The most difficult part of travel doesn’t always have to be booking tickets or organizing luggage – especially not when a language barrier stands in the way. This summer, two RHS students visited Spanish-speaking countries as a part of their summer vacations, with only the knowledge of their classroom Spanish to help them succeed in their travels.

Laurel Enos’s trip to Costa Rica doubled as an early graduation present and an effective Spanish review. As she had already finished Spanish 4 at the time, the family trip saw Enos exploring both the native language and the local customs outside of a classroom.

“It was to get experience with a different culture,” Enos said.

Meanwhile, Shane Meadows-Yaw spent three weeks of his summer in Europe – though most of it was in Spain. He went with his family members and visited multiple cities such as Seville, Barcelona and Malaga.

Meadows enjoyed the experience of speaking and learning Spanish in a native, Spanish-speaking environment.

“I found out that it was really amazing to utilize my Spanish, and I felt like I was getting a lot better by just being there and taking everything in. It was a really good experience,” Meadows said.
Spanish 4 teacher Kasey Hanna was shocked was shocked by Meadows’s ability.

“The very first day of school he really stood out to me, because I was greeting students at the door and he just came right up to me, not just [saying] ‘Hi,’ but started speaking to me in Spanish,” Hanna said. “I was very impressed by that for a student just coming into Spanish 4.”