Study Abroad in Cáceres -- A Guide for Family & Friends

Elizabeth is in her junior year at Kalamazoo (aka "K") College, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is almost exactly 100 miles from our house. One of the things her college is known for is an extensive study abroad program in which most of the kids participate -- I *think* it's around 85% -- usually during their junior year. There are programs all over the world. Elizabeth is in Cáceres (pronounced koth'-race, more or less), Spain and here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the whole thing:

Where is Cáceres? In the Extremadura, halfway between Madrid and Lisbon. It's probably about a 3-hour bus ride from Madrid. I think it was Sam (archaeologist, not dog) that sent me a link to a site about some of the historic cities in Spain, including Cáceres. I will post links to other information as I come across them.

Is is safe there? What about terrorism, etc.? Cáceres is reputed to be a "safe" city compared to some of the larger cities. We have chosen not to panic about potential acts of terrorism. We all know that things like that can happen anywhere in the world including our familiar little city of Ann Arbor.

When did she leave? How long is she gone? When does she come back? She left Thursday, September 16, 2004. She returns February 26, 2005. This time period covers the fall and winter quarters of her junior year (K College is on a quarter system, not semesters.) Her program ends earlier than February 26th but she's going to travel with friends for a while before returning. A few weeks after she gets home, she gets to go back to Kalamazoo for the spring quarter of her junior year.

What time is it in Cáceres? Here's a link to the time zones some of our favorite study-abroad students are in (as close as I could get to a couple of cities).

Does she speak Spanish? Liz says, "sort of." She had 3 years of Spanish in high school and 1 year in college. She apparently speaks well enough to be accepted into the program and she is doing okay with it over there. She and Mouse often speak Spanish to each other in front of their befuddled old mother whose Spanish is limited to counting to 10 (thank you Manuel) and knowing the difference between "hot" calore and "hot" picante (thank you my dear Uncle Harry).

Are there other students in her program? There are 18 in all, including Lexy (her suitemate from sophomore year) and Christine (another theatre kid). Other friends are all over the world: Ryan (Thailand), Jess (Senegal), Laura (India), Tucker (Ecuador), Bethany (Japan), Tyson (Budapest) and a lot of others I can't remember.

Where will she live? The students in the Cáceres program live in "home-stays", that is, they are placed with a family. There is a madre, padre, son and grandma and she says they are very nice and she is communicating with them okay. Her host mom is a great cook -- the Lizard is now eating *salad* (!) -- and always has a sewing project going, which reminds Liz a bit of her Frances Grandma.

What is she doing there? Her classes are: Art and Culture, History of Spain, Islam, Lengua 2 & Classical Archaeology. Some of these are Kalamazoo College classes, some are Universidad Extremadura classes. She's also working with elderly people for a required research project intended to involve interaction with local folk outside the academic environment. Here's a link to the university, good luck if you don't know Spanish ;-)

Why did she decide to go to Spain? I don't know what all went into her decision but she's been talking about this program since the beginning of her freshman year, fall of 2002. For a short time she was also considering a theatre-related program in London. One reason for choosing Spain was that she wanted to be somewhere she'd have to use a different language. She made the decision and completed the application process on her own. We weren't involved. There was no need for us to be involved.

How does she communicate with home? She communicates with us mostly via email from a public computer in an internet cafe or via school computers. She has two email ID's (email me if you want to know them). It's probably best not to send her photographs, better to send those to me to post on the web, she does check my "blog." She has a cell phone but doesn't usually use it to call us, she uses it to keep in touch with the other kids in her program and friends in other countries. I have called her several times, mostly to see if I can get thru via various methods.

Will she get a chance to travel around Europe? She has been quite a few places in Spain both on school trips and with friends and also Lisbon, in Portugal. She's spending Christmas in Budapest with her friend Tyson (not boyfriend) who she's been going to school with since middle school. When her program ends, she has made arrangements to go various places all over Europe before coming home.

How is she doing? She's fine. Elizabeth is a very independent young woman who is competent at managing her life and good at making friends. It's probably tiring to have to speak Spanish most of the time. She says that school is easier there but my opinion is that that's good because the main point of this experience is to live in another culture. These kids already *know* how to study.

Are you going to visit her? Elizabeth told us, "Some parents visit their kids on study abroad but you guys can't afford it and anyway, I'll be traveling." She means she'll be traveling during the Christmas break which is one prime time for family visits. At this time, it doesn't look like we'll make it. We have a lot going on including rebuilding the cabin at Houghton Lake, theatrical productions, college searches and my new career as a student. Money is not a problem (well, other than the fact that money is *always* a problem ;-)