Lakers travel to border and abroad

By Vydalia Weatherly Staff writer

During winter break, students had opportunities to study abroad in Spain and Portugal, in addition to traveling to the Mexican border in Texas.

Ally Burrington, a senior Psychology major with a Spanish minor, studied abroad in Spain and Portugal.

Burrington found out after their Psychology professor who co-led the trip mentioned it in class and helped Burrington sign up.

“I traveled abroad because it was the perfect opportunity to experience both Psychology and Spanish in one trip,” Burrington said. “I had always wanted to go abroad and it was amazing to have my first time be with a group of fairly experienced travelers.”

As part of the study abroad experience, Burrington had to take a class during the fall semester related to the trip. “The class we took, which was basically a Spanish sport psychology, was super interesting! We watched many documentaries on different Spanish sports, including surfing, bullfighting and soccer (football in Europe). We also did a few presentations which were super fun,” said Burrington.

Studying abroad provides students with new experiences and opportunities to learn as Burr- ington experienced. “My experience in Spain and Portugal was fantastic! I learned so many new things, experienced culture that I had only read about, and even was adventurous with what I ate—the octopus was pretty crazy! Overall, it was the best thing I have ever done!” said Burrington.

There are some challenges when it comes to studying abroad as Burrington found out, such as not being able to drink tap water due to different filtration systems and ensuring that your credit/debit card works properly—“I had some crazy ATM fees in Portugal because I made the mistake of not researching enough,” Burrington said.

When asked if they would recommend studying abroad to other students, Burrington responded, “I would absolutely recommend traveling abroad! There are so many exciting new experiences that you will never get in normal classes, and even if you travel alone you may not get the same experiences of learning the in-depth culture of each place you visit.”

Allison Siegmann, a senior double majoring in Spanish and Intelligence Studies, and Sabrina Pizzarelli, a senior double majoring in Applied Sociology and Spanish, both traveled to Texas over winter break to visit the U.S.-Mexican border.

Both Siegmann and Pizzarelli both found out about the trip to the border from Alice Edwards, Ph.D., head of the World Languages and Cultures Department. Seigmann and Pizzarelli had different reasons for traveling to the border.

“I decided to attend this trip because I wanted to learn more about the immigration process and the current immigration crisis that people are facing at the U.S.-Mexico border,” said Siegmann. “I was hoping to practice my Spanish (and I did!) with the community members in McAllen. I was also quite excited just to travel anywhere, especially somewhere new. I was curious but very nervous about what we would encounter at the border,” said Pizzarelli.

Prior to heading down to the border, attendees met several times to discuss expectations and hopes. Traveling to the border, provided attendees with new insight. Traveling to the border also offered students new experiences. “I’ve never experienced hospitality quite like I did on our trip. The women at ARISE, the organization that graciously ran the program for us, cooked for us daily and treated us like family. By the end of the week, I felt like I was sitting at the dinner table with a bunch of my tías y primos. I felt so welcomed there, and it really helped us become comfortable with asking questions and engaging,” said Pizzarelli.

When asked if they would recommend students travel to the border, both Siegmann and Pizzarelli said yes.

“If there is one thing I would like to share with others about my experience, it would be that migrants do not receive handouts from the government. They face extreme difficulties to find and maintain stability in their new lives in the United States, and it is important that they are given more assistance so that they can live and thrive here in the United States, after facing whatever diffi- culty they may have escaped from their home country. I thought this was a very important takeaway from my experience that I think not everyone realizes and is very important for others to understand,” Siegmann said.

If anyone is interested in attending, the trip to the border is set to become an annual trip. Additionally, anyone interested in studying abroad can reach out to the Study Abroad Office with any questions.

Laker Moment

MAC/SAC hosted the “Painting, Popcorn, and Pottery” event on Friday, Feb. 17, and it was a significant success! Everyone in attendance got creative with clay and paint. Some chose to make unique sculptures, small dishes, or abstract figurines. Others opted to paint a variety of creative scenes on canvas. Those who felt extra creative made both a pottery piece and a painting! Besides all the creative endeavors, there was also freshly popped popcorn with various toppings such as pretzels, chocolate, movie theatre butter and more. It was a great evening of painting, popcorn, and pottery.