Written by: Kathy Miskelly

Houlton Rotary speaker 7/28/14 – Madelene Anderson, seen here with Amy Hocking and Chris Anderson

At the July 28th meeting, the Houlton Rotary Club was privileged to receive a report from Madelene Anderson, daughter of Rotarian Chris Anderson, about her recent exchange trip to Spain. Madelene shared with the Rotarians about her six month stay in Spain and the benefit she received from this experience. She had studied Spanish for a year and a half in high school, so Spain seemed to be a logical choice for the exchange study. Upon arrival Madelene was immediately immersed in the language, living with a Spanish host family and attending school where all the lecture based classes were in Spanish. She told Rotary members how her interest in Spain turned into a passion for the country during her stay. At first the new language didn’t come easy, but after a month and a half she became conversational in Spanish. Beyond practicing a new language and learning first-hand about another culture, Madelene shared with the group how the exchange trip helped to form her as a person as she experienced being more self-sufficient, traveling by herself, and learning how to live with a family of another culture.