A (HALF) SEMESTER ABROAD

When I left Hamilton and The Continental in De cember to prepare for my semester abroad, I could never have anticipated how incredible of an expe rience it would turn out to be, or how suddenly it would all come to an end. I was part of the Ham ilton program in Madrid for all of eight weeks— albeit eight of the best weeks of my life. We ar rived in Spain in early January and were forcibly ejected from the country in mid-March, along with almost every other student studying abroad in Europe at the time. During my stint in Madrid I learned some Spanish, travelled to some amaz ing places, and met some friends I’ll surely have for life. Coronavirus has undoubtedly affected every person around the world, some more than others. And while I would never claim to have it the hardest (seniors, you have my condolences), I will always hold a special kind of hate in my heart for this virus for robbing me of the next best eight weeks of my life. Our story of coronavirus displacement is perhaps the most unique out there. We went from having normal classes on Monday, to moving to online classes Tuesday, to Trump closing the borders on Wednesday, until finally being told on Thursday by our directors that we had to “abandon” the country by midnight on Friday. I’m not sure I could adequately put into words the carnage that message left on our group, given we were all en joying a bit of wine and sun in Retiro Park when we got the news. After a long night of calling our parents, frantically trying to book a flight home, while also hastily saying goodbye to our friends and host families who we might well not see again, we were all off on separate flights back to the US. It was an emotional time, but also a slightly numb ing one, as no one really had time to process what was happening. All too soon we were back in the US which is when it really hit—abroad was over.

(Dormant Co-Editor-in-Chief)

The weirdest part, though, was that it wasn’t over. Our classes continued online with our Spanish professors and we’ve been zooming ever since. Yet, as you can probably guess, it’s just not the same. Imagine trying to learn the flamenco dance over zoom, or going on “virtual” museum tours. The professors have done their best and we’re all extremely grateful, but truthfully, it’s all more than a little depressing. We’re entering finals now as I write this, a week before all of the normal Hamilton students, and then abroad really will be over.

Of course, we’ve all talked about how we can’t wait to go back and visit Spain, but it just won’t be the same. We were hurled from the country just as we were hitting our stride and beginning to master our speech.

I heard recently from a friend that your first two months abroad are spent settling into the language and culture, while the second half is a blissful coast to the finish. Instead, I traded two months in the Spanish Sun for eight weeks of staring at my bedroom wall. And if that sounds like complaining, that’s because it is.