student profiles
Margaret Barrow's Study Abroad Experience
Before coming to college, I had never stepped foot outside the United States. I arrived at Harvard determined to change that, and have tried to take full advantage of the opportunities abroad that Harvard has to offer. I showed up with a four-year plan that mapped out how I could fit in all of my general education, psychology concentration, Spanish secondary, and pre-med requirements while still studying abroad. I had started studying Spanish in middle school and knew that I wanted to have an experience abroad to complement my academic interests with real-world experience.
With all of this in mind, I decided that the best choice for me was to study abroad my sophomore spring in Alicante, Spain with the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies. Alicante is small city on the Mediterranean coast and is not the most well known city in Spain, but that is one of the reasons I chose to study there. While traveling to the larger cities like Madrid and Barcelona was always fun, living in a smaller place allowed me to really feel like I was experiencing the local culture. Living with a family and attending classes at the local university allowed me to use the Spanish I studied in a way no classroom can accomplish. I’m also so glad that I went as a sophomore since that left me two full years to use what I learned abroad to shape the rest of my college experience.
While in Spain I realized that I wanted to use my summer to explore a different Spanish-speaking culture, and chose to participate in the DRCLAS Summer Internship Program in Lima, Peru, where I interned at a child therapy center.
Both of my experiences abroad were incredible, and I’d love to talk to you about studying abroad in Spain, as a pre-med, and why to go sophomore year!
Email: mbarrow [at] college.harvard.edu
