Meet Olivia, a LITA South Five Week 2025 student, as she reflects on her LITA experience.
Who are you? (name, age, when did you participate in LITA, where are you from)
"My name is Olivia. I'm going into my junior year of high school, which means that I'm 16 years old. And I participated in LITA this past summer… So, summer 2025. And I am from San Francisco, California."
What made you decide to participate in LITA?
"My parents had heard about LITA from some of our friends, or from some of their friends. And I have always kind of loved Spanish in school. And so I really wanted to take that Spanish that I learned from school into a deeper learning place. And so my parents were asking around if anyone knew about any programs. And once they heard about LITA, they were like, this one's it, like rural Spain, she can be in an immersion-based learning environment and really just solely focus on Spanish and what she wants to learn about. That's why I chose LITA. I really wanted to just be in a really authentic environment where I was forced to only speak Spanish, which is much different than school, where obviously there's a lot of English spoken. I take Spanish maybe for four, five hours every week, but obviously in LITA [it was] 24/7."
Tell me about your experience with your host family. What were some of the shocks that you might have had coming in with your host family, and how long did it take you to settle in?
"My experience with my host family was very authentic, I would say, because in the first week, they were kind of more lenient with me, and more easygoing, like I was still kind of their guest. But then, in the second and third weeks, I would start having chores around the house, like cleaning up around places and like putting my dishes in the dishwasher. It definitely kind of changed after the first week because my host mom would be relying on me to make sure my host sister and I met curfew, and all the other rules she had for us in the house. In terms of culture shock, probably it was kind of just the timing of everything. For example, when we would eat dinner: my host mom's curfew for us was 12 midnight. So my host sister and I would go back to the house, the dinner would be prepared, my host mom would be asleep, and we'd both eat dinner together in the kitchen at 12 or 12:30. It was really different from my house, where we eat at around 6:30. And also having a big lunch at 2:30 was really different. I never really adjusted to that. I still kind of had to have a snack, and my host mom knew this! She'd be like, “Olivia, time for your snack! What do you want after siesta?” Or, she’d be like, “What do you want before going out to tide you over before dinner?” Another culture shock was just the accent, and it probably took me a week to get acclimated to it. After that it was much easier for me to understand what they were saying. But the accent and the speed at which they talked definitely took a while for me to understand. I did notice that the first couple of days they would talk to me slower. But then each day after that they'd kind of speed up the pace at which they talked. And I noticed that because then when I was talking with their friends, or when I was overhearing what someone was saying to their friend, like, when my host sister was talking to her friends, I was like, “This is the same pace at which she talks to me.” And so I noticed I could understand much more, which was cool. It was kind of like a light bulb moment where I was like, “Oh, I can do this.” I was used to trying to focus on my host sister and her friends’ conversations. But then, I would sometimes zone out and one time I zoned back in and I was like, “Wait, how can I understand everything all of a sudden?” Because the first couple days I couldn't."
What was your level of Spanish like before the program? And how would you say it improved during LITA?
"My Spanish before the program, since I'd only learned Spanish in school and only spoken it in school, it was very technical, in terms of grammar and everything, which made me kind of more timid to speak. And I definitely spoke much slower. Because in school, I was constantly thinking about what tense to use, or what direct object pronoun, direct object pronoun, just the grammatical point of it. But during the homestay, and during the whole program, I kind of focused more on getting out what I was trying to say rather than focusing on the grammar, which allowed me to speak faster, first of all, and also just like pick up some of the words that Spaniards were using. I learned Latin American Spanish in school. And so I would say a word like “lindo.” And people would be like, “No, no, no, ‘majo,’” So that definitely describes how my Spanish has changed. Now I can speak faster in Spanish and kind of worry less about the grammatical parts of it, which I feel like came easier as I was just speaking, rather focusing on it."
The fear of speaking a foreign language is what stops a lot of people from diving into immersion. How did you overcome this?
"I'm a very social person. And so obviously, being in Spain for five weeks with this group, I knew that I had to be able to speak Spanish, I knew that if I wanted to be able to talk, I had to speak Spanish. And over time, as I got more comfortable with people in the first week, when we were just with the [LITA] group, I got more and more comfortable with the people, which allowed me to be more comfortable speaking in Spanish. And also just hearing people make mistakes and mess up allowed me to think, “Wait, this is okay, I can mess up. Everyone understands what you're saying, and everyone's in the same boat as you.” And they all messed up. I messed up all the time. And in that first week, I just learned that it was okay to make mistakes. And then during the homestay, I took that with me. And I kind of just thought, instead of thinking, “These are native speakers, they're probably thinking so little of [my Spanish],” I kind of changed it to “these are native speakers, they only speak Spanish, they're going to be able to understand what I'm saying. Even if I mess up a word, they know Spanish, they know to use words that are similar and figure out what I'm saying.” And it got easier for me over time, to just be more comfortable speaking Spanish, especially because I was only allowed to speak it. So if I wanted to talk, then I had to be comfortable with that."
Are you still taking Spanish classes and/or how are you planning to continue growing in your abilities?
"I've taken Spanish all my years of high school, and I'm going to continue to take Spanish this year. I also had a tutor from before LITA, to kind of help me with speaking and to be in a more immersive environment, even though it was only for an hour a week. My Spanish class was a mix of Spanish and English. So just being able to talk with a tutor helped me. I'll probably talk with her again to make sure that I'm keeping up my Spanish because I definitely want to take what I have already learned and expand, expand, expand. And so maybe in my school classes, since it's in English sometimes, I won't be able to talk as much one-on-one. But with my tutor, I can continue to learn."
What was a challenge you ran into during the trip? Were you able to overcome it?
"During my homestay, in the first couple days, I could not understand what people were saying, at times. And so a big challenge for me was to overcome just nodding my head and saying that I understood, but instead to ask questions and clarify what they meant. Because I did this a lot in my homestay, and my host family really caught on to it: they'd ask me a question, and I’d just respond with “uh-huh, yeah.” And then my host sister would turn to my host mom and be like, “She doesn't understand what you're saying.” And I'd be like, “Yeah, I was confused.” So it kind of took me a while to be comfortable with saying, “Wait, could you repeat that?” Or like, “What does that word mean?” So it was definitely a challenge, because even in English, I have trouble asking for help sometimes [...] I realized that it was so much more beneficial for me if I just asked questions and actually understood what they were saying. Because usually it'd be me asking them a question. And then they'd be responding to the question in like complicated language or something. And I'd think, I actually do want the answer to that question. I do want to be able to understand it."
Is there an experience or moment from your trip that stands out to you? Why was it so special?
"On the last night in Sevilla, we all ate dinner together. And after that, we did an activity where we all stood in a circle and closed our eyes. The monitors would choose three or four people at a time to go into the circle and tap people on the shoulder for different prompts. Like, “Who was the most improved,” all this stuff. And that was probably the most memorable moment for me because it just made me realize that this isn't just about like an immersion program, learning Spanish, being here solely for one purpose. It's also to get closer with these 14 students and to really build a connection with everyone. And that moment kind of just solidified everything for me, like what we had all learned about, and for every single prompt, I was able to choose multiple people to tap because I just felt like I knew them so well. Like, there was one prompt that said, “Who are you going to miss?” And I was like, I was going to pick all of them. It was just such a sweet moment. And to be able to be anonymous for it too, it just felt really special."
What surprised you most about the experience?
"In the days leading up to the trip, I was like, “This isn't real, I can't believe that I'm going on this program. What is going on?” And I guess the biggest surprise for me was just how close I'd get with my group. I feel like in groups of people, or especially at my school, there are a lot of cliques. And so I was kind of expecting this to happen within our group. And I was like, there's no way I can be so close with so many people all at once. But I was really surprised when at the end of the trip, I was so sad to leave every single person. That was just the biggest surprise: that I could talk to everyone and hold a conversation, and ask questions, and be intrigued by everyone and get so close with so many people in such a short time. Because even after the first week, I was like, these are all people I'm living with. I'm getting so close with them. We have seen each other at our highs and lows. We've all seen each other make mistakes and mess up at night when we're all tired. I just felt really comfortable with everyone at the end of it. And I was really surprised with that."
How would you say your peers influenced your experience?
"I would say they influenced my experience greatly. Being with my peers and everyone for the first week before we went to the homestay was really influential on my whole experience, because they were the ones that made me feel so much more comfortable able to go into my homestay with a better mindset. When we went to the homestay, we were basically waiting for all the host families to meet us at the bus station. And so we pulled in as we waited for all the families, and all of us students went to the back of the bus and just talked. We were just like all so nervous and we kind of just got out all of our fears and everything. And that was one of the most influential moments for me, as well: just being with everyone before we embarked on this really challenging journey. We were all about to be living with these random families who we had maybe conversed with once or twice. And we all kind of changed our mindsets. It was like, “This is all going to be okay. We're still going to be in the same town as each other. If anything happens, we're going to be together. We can still see each other with classes and everything.” And that kind of was a turning moment for me because I was just like, “Wait, this is okay. We still get to see each other. Like we're all together in this.” And it was just helpful to know that we all had support and we were all going through similar things."
What were some other things you did to prepare before the trip that really helped you?
"I did tutoring like once a week for, I think two or three months before the program started. And Jordan had mentioned to be sure to study the “vosotros” and the “present perfect” verb tenses. And so I watched a couple of videos and honestly asked Chat GPT, just like, what is everything I need to know about this? And I asked my Spanish teacher too, because I just wanted to make sure that I knew a lot."
What advice would you give to students considering LITA?
"If you're considering LITA, I think you should just do it. It was such a great experience. And I was definitely nervous at first, but it ended up being probably one of the best experiences I've ever had. And for people going into LITA, I say go into it with an open mind. I was obviously super nervous and super scared. But I guess I had no reason to be, because all of your group members and everything are going through the same thing, or at least similar things. You guys are all probably nervous. And you're gonna learn so much. So just stick to the immersion and write down words and everything in your notes that you don't know. And really just cherish every moment because it goes by really fast. LITA is a really special and unique program. Even I was, as I was looking for Spanish programs to do, a lot of them were in Sevilla or in Barcelona and super populated cities. And it was more kind of touring historical buildings and everything. But LITA really focuses on the immersion aspect and learning the language. [...] And we had so many interesting classes. Like, I love cooking. So when we did cooking classes, those were one of my favorites. But we learned so much about olive oil, which at first I was like, when I heard that we were going to an olive oil farm [...] I was a little skeptical at first, I was like, how much is there to know? But it actually ended up being so, so interesting. And especially interesting, just because I was learning it in Spanish, I feel like it made me focus more and just like, if I was confused, it meant that I was listening. Like, it just meant that I was, my brain was working [...] I found all the classes really interesting and everything."
By Mina, Operations Manager
