After a week and a half of studying abroad in the beautiful city of San Sebastian, we were given the opportunity to speak directly to one of the people that made the city, and the Basque country in general, so intriguing and captivating for college students like us, Marti Buckley. We met Marti in the afternoon next to Hotel Maria Cristina, a hotel famous in San Sebastian for housing famous celebrities such as Jake Gyllenhaal and others. Unlike those famous celebrities, Marit was incredibly humble and down to earth. She took time out of her incredibly busy schedule to meet with us and give quite an inspirational talk about her experience ingratiating herself in a completely different culture. Marti was originally born in Birmingham and was able to experience studying abroad just like us many years ago. In our talk, she shared her experience of studying abroad at LSU and the long and unpredictable path to becoming a published author and a celebrity in the Basque culture.

Marti shared many different experiences in her life from accidently becoming a line cook to her struggle with pursuing her passion or listening to her parents. She told us the story of how she was working in a restaurant for free and eventually became a line cook out of nervousness to say no to coming back to the restaurant. While this story may sound brazen she went on to tell us how the head cook at that restaurant was the exact person that later got her a book deal and led her to becoming a published author. This made me realize that there is great power in connections. You never know exactly who you’re speaking to and what they can do for you. The friends I have made on this trip may go on to be incredibly successful and making these important connections now will show that studying abroad can impact you for a lifetime. However, Marti also gave us some incredible advice that I believe can lead everyone to success.

Marti shared with us the entire story of how she became a published author. The long road to a book deal and the uncertainty that came with living in Spain. Ultimately though, the bottom line was this: taking small steps in the right direction will most likely lead you to success. When she first came to Spain, she had no idea that she would make a life there. There was no exact plan to write books about pintxos or Basque cuisine. Rather there was passion. Over the course of many years, Marti studied the culture a little bit everyday and that ultimately led to her to create her books. Although it was against the advice of her parents, Marti pursued her passion by taking small steps towards a big goal every single day. Marti’s experience mirrored mine in San Sebastian. When I first got here I was terrified of the new things I was going to experience. I’ve never been good at Spanish and I took classes for 3 hours the past two weeks. I never thought about the fact I was going to be taking 42 hours of classes but rather I thought about learning a little bit everyday and now I can conversate—albeit very basically—in Spanish. I also did not think I would like any of the food here. I expected to avoid all types of new food and stick to what I know. Instead of that, I tried a few new things everyday and while I still don’t enjoy some of the food, there are many new things that I like. In the end, the conversation with Marti was incredibly moving and the advice she gave is certain to change the mindsets of me and my peers.