Hello!
My name is Anthony Rovinski and I am a chemistry major with a Spanish minor going into my third year of college. Right now, I am studying in Trujillo, Spain and writing this in the convent-turned-museum, Museo de la Coria.
This isn’t my first time leaving the US, and, after the opportunity to go to Costa Rica in high school, I knew that I would want to take advantage of every opportunity to travel and study abroad since each experience is unforgettable and this opportunity is certainly living up to it so far. With it being during the summer, I can get almost the same exposure and immersion as a semester-long program, which would not have worked out in my schedule. Plus, my Spanish professor was a large influence in my going here given her contagious enthusiasm about Trujillo and her pushing me to constantly strive to be better in both language skills and in general.
My main goals for going on this trip are to greatly improve my Spanish while also trying plenty of new foods and getting a few steps closer to finishing my minor. Secondarily, I know some of my friends are planning on going on the semester-long version of this program, meaning that I have to take plenty of pictures to get them excited to go, find plenty of places that they will need to check out when they arrive, and make sure to give them a fair warning about the elevation (1,850 ft above sea level) and the hilly geography create a wonderful combo that takes a few days to get used to after spending months in Charleston.
As for prior research about the country, I mostly focused on various customs (greetings, meal etiquette, etc.) and international phone plans. Plus, specifically for Spain, I did a bit of extra research on the region’s version of Spanish because it differs from what is usually taught and has its own accent to get used to that gives soft c’s and z’s the “th” sound.

Already, I am loving this program and can’t wait to see what else it has to offer as it progresses.