Aurora Graze spends 10 weeks in Andes Mountains

2010 May 17

Seven Augustana students will spend 10 weeks this summer living and studying in Cuenca, Ecuador. They will live with host families and attend classes at the Center for Inter-American Studies and participate in several multi-day excursions, including a 10-day trip to Peru. This summer will mark the 25th year that Augustana has offered this program.

Augustana's Summer Spanish Program in the Andes is designed to help students to improve their Spanish skills. Students earn nine Spanish credits and can take classes at any level from entry-level courses to 400-level culture and literature classes. The program is open to students of any major, so participants are not required to have any experience speaking Spanish.

From your area this inlcudes:

Aurora Graze, a first year from Joliet, IL majoring in general studies.

"The program offers a truly unique experience," said Dr. Allen Bertsche, chair of the Spanish department and director of the Spanish program in the Andes. "It combines some amazing traveling with intensive language study and the opportunities to stay with families."

Living with a host family provides students with an opportunity for significant personal and academic growth. "Students often return with a greater confidence in their own ability to cope with change, with difference and with the unexpected," said Bertsche.

Amy Moon, a sophomore Spanish and elementary education major, has been taking Spanish since sixth grade, but she is still a little nervous about conversing with native speakers. "I think it will be a little difficult to communicate with the host family at first, but after a week or so, I think it will become a lot easier. Hopefully my Spanish will improve a little bit every day," she said.

In addition to their classes, the students will travel to important cultural, geographical and historical sites in Ecuador and Peru. The students will visit Ecuador's capital, Quito, shop at the world-famous craft market at Otavalo and take an optional four-day trip into the rainforest. At the end of the program, they will travel to Northern Peru, Cusco, and the famous ruins at Machu Picchu.

Bertsche believes that international study is among the best learning experiences available to students. "International study educates students globally, providing them with experiences that allow them to think beyond their cultural blinders," he said. "It opens their eyes to new ways to view the world, the U.S. and their own personal place in the global community."

The students leave the United States on June 2 and return on August 18. To read about students' travels in Ecuador, please visit the Augie Globalogs at www.augustana.edu/blogs/international.