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Flight To Madrid, Spain
Hello everybody!
My name is Mayeline Peña and this is my travel blog. This is my first time ever having a blog, and honestly I don’t even know what to say. I am sitting here 27 days before I have to board an 8-hour flight to Madrid, Spain to stay there for 3 months living in a new home. Although I have been preparing for this for almost a year it still doesn’t feel like it is happening. Going abroad is like applying to college all over again, you have to find the program, apply to your school for approval, get scholarships, write essays, get recommendations…. Anywhoodles, I am full of emotions and I can’t wait to keep unpacking this experience through the use of this blog.
My 30-second story:
I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic until I was 11 years old. Then I moved to the Bronx, New York with my mom and two brothers. It was the typical immigrant experience, living in a garage, trying to grasp with the cold, trying to learn English, trying to learn the difference between uptown and downtown trains… I learned English by joining my middle school’s production of Once on This Island and have loved performing arts since then. I went to Fordham High School for the Arts where I majored in Dance and sung, danced, and acted in every musical production. There I also learn how to code with Code/Interactive, a non-profit organization that dedicates itself to bring computer science to underprivileged youths as well as increasing the representation of minorities in the field. I then received a Posse Scholarship to Smith College where I am now studying my two favorite things in the world.
Quick Facts About Me:
University
Smith College. This is a small women’s liberal arts school in Northampton, Massachusetts. I am currently in my junior year.
Major / Minor
I am majoring in computer science and minoring in dance.
My Program
Tufts Skidmore in Spain. After looking at hundreds of program, I chose this one because their mission is all about taking care of their students above everything. They offer great internships while abroad, they have a program center in Madrid where we take classes as well as connections to two universities, and they program director meets with every single student personally to get to know them.
What I’m Most Excited About
I’m going abroad with two other friends and fellow Posse Scholars from my school Isabel & Amarachi. I convinced them to go on the same program as me. I’m looking forward to all the adventures and laughs that we will share.
What I’m Not Excited About
Homesickness. I have a huge family, and many friends that I will be away from a long time. Luckily, the program is full of support systems to help with this.
And that’s all I have for today! Thank you so much for reading my first post ever and congratulations to you for getting through it. I will be posting on this blog once more before I got abroad and weekly after that. Special thanks to Fund For Education Abroad and the Rainbow scholarship. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without your support. I encourage you to follow me on this journey and subscribe below to keep updated.
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When I Went To Spain 