Lindsey Meyers
Profile By Renata Birkenbuel
UM senior Lindsey Meyers now knows there’s a big difference between speaking Spanish in a classroom and speaking Spanish in Spain. As recipient of the Taylor Scholarship for Study Abroad, Lindsey lived and studied in Spain for her 2006 spring semester. “Here’s the textbook right in front of you,” Lindsey said, describing the effect of finally being immersed in the culture she had been studying about for years.
Students in the program stayed with host families and were separated from each other so they had to rely on their own abilities. “I was with a family that did not speak English, so I had to speak Spanish with them the whole time.” It was a challenge Lindsey was well prepared for and it gave her a chance to put her knowledge to work, “and allow myself to really appreciate it outside of the classroom. The experience was obviously beyond just speaking Spanish.”
The program took Lindsey to the city of Salamanca in western Spain, but she says, “I was also interacting on a daily basis with people from all over the world.” Recalling a night when friends from the program gathered for a special dinner she counted students from at least 13 countries. “The only language that we all had in common was Spanish, so we’re all speaking a second language, coming together from all different parts of the world and we’re hanging out. It was incredible.”
Lindsey has also traveled and studied in Siberia and China, but Spain struck a nerve. “I’d really like to go back. It’s like when you find the place that finally fits you—that was Spain.” Of her overall experience with the program and her occasional adventurous side trips, she says, “It was educational, but it was also something that meant a lot to me and the only reason it was really possible is because I received things like this scholarship.”
After graduation, Lindsey plans to travel more and try something completely different—perhaps study social justice or become involved with an environmental organization. At some point she wants to return to UM for grad school, most likely in Linguistics, “and eventually become a professor at the university level.”
