My Last Week – Anabel Serna

By:

Anabel Serna

Published:

Countries

Demographics

,

Majors

,

Regions

Anabel Serna

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> Hola <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> University of Arizona <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2021 <i>Destination city & country:</i> Spain <i>Program provider:</i> University of Arizona <i>Major/minor:</i> Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences & Hispanic Linguistics <i>Demographics:</i> First-generation Mexican-American woman <i>Future career aspirations:</i> After my graduation in the Summer of 2021 I will be attending a graduate program to earn a Masters in Speech-Language Pathology. I will be attending a university that will effectively prepare me to work with bilingual populations. I hope to become a clinically certified bilingual SLP and work in urban areas of the United States with bilingual populations to provide equal quality of service to these individuals. <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i> I hope to learn about the cultural aspects of Spain and the family dynamics among this population. I also hope to gain a stronger understanding of dialectal features of Spain Spanish and practices they use for bilingual populations in Speech-Language Pathology. I also want to gain knowledge on what it is like to work with and collaborate professionally with individuals internationally.

July 28th 2021

We have reached the final week in my virtual study abroad adventure. It’s crazy to think that four weeks have gone by so quickly, and before I know it, I’ll be starting graduate school. While this experience was far from what I had planned on, it still taught me a lot about myself as a student, something I didn’t think possible after four years of college.

After entering with a slightly pessimistic view, I quickly learned that I am often quick to make judgements of situations before giving them a fair shot. I think, through being open to the material in my classes and the online platform themselves, I was able to begin to overcome this. I saw a transfer of this optimism in my personal life as well. I signed up for a challenge with my gym that I would have never considered previously. I love to workout but when it comes to diet, I am stubborn and often have a hard time accepting advice from others. When the gym announced a diet challenge at first I found myself ignoring it as usual. But then I realized I was falling into the same habit of pessimism without giving it a shot. I convinced my mom to join the challenge with me and we’re now three weeks into a challenging but rewarding diet that is helping better our relationship with eating. I wouldn’t say I love the diet but I do think I have learned some good habits that I can transfer to my everyday eating and I’m glad that I gave it shot. And I must admit, my abs are beginning to show so it definitely delivered results.

Through the intense analyzation in my Spanish art class, I have learned that art is a product of historical events and captures the emotions of those times perhaps better than anything else. I also learned that it is something you can see happening in real time. The art being produced today is a depiction of feelings people are experiencing in their current state. As I was scrolling through my Twitter feed last week, I caught myself actually analyzing a painting from a girl I follow who often posts her work. I realized her work is often very abstractly feminist while more obviously supporting black women and their beauty. I also noticed many similar techniques to that of Pablo Picasso, something I’m sure my professor would have loved.

I also learned that I am capable of adjusting and managing school in difficult circumstances. I found a way to motivate myself through an intense four weeks and 5:30am classes. Now more than ever, as we face an uncertain fall and I start a new chapter in my academic journey, knowing that I am more flexible than I thought I was is comforting. Finishing my degrees in an unusual setting gave me comfort as this unknown chapter approaches. I know that I will make it through these next couple years regardless of what they have in store and that I will reach my goals.