Classroom vs. Study abroad.

Reading about something out of a textbook and actually seeing it are two totally different things. I am glad I had the opportunity to go and physically see the things I was learning about. Very few people have that chance.

What was best about it is that I am a hands on learner and for me to be at the Gaudi Park after just reading about it on the bus made it much easier for me to store that information in my head.

Being in a classroom all day will loose the interest of the students if there is nothing to reel them in with. I would not have been as interested in either one of these classes if I was just going to be sitting in a room listening to a lecture.

In my communications class we had to write this blog to record all that we have seen and done. Of all my classes that I have ever taken this has been the best assignment I have had. Not only is it allowing me to have an online record of this unforgettable trip, but also it has allowed me the on hand experience of journalism. Three weeks ago I didn’t know how to conduct an interview much less write in such a way that my readers are drawn into my stories. Now because I was immersed into it these things come a little easier to me.

The same thing happened with the humanities course. You are immersed into history itself. One of my favorite sites on this trip was the park that Gaudi created. To be walking through this park and seeing he creation up close and personal makes the experience somewhat surreal.

I can research and read about something until I’m blue in the face, and that information will only stay with me until I have used it. But if I actually stand before and read about it and research it then I am actually obtaining and keeping that knowledge with me for the rest of my life.