Hi! I'm Olivia Philhours. I am a Walton College of Business honors student majoring in International Business with a focus area of accounting. I am about to leave to study abroad in a Spanish immersion program in Madrid, Spain.
To get ready to go to Spain, I have been a very busy girl. I have been telling at First National Bank, the working bank for working people :) , to make some extra money to use on souvenirs and anything else that is cool and Spanish! While working there I would study my old Spanish notecards and try to speak to the hispanic customers who would come to the bank. They would generally get a kick out of it and let me struggle through the conversation. Doing this would ease my nerves about getting around. I am now confident that even if I can't have an in depth conversation in Spanish quite yet, that I will at least be able to get around with what I already know.
The real language test didn't happen until I made a hotel reservation with a man who spoke no english. My sister and I are going early to do some site seeing before the program starts, and we had heard fun things about a hotel that was inexpensive and in a great location! The only thing was they speak only Spanish. I decided to see if I had enough practice to get the job done. I called the number and even though I knew he would answer in Spanish, for some reason it still startled me to hear him answer with hola instead of hello. However, we made it through the conversation sure of a few things, three nights, the cost, and my name is Olivia. I was very impressed with myself, and hopefully I will still be able to be impressed when or if they know who we are and still have a reservation when we get there!
My suitcase has been packed for two whole days now, and I am finally leaving tomorrow! All of my attempts to speak Spanish with native speakers has definitely eased my nervs and hopefully has improved my ability! I am more than excited to find out when I get to Spain in less than 48 hours!! This is the start of a great adventure!
-Olivia Philhours
To get ready to go to Spain, I have been a very busy girl. I have been telling at First National Bank, the working bank for working people :) , to make some extra money to use on souvenirs and anything else that is cool and Spanish! While working there I would study my old Spanish notecards and try to speak to the hispanic customers who would come to the bank. They would generally get a kick out of it and let me struggle through the conversation. Doing this would ease my nerves about getting around. I am now confident that even if I can't have an in depth conversation in Spanish quite yet, that I will at least be able to get around with what I already know.
The real language test didn't happen until I made a hotel reservation with a man who spoke no english. My sister and I are going early to do some site seeing before the program starts, and we had heard fun things about a hotel that was inexpensive and in a great location! The only thing was they speak only Spanish. I decided to see if I had enough practice to get the job done. I called the number and even though I knew he would answer in Spanish, for some reason it still startled me to hear him answer with hola instead of hello. However, we made it through the conversation sure of a few things, three nights, the cost, and my name is Olivia. I was very impressed with myself, and hopefully I will still be able to be impressed when or if they know who we are and still have a reservation when we get there!
My suitcase has been packed for two whole days now, and I am finally leaving tomorrow! All of my attempts to speak Spanish with native speakers has definitely eased my nervs and hopefully has improved my ability! I am more than excited to find out when I get to Spain in less than 48 hours!! This is the start of a great adventure!
-Olivia Philhours
