Marge Pett is one abuela (Spanish for grandma) who is definitely taking advantage of House Bill 60. It’s a bill that allows people over the age of 60 to attend classes (no credit received) at the University of Utah for only 25$ a semester. This summer she’s heading to Oviedo, Spain on a faculty led study abroad. Never having been to Spain, she’s looking forward to being the abuela of the group and communicating with the people of Oviedo in Español. In June when her Spanish courses end, she’s going to rent a car and road trip around the country afterwards. She even invited me to go along with her. Talk about abuela of the year!
Of course, Marge isn’t new to the whole Europe thing. She’s done some pretty crazy things in her life and in the ‘60s she lived there for five years. The craziest thing about her adventure was that she did it before there were iPhones and Wi-Fi to help her out. Marge told me that during her time abroad, she didn’t speak to her mom for four years. When she finally did, she didn’t even recognize her voice.
Marge started her years living in Europe after she graduated college. Her first adventure was a work exchange in Milan, Italy for three months. When it was over, she still had the travel fever and headed to Rome where she worked for a scriptwriter. She later made her way up to Sweden and dedicated her energy to getting herself a Master’s degree in Sociology (yep, she was able to do it for free!) After that she was hired to work at a therapeutic house for psychopaths in London. This lady is serious goals!
Marge is now a retired University of Utah professor and she lives in the avenues with her husband. She volunteers some of her time teaching English, and wants to improve her Spanish so that she can teach her students even better. Marge is literally abuela goals, wish her luck on her study abroad to Spain this summer!