LITA 2024 Review

LITA was a life-changing experience for me this past summer. I was a part of the 2024 South 5 trip. We started in Teruel, in eastern Spain where we spent the first week of the program connecting with our group members and leaders, and had activities with the community everyday to start practicing our Spanish and immersing ourselves in Spanish culture. This first week was designed very well to get us comfortable with each other in Spain. I remember my first full day, we went on a bike route through the beautiful Spanish scenery, then we had a guided tour through a bunker used during the Civil War, and finally we went to the beach where we had an amazing paella lunch by the water. This day had everything, from academic learning about Spanish history in the bunker, to enjoying Spanish food on the beach, to building time for all of us students to connect and have fun with each other on bikes and in the Mediterranean. This is how most days of the first week went. The bulk of the trip, though, was the middle where all of us spent three weeks living and connecting with host families in Andalucía. This was a transformative experience like no other. Not only was it a way to facilitate incredible language growth, but also a way to form deep connections with a family that lives their lives completely differently than you. I was able to build an incredible relationship with my host family. They welcomed me, provided me a place to sleep, food to eat, and all of that with a smile on their faces because they wanted to build that relationship just as much as I did. It was immediately obvious to me how much thought and care everyone involved in the program at LITA puts into selecting families that they know will not only provide a safe and comfortable environment for students, but also people that will be a good fit for each student. I am fortunate enough to say that my host family pairing was perfect and I am still in close contact with all of them and hope to stay in touch with them forever because of how connected I feel to them: I feel like a part of their family. During the homestay, our group leaders facilitated daily activities where we experienced and engaged with different parts of our homestay community. These were all good ways for us to connect with our host siblings through activity, and it helped bring all of the American students together. Those three weeks spent living with a new family completely in Spanish formed an "única" experience, the best single adjective in Spanish or English to describe it. It was truly special and the most impactful three weeks of my life bar none. The final week of the program was bittersweet because, instead of building relationships with group members to last the next five weeks, we had the end of our trip looming over us. The group leaders were aware of this though, and encouraged us to reflect on all of the goals we set for ourselves at the start of the trip and how we had met and exceeded them, and focus on making the most of our last few days. We had another series of awesome agendas and there was clearly so much effort put into organizing everything so that we really could make the absolute most of our time in Spain.