The Cultural Exchange Project

My goals for this program are honestly just to relax and make the most of this experience, to utilise it as a chance to grow as a person. I was able to do a weekend trip with my host family to Naples at the end of July :) It was really nice being a part of the family while traveling. My host father likes to play The Clash and AC/DC while cooking. That gets everyone in the house excited for dinner and family time. Very different from my own home. Being in Sardinia, I am spending a lot of time...

I came in to the program with the goal of better understanding the German culture, but now my goal is to also do a few more trips around Germany over the weekends. This program is perfect for that. To that end, I recently visited Cologne with one of the girls I tutor and we had a great time. It was my first big train ride in Germany so it was nice to go together and chat on the way. She was also very interested in American music and so we listened to music on my phone all the way to Cologne. It ...

I came with the goals of observing and adapting to a new culture, improving my Spanish closer to fluency, and learning to be more independent as I travel alone. I have definitely made progress on all three of these goals. Girona is a stunning city with gorgeous streets and sights to stroll through. More than that, though, were the kindness of the locals; while there, I spoke with numerous vendors who were so patient with my Spanish and kindly shared a bit of their perspective and life with m...