Senior Ansley McCoy spent her summer traveling around the globe. She spent five weeks in Spain with a language immersion program called the SPI Academic Program, at the suggestion of a friend. She also spent three and a half weeks in Southeast Asia for a family vacation.

While traveling through Spain, McCoy stayed with a host family who did not speak any English; this allowed McCoy to be fully immersed in the culture of Spain.

“The culture was different because people eat a lot later than I’m used to and people are a lot touchier in Spain than they are in the states.” Ansley said.

In Southeast Asia, Ansley traveled to South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Singapore. Their cultures were quite the opposite of the Spanish.

“People kept their space a lot, but everyone was so polite and everything was so clean.” McCoy said.

McCoy preferred the Spanish culture more than the Southeast Asian culture because she preferred the comforts of European cultures. McCoy completed AP Spanish language last year and went to Spain with prior knowledge of the Spanish language

“The language barrier was there for sure,” McCoy said. “But our Spanish improved a lot and we got used to the accents.”

While in Southeast Asia, McCoy got to experience more of the local treasures with her group trip.

“We actually had a local guide and an American guide with us, so they took us more to the local spots. We cruised up the Mican Delta and actually went into this place where they were making snake wine,” McCoy said.

Snake wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol.

“It was a different cultural experience, that’s something that in the United States we would never ever do.”

It is actually against the law to bring snake wine into America. However this is not all McCoy got the chance to do.

“We got to plow fields of rice with a buffalo,” McCoy said.

Taking a trip around the world is something that many people aspire to do, but often don’t due to fears of solo traveling or costs associated with trips.

“I would say that I’m definitely more independent when it comes to traveling,” McCoy said. “I had to get public transportation on my own. I rode the bus to school everyday.”