With the founding of a winter session program in Granada, Spain, in 1988, the Department established its first presence in a Spanish-speaking country. Designed for intermediate-level language learners, this program offers participants courses in language and conversation, and another on contemporary Spain. A year later, the winter program in San José, Costa Rica, was inaugurated, based on the Granada model, and quickly became the Department's most popular study abroad program, drawing an average of forty students per session. (The University has been sponsoring a spring semester program in Costa Rica since the 1980's, with most courses taught in English.) The Mérida, Mexico, winter program was launched five years ago in cooperation with the Department of Political Science and International Relations. It offers a broad menu of courses, most of which are taught in English, enabling students with little or no Spanish background to participate.

In 1990, the Department instituted a fall semester program in Granada for advanced students of Spanish, enabling UD students to take a full load of upper-level courses abroad, all taught in Spanish. Since its inception, over one hundred Spanish majors and minors have taken advantage of this program, and returned to Newark glowing with a sense of accomplishment and new-found self-confidence. Their efforts also earned them fifteen credits in subjects such as history, literature, art history, and political science. An attractive Minor in Spanish Studies, created with the Granada courses in mind, drew even more students to the Department's academic offerings. A summer session was added to the Granada program in 1993. Like its winter counterpart, the summer program offers culture and conversation courses. A course on the history of Spanish music, taught in English, opens the program to those with little or no Spanish language background.

While all three sites offer students intensive contact with the Spanish language and Hispanic culture, marked differences in each area's geographical and cultural landscape make for very diverse experiences. UD students who fly down to Costa Rica in January take advantage of the mild temperatures to explore the country's natural splendors on group excursions to volcanoes, a rain forest, thermal springs, and the Pacific Coast. In their free time, many students fish, scuba dive, explore caves, or go white-water rafting.

The study abroaders who choose Granada as their destination are immersed in Spanish history and culture. Their first stop is Madrid, where they spend several days exploring Spain's bustling capital city, visiting the world-famous Prado Museum and Royal Palace, and taking excursions to the historic and picturesque cities of Toledo and Segovia. While in Granada, students tour cathedrals, monasteries, and, of course, the Alhambra, the Moorish city-fortress, and its sculpted gardens. A weekend excursion is usually taken to the Andalusian cities of Seville and Cordoba.

UD students who travel to Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula learn about this region's blend of Mayan and Spanish colonial cultural heritage. The students visit several archeological sites containing ancient Mayan ruins. Other excursions include tours of the port city of Progreso and the colonial city of Izamal, and visits to the theater, a tortilla factory, and the Celestœn Nature Preserve.

Participants in the San José , Granada, and Mérida programs live in private, Spanish-speaking homes, and take most of their meals with their host families. Both the summer and winter groups are accompanied by one or two faculty members from Delaware, who generally teach one course and handle program arrangements. The linguistically well-seasoned fall group is met in Spain by our resident director, Dr. Jorge Fernández-Barrientos Martín, of the University of Granada.

A survey of our Spanish-language programs would not be complete without mentioning the faculty member who founded the programs at all three sites: Dr. Ivo Domínguez. He was instrumental in finalizing an agreement between Delaware and the University of San José , and was faculty director of the first Costa Rica spring program in 1983. Our contract with the University of Granada was signed thanks to Domínguez's negotiations with administrators of that university, and our program in Mérida is another result of his ongoing effort to diversify our study abroad offerings. In addition, he founded and subsequently directed a fall semester program in Madrid, which has been administered by the Office of International Programs.

Both Domínguez and long-time Spanish instructor Amalia Veitía have served as faculty director for programs in all three locations. Domínguez affirms that "each country has a different appeal to the students." Veitía agrees, adding that "one cannot compare the three programs. Each country has its own distinct character." For Domínguez, the most rewarding aspect is that students return to Delaware motivated to continue their studies of Spanish. Veitía is delighted to see students enjoying the cultural offerings, improving their Spanish, and becoming more open-minded about other cultures. Whether their destination is Granada,Mérida, or San José , UD students of Spanish invariably find study abroad to be an exciting and enriching experience.