{"id":77772,"date":"2026-04-27T14:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77772"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:36:00","slug":"lumberjacks-abroad-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/lumberjacks-abroad-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Lumberjacks Abroad: Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Viansa\u00a0Reid<\/span><\/b>\u00a0put her life on hold for a year to live the experience of a lifetime. This modern language and environmental science major packed her bags and moved to Alicante, Spain,\u00a0for a year to learn more about the language and work at a bioplastics lab through the\u00a0<\/span>Interdisciplinary Global Programs<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at NAU. Learn what she found most different about her host country and how she overcame homesickness.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Alicante<\/a>Where did you study and why did you choose this country for your study abroad program?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I studied abroad at the University of Alicante\u00a0in Spain\u00a0through the\u00a0<\/span>Interdisciplinary Global Programs<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at NAU. This program allows me to double-major in STEM and a\u00a0language\u00a0and\u00a0is\u00a0five\u00a0years for\u00a0undergrad, to allow for an entire year abroad. I chose Spain because\u00a0it is one of the\u00a0universities my program\u00a0partners\u00a0with. The University of Alicante had the best options for\u00a0environmental\u00a0science internships, which I completed in my second semester. The culture of Spain also enticed\u00a0me,\u00a0and I wanted to\u00a0experience\u00a0it firsthand.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What class(es) or research did you complete while abroad and for how long?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Because I studied abroad for an entire academic year, my first\u00a0semester I\u00a0took\u00a0classes, and\u00a0during my second semester, I completed a\u00a0540-hour internship. I took a B2-level Spanish class,\u00a0botany in English\u00a0and European\u00a0geography in Spanish at the university, and one online class through NAU for IGP. During my internship,\u00a0I worked with the Bioplastic Lab at the University of Alicante,\u00a0which\u00a0investigates the persistence of plastics through analyses of their biodegradation and the extraction of microplastics in soils. The Bioplastic Lab\u2019s methodologies and projects examine soil samples from various parts of the world, test the effectiveness of biodegradation on\u00a0bioplastics\u00a0and assess the impact of microplastics on soil health.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you\u00a0fund\u00a0your study abroad experience?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

I applied\u00a0for\u00a0various scholarships and received some from NAU to cut down on my expenses. The cost of living in Spain is extremely cheap compared to the United States.\u00a0I paid half of what I normally do for\u00a0rent,\u00a0and my\u00a0grocery\u00a0costs were\u00a0a quarter\u00a0of what I would normally pay. For the rest, I took out loans like I normally did for other school years.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Hogueras<\/a>What aspects of your host country do you find the most different than your home country, and why?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

One of the main differences between my host and home country is the schedule in which we live our lives. For example,\u00a0Spaniards’\u00a0eating schedules are vastly different;\u00a0they normally\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0eat breakfast, have a small snack around lunch time, then eat their first full meal once they get home from work,\u00a0generally 3-4 p.m., and eat dinner at\u00a010 p.m. It is\u00a0very common\u00a0to see families with young children\u00a0out and about\u00a0for dinner around that time. Another difference I noticed is the social habits of Spaniards:\u00a0they are far blunter and more honest than Americans. People in the U.S.\u00a0tend to sugarcoat\u00a0bad news\u00a0to soften the blow, but Spaniards are direct and straight to the point.\u00a0As I reflect, I think that\u00a0statement\u00a0applies to\u00a0the majority of\u00a0Europeans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What local traditions or customs have you experienced?<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n

In Valencia and Alicante, there are similar festival traditions relating to the changing of seasons. In Valencia, the festival is called\u00a0Las Fallas,\u00a0which celebrates the arrival of\u00a0spring with brightly colored sculptures throughout the city and loud explosions throughout the day that combine satire,\u00a0art\u00a0and tradition. The festival in Alicante called\u00a0Las\u00a0Hogueras\u00a0represents\u00a0the\u00a0summer solstice and is celebrated similarly with colorful sculptures, fireworks,\u00a0music\u00a0and food.\u00a0The most intriguing part about both festivals is that\u00a0at\u00a0various times, they burn the statues!\u00a0They burn them at night, gradually burning them in size order.\u00a0Las Fallas\u00a0is a\u00a0two-day event,\u00a0whereas\u00a0Las\u00a0Hogueras\u00a0is\u00a0more than\u00a0a\u00a0week long.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being away from home can be challenging. How have you dealt with homesickness and\u00a0maintained\u00a0connections with loved ones?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Homesickness came in different waves for me throughout my time abroad. Sometimes\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0difficult to find a solution, especially when you are living in a\u00a0different time zone and\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0call loved ones at a reasonable\u00a0hour. I found comfort in the other IGP students studying abroad in the same city as\u00a0me\u00a0and\u00a0in the international friends I made. It was nice to have people going through the same experience to talk to. To\u00a0maintain\u00a0connections with loved ones, I would text them when I was thinking about them,\u00a0no matter the time difference,\u00a0and set up a time to call. It is an unsettling feeling to be uprooted from your life and be placed somewhere new, but it also brings so much excitement and hope for new possibilities. Whenever I felt down, I would\u00a0validate\u00a0my feelings and look for something going well in my life at that time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Horchata<\/a>Tell us about your favorite and\/or least favorite dish abroad.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

My favorite place to go\u00a0in\u00a0Alicante is called\u00a0La\u00a0Horchater\u00eda\u00a0Azul,\u00a0which,\u00a0as you may have guessed, is\u00a0a\u00a0horchata shop. They make their horchata differently than the standard recipe, using\u00a0tiger\u00a0root instead of rice milk. You can\u00a0order it\u00a0\u201cgranizado,\u201d\u00a0which is\u00a0similar to\u00a0a slushie texture. My order would be half horchata\u00a0granizado\u00a0and half lemon\u00a0granizado.\u00a0The lemon added a\u00a0tart freshness\u00a0to it, so yum! They also have\u00a0almond cake slices\u00a0and paired with the drink is a wonderful combo. My least favorite food was during a traditional Christmas dinner\u00a0when\u00a0they served\u00a0pickled\u00a0asparagus;\u00a0let\u2019s\u00a0just say I will never try that again.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Viansa\u00a0Reid\u00a0put her life on hold for a year to live the experience of a lifetime. This modern language and environmental science major packed her bags and moved to Alicante, Spain,\u00a0for a year to learn more about the language and work at a bioplastics lab through the\u00a0Interdisciplinary Global Programs\u00a0at NAU. Learn what she found most different…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1821,1829],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lumberjacks-abroad","category-student-edition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}