry and my first week in Argentina!

My name is Katie, and I am a 3^rd year medical student at Drexel University originally from Rochester, NY. I came to Buenos Aires, Argentina to learn Spanish so that I can communicate with the multitude of Spanish speaking people in the U.S., in an attempt to bridge the gap between the number of Spanish speaking patients and doctors.

I will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina for four months, three of which I am enrolled in AmeriSpan Spanish classes. For the first four weeks I will be studying general Spanish, and the next eight I will be in the SALUD (medical Spanish) program.

I am going to be honest with you, when I arrived here I had no idea what to expect. I was somewhat terrified to move to a foreign country for four months on my own. The moment I walked into my host abuela’s apartment I knew it was going to be the experience of a lifetime. She was so welcoming. She barely knows any English, and my Spanish is horrible, yet we still managed to carry on a thirty-minute conversation with lots of hand waving and facial expressions. I felt at home right away.

My limited ability to speak to my host mom has definitely been motivating me to learn Spanish fast. On the day I arrived, she gave me directions to the school at least three times. I repeated them back to her, and we both agreed I would find my way to the school just fine.

I guess I misunderstood my abuela. I walked for 25 minutes in the opposite direction of the school. When I reached the end of Paraguay, I gathered the courage to ask a nice parking garage employee “Donde está calle Suipacha?” He muttered something in Spanish, and brought out a map. He told me that I was “muy lejos” from Suipacha. I was already late to class so I jumped into a cab and got to class fifteen minutes late. If that isn’t motivation enough to learn Spanish, I don’t know what is!

The city of Buenos Aires is breathtaking. There is so much to see, do, and learn from the people living here. I am so blessed to have to opportunity to commit four months to a language and culture. Until the next update – Hasta pronto!

Read all of Katie B.'s blog entries

Find out more about AmeriSpan's SALUD Medical Spanish programs

By Nichole D., Guest Blogger and SALUD Medical Spanish in Peru participant

I know many of my close friends and family have been asking if I'll start a blog while abroad and well, here it is!  My goal while abroad is to update this blog as much as I can…at the very least I'll post a new blog twice a week.

In just a little over a week I will be starting my journey to Cusco, Peru where I will be living for an entire month!

For those of you that don't know, I will be taking medical Spanish classes Mon-Fri as well as volunteering in a clinic in the Cusco area.  I absolutely can't wait to start this journey and I promise to keep everyone updated on my adventures as much as I can!

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Lima Hotel

After being at airports from 7am to midnight, when I got to the hotel all I could think about was sleep!  But when I went down to the main lobby this morning to print my boarding pass, the woman working the desk asked if I would mind helping her daughter with her English homework since she has an exam tomorrow.  We had a lot of fun and a little difficulty converting her sentences from Spanish to English but we definitely both learned a lot and I really think she will do well on the test!  In exchange for my English lessons, they offered me a breakfast of eggs, coffee, juice and some bread which was amazing!  I´m getting picked up to be taken back to the airport to fly to Cusco in 20 min where I will finally be united with my host family and roommate Dalya!

I absolutely can´t wait to get to Cusco!!!

Read all of Nichole's blogs

Learn more about AmeriSpan SALUD Medical Spanish in Peru and many other countries abroad

Meet Dhara K., Fundraising participant getting ready to study SALUD Medical Spanish in Santo Domingo

What is your background?
I am 20 years old, a senior undergraduate student,  dual majoring in International Studies and Biology, pre-med at Virginia Commonwealth University.  I currently live in Virginia Beach.

Do you travel abroad often? 
I was born in India and came to America at the age of 7 months.  I’ve been back almost every summer during grade school to visit family, and I developed an interest in international healthcare since shadowing a pediatrician in Surat, a major industrial city in India.  After two service trips to El Progreso, Honduras last year, I caught the travel bug—and it just won’t let me go!  I’m looking forward to serving our Spanish-speaking Central and South American neighbors as a physician one day.

Have you studied abroad? 
On Semester at Sea in Fall 2010, I completed coursework on a ship, the MV Explorer, with fellow American and international students, while traveling through Spain, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong

Which languages do you speak or have studied? 
I speak Gujarati, my native language of India, and have studied Spanish for nine years.

Tell us about one of your biggest challenges you’ve encountered abroad.
Reverse culture shock—coming back to the United States and perceiving your society, peers, and family differently from the way you viewed them before—is really difficult to face.  They may not understand where you’ve been, the experiences you’ve had, the people who have touched your life so profoundly.  But have faith that there are people who will understand, who will help you make a difference in the world.  It’s really hard to realize that I am only one person and I can’t help everyone or fix all of the inequalities of the world.  Some say that my efforts are just a “drop in the bucket,” but I believe that as a future physician and educator of fellow healthcare providers and students, I hope that I can make a broader impact on my fellow Americans by sharing my traveling stories, and bringing others on my journeys abroad.

Why did you choose an AmeriSpan program?
I found the SALUD medical Spanish programs online and they struck my interest as an opportunity that would fit with my interests, so I decided to apply.

How are you fundraising? 
I am getting my previous high school, my current university, and my Virginia Beach community involved in my fundraising campaign.  I am setting up presentations and writing letters to local businesses and professional organizations to request donations. 

Do you have any tips for other fundraisers? 
The sky’s the limit!! Just get creative and don’t let anyone tell you that your dreams are not possible!  Believe in yourself!

Do you have any tips or advice for others planning to studying abroad? 
No matter how much planning you do, you’re simply going to have to dive in, head first, and take the experience as it comes.  Remember to bring pictures of your friends and family, of important events—graduation, parties, etc.—from home so that the people you meet and the friends you make abroad can know your story as well.  Realize that you make just as big of an impact on them as they do on you.

Are there any fundraising activities that you want us to help promote? 
Not yet, but I will let you know!

See Dhara's Fundraising Story

Learn more about AmeriSpan's Fundraising Program or make a donation

Sadly this is my last blog about Peru…

So we left the somewhat modern civilization that I had come to
know for the past 5 weeks and ventured into the rainforest/jungle/selva/amazon
(whatever you want to call it) there were all sorts of animals. We took a
30 min plane ride into Puerto Maldonado and were met by a guide who took us on
a 1 hr bus ride to the Tambopata River. We were given all natural,
rainforest snacks of fresh banana trips, a local cocona juice, tiny (finger)
bananas and the most famous, brazil nuts. We boarded a small boat that luckily
had a good motor and were on the river for about 3 hours with some occasional
stops for animal sightings. We were given another local delicacy for lunch: a
fried rice dish in a banana leaf that we disposed of in the water when we were
done. We very much felt like jungle people! 

Once the boat dropped us
off at the lodge we hiked up some makeshift wooden stairs that they have to
rebuild every year because the river rises at least 10 feet in the rainy season,
and walked about 20 minutes to the lodge. Our first view of the lodge was
surprising because it seemed very nice. We were greeted by cool towels and cool
pineapple juice with our introductions for the lodge. We ventured down the
pathway to our rooms that only had 3 walls (aka one entire side was completely
open to the world outside. There were no lights in the lodge only candles
and lamps (lit for only 4 hours a day) and no hot water but there was running
water and mosquito nets for the bed so I was pleased. 

Since we arrived a little early we were able to hike into the
jungle and up the 30m tower in hopes of seeing some birds as the sun set. We
didn’t see too many birds but did hear plenty of insects as the sun went down.
However it was an absolutely incredibly view of the forest since we were level
with some of the taller trees and could see for a few miles versus a few feet
from within the depths of the forest. Adjusting to the little light available
and finding critters of all sorts (David loved watching the frogs eat insects)
was a little tough but nonetheless a learning experience.  We all
double-checked our mosquito nets to make sure they were intact and tried to get
a few hours of sleep.

We were supposed to leave at 5:45 the next day to go to the lake
at sunrise but it was raining so our guide said nobody would be out there. Once
it stopped raining we made our way out to the lake and were able to see some
really neat, noisy birds in the trees and a bunch of fish surrounding our boat.
Later that day we went on a walk with a shaman that resides and works by the
lodge and he showed us many of the medicinal plants that he uses including the
hallucinogen that is very popular with shamans (ayahuasca). We took a boat ride
across the river to a local farm where we walked around and got to try many of
the different things that grew there including a stick of raw sugar cane!

The next day we did actually get up at 4am and go a little
upriver and through a path that was at times slightly harrowing to reach the
most amazing spot of the adventures there, the bird clay lick. For a short time
each day the birds (parrots, macaws…) go to this place and eat the clay
because it neutralizes the bad things they may eat. We saw some of the most
gorgeous sights of hundreds of birds frolicking in the trees near us. We
just sat mesmerized for quite some time. Later that day we went to the mammal
clay lick but we were told it was always less likely to see things. There was a
monkey climbing around in the tree near us so we really made our own path in
the woods trying to see him but he decided to take a nap and we never got a
great view of him. Our last night concluded once again with superb food (all
the food was absolutely delicious and like almost all the other food I had in
Peru very natural and mostly local). I somehow managed only to get 4
bites which were well worth the time spent in the rainforest!

We journeyed back to San Diego for about 30 hours and I left with
one of the best experiences of my life.  Now that my Spanish is a little
better I definitely want to return to South America.  If you want to hear
any more about the adventures let me know but I don’t want to bore the rest of
you with any more details. Hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to talking
to you all now that I’m back (well after the 12th I’ll actually be free from my
MCAT lockdown mode).

Here is the link to my Picasso albums online.  I don’t have
time to put up captions until after the 12th so check back after then if you
want to see what the pictures are actually of, sorry!
Album 1   Album 2

con amor,
Jamie

Click for information on AmeriSpan’s language programs in Cusco.

Click for information on AmeriSpan’s SALUD program in Cusco.