Students at Mississippi State University have the opportunity to attend classes around the world.
The foreign language department is currently allowing students to sign up for its Study Abroad program in Spain. The program has been offered since 2000, with 10 to 15 students participating each year.
“Spain is where Spanish began,” said Patricia Lestrade, resident director of the program. “Spain is a modern, European country where you can see structures that date back over 1,000 years as well as the modern ones. The history of Spain, its rich cultural legacy of art and literature, its Moorish and Jewish influences especially in architecture and its emergence as a modern, European economy all lend to its value as an experience not-to-be-missed.”
Lestrade said the program is scheduled to leave May 8 and return June 5. To join, students must have completed eight credit hours of Spanish, or its equivalent. Graduate students can also participate in the program, earning six hours of credit in Spanish.
The program will be held in the city of M laga, Spain. One benefit of studying in M laga is its proximity to some of the most important cultural cities of Spain, including Granada, C¢rdoba and Seville, Lestrade said. The weather in M laga is much cooler during the summer months, usually between 60 and 80 degrees, she added.
Classes are taught at the Malaca Institute, which students attend along with people from other varying countries and nationalities. The Institute additionally organizes several day trips for students to visit cities such as Granada, Seville and C¢rdoba along with other places of interest.
Undergraduate students can earn up to six or nine foreign language credits during their stay in Spain. Six credits are taken at the Malaca Instituto taught by the Institute’s instructors, while the other class, an intensive Spanish culture and history course, is taught by an MSU faculty member. All classes are conducted with students using only Spanish.
Lestrade said studying abroad helped foreign language students to assimilate all of their coursework by having to use the language under natural circumstances with shop owners, bus and taxi drivers, banks, restaurants and so forth.
“It isn’t until there is a real need for using the language that students realize their own ability and potential to communicate,” Lestrade said.
The program allows students to experience another culture and view their own from a different perspective, Lestrade said. She believes it allows students to better understand and appreciate different cultures.
Josh Hailey, a senior in art and past participant of the program, said: “Studying abroad is the best way to grasp a culture and its language. Waking up to something different daily is quite invigorating. Spain happened to be one the most beautiful, nicest, and relaxing countries I have ever seen. I learned Spanish just living day by day.
“You start to understand different cultures and people for that matter. Having to communicate through another language forces one to use words that count, and words that are meaningful. I would have never learned the language so well had it not been for studying abroad. Expect nothing but amazement daily,” he added.
The department of foreign languages also offers study abroad programs in Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada. For more information on the programs, students can contact Lestrade or Edmond Emplaincourt, professor and head, in the department of foreign languages at 300 Lee Hall or call 325-3480.
For pictures from last year’s program, students may visit www.msstate.edu/dept/fl/Spaintrip.html.