CEA Financial Need Grant - 1st Place

Question: If you were to start writing a book about your study abroad experience before it began, what would the title be and why?

Tapas

“The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.”

Computer Science. Art. Graphic Design. English. Education. Spanish. All of these majors have been previously recorded on my college transcripts on the “field of study” line. Each time the insert on that line changes, a new appointment is made with a new adviser to fill out a new “path to graduation” form. And each time, I become a little more nervous that I will never graduate.

As a senior in college, I had an epiphany and changed my major for the last time. I finally felt like I had placed the right insertion on that line: Spanish, English. During my fourth year of my studies, I started taking 100-level Spanish classes, but felt better about my decision than I ever had in my life. As a fifth-year senior now, I have the same feeling and am in love with language study.

Each change gave me a “taste” of a new major, a new life experience that led me to where I am now; each change was a plate of tapas. Tapas? What a strange word! Well, that’s because it’s a Spanish word. I had never heard of it until my roommate, Bree, was recounting her study abroad experience last fall. She explained that tapas are little plates of food, similar to appetizers, which are served in Spanish bars and restaurants. The fascinating thing about the word “tapas” is that they describe virtually any type of food whether it be hot or cold, meat or vegetables. The only requirement to identify them as such is that they be in miniature form.

Each Spanish bar has its own unique creation of tapas. Like any food, the quality of taste is a personal opinion. For me, some tapas will taste good, some will not, I have to try the distinctness of the each plate for myself. While studying abroad, I will have the opportunity to travel to many different places and live many new experiences. Like different plates of tapas, each new adventure can be created with a virtually unlimited amount of ingredients and will invoke different senses and emotions. The important thing about each experience, each plate, is that I have to try it in order to discover a new part of myself.

The name of my book about my study abroad trip in Granada would be called “Tapas,” but this book would not by a typical novel. It would be a cookbook, each page filled with a different recipe. My time in Spain will be filled with an endless amount of special ingredients, some good and some bad, some failed and some successful. What makes each recipe important is that I made the effort to try something new, taste a new food in order to find the one that makes my mouth water.

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