{"id":863,"date":"2025-04-07T12:59:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T16:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/?p=863"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:28:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T20:28:01","slug":"for-spanish-minor-riley-minns-madrid-offered-countless-opportunities-for-growth-and-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/2025\/04\/07\/for-spanish-minor-riley-minns-madrid-offered-countless-opportunities-for-growth-and-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"For Spanish Minor Riley Minns, Madrid Offered Countless Opportunities for Growth and Exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Riley Minns (CAS \u201926), learning never stops and curiosity is constant. She has participated in not one, but two Study Abroad programs in Madrid, Spain, a city she loves for its culture, pleasant weather most of the year, and beautiful Spanish language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Spanish minor, and I\u2019ve been taking Spanish since middle school, so I wanted to study somewhere where I could be speaking the language every day and become more fluent in it,\u201d Minns says. \u201cThrough these experiences, I\u2019ve found that I surprised myself with how much I know every day and how well I could speak to my classmates and host families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minns was also pleasantly surprised by how friendly and welcoming she found everyone to be when she practiced conversing while out and about, enjoying the city\u2019s many cafes and restaurants. \u201cI\u2019ve found they love that you\u2019re trying, and they\u2019re willing to help you learn even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Minns didn\u2019t feel comfortable with her speaking abilities 100 percent of the time, she recognized the profound learning opportunity in front of her and embraced it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing uncomfortable is something study abroad teaches you,\u201d she says, reflecting on the growth she\u2019s achieved. \u201cThis allows you to grow as a person and do things you may be uncomfortable with at first. Being in Madrid, every day was a new adventure, even though that sounds cheesy. But it\u2019s the truth\u2014<\/span>you just have to be ready to go and roll with the punches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"She embraced this mentality in all aspects of her experience, including seizing what she calls \u201cthe invaluable experience\u201d of living with Spanish host families. Minns recounts the lasting connections she wouldn\u2019t have otherwise made, saying, \u201cI still talk to the host family I had last year, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll continue to stay in touch with my host family from this year because I\u2019ve enjoyed that so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the program she participated in last spring, Spanish and European Studies, Minns took four classes at the Instituto Internacional en Espa\u00f1a. Her studies focused on Spanish and European art, cinema, history, literature, culture, and politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy literature class focused on different movements in Spain\u2019s history,\u201d Minns adds. \u201cFor our final paper, we chose a book written by a Spanish author and connected the work to some aspect of our experience in Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Minns also took a cinema class, where she watched different films directed by Spanish directors or that were made in Spain and analyzed the films.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes thinking about writing a 10-page paper in a second language was a challenge,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I think it has given me more confidence in my abilities to write and speak in Spanish. It was very beneficial for me, and I think I\u2019m better for having had that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

This spring semester, Minns enrolled directly at the Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid, where she took two elective courses \u2013 both studying history. She also participated in an internship at CSIC, the Consejos Superior de Investigaciones Cient\u00edficas, in its Instituto de Filosof\u00eda–FISOPOL Group (Social and Political Philosophy). In this role, she did historical research for one of the government ministries in Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited to do this in a professional setting because it\u2019s something totally different and new for me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

At the Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de Madrid, she attended classes alongside native speakers and, once more, experienced life with a Spanish family in a homestay.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking classes fully in Spanish with a Spanish professor and Spanish students was a bit of an adjustment, but it\u2019s been good,” Minns says. \u201cI think if you can challenge yourself, you should do it. Because you only gain something from it; you\u2019re not going to lose anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Riley Minns (CAS \u201926), learning never stops and curiosity is constant. She has participated in not one, but two Study Abroad programs in Madrid, Spain, a city she loves for its culture, pleasant weather most of the year, and beautiful Spanish language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9593,"featured_media":1011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[160],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9593"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}