How to say "let's be friends" wherever you go

In this episode we’re sitting down with Zack Patton, a University of Houston student who turned one study abroad into three — learning Spanish, French, and German along the way. Joined by USAC Resident Directors David Gilland and LuisFernández, Zack reflects on language learning, idiomatic hacks, culture shock, and why fluency isn’t the goal: it’s connection.

Have an idea for a future episode? Email us at podcast@usac.edu.
Just want to learn more about study abroad? Email studyabroad@usac.edu for all the details!

Transcript

[00:00:00] Tiffant N'dry: Hello, and welcome back to THE Study Abroad Pod. In today's episode, we're hearing from Zack Patton, who can't get enough of study abroad. For the last three years, he has studied in Spain, France, and Germany, soaking up each unique culture and living fully in the moment. Joined by USAC resident directors David and Luis, Zack reflects on language learning, idiomatic hacks, culture shock, and why fluency isn't the goal. It's connection. 

[00:00:33] David Gilland: Hi everyone. David Gilland, Resident Director in Lüneburg, Germany for USAC Germany, and I have some special guests today. Luis?

[00:00:43] Luis Fernandez: Yes, hello, my name is Luis Fernandez and I am the Resident Director of the USAC Alicante Program in Spain.

[00:00:49] I've been the Resident Director since 2001, although have been involved in USAC since earlier as I was a former teacher in the San Sebastian program in the north of Spain. I am delighted, I'm very thankful for this invitation because it gives me the opportunity chat again, and see again, one of our wonderful and outstanding students, Zack Patton, who was in Alicante in 2000, the year long of 2022 and 2023. I'm very happy to see you again, Zack . 

[00:01:22] Zack Patton: Yes, you too, Luis. Hey guys. Yeah, I'm Zack . My very first program studying abroad was in Alicante, and three years later, I'm still here in Europe this time with David in Lüneburg.

[00:01:32] David Gilland: It's going to be interesting.

[00:01:33] Zack Patton: It's awesome to see both you guys together. I mean, this is, this is amazing the

[00:01:37] Luis Fernandez: Mm-hmm.

[00:01:38] Zack Patton: World, worlds collide here. 

[00:01:39] David Gilland: Alright. Yeah, thanks. It's really great to be with both of you here, Luis. I've only been with USAC for about three years, and Luis and his experience, he really, really knows what he's doing. I, when he talks, I listen, all of us do. So it's always really good to come in contact with folks like Luis that have been around.

[00:01:56] And, and Zack is the reason we do what we do. Not just Zack, but he's certainly the kind of student that you really enjoy having on site. He's, he's open, he's warm, he tries, he just puts himself out there. He's in the meantime, kind of turned into a social media celebrity. We're really glad to be able to talk to Zack today and find a little bit out about his experiences between Alicante and he's also been in France and now he's in Germany. So we are talking about a young man who has really mastered three European languages, which kind of puts him at the world's doorstep. He can go to almost any country in the world and find someone to communicate with, and that's a really, really powerful tool.

[00:02:44] I'm really glad to be part of that. And I know Luis is as well. Zack , can you just really quickly give a short run through of what you've been doing since you started studied abroad and the highlights, I guess. 

[00:02:59] Zack Patton: Yeah, for sure. I'm a senior, technically at the University of Houston, but my senior year I was in Spain and I just have been extending my graduation date indefinitely. Yeah, I, I had chose to go to Spain because I wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps. He had studied Sevilla in 1989, wrote a journal, and I read that, it really inspired me. And then seeing him speak Spanish with other people was like wizardry to me. And so I was like, I gotta go. And so right after COVID and the lockdown went down, I went over to to Alicante.

[00:03:34] I chose Alicante because I needed someplace warm, beach, palm trees, also small town, a good mix of history and a place where they likely wouldn't be speaking too much English 'cause it wouldn't be, you know, very touristic. And Alicante was the perfect location. Luis was my resident director there. He was incredible.

[00:03:58] Super, like a father figure to all of us. Yeah. Helped hook me up with an incredible host family that inspired me to continue my language journey into France, which I was in Aix-en-Provence last year, and then finally here to Germany to kind of wrap it all up.

[00:04:16] Luis Fernandez: I still remember when Zack first appeared here in Alicante, Zack , I don't know if you remember, that time when you arrived in Plaza de los luceros with the rest of the students and you were assigned with the homestay of Mar.

[00:04:30] Remember that? How intimidated the students were the first day, right? Coming into somebody else's home. You know, the difficulty of adjusting to a new family and then, you know, how fruitful it was for all the students, the experience. I have to say that, Zack is a student that always leaves a mark behind. He's not one of these students that leave and you, I mean, Zack was in contact, I know with with some of the professors or so when he came back to visit Mar to her house and they took him to Salamanca. Right, because that's where the hometown of, of Mar and they, they spent the, the holidays, Easter holidays, if I remember well, right.

[00:05:15] Zack Patton: Yeah. We spent Christmas together. 

[00:05:17] Luis Fernandez: Christmas, it was Christmas time. Yes, and, and they took you. At that time you were in France, so you always left that connection. And that's something I think is very interesting for the students who come to programs like USAC, which is a very like, like a small group, very personal the attention.

[00:05:36] The students develop very strong links with the staff, professors, with the home stays. Really, we have students who have a friendship for life, right? And they come here, they come back to, and I'm sure to also to Lüneburg with David and they feel at home. We have a good example here with Zack, yeah. 

[00:05:55] David Gilland: Yeah, it's, it's always great when students come back to visit. Sometimes they just show up and that's really cool when you're not even expecting it. It's also great when they let you know, but, so you're always welcome back here in Lüneburg, Zack, I'm sure you'll be back at some point in any case. So I think we'll start off a little bit with the, with the linguistic aspect of your time abroad, because you've done something which few Americans have done and really not that many people at all.

[00:06:23] You've spent three years abroad, three languages. And you're yeah, I can vouch for it, I know that you speak German and French very, very well, and I can tell that your Spanish is amazing also. So, first of all, congratulations. It's really an impressive accomplishment. What is it about foreign languages that you, you love so much?

[00:06:46] Zack Patton: I would say the connection that it, it opens you up to, with other people, so. My first experience really learning a language was when I was in Spain and it was really difficult. For the first two, three months, I thought I would get there and be fluent, in two weeks just because of, you know, I was in Spain, I was breathing Spanish air, like it's just gonna magically happen and it didn't.

[00:07:14] It took a lot of work. Once you start I, I remember I had my first conversation with a native Spaniard, and it was in one of our conversations classes, and we were assigned to go out and we had a piece of paper with some questions on it, and it was basically just to start that connection, even though we weren't quite there in terms of our language capabilities.

[00:07:38] I remember going out there and the fear that I used to have speaking a foreign language kinda went away in that moment I didn't even realize. I was just like, oh, let's try this out. And I had my first conversation with someone outside of my host family, and we made a connection, traded our WhatsApp numbers, and then started hanging out for pretty much the rest of the year, occasionally just to do our language exchanges. And so yeah, that was definitely, a huge part of what makes it special is that connection. 

[00:08:13] David Gilland: But there's also a problem when you learn multiple languages. It, at least I find it hard to keep them all straight in my head. So have you had any experiences like that, or do you find that confusing at all? 

[00:08:30] Zack Patton: 100%. Yeah, definitely when you're in the lower level of learning the language, so for example, when I went back to Alicante during my year in France for the Christmas holidays, I went back to my host family to stay with them. And so I had to switch from French for two, three months straight back to Spanish, which I hadn't been practicing too much.

[00:08:53] I made a few international friends that spoke Spanish, which helped keep it alive, but it wasn't all day every day, right? So when I got back to my host family, I started replacing Spanish verbs with French verbs and vice versa. So I started mixing stuff up instead of saying, you know, I'm gonna go out, which in Spanish would be voy a salir I said voy a sortir and that doesn't work.

[00:09:20] But since my host family spoke Catalan as well, or Valenciano, sortir means the same thing, which also means to go out, right Luis? So that stuff was kind of interesting. Good examples. I would say though, when you're listening or reading, you never really get mixed up. It's just when it comes time to produce the language, it's easier to to mix things.

[00:09:42] However, as time went on, I don't really think I'm mixing Spanish and French together much anymore 'cause they've both grown into their separate compartments. But when I'm, you know, now with German and I have to switch into French, my girlfriend speaks French. So we speak in that language and I notice that I'll accidentally say, you know, instead of mais, which means, but I'll say aber and sort of things like that 'cause it's, it's all in your brain at once. It's, yeah, and I think it may always be like that a little bit. When the natives of the language hear that, they find it a little bit endearing. They say, okay, well he is trying and he knows the other language, which is cool. 

[00:10:25] David Gilland: Yeah, that's funny. I do the same thing.

[00:10:27] I've been in Germany for about 15 years now, and every now and then the German, uh, even if it affects my English, I think that's a message. If you're thinking about studying abroad out there, hey, it's not about perfection, it's just about communication. So no one is gonna expect you to speak perfectly ever.

[00:10:43] You just do your best. You communicate, you open yourself up and, and it'll be okay. 

[00:10:49] Luis Fernandez: I think that has mentioned a very important point, which is the debate between accuracy and fluency. Not be afraid of making mistakes. This is something that I think is very important, and also some students like to be corrected all the time, and others if they are overcorrected, then try to become shy and not so willing to talk because they think that they are not speaking properly.

[00:11:14] There has to be a balance in that. So students, when they are at home in the US, they don't have as many opportunities to put this into practice. In real situations, you can have a lot of apps, a lot of tools to listen to read, to watch movies in Spanish. It's a big difference to be here in the country and put this into practice in real situations.

[00:11:34] You go to the market, the central market of Alicante. You go to Christmas market, do your shopping, talk to the bus driver, the tram, the subway, or friends that you make in streets. These are real situations. People of different backgrounds, different accents, different ages. That's real German. That's real Spanish. Big, a big success is for many students is just to hear themselves speaking the foreign language. 

[00:12:00] David Gilland: Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to ask, so Zack has a bit of a reputation now in the program for someone who can rattle off German idiomatic expressions really quickly, and so I wanted to ask you, are there certain phrases or utterances that you like to use in all three of these languages that you've learned so well. Could you name some of your favorite and maybe just kind of suggest what they mean in English?

[00:12:32] Zack Patton: Yeah, yeah. I gotta think of them off the top of my head. But in Spanish, I would say I've, I've got the most memorized, so I think I have a 97 memorized. I could rattle them all off. It might take me a while, but I would say, some that I can really relate to are, en casa de herrero, cuchillo de palo that means

[00:12:51] Luis Fernandez: That's a good one.

[00:12:52] Zack Patton: In the house of the blacksmith, you just have a wooden knife. And basically that's interpreted as in the place where, you know, you'd think they would have something that you need, they don't have it. And that's kind of true in life in many cases, that you can think of. For example, Netflix. You wanna watch this one movie and Netflix has all the movies, and you search it and it's not there.

[00:13:16] And so it's a nice one going on to, to in the south of France. They, they kind of have their own kinda regional dialect and their own sayings. So many Parisians won't recognize this one, but when something takes an, an incredible amount of time, like it's, it's so slow, you're waiting in line forever for ice cream, for example, you could say j'ai le temps de tuer un âne à coups de figues 

[00:13:44] and that means like, I have enough time to, to kill a donkey by throwing figs at it. You know, stuff like that is, it's just funny. Every time I've been with locals and I just randomly spit out a refrán the people connect with you instantly. They're like, wow. He really took the time to learn something cultural and local that only we would understand.

[00:14:15] Oftentimes they, in Spain, they called me Sancho Panza he was a character in a very famous book in Spain, and that was known for speaking in idioms and whatever. And so it's just, it's a great way to connect with the people in the culture. And so that's been my secret hack, I would say to.

[00:14:32] Luis Fernandez: Yes. We find it very funny when a foreign language student speaks with idioms and idiomatic expressions because sometimes we don't use them all the time. And when somebody reminds us about this expression that we know, but maybe we haven't used for a while, and we think, well, where are these? Where did this, this guy learn this expression from?

[00:14:51] It becomes funny and there is a connection. Truly, it brings affection to the conversation. Definitely. I think this is a very good strategy in fact. 

[00:15:01] David Gilland: Yeah. That has really worked well for you, obviously in three countries. Are there any other things that you would tell someone to do if they want to kind of arrive, if they want to be able to embellish their communication in a way that's not just, mastery of grammar, like what other things? 

[00:15:19] Zack Patton: I think it's really important to just dive into the culture. So go out to the town, for example, order a coffee in the language. Just order food in the language. Walk into a bookstore and ask for a certain genre that you'd like, and you can even go beforehand, go on your phone and translate what you want, and then kind of memorize that and go up to random people and just practice that speaking and breaking that fear of talking with natives or strangers in general.

[00:15:51] That stuff really speeds up your process. You gotta do things that decrease the fear and increase the use of the language and your confidence. 

[00:16:00] David Gilland: So if there's students listening to us thinking about learning a language or somewhere in the middle of it, what kind of strategies have worked for you?

[00:16:08] Everybody learns differently, but I had strategies. What do you do in particular to help you? You said you're studying really hard, so how do you do that? 

[00:16:17] Zack Patton: Yeah, so it's a, that's a great question. And it's taken me, and it's still, you know, I'm still progressing in it, but it's been three years that I've been learning foreign languages and

[00:16:29] at first, I wasn't sure exactly what to do. I thought, okay, it'll just come naturally. I don't have to do much work. And then I realized, okay, I gotta study. I do my homework and you know, participate in class. But also, it wasn't exactly enough. You gotta take that next step, which for me is watching TV and and YouTube videos, podcasts, in the language, and then communicating as much as possible.

[00:16:54] And those have been kind of, what, what I, you know, kind of passive learning in a way where you do all your hard, you know, production learning and school and on your homework. And then I think my strategy is to kind of mix that and pair it with a ton of passive learning input constantly so that you can hear and adapt yourself to the language.

[00:17:18] And that ends up being what comes first. Two is the comprehension that comes with it, and then once you can comprehend, you can speak. It doesn't work the other way around.

[00:17:27] Luis Fernandez: I would like to add something because I was also 

[00:17:30] a learner of an English learner many years ago, and some of the strategies I had, everybody has to develop their own strategies, but I would like to point out too, that I found for myself very beneficial,

[00:17:41] what was the news? It could be the internet, it could be the radio, television or newspapers, magazines, and why the news? The news for me was a great tool because the vocabulary is repeated for many days. Now you have a topic that, whatever the economical crisis or a specific topic, so when you read the news, the vocabulary is going to be repeated in many times.

[00:18:08] And the second one, I always try to build my own vocabulary. I used to carry a book note always with me, my pocket, and I will write my specific vocabulary, the words that I always want to say, the ones I'm going to be using. And sometimes, I dunno how to say, always within a context. I used to write a whole sentence, not just the word, but the whole sentence so that I could understand in what kind of context it's used.

[00:18:35] So I think for me, it worked very well, right. But everybody has to develop their own strategies for learning a foreign language. It's very personal. 

[00:18:45] David Gilland: Yeah. And Luis, what are some of the do's and don'ts of learning Spanish? What kind of advice do you give students early in their time to help them along their way? 

[00:18:56] Luis Fernandez: I always tell them to try to get an Spanish exchange partner.

[00:19:00] We providing in the office, right people of their own age. We pair students at the university with students from the, usually in the English theology department. I think this is a great way to meet the locals and to put the language into practice. Then about the language, I try to concentrate more on the cultural aspects around the language, the cultural aspects of Spain.

[00:19:20] Because the language, we have the professors in class and they're the ones that deal mostly with the specific aspects of the language. On cultural part, yes, but the cultural adjustment is something that we cover extensively in the program because definitely there are differences in our culture to the United States.

[00:19:38] And they need to be aware of that and not only aware, but they need to be looking for that, right? 

[00:19:43] David Gilland: Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the unique things I get to experience is to talk to students about using German in Germany as someone who has also been through that process myself. I think after the second or third orientation, I've put together a slide that I always do in orientation.

[00:20:01] It was something like things they told me I needed to learn, but I didn't, and then later realized I should have and the kind of things, and it's not so much grammar. Grammar is important, especially in German, but it's really how you use the language. A lot of times that's important and how you say things and how you start conversations.

[00:20:20] And really it's almost more important than having the right grammar that you kind of at least, start out with the right thing and you kind of open the door the right way. And so I've tried to help coach students over the year, because we come with our American tendencies and customs. And you know, it's very common in America to ask someone, hey, how are you?

[00:20:38] and then you walk off before you get an answer. It's just a greeting for us. And so then of course a lot of students naturally just translate in that, translate that to German and they say, wie geht's? Wie geht es dir? to all these people and that's a weird thing. And to ask someone in Germany that you don't know quite well, you really only ask close friends or people that you've had interactions with how they're doing.

[00:21:01] It's kind of a personal question here, whereas in the US it's a little bit more impersonal and just a standard form of greeting. So it's these kind of elements we've, I think our job as resident directors is to communicate the cultural context of speaking as well. I think pronunciation is another thing that Americans don't always take seriously and it's important in German, and there's a huge conversation that we should probably have about accents.

[00:21:28] Speaking, people are worried about speaking with an accent, and I think you can still pronounce language as well without sounding like a native, so you don't have to sound like you're from Spain to speak excellent Spanish. You just have to get the pronunciation right. Yeah, maybe people will hear that you're a foreigner, but that's okay.

[00:21:45] It's fine in German to speak with an accent, but you can still pronounce the words correctly or incorrectly with an accent, and that's something that. I didn't take seriously when I started learning German, but I learned later. It's really important because there's a big difference between ah and eh.

[00:22:02] It, it could make the word plural instead of singular. So you really, these are kind of important things. Zack, do you have elements there or these things that you feel like you've learned in these three different cultural and linguistic contexts that are particularly important to you? 

[00:22:19] Zack Patton: Oh yeah. So coming to Spain, first thing right off my mind is the rolled R, the trilled R,

[00:22:26] I couldn't pronounce it. And I felt like, you know, I wanted to sound Spaniard. I didn't wanna have this, you know, or, acento, were they, you know, notice that I'm American right off the bat, or an English speaker. They're just like, oh, come on. And so I, I tried over and over to roll my R, wasn't capable of doing it.

[00:22:48] I think that's a problem that many English speakers have and some are born with it. They can just roll it off, you know, they don't even try. For me, it was a big struggle and I know Luis probably remembers the early days where I would say. I dunno, your perro is so cute instead of perro. And that was very difficult for me.

[00:23:08] It was very frustrating. So I spoke with my host mom about that and she was like, just keep practicing in November or December, you'll finally get it. And, and she was right. I don't know how many students she'd had, that had the same problem, but yeah. And then in France, I don't know, France is a whole different beast with their pronunciation.

[00:23:28] So depending who you're talking to, it can be very important. But as long as you can get to the point where you're understood, which takes effort and practice in phonetics classes, , you don't have to be a native. And then same with German. As long as you get those key pronunciation factors in a word correct, like you said, eh, is normally in the middle of a word gonna mean that it's a plural versus ah, and those are things that can be confused and change the meaning completely.

[00:23:59] So as long as you've pronounce things that don't change the meaning of what you're trying to express, then. It's all good, but I totally understand the desire to sound perfect and a native, and that's something that I will always be striving for, is nailing the pronunciation to the best of my ability.

[00:24:18] David Gilland: So Zack, you're really like a study abroad professional at this point. I know Luis and I are technically professionals, but I think you've done three programs, so you're a professional as well. What kind of advice would you give to students that are contemplating study abroad? 

[00:24:33] Zack Patton: Yeah, so I think most important is to not be hard on yourself and also have a very open mind going into it.

[00:24:42] So understand that it's going to be very challenging. There'll be days where you don't feel like you're progressing, or maybe you're even falling behind. But on the other side of that, you are going to experience so many new things that you couldn't even contemplate or imagine beforehand. And just being open to that different ways of living

[00:25:03] is huge before, you know, touching ground in your country of choice. And then with that, you have to listen to yourself in terms of what your goal is studying abroad and just focus on that why? What made you come to the country? What were you wanting to experience? What's important to you? And keep that in your head.

[00:25:26] And those times where things are a little difficult and you may want to give up or hide in your room or whatever you're feeling, because I felt those feelings too, especially in Spain at the beginning it was really difficult, especially after two weeks and I wasn't fluent. I'm like, what's going on here?

[00:25:43] And you know, just being, just going out and, and being easy on yourself, but also making sure you're, you're disciplined enough to go in the right direction, I think is huge. And, and then, do things that are a little bit uncomfortable. Take that trip that, you know, you normally would say, nah, I don't want to, or, it's a little too expensive or whatever.

[00:26:07] You won't regret it. If you do it, the experience is, is worth it's, it's, it's priceless. So those are a few, few things of advice. And then language wise is just try and use it as much as you can, and even when you're tired or you don't feel like you have it, just, just keep trying. Like we said, communication is the goal, not perfection.

[00:26:29] And the more you communicate, the more perfect you'll become. It's kind of a catch 22, but those would be my words of advice. 

[00:26:38] David Gilland: Yeah. I always tell students in orientation, if you don't embarrass yourself at least once a day, you're not putting yourself out there enough. So it's okay to go into a bakery and make a fool of yourself.

[00:26:47] Whatever grammatical lesson you learn in that bakery, you will never forget. So, you know, it's tough to be uncomfortable, but you learn really good lessons. So, Zack, you've been here in Lüneburg, it's going on the full academic year. Can you talk about that a bit? So you've seen some students come and go.

[00:27:06] What has that year long experience been like for you? 

[00:27:10] Zack Patton: There's so many factors that go into the year long experience for me that make it extremely worth it, which is, you know, not only are you seeing the country and its seasons. Almost the entire year. You land in August when everything's kind of hot and you stay over Christmas.

[00:27:28] You can see the holidays there, and then things start to get warmer again. It's really cool to experience the whole year in the country. And then along with that is languages, at least I've, I've been studying abroad specifically to learn the languages and understand the cultures. That takes time. Simply put, you need time, as much as you can get.

[00:27:50] And so being able to relax a little bit and not be so pressured in one semester helped me a lot to stay consistent and not burn myself out with, oh my gosh, I only have three months to be become perfect in this language. Which I think many people that stay for one semester, they kind of have that idea.

[00:28:07] And if you, you just kind of relax and you have that time to improve, improve and experience things, that's an incredible opportunity to take. 

[00:28:18] David Gilland: So Zack and Luis, both as study abroad professionals, what kind of advice would you give to students who are planning to go abroad?

[00:28:28] What would you tell them? What can they do now to get themselves ready? 

[00:28:33] Luis Fernandez: First of all, I would tell them to do it. Right, there's no question about that. The benefits, I mean, or in terms of finding a job, employment, cultural awareness, the aspects I mentioned before. I mean, do it, do not hesitate on this, and then more practical I think is very important to research very well. What are you expecting on getting from this experience? It's important that you think carefully what kind of housing you would like to have, if you're a very independent person or if you would like to live in a home stay, or the program offers dorms, the location in the country.

[00:29:11] The research is very important before coming here. Once you are in the program, just relax because you will be in the hands of wonderful professionals. Everything will be laid out for you. You don't really have to worry. You will see what a wonderful experience for our students is probably one of the best times of their college in their life,

[00:29:32] the lifetime. I really envy the students that are coming because I wish I was one of them, right, to be on their shoes. 

[00:29:42] David Gilland: I think that's one of the nice things about the programs that we run because we're able to kind of help people out. I think going abroad is, you know, in a way it's gotten a bit easier since I first went abroad, with the internet and everything, but it's still a huge step. And

[00:29:57] you need to do your research and have the information, yet, you still have to get off the plane. You still have to make it to the train station. Even with the internet, I'm not even sure it's that much easier. Sometimes less information is sometimes better. You just, then you have to ask people and you get there, but it's, yeah.

[00:30:14] I think that's one of the best things about this job is providing that kind of security for the first. Trip abroad. And so that's one of the nice things about the way we do this. At USAC, we can kind of help you get your feet wet, get the experience. Then in the future you may be going on your own. You may decide, I liked where I did my study abroad.

[00:30:35] I'm gonna do a master's degree in Lüneburg, or do a PhD in Scotland, or in Lyon, somewhere. So we're really glad to be able to, kind of provide that springboard. 

[00:30:47] Zack Patton: For sure, and for me, two things. The first is figure out your why before you study abroad. What exactly do you wanna get out of it? What are your goals?

[00:30:56] Make sure you have those pretty clear. And then kind of imagine how you're gonna get that stuff done. So for me, it was always, okay, learn the language to fluency. How am I gonna get that done? Well, I should probably live with a host family where I'm speaking the language. You know, 24/7. So kind of putting yourself in a position to, to succeed in your goals is huge.

[00:31:19] And then another thing was just a great word of advice from my Spanish host mother Mar, who really calmed me down in a moment where I was really frustrated with my Spanish, and I asked her, why? Why can't I speak like you guys yet? Why is it taking so long? What's going on? And she gave me a very good comparison or metaphor.

[00:31:43] And she said, Zack , were you ever, you know, when you were a little kid, you know, could you ever have trouble seeing yourself in the mirror? And I said, well, yeah. And she was like, yeah. And one day you saw your reflection. So like there's a counter, right? And you're standing in front of the counter and you can't see the mirror over it 'cause you're such a little kid and one day you, you're tall enough to see it.

[00:32:05] So that's kind of what's happening with. With language learning is you're growing, you're growing, you're growing, and you can't see it until one day kind of all comes together and you can see a reflection in me and you're like, I, I made it. And so I, I remember that to this day, what she said. And it's helped get me through, you know, now three foreign languages.

[00:32:24] David Gilland: So what, just to recap, when you went to Spain, what was your level of Spanish? 

[00:32:31] Zack Patton: So I had taken seven years of Spanish, but I didn't really try. That was the problem. So when I got to, I was the kid in the class doing kind of Google translate or trying to escape from the work 'cause I thought, I don't need Spanish, I'm not gonna use that.

[00:32:46] And then when I got to Spain, I would say maybe beginning A2. I don't know, Luis, do you remember how my Spanish was when we got off the plane in Madrid? 

[00:32:58] Luis Fernandez: Yes, you were in track three, technically in track three, right? Able to communicate, but nothing to do with the results after you left, right? I mean, track three students.

[00:33:09] Composition one, composition two, right? So they have some good command of Spanish for basic stuff, but nothing to do with the level when you left, it was an amazing jump, uh, improvement in your Spanish, right? You should be proud of yourself. Talk about your achievement here. Yes. 

[00:33:29] David Gilland: Zack , what would you say to someone who's thinking about, uh, study abroad that's got no experience in the language whatsoever?

[00:33:36] Zack Patton: I would say be, you know, the summer before or the semester before. Start looking at the language and getting yourself a little bit familiar with, with certain word and sayings. Yeah, vocab would be huge to learn and you know, basic sayings. Hello, my name is, thank you, please. And then once you get there is just be really easy on yourself and just know it's gonna take time.

[00:34:00] And then continue to do the things that will, with no doubt, improve your language, which is just using it on a daily basis and not being afraid to make mistakes. And it, you learn so fast, especially coming from zero, things skyrocket like that.

[00:34:22] David Gilland: So Zack, you're, you've kind of demonstrated you're really a master of languages, but I have the feeling that language is not necessarily the point for you. Language is important, but the end goal is somewhere else. So what do you see in the future for yourself with these languages that you've acquired?

[00:34:43] Zack Patton: Yeah, so I've been kinda dedicating my life the past three years to learn these languages. But yeah, like you said, languages aren't the point. They aren't really who I am. They are gonna become a tool for me in the future. And so as a marketing and international business student from the University of Houston, my plan is after my graduation to put to good use the cultural competence that I've gained the past three years as well as the languages, and combine them with my knowledge from business back at the University of Houston and then come back to Europe and use it on a daily basis. So my goal right now is probably a fleet sales position with a large international company where I will be responsible for traveling and meeting with clients and organizing deals and doing it in English, Spanish, French, German, whatever they need me to do, and as well as be an ambassador for the United States in whatever business I'm in.

[00:35:48] Who knows, politics could also be a good way. Cause I think we need representatives that have more of a global mindset. So who knows what the future holds. But languages will be a tool that I'll use for the rest of my life, that's for sure. 

[00:36:02] David Gilland: That's great to hear 'cause I came to German really, it was kind of a function of my academic career and it just became necessary at a point.

[00:36:11] And I think a lot of times in America, we tend to see languages like the end goal, but it really is something that is a tool. It can open up the world for you. It can accompany you with whatever you do. So maybe it takes a little bit of the pressure off 'cause you're using language to do something else.

[00:36:30] It's helping you accomplish other goals. I know since you've been here, you have more or less become a social media celebrity, an influencer, if you will. Zack has had some posts with how many views and likes?

[00:36:46] Zack Patton: Yeah. Close to, close to 2 million views. Hundreds of thousands of likes. 

[00:36:50] David Gilland: Yeah. And so is that, what channel is that on?

[00:36:53] Zack Patton: Yeah, it's on my TikTok account. 

[00:36:55] David Gilland: Okay, so Zack on TikTok. Yeah, you can find him there. He's got some good stuff. The locals love it as well. So yeah, I think that, yeah, being able to kind of communicate well hit the sweet spot with the language and the culture is, is really, is a good thing. It's gonna help you, help you get along.

[00:37:14] It's good for you. It's, it's good for, it's gonna be good for America going into the future. So I hope we can, I hope you can keep it up. I know you will and I hope we can at USAC continue to keep providing these kinds of opportunities. 

[00:37:29] Zack Patton: Yeah, for sure. It's a sign of the times we are, we're so globalized and English is kind of the dominant language, but when you can step out of that zone of comfort and learn another one, it is such an advantage and benefit in your life personally and professionally.

[00:37:47] David Gilland: Alright, well this has been a lot of fun. 

[00:37:51] Zack Patton: Yeah, it has been a pleasure to be part of this podcast with USAC and you know, three years in the making. It's incredible. 

[00:37:57] David Gilland: Hey Luis. It is very good to see you. 

[00:38:00] Luis Fernandez: Yes, it has been great this conversation, David, I feel very honored, I'm very pleased to be part of this conversation.

[00:38:08] I wish you all the best. I know you are being a wonderful and successful student there in Lüneburg with David. I hope that you can return to Alicante and see us again, so I will be very pleased to have you again. For the rest of the students, the people listening, I would like to invite them also to think well and embark on the adventure of study abroad, and especially with USAC, which is a great organization.Thank you.

[00:38:35] David Gilland: Wonderful afternoon talking to you

[00:38:37] Zack Patton: Gracias Luis. Páselo bien, hasta otra vez! (Spanish: Thank you Luis, have a good one, see you next time!) 

[00:38:38] Luis Fernandez: Qué vale! Que va muy bien, tanto, así e lo mejor, un abrazo, un abrazo, (Spanish: Great, you're doing great! Sending a hug)

[00:38:43] Bye David, see you. 

[00:38:45] Tiffant N'dry: Thank you for listening to THE Study Abroad Pod, a podcast brought to you by the University Studies Abroad Consortium. Please listen, subscribe and review us on Buzzsprout or wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow USAC on all your favorite social media channels @studyabroadusac, and if you have an idea for a future episode or want to learn more about Study Abroad, you can email us at studyabroad@usac.edu.