Bobcat skier Madi McKinstry is spending the summer in Nicaragua.
Cat Chronicles: Several Bobcats are Studying Overseas This Summer. Today's Take...
6/13/2016 11:38:00 AM | General, Student Services
Several Bobcats are journaling their summer adventures. Today's Take is by Madi McKinstry, Skiing
This trip is organized by Patricia Catoria, a Spanish professor here at MSU. I took two classes with her in the fall and between her and the modern languages department, I got a lot of emails and mentions about it in class. It is faculty led, meaning we have a professor traveling with us to help us out if we need anything or something goes wrong. For the first week we had Sally Sanchez traveling with us, and now we have an MSU graduate and current grad student Aly Kreikemeier down here with us. 
We had a lot of initial meetings as a group to go over what exactly this trip entailed, as the first session is technically for healthcare, and a lot of students are volunteering and learning in a clinic. My major is about the furthest thing away from nursing or healthcare, and in the second session, there is the option to volunteer in a youth program, so I asked if I could do that but go first session, and so far it has worked out! This is the last six credits I need to finish my double major in Global and Multicultural Studies and Latin American and Latino Studies, and I couldn't think of a better way to experience another culture and improve my Spanish, as I have never studied abroad before (but I've been traveling my whole life).
I am down here with Lauren Hausauer from the golf team as well, and she is also volunteering at Las Tías. We also take Spanish classes at the Dariana Language School for two hours in the morning, where we get a one on one learning experience.
In 2011, I spent a month in Zambia teaching English in the northern region of the country, and had a blast working with the kids there. Since then I have taught Spanish at Irving Elementary and been a camp counsellor at my old summer camp, so when the opportunity to continue working with kids and improve my Spanish came up, I took it!
I had also never traveled to Nicaragua before, so I thought it would be fun to explore a new country. We are here for 6 weeks and after I will be heading to Costa Rica for a month to do my yoga teacher training.
We have already hiked two volcanoes, learned a lot about the nature preserves and the wildlife that lives there, eaten a lot of gallo pinto, and yesterday a few of us spent the day canyoneering in Somoto Canyon. On a typical afternoon you can often find us lounging at the beach, because homework is minimal and the beach is only 20 minutes away!
Nicaragua is considered a developing country, but as far as the city of León, we have had a great experience here. Surprisingly there is Wi-Fi everywhere and people drive some pretty nice cars. There are 17 different churches and a lot of old colonial buildings, which are pretty cool to see.
Everyone has been really friendly towards us even though we are clearly tourists. The developing world is easy to see though when walking through the streets which are pretty heavily littered with trash and a lot of exposed telephone wires. It's also interesting to be walking down a street and see an immaculate front door with colorful walls but then just next door is a house with paint chipping off and a door that migh
t be falling apart or a malnourished dog sifting through trash.
I can't wait for the upcoming weekends and more exploring throughout the trip!
We had a lot of initial meetings as a group to go over what exactly this trip entailed, as the first session is technically for healthcare, and a lot of students are volunteering and learning in a clinic. My major is about the furthest thing away from nursing or healthcare, and in the second session, there is the option to volunteer in a youth program, so I asked if I could do that but go first session, and so far it has worked out! This is the last six credits I need to finish my double major in Global and Multicultural Studies and Latin American and Latino Studies, and I couldn't think of a better way to experience another culture and improve my Spanish, as I have never studied abroad before (but I've been traveling my whole life).
I am down here with Lauren Hausauer from the golf team as well, and she is also volunteering at Las Tías. We also take Spanish classes at the Dariana Language School for two hours in the morning, where we get a one on one learning experience.
In 2011, I spent a month in Zambia teaching English in the northern region of the country, and had a blast working with the kids there. Since then I have taught Spanish at Irving Elementary and been a camp counsellor at my old summer camp, so when the opportunity to continue working with kids and improve my Spanish came up, I took it!
I had also never traveled to Nicaragua before, so I thought it would be fun to explore a new country. We are here for 6 weeks and after I will be heading to Costa Rica for a month to do my yoga teacher training.
We have already hiked two volcanoes, learned a lot about the nature preserves and the wildlife that lives there, eaten a lot of gallo pinto, and yesterday a few of us spent the day canyoneering in Somoto Canyon. On a typical afternoon you can often find us lounging at the beach, because homework is minimal and the beach is only 20 minutes away!
Nicaragua is considered a developing country, but as far as the city of León, we have had a great experience here. Surprisingly there is Wi-Fi everywhere and people drive some pretty nice cars. There are 17 different churches and a lot of old colonial buildings, which are pretty cool to see.
Everyone has been really friendly towards us even though we are clearly tourists. The developing world is easy to see though when walking through the streets which are pretty heavily littered with trash and a lot of exposed telephone wires. It's also interesting to be walking down a street and see an immaculate front door with colorful walls but then just next door is a house with paint chipping off and a door that migh
t be falling apart or a malnourished dog sifting through trash.I can't wait for the upcoming weekends and more exploring throughout the trip!
Friday, September 05
Thursday, July 31
Monday, May 19
Wednesday, May 03
