Here’s the link to the show El Hormiguero. This is the episode where I was a part of the audience. It stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.

http://www.antena3.com/programas/el-hormiguero/invitados/andrew-garfield-emma-stone-hormiguero_2012062800180.html

Last post

Hey all!

Just so you all are aware, I am safely back home in Belleville, New Jersey. I also want to say thank you to everyone who followed my blog while I was abroad. I do have plans to continue traveling (and maybe study abroad again!) in the future so I will post a fowarding link to that blog. If you have any questions about studying abroad do e-mail me (vtorrizo@gmail.com) and I will be more than happy to answer any questions or give advice. I will also make a main travel blog in future so I will also post that as a link of the side.

Happy and safe traveling!

Valerie

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

What I studied during my study abroad

It’s Wednesday June 27 and I just got back to my residencia after taking my finals. Since I haven’t written much about what I’ve been studying at Nebrija, I’ll post some information about the two classes.

Lengua Espanol- I was one of few who barely knew any Spanish coming into the program. I was in A1, the first level of the Spanish language. I was very surprised at the progress that I’ve made since the first day of class four weeks ago. Just to recap, we first went over basic introductions like name, nationality, age, profession, etc. (Me llamo Valeria. Soy Americana y soy estudiante de periodismo. Yo tengo 20 anos. Me gusta ser un reportero de television.) We then went into numbers and and simple everyday nouns ( uno, dos, tres/ taxi, teatro, musica, metro, escuela, dicionario) With simple nouns, we learned normal verbs but then progressed into into regular, irregular (vowel change), reflexive (-arse), and the use of gustar, encantar, and interesar. Then we conjugated verbs (cantar- yo canto, tu cantas, el canta, nosotros cantamos, vosotros cantais, ellos cantan)

Other things I learned: Trabajo: jugador de futbol, medico/a, cocinero/a, camarero/a, alabanil, Possession: Mi/s, tu/s, Su/s, Time: En punto, cuarto, y media, minus cuarto, Normal day activities: acostarse, levantarse, volver, dormir, Difference between: Estar & Hay, Que & Cual/es

Samples of some compositions I’ve written for class:
1) Todos los dias hago yoga. Una vez a la semana veo una pelicula. Dos veces a la semena desayno con la familia. Los jueves comino con mi abuelo. Normalmente, los sabado y domingo yo trabajo. A veces cocino para mis amigos camarones. A menudo conduzco a la playa.

2) Yo me levanto a las 8 de la manana. Yo apago el despertador y yo mi los dientes y la cara. Todos los dias hago yoga. Yo desayuno un cafe y pan con mantequilla. Luego yo mi vistro y yo mi peino. A las 9 de la manana salgo de casa y yo camino a la metro. En el metro leo mi libro. Luego yo camino a la universidad y tengo tres clases. A las 14:30 yo vuelvo a casa y yo duermo la siesta. Despues yo ceno y salgo con amigos. Yo vuelvo a casa u cocino la cena. Luego yo hago tarea y veo teleivison. Por ultimo yo me ducho y duermo. Even though I learned plenty from the class, I got most of my education on Spanish from talking to locals, or others because Spanish was the only form of communication. In the future, I definitely want to continue studying Spanish and hopefully become bilingual because it will surely be beneficial and open more doors in the future.

European Studies- This class was taken for my Anthropology minor. Though the class involved plenty of history, I did enjoy the discussions that the class and the cultural aspect that we were able to integrate. We basically went from the late 14th Century of Europe to today’s culture, politics and economy. It started from Charles V, the Renaissance, Humanism, and the Protestant Reformation and the lead to the 30 Years War, and Voltaire. Then by 1789, there was a question on absolutism and then there was the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 talked about self-determination, nationalism, liberalism, and socialism (Marx). Then we talked more of the 20th Century with the world wars and the start of the European Union. We did talk a lot about culture, but I will post a video about that because I found it very interesting.