Hello, my name is Ava Tanner and I’m a sophomore at The College of Charleston with a major in Political Science and a concentration in  Politics, Philosophy, and Law. For the 2019 fall semester I’m studying abroad in Trujillo with the college’s faculty-lead program in La Universidad de Extremadura. During this semester my group and I will visit Madrid, Andalucia the southern region of Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal. While in Trujillo I’ll be staying with a host family, Señora Montse García Ramos, Señor José Antonio and their daughter Daniela Lopez. 

I was inspired to visit this beautiful country due to the mentorship of my high school Spanish professor Señor Rual Tores who is from Spain. In addition, motivated to study here because of my passion for learning the spanish language. I particularly choose a faculty-led program due to the sense of community created while traveling with other students. 

While abroad I hope to be a “socially responsible tourist” and experience authentic Spainsh culture. I cherish any opportunity to enhance my global perspective, and can not wait to live as a Spaniard! My primary goal while studying abroad is to use the experience and its challengings, as a step towards enhancing my global perspective. 

To prepare myself for this journey I’ve been brushing up on my spanish language skills and researching popular activities within the region. During my search I’ve found some extremely interesting historical information about Trujillo, Spain, such as preservation of architecture as old as the eighth century Romans.