Spain Trip Journal Entrant 4

                 It’s the last week, and I’m wrapping most things up. Beyond seeing several patients wrapping up their final days of therapy, last week consisted of choosing who among the many interesting patients to do a case study and presentation on. Ultimately, I chose a woman suffering from Prolonged Mourning. For the sake of confidentiality (and not spoiling too much of my presentation), that’s all I’ll write on this topic. I want to briefly thank one of the people directing my internship, Ventura, for taking 2 hours out of his schedule to cover this case in further detail with me.

                It might sound dull compared to the Toledo trip I wrote about last week, but the cultural side of this trip consisted of me going to Lago, an area in southwestern Madrid, and I couldn’t have been happier. A lot of the more natural scenery was divided off by a gate when I first entered Lago from the Metro, but once I worked my way past it, there was a large amount of beautiful forestry and plant-life to see.

                I think this trip has been a valuable experience going further into psychology. It may not have given me the chance to explore every aspect of Biological Psychology that I wanted to, but you can only learn so much in a 6-week period. Besides, I’m quite sure what I’ve gained here will help prepare me for more Psychology, Graduate School, or if I’m lucky, a job. To any students or professors who may for some reason read this: I’ll see all of you around campus. To my internship directors, or any of the incredibly nice people who will remain in Spain: Hasta Luego, and good luck!

Spain Trip Journal Entrant 3

                With the trip almost coming to an end, final presentations will be due next week. I intend for mine in particular to be a case study on one of the patients I’ve been spectating for the last 4 or so weeks. I’m looking forward to this opportunity. It will almost be like a case study in a sense, going over the history of the patient, what treatment they’ve been given, and what progress they’ve made. Aside from that, much of what has been going on at the internship has remained the same. The location has changed, but I’m still seeing the many different types of therapy and their different applications.

                The more active part of this week was the cultural side of this trip due to the trip to Toledo I took. It was an excellent opportunity to take some pictures of Toledo’s stunning scenery. Later I had the opportunity to go on a Don Quijote themed tour. While very interesting it felt somewhat rushed, probably due to the fact that we arrived late. Regardless, I think some of the views were worth the trouble.

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It also made me come to grips with one aspect of life in Spain I hadn’t thought very much about: How hot the weather gets. Though for as hot as it could get, I didn’t mind. I’ve lived in Minnesota all my life, but strangely greatly prefer warm weather to the alternative. This is my 2^nd to last week in Spain, and I’m hoping to make the best of it.

Spain Trip Journal Entrant 2

                Much of the internship this week consisted of covering types of therapy that haven’t been shown yet, as well as new therapeutic techniques. What was particularly interesting here is Ventura frequently used different strategies from different types of therapy in the same session. For example, in a family/group therapy session, he briefly took out several different figurines and asked each family member to model how they see the interaction between one another.

                Many professors and psychologists I have met have placed great emphasis on the importance of keeping an open mind, and seeing the value in different types of therapy. However, this is the first time I actually saw that importance played out in a session of therapy.

                I finally had a chance to see what kind of gifts Madrid had to offer when I went shopping for souvenirs for several family members back home. From my shopping it appears Spain’s souvenir shops have mostly the same gifts, with distinct focus on landmarks and animals associated with the country. Spain’s Coat of Arms, which is a bear attempting to eat from a strawberry tree, came up often just to name one example. This isn’t that surprising, but very different from the gift-shops I’ve seen in northern Minnesotan towns such as Ely, many of which sell a multitude of different items. It ended up being problematic when I couldn’t find any kind of gift featuring a honey bee.

Last Friday I also took a bit of time to tour a random part of Madrid. Specifically, Alto De Exteremadura. This area (the western part at least) had far more wildlife and forestry than the central city of Madrid, which was a welcome change of pace. It helped me see more than just the industrialized side of Spain.