Well friends, we’ve made it. Ten weeks later, and you’ve reached the final edition of my blog for Tufts-Skidmore Spain. It’s absolutely loco just how fast this semester has flown by, and I can hardly believe I’m leaving Madrid in just 8 days (cue heavy sobbing). All across the program, students are finishing their drawings […]
Those who know me, especially my friends at Tufts, know that I am a notorious café hunter. One of my favorite things to do early on a weekend morning is pack a backpack full of homework and seek out a cozy spot with good coffee and camp out for hours. While many coming to Madrid […]
This week, in the Thanksgiving spirit, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m grateful for, especially in my time in España. I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to spend a semester in this wonderful city, and even though Thanksgiving isn’t a Spanish holiday, the fact that we have less than a month less […]
This semester, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to intern with Alianza por la Solidaridad, a Spanish NGO (non-government organization) that focuses on human rights work in the community, mainly in the fields of environmental issues, refugees, and women’s rights. As someone who wants to go into environmental law one day and ultimately work […]
I spent this past weekend exploring Paris with a group of friends. Between mouthfuls of crepes and macaroons, the sparkling glow of the Eiffel Tower at night, and the tolling bells of Notre Dam, we were all wildly aware of how little French we spoke, and how obvious that was to any native Parisian. In […]
Chatting with my host family earlier this week, I was a little sad to learn that although Halloween has grown in popularity a bit in the last ten years, it’s not really a big thing in Spain. I had assumed that Halloween was very much an American holiday, but the fall-loving New Englander in me […]
While the majority of Tufts-Skidmore Spain students are in the depths of midterm exams, papers, and projects this week, I thought I would take a quick moment to drag myself out of the stressed daze of due dates to remind myself of how much I like my classes here and how genuinely interesting they are. […]
Scene: Monday, 12:15 pm Tufts-Skid Spain students sit in the Monte Esquinza computer room discussing plans for the puente (long weekend). Someone is playing “Redbone” quietly on a computer in the background. Ryan, Bryan and Kelsey sit hunched over a laptop, realizing all at once that it was silly not to take advantage of a […]
It occurred to me this week over lunch with some friends that we have all accumulated a plethora of funny and embarrassing cultural mishaps over the last six weeks. Whether it’s saying the wrong word, a miscommunication with our host families, or “dos besos” gone wrong, the list of stories goes on and on. As […]
Hola cyber-world! Welcome to my blog! My name is Kelsey Dion, and I’m super excited to share my time in Madrid with you. A little bit about me: I’m a junior at Tufts hailing from Georgetown, MA, and I study International Relations and Spanish. I’m a diehard Boston sports fan, a softball player, avid podcast-listener, […]