Once a homesick freshman, Mullen ’09 set to spend academic year in Spain

“When I first arrived to Holy Cross, if you told me I would end up studying abroad I would have told you that you were crazy!”

That’s the response Amy Mullen ’09, a Spanish major with a concentration in gerontology studies from Cranston, R.I., gave when asked why she decided to spend a year studying abroad.

“I’ve always been a homesick kind of girl and I just knew that living in another country was not for me,” she continues. “I’d taken Spanish throughout high school and so I continued at Holy Cross. At first I was a sociology major, and then I switched to Spanish first semester of sophomore year. I fell in love with the language — if that’s not too cliché — and I really wanted to become fluent. What better way to do that than live there for a year?”

Mullen will start working on her Spanish language skills when she arrives in La Coruña, which is in Galicia on the northwest coast of Spain. She leaves on Aug. 25 and will be studying at La Universidad de La Coruna during the 2007-08 academic year.

Mullen isn’t sure what path she’ll end up choosing after college, but in true liberal arts fashion, she hopes that her trip abroad helps steer her in the right direction.

“I want to do something that I’m passionate about and look forward to,” she says. “Maybe I’ll find that in Spain!”

Find out by reading Mullen’s blog, where she’ll take us along on her first trip outside North America. Aside from taking classes, she plans to decide on a thesis topic for her College Honors program by next spring; complete a gerontology internship (a requirement for the concentration); and join a band or orchestra. She’ll also report on her travels to other parts of Europe.

It’s a trip not worth missing!

Related Information:

• Read last year’s study abroad blog by Micaela English ’08