Category: Case Study

In July 2019 I left the UK to begin my placement year at BT in Madrid as part of my Languages and International Business degree. Although briefly interrupted by the lockdown in March where I went back to the UK to work from home for a while, I was able to return to Madrid and finish off an amazing year in the beautiful city.

My time in Madrid was better than I could have ever expected, I met friends from all round the world, and learnt to live like a true Madrileño. What Madrid lacks in coastline it makes up for with everything else, the narrow streets, markets, bars, restaurants, parks and Terrazas.

My job at BT was daunting at first, my first office job was to be in a completely Spanish speaking environment, but I was welcomed and supported throughout the year, and even stayed on working for a further 3 months after my contract ended. I loved working in Spain, and it’s true that the Spanish work to live, and not live to work. My boss always encouraged me to take holiday and go explore the country, as well as letting me off early on a Friday to make the most of the weekend and the amazing nightlife Madrid offered.

I’d spent many evenings after work sat outside in the squares drinking 1-euro beers, relaxing and spending time with friends. You didn’t have to have extravagant plans to enjoy Madrid, quite often I’d leave my flat for a walk and arrive back hours later as you always found something to do, a nice café to sit in, or shops to look in. What I loved to spend my money on was travelling, many weekends I spent outside the capital exploring other surrounding towns like Toledo, Salamanca, and Segovia, sometimes travelling further afield to Bilbao, Santander, and even Portugal! In the summer months my friend and I did a road trip in Andalucía, visiting Cordoba, Granada, Malaga, and Seville. Each city I visited allowed me to see different sides to Spain as a country and their different way of life. Their ‘manana’ (tomorrow) attitude made life way more relaxed but also exciting, something we could learn from.

I’m so grateful to the John Speaks Foundation and can’t thank them enough for allowing me to see as many corners of Spain as possible, and experience all the diverse and different cultures, making memories I will never forget. This scholarship also allowed me to reflect on my time, and helped me document it, which I will be able to look back on fondly in the future. It really was the best year of my life!

I have had the pleasure of spending the last year in Geneva, Switzerland, where I have been completing the first year of my Masters degree in International Affairs. Alongside my regular classes I took weekly French classes, and was pushed to improve my French through my interactions with French-speaking friends and the broader Geneva community.

The city itself has had much to offer, despite it being the middle of a pandemic. Geneva offers a variety of outdoor attractions such as mountains, hiking trails, lakes and parks which I was able to enjoy all year round with the friends I’ve made.

The highlight of my experience, however, was the opportunity to spend one month studying an intensive French language course in Montpellier this summer. Situated in the South of France, Montpellier offered me a completely different way of life to Geneva and the chance to interact with countless local people from all walks of life. It also served as a pivotal moment in my French learning experience, allowing me to push myself and express myself in French in ways I previously hadn’t been able to.

Without the generous help of the John Speak Trust, I would not have been able to undertake my travel and studying in the South of France that was so critical to elevating my French proficiency and drastically improving my confidence. Moreover, I wouldn’t have been able to live comfortably, travel and make the memories I have in Geneva were it not for the funding. The linguistic, cultural and social benefits of the funding have been invaluable, and I am incredibly grateful to the Trust for their support throughout this year.

As part of my undergraduate degree in German & History, I spent the last 9 months of the past academic year in Stuttgart, Germany. During this time, I taught English in a Realschule, using my time to gain an insight into life at a German school and use my language skills in a job setting.

My time spent in Stuttgart was fantastic and despite the challenges that living in a new place (especially during the Covid-19 pandemic), I was able to experience what makes Germany such a great place to live. I got to know some great people and got an insight into the cool aspects of Stuttgart and the Swabian region. Highlights included travelling to the Allgäu Alps region with my flatmates and hiking up the mountains there, seeing the Swabian Alb in all its wintry beauty and meeting some fantastic mates at the football in Backnang.

I’m extremely grateful for the financial support of the John Speak Trust, as it ultimately allowed me to have a fantastic & authentic experience in Germany. The funding enabled me to travel to new regions, where I encountered linguistic nuances and challenges to overcome, where I saw and learnt new things about Germany.

This funding didn’t only improve my language skills and cultural knowledge, but helped to provide me with the opportunity to improve my confidence and get the most out of my time in Germany. I’m really grateful for the Trust’s support.

In October 2020 I left the UK to spend six months working as a Conservation Education Intern at Wild Sun Rescue Center in Costa Rica for my Year Abroad. My internship wasn’t paid, so I’d accepted that I would be living a frugal life and would just explore the area around where I was working.

However, receiving the John Speak Scholarship changed my entire experience as I was able to visit many of the most beautiful places in the country and delve deeper into Costa Rican culture.

Living in a tiny Costa Rican fishing village in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic was a very unique experience, and despite the difficulties I and many others faced as a result, I believe overall it was a blessing in disguise. Usually there are many tourists from the United States and many other countries all over Costa Rica, but as a result of the travel bans heavily limiting who was allowed into the country, I was able to fully immerse myself in the culture of the country, as well as the Spanish language. I feel much more confident in my understanding and use of Latin American Spanish and hope my improved fluency will be apparent in my upcoming final year of my degree.

The main reason I wanted to work in the field of conservation in Costa Rica was because the government is at the forefront of efforts to protect the country’s natural resources. This greatly contrasts with the attitude of many other countries, in which environmental protection groups have to lobby the government in order to persuade them to prioritise combating climate change and deforestation. The Costa Rican government channels funds from a fuel tax, car stamp duty and energy fees to pay for nature reserve management and environmental services like clean air, fresh water and biodiversity protection. Landowners are paid to preserve old-growth forests and to plant new trees, and as a result, forest cover has risen from 24% in 1985 to close to 46% today. When one considers that 20% of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has disappeared since 1970, this is incredibly impressive.

Nevertheless, there are still issues arising as a result of Costa Rica’s rapid development. One of the most common reasons for animals being brought into the rescue centre where I was working was electrocution. Costa Rica’s demand for electricity has increased exponentially in recent years, and as a result ICE, the Costa Rican equivalent of the National Grid, has had to quickly and cheaply construct new power lines to meet this need. These cables should have been insulated and placed underground, but due to a lack of public funding a large number of uninsulated cables now run through the rainforest, where animals confuse them for branches and use them to move from tree to tree. This often results in devastating injuries or death for the animals,so rescue centres such as Wild Sun are working hard to raise money to pay for cable insulation. In the future I would love to work at the forefront of the efforts to combat this issue, so Costa Rica can develop more sustainably and safely for its wildlife.

When I wasn’t working, my scholarship allowed me to travel all over the country to visit some of the most beautiful spots of natural beauty in the world.

I stood under a 60m waterfall in La Fortuna, ziplined over the cloud forests of Monteverde and watched a mother and baby humpback whale breaching off the coast of Paquera. I encountered hundreds of different species, from sloths and squirrel monkeys to tamanduas and tapirs, during visits to national parks in Manuel Antonio, Cahuita and Drake Bay, and also in the trees in front of my house as I ate breakfast each morning. I watched smoke billowing out of a volcano in Arenal, went scuba diving with sharks off the coast of Isla del Caño and stayed up all night watching a meteor shower in Montezuma. Through all of these experiences I not only greatly improved my Spanish, but also developed a much deeper understanding of Costa Rican culture and the country’s pura vida philosophy.

I can safely say that without receiving the John Speak Scholarship I would never have been able to have these experiences, and I am indebted to the Trust for giving me the opportunity to live life to the fullest during my time abroad.