My name is Maner Anne Keller and I am a Business Administration major at College of Charleston with a concentration in Real Estate. I am a senior and the program I chose to study abroad with is International Students Abroad (ISA). I have always thought studying abroad would be a wonderful experience but I never thought I would have the chance to go abroad, especially since I am a homebody. However, once I was looking at my course work, I realize I would have my business major completed by fall semester senior year, so I might could study abroad. So my senior year I decided I was going to try and study abroad. My grandma has been my motivator throughout the whole process and I would not be here without her.
As I started researching programs to study with, my sorority little and I applied for a program together and then found out that the program was full. So we had to start the process over and that’s when we came across ISA. Since I am a senior I had to find a program that would be back before May, in order to graduate on time. We found that the school ISA was affiliated with was the same as the first program we applied to, so all of our classes would work. We liked all of the excursions ISA offered and that they had a budget laid out, so we applied and were accepted.
My main goal while abroad is to make memories and have once in a life time experiences. I want to learn all about different countries, their cultures, and become more knowledgeable about those countries. I hope to learn all about my home city as well as get to travel all throughout Europe. I have researched a good amount on Barcelona and Spain. So far I have found that Spanish and Catalan are the two main languages in Barcelona. Also, within the past couple of months there has been a lot of government issues between Spain and Catalonia. Catalonia was trying to become their own country apart from Spain and many issues have arisen from this. Now half of the Catalan government is in jail and the other half are exiled. Also, pick pocketing a very common in Barcelona so we have to be careful when going throughout the city. The metro is one of the most common types of transportation methods in Spain. This allows traveling throughout a large city easier. I have spoken to many different people who have studied abroad, in Barcelona in particular. I feel pretty ready to take on this new adventure in my life and look forward to all the new experiences.