Junior Brooke Rigney is now one of four students who have been accepted into the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Language. This a program in which students are given the opportunity to spend nearly two months abroad in a foreign country of their choice after passing an exam assessing their knowledge on their language. Within those two months, students, such as Rigney, will have the opportunity to stay with a host family, visit historical monuments, and cultural festivals, all while speaking Spanish the entire time. Each of the students who are a part of this program must speak the language of their country for their entire stay with the exception of one hour a week which is given to them to call friends and family. Rigney will soon be traveling to León, Spain through the IU Honors Abroad program. She will begin her journey with a direct flight on June 10, and she has been very excited since she was accepted.

“I was really excited I’ve always wanted to go abroad just in anyway possible. To do that and study spanish at the same time is really cool,” Rigney said.

She will return from her trip on July 26. Though her current knowledge on León is very limited, Rigney is looking forward to discovering more about the area during her stay. She has an itinerary jam-packed with both festivals and historical sites. She plans to visit Madrid, La Plaza de Cibeles, Toledo, Madrias Cathedral, as well as attend several cultural festivals. Since she will be traveling to a Spanish speaking country, Rigney is not only aware but also somewhat eager to be truly be driven to work towards her goal of fluently speaking Spanish. Rigney has been taking Spanish classes since kindergarten, so overtime Spanish became less of a language but more so a typical class. She had an on going interest in Spanish that heightened as she got into high school. Rigney is very excited to have a chance to travel to the other side of the world and really be immersed in the language. She believes that her trip is just as amazing as it is rare.

“It’s not something everybody gets to do, and it can help in many different ways,” Rigney said.

Rigney is very grateful to have been given this opportunity, since she knows there are many people out there who are unable to have such a beneficial experience.