My name is Angello Alcázar and I am an undergraduate student currently pursuing a Joint-Honours degree in Sociology and Hispanic Studies, with minor concentrations in Italian Studies and European Literature and Culture. In the winter semester of 2019, I received a Schull Yang International Experience Award to do independent study away at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).
The Schull Yang International Experience Awards had long been in my mind, ever since I attended a study away workshop during my first term at McGill and heard all of the amazing testimonies by awardees who had either studied or worked in very diverse settings around the world. Now that it is over, I can say that this independent study away experience has helped me to not only enrich my academic profile, but also—and perhaps more importantly—to reconnect with my Hispanic heritage, forge new contacts, and learn more about the possibility of pursuing a career in Europe.
As a Literature student, I spend most of my time reading and writing papers in libraries. UCM has the biggest university library in Spain and the second major library in the country after the National Library (with roughly 2,941,815 volumes). Given that I have to write two separate theses to fulfill the requirements of the Sociology and Hispanic Studies departments, having access to such a wealth of bibliographic material was a determinant factor at the time of choosing an institution for study away.
In Madrid, I spent many hours writing fiction—just as I did in McLennan before leaving McGill—and doing research for my theses at the libraries of Complutense University. With the help of the staff, I could access many rare sources from the university archive, the National Library and the Cervantes Institute that were pivotal to the elaboration of my Joint Honours projects. I am confident that these experiences will be of great help in the long term, as they have allowed me to develop a variety of skills and accumulate knowledge that can be applied on very diverse areas of inquiry.
If I had to choose one most meaningful aspect of my international experience, it would be the unique opportunity I had to meet a lot of writers I admire, such as Ida Vitale (who had just received the Miguel de Cervantes Prize), Javier Cercas, Rosa Montero, Juan Gabriel Vásquez and Enrique Vila-Matas. During the 2018 edition of the Hay Festival in Arequipa, Peru, I met Peruvian Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa for the first time. Beyond any doubt, Vargas Llosa is one of my favourite authors of all times, and I have learned a great deal about literature and life itself through his widely acclaimed novels, short stories, plays, essays and articles. After I arrived in Spain, I could listen and talk to him in different events around the country, including an international seminar on his work that took place in Galicia. This was a particularly gratifying experience since I am dedicating one of my theses to his dictatorship novels. Crucially, he not only signed many of his books for me, but also gave me valuable advice to write my own works of fiction (I still cannot believe that this actually happened).
The financial support provided by the award was fundamental to the successful completion of my independent study away activity. By alleviating some of the financial burdens of the cost of living and the educational costs of the host university, it helped me to make the most of my time in Europe. Indeed, I am very grateful for the Schull Yang International Experience Awards for this opportunity, and for the recognition of my effort that it represents. After all of these years abroad, I can attest to the fact that international experiences have the potential of making us much more responsible, open-minded, creative and independent people, and that is why I strongly encourage students at McGill to take advantage of excellent initiatives such as the McGill International Experience Awards.
