When two University of Memphis students went to study abroad in a small Spanish fishing village, they expected a year of educational enlightenment and cultural exposure.
Instead, they became involved in a political quagmire that spurred one of the largest protests in the city’s history, as well as an adventure that none of them had expected.
U of M students Amanda Magdelena and Jennifer Durham left for the city of Vigo — near the Portuguese border — on Sept. 19 to study at the University of Vigo, through the International Student Exchange Program. In the beginning, according to Magdelena, they stayed at a hotel in the city.
“We stayed in a hotel for the first month — a little longer than expected,” Magdelena said.
Magdelena said that after the month, when school began, the eight international students were moved into a dorm that was still under construction.
According to Magdelena, they were the first students that ISEP has sent to that particular location.
When class started, there were only classes for three weeks before the Spanish government announced its intention to make all the public universities private.
“Right now, the cost per semester is less than $1,000. After privatization, it will be much more,” Magdelena said. “In a country with a 30 percent employment, people cannot live with that.”
On Nov. 7, more than 3 million public school and university students and teachers went on strike.
“The school voted on whether or not to continue classes or to strike,” said Magdelena. “We voted to keep going because we wanted credit, but they voted to strike.”
According to Rebecca Laumann, director of The U of M’s Study Abroad program, there were six students in Spain. Though the other four students also experienced the strikes, the schools they were attending were able to arrange a way for the international students to have classes while the strikes were going on.
“This was a rare case. It doesn’t happen often,” Laumann said. “You would want that everyone would have a positive experience.”
“Never in history had the town, teachers and students (gone on) strike at once,” said Magdelena.
According to Magdelena, there were 10 or more protest events planned, including a big one in Santiago and a huge one in Madrid.
“The protesters basically made signs, pinpointed the busiest intersections in the city and sat down to stop traffic,” said Durham.
The Madrid protest that Magdelena went to was reported to have had over 15,000 participants.
“It got kind of crazy,” Magdelena said. “People were holding posters with symbolic messages. The police supported it and people were hanging out of windows in support of what’s going on.”
“It was really interesting to see everyone in Spain standing up for what they believe in,” said Durham.
Magdelena said that she was disappointed that she wasn’t able to speak as much Spanish because all of the Spanish students went home.
“It was just bad luck,” said Magdelena. “No one could have anticipated it. There was nothing to do.”
Both Magdelena and Durham said that The University was extremely helpful, but both came back to Memphis without finishing their terms, since the future of Vigo University was uncertain.
The privatization initiative, “Ley Orgànica de Universidades” in Spanish, passed in December.
During their time there with no school, Magdelena said that they got to travel to places like Lisbon and Santiago.
“I got to travel by high-speed train and saw the castle in Segovia that is what the Cinderella castle is based on,” said Magdelena. “I stayed with a family in Madrid for Thanksgiving, and saw the World Expo, the second largest aquarium in the world.” Magdelena added that there were some great parties and concerts that often didn’t end until 8 a.m.
“I was worried about the credit,” Magdelena said. “But it was still a good cultural experience.”
Students will probably not be sent to Vigo anymore, according to Magdelena.
Magdelena said she was not at all afraid of going abroad again.
“I would do it again, but next time I would probably research it more,” said Durham. “I still walked away with a few great experiences.”
