student profiles

Brian Eggert's Study Abroad Experience

"Hi. My name is Brian. I am a hispanic studies (RLL) concentrator and a senior.

I showed up at Harvard thinking I ought to be a doctor, which was a belief founded solely on the fact that I had done well in high school science and math classes and was interested in health and medicine.  After a year of Lifesci, I realized I had a lot to learn about the world and about myself before I committed all my best years to studying something so specific, and after sampling Harvard’s departments from VES to Folklore and Mythology, I wound up declaring a romance languages and literatures concentration at the end of my sophomore year because Spanish was the only thing I had been taking consistently. In an attempt to get my Spanish up to a level sufficient for my concentration classes, I spent the summer of 2010 in Buenos Aires with the IFSA-Butler program. I had a great six weeks there, and as a result, decided to spend my junior spring semester in Madrid, studying abroad through Hamilton College’s Spain program. I was the only Harvard student in either of these programs, and I think that breaking out of Harvard culture, American culture, and even the English language helped me to understand a lot more than I know how to verbalize about the human qualities that transcend these boundaries. I am happy to share more about my experiences, and I hope I can be of help, especially if you have questions about Buenos Aires or Madrid, or could use some help weighing the pros and cons of spending a semester or more abroad."

Email: beggert12 [at] college.harvard.edu