By Marisa McTighe, Assistant Social Media & Distribution Editors
Junior Maya Gould has returned to the island after a five-month stint studying abroad in Merida, Spain. Taking her across the Atlantic, the trip provided Gould with many stories and experiences, and a stronger grasp of the Spanish culture.
Gould did her exchange through the Greenheart Exchange organization. She had the opportunity to spend the entire school year there, but decided to do just one semester. At the time, she didn’t know how her credits would transfer, and she wanted to make sure that she could graduate on time.
“I’ve wanted to go on an exchange since sixth or seventh grade,” Gould said. “Then at the end of sophomore year [I decided to go].”
Gould switched host families just a few weeks into her exchange due to complications.
“I don’t think they were really prepared [to have an exchange student],” Gould said. “They were really excited for me to help their [two sons] with their English. It was very obvious that that was the reason why I was there.”
Her second host family consisted of a mother, a father and two sisters close to her age, and Gould stayed with them for the remainder of the semester. She was able to become close friends with her host sisters and their friends, and she easily made more friends of her own through attending school.
Gould claims that the program is more focused on the experience than on academics. She had pass-or-fail grades, and although she felt that her school in Spain was just as difficult as VHS, Gould found that her Spanish peers studied significantly more than their American counterparts.
Many of her classmates wanted to be doctors, which is one of the reasons they had to study so much. Gould also claims that students from different grades did not interact with each other as much as they do on Vashon. However, she found the students she did interact with were friendly and kind, even though communication was a challenge at times.
“[Communicating with people] was really hard the first three weeks, but then … I really got a feel for the language,” Gould said. “It was really crazy how fast [that happened] … I was in Spanish III before I left, … and now I’m at a three in college-level Spanish.”
Getting used to the culture and surroundings was also difficult for Gould, but many positives came out of the experience.
“I had a lot more down time than I usually do,” Gould said. “Normally when I’m home, I have sports and I’m working and I hang out with friends and have school, but I watched [a lot of] Netflix shows … and did a bunch of walking around and talking to people and learning as much as I could.”
Though culture shock and homesickness were prominent throughout segments of her exchange, the good experiences outweighed the bad ones. Gould recommends that students try to do an exchange either in high school, during a gap year or in college.
“I think that everyone should do something like that at some point in their life,” Gould said. “Put yourself out there.”