The Travel Bug

“Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life”. As cliché as it is to start a blog with a quote I’m going to do it anyway because I know this quote to be extremely accurate (and relevant). I grew up in a small town outside of Boston but I didn’t have quite the same upbringing as most of my friends. My mom is from France. As a kid, I grew up speaking French with everyone on my mom’s side of the family and would spend a month almost every summer in France or Belgium, so I have always had the travel bug. In high school, I took Spanish classes and I participated in exchange program to Costa Rica. When I went to college I started my very first semester in Greece as part of Northeastern’s NUin Program where I also traveled to several other countries as well. On Friday May 13th, I will be traveling to Peru along with several other students to be fully immersed in the Spanish language and Peruvian culture. While a little worried about how different Peruvian culture will be from what I am used to I look forward to embracing this culture and to learn from it.
Through this experience I hope to become fluent in Spanish. I have experienced the benefits of immersion in a foreign language. I never questioned how fluent I actually was until I spent one month living with my cousins without speaking English. When I came home and was speaking with my mother, she was amazed at the colloquial expressions and habits I had picked up. I believe that on my trip this summer, my Spanish vocabulary will drastically expand to include many colloquial terms. I would also like to be able to improve my ability to reactively communicate in Spanish rather than thinking through my response when someone asks me a question.
I will have the benefit of exploring 3 different cities: Lima, Ica, and Cuzco. I am most looking forward to the visit to Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is almost impossible for me to imagine standing in front of Machu Picchu and be able to understand the significance of what I am looking at; a 15th century city built by the Incas almost 8,000 feet above sea-level with no modern technology available. As a Physical Therapy major, my future job entails that I be able to communicate with my patients clearly and efficiently. I believe this will be excellent practice for me to communicate through a language barrier especially with Spanish speaking patients.