LIZA LEONARD- For much of 2015 I was in a state of distress, wracked with anxiety. From an outside view, my life looked the same, like it was going on normally, expectedly, down a path. On the inside, I felt the sensation of myself being torn apart into pieces. Some of the pieces were banging […]

LIZA LEONARD- My time here in Madrid is, unfortunately, winding down. For the last three weekends of the semester, I committed to staying put, not traveling, and soaking up everything I can of my surroundings here. Well, unsurprisingly, I felt myself discovering magnificent little corners of Madrid over and over again. I think the sun […]

LIZA LEONARD- If you have not heard me talk about rock climbing, we haven’t been hanging out enough lately. One of the best things that is going on in Spain this semester is my incredible rock climbing class. I know, it seems strange to be excited about an extracurricular activity that I could do anywhere […]

LIZA LEONARD- Como parte del programa de Tufts-Skidmore Spain, todos los estudiantes americanos tiene un mentor español de la misma edad. Una vez a la semana, tenemos una reunión con nuestros mentores en un bar o restaurante para hablar sobre eventos, viajes, y (de vez en cuando) clases. Nuestras nuevas vidas aquí están muy llenas, […]

LIZA LEONARD- I feel like I went to Narnia and back. I entered into a world I had never seen before, and it looked a little strange, and I came back, feeling a little disoriented. The Narnia I speak of is the five-day field trip I went on with my “Recursos Marinos” class that I […]

LIZA LEONARD- Today in Madrid and in Alcala it is raining. It is raining at Atocha, at Vallecas, at Coslada, at every Renfe stop that I pass. It is raining a lot, the day is grey and cold, and everyone on the street is hiding under their umbrellas. Most tragically, it is raining enough for […]

LIZA LEONARD- As wonderful as Madrid and Alcalá are, there is no getting around the fact that they are completely land-locked. They are located in the center of Spain, with no glimpse of Ocean in any direction. I grew up in Connecticut, in a town on the Long Island Sound. Though I have not realized […]

LIZA LEONARD- Tarifa at dusk was blue and chilly. The small port town in the province of Cadiz is the southern-most point in Continental Europe and looks out over the straight of Gibraltar. As we rumbled into the coastal town, there was already a feeling of otherworldliness. The painted-white houses, facing Morocco, the wind and […]

LIZA LEONARD- I have been in Spain for about six weeks now. At this point in my semester abroad (about one-third of the way through), I am ecstatic to be here. I feel full. I feel confident. I feel myself learning, gathering up experiences and bits and pieces of myself. Two mindsets that have helped […]