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Experiencing the Basque Country: The Study Year Abroad by Carmelo Urza On September 1 of this year, twenty-three students of the University Studies in the Basque Country Consortium flew to Madrid for the beginning of an experience many months in the planning. Among this very diverse group some have come to live in the land of their ancestors, to learn their language and customs. Others are motivated to learn the Spanish language in an intimate setting not available in large Iberian cities and in a place where the pluralism of Spain can be appreciated. Yet others must fulfill a two-year foreign language requirement at their university and choose to do so in one semester of nearly four hours of language classes, five days each week. Finally there are adventurers seeking to explore new horizons. Aged 18 to 72, originating from California to Virginia, all will gain a new appreciation of the Basques, the Spanish and the French. Nearly all face this challenge with enormous expectations and not a little apprehension. To the students of the USBCC San Sebastián Program, a university residence in Madrid provides a first culture shock, as fast-speaking natives share sometimes exotic dinners at the unaccustomed hour of 10:00 p.m. During the next seven days, the students are introduced to a panoply of Madrid's life: public transportation, palaces, museums, flea markets, bullfights and cafés. Here time is placed in a new perspective, through a 1200-year-old book at the monastery of El Escorcial, a house in Toledo which has been continuously inhabited since the 7th century, or the more than 2000-year-old Roman aqueduct in Segovia still in use today. Classes begin for the students during their three-week stay in the Basque fishing village of Fuenterrabia. From their residence on a deep green hillside they overlook the Bidasoa River as it empties into the Bay of Biscay, and the coastline of France from Hendaye to Biarritz. On the wharf and in the streets of Fuenterrabia, they hear Basque, French, and Spanish in this land which encompasses three cultures. Here, too, the students view a wide diversity of geographic and human activity, from heavily industrialized Bilbao to the picturesque villages of Sare, St. Jean de Luz, Lekeitio or Ońate. The deep roots of the Basque Country are never felt quite so strongly as when viewing dolmens and cave paintings many thousands of years old. Anchón, the guide, underscores the link of the Basques with the past as he explains that some "2,000 generations of my ancestors have lived in this valley since the time of the paintings." On the first of October, the students face the greatest challenge to date: the move to their permanent homes in Donosti/San Sebastián. The tours are now behind them, and the rhythm of the academic courses well established. The group as such disbands as the students take up residence with local families or university students. Perhaps for the first time it now dawns upon them that study abroad is an individual rather than group experience. Each must now adapt to the subtleties of a foreign language and culture in order to forge new personal relationships. Academic coursework continues, but the streets, the dinner table and the cafés provide their own rich source of learning. Months later when they return to their homes in America, these very diverse individuals will share that self-confidence which comes from the knowledge that they have been able to adapt, to change, to assimilate a new culture, to command a new language, and to grow personally. |
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